1. Monthly archive
  2. December 2016

December 2016

Many Americans Believe Fake News Is Sowing Confusion

According to a new survey by Pew Research Center, most Americans suspect that made-up news is having an impact. About two-in-three US adults (64%) say fabricated news stories cause a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current issues and events. This sense is shared widely across incomes, education levels, partisan affiliations and most other demographic characteristics.

Though they sense these stories are spreading confusion, Americans express a fair amount of confidence in their own ability to detect fake news, with about four-in-ten (39%) feeling very confident that they can recognize news that is fabricated and another 45% feeling somewhat confident. Overall, about a third (32%) of Americans say they often see political news stories online that are made up.

FCC Clears Path For Transition From TTY Technology To Real-Time Text

The Federal Communications Commission amended its rules to allow phone companies to replace support for an outdated form of text telephone communications, known as TTY, with support for real-time text, to provide reliable telephone communications for Americans who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind, or who have a speech disability.

As the nation’s communications networks migrate to IP-based environments, real-time text technology will allow Americans with disabilities to use the same wireless communications devices as their friends, relatives and colleagues, and more seamlessly integrate into tomorrow’s communications networks. Under FCC rules, phone companies and manufacturers are required to support accessible text communications services, which for years have taken the form of TTY services. Under the new rules, carriers and manufacturers will be allowed to use the more advanced and interoperable real-time text technology to meet this obligation.

AT&T Responds, Again, to Wireless Bureau's Sponsored Data Inquiry

As we explain (again) in the response provided to the Wireless Bureau, the video entertainment marketplace is ripe for disruptive change, which is exactly why consumers have enthusiastically embraced Data Free TV in all its competitive forms. That enthusiasm has caused competitors to react with additional consumer-friendly video offerings, like the T-Mobile offer announced recently.

And although the Commission has decided to apply Title II to broadband services, the Wireless Bureau’s analysis of AT&T’s sponsored data platform abandons decades of Title II jurisprudence to raise questions about a service that undeniably increases choice and lowers costs for video consumers. This is exactly the type of pro-consumer benefit that the DirecTV acquisition was designed to achieve.

USDA Issues Report on Investments to Grow the Rural Economy

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack released the final year-end report of the Obama administration's results creating jobs and investing in rural communities nationwide. The report includes success stories from every state illustrating the many ways USDA helps create jobs, make infrastructure improvements and boost economic development. Some of USDA's accomplishments since 2009 include providing high-speed broadband access to 6 million rural Americans.

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