You’re reading the Benton Foundation’s Weekly Round-up, a recap of the biggest (or most overlooked) telecommunications stories of the week. The round-up is delivered via e-mail each Friday; to get your own copy, subscribe at www.benton.org/user/register
Robbie's Round-Up for the Week of December 12-16, 2016
The House Freedom Caucus released a list of more than 200 rules and regulations the group thinks President-elect Donald Trump (R-NY) should target during his first 100 days in office. Rural broadband loans and loan guarantees at the Department of Agriculture are on the hit list. Just one item for repeal at the Federal Communications Commission: network neutrality.
Outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler and Sen Ron Johnson (R-WI) traded barbs Dec 15 in the wake of Chairman Wheeler’s announcement that he would step down. During the last FCC open meeting of 2016, Chairman Wheeler said he had made clear his intentions to depart from the agency after the Obama administration ends. “This is in keeping with the commitments I have made since March that I would cooperate with the new administration to ensure a smooth transition,” he said. Chairman Wheeler, a Democrat, said Senate Republicans ignored his offer to step down in exchange for the reconfirmation of FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, also a Democrat. And he particularly singled out Sen Johnson, saying the senator made it “pretty clear” that he wanted to create a 2-1 GOP majority in the FCC. Sen Johnson disputed Chairman Wheeler's words.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler came to the position after leading two separate lobbying instruments for the cable industry: the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA), where he was president and CEO, respectively. Both groups, representing AT&T, Comcast, and dozens of other telecommunication companies, sued the FCC over net neutrality during Chairman Wheeler’s leadership. The regulator passed broad rules reclassifying internet service under the same category as telephone service, preventing web providers from forcing subscribers into “slow lanes” unless they paid more. The industry groups lost the lawsuit in June.
Tech executives summoned to meet with President-elect Donald Trump in New York had reason to suspect they were being lured into a trap. In the run-up to the election, the President-elect clashed with industry bellwethers over such issues as immigration, manufacturing and smartphone security. But concerns that the new administration would similarly use the Trump summit to browbeat big tech evaporated not long after the industry elite made their way through Trump Tower lobby, surrounded by reporters, security and enormous shining Christmas wreaths. Seated at a long conference table, near Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, President-elect Trump laid the compliments on thick.
US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker received a series of recommendations from members of the Digital Economy Board of Advisors that identify key actions the US Department of Commerce can take to support the digital economy, encourage growth and increase opportunity. The recommendations, with accompanying reports, were issued by three working groups of the Board of Advisors that focused on areas where the digital economy has fundamentally transformed the economy. The working groups were established by the Board last spring, and their reports cap six months of intense work to offer actionable recommendations to the Department along with areas worthy of further study.
Stakeholders involved in the National Telecommunications & Information Administration's cybersecurity multistakeholder process to promote collaboration on vulnerability research disclosure today are releasing initial findings, recommendations, and resources that they hope will enhance cooperation and lead to a more secure digital ecosystem. The three stakeholder-drafted reports reflect the experience and wisdom of many of the key experts in the field, including active security researchers, experienced software companies, security companies, academics, and civil society advocates, as well as industries new to the issue. At the last meeting of NTIA's vulnerability disclosure process in November 2016, the three working groups presented their work for comment and discussion and agreed to make public a portion of their work for consideration and use.
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