1. Monthly archive
  2. December 2016

December 2016

On Twitter, a Battle Among Political Bots

On social media, our political battles are increasingly automated. People who head to Twitter to discuss their ideals are, often unwittingly, conversing with legions of bots: accounts preprogrammed to spew the same campaign slogans, insults or conspiracy theories hundreds or thousands of times a day. And one of their most competitive battlegrounds is the prime digital real estate that opens up every time President-elect Donald J. Trump tweets. Any supporters or critics who reply quickly enough to Mr. Trump can see their own tweets showcased right beneath the biggest spectacle on Twitter. But in this fast-draw contest, propaganda bots always best human beings.

Google just dodged a privacy lawsuit by scanning your emails a tiny bit slower

Google tentatively agreed to a series of changes in the way it collects data from Gmail, as part of a proposed settlement in Northern California District Court. If the court approves the settlement, Google will eliminate any collection of advertising-specific data before an email is accessible in a user’s inbox.

The result likely won’t be noticeable to users, but it represents a real change to the way Google’s systems work, brought about after a voluntary settlement rather than a legal ruling. The case, called Matera vs. Google, began in September 2015, when plaintiffs alleged the email scanning violated California and federal privacy law, calling it “the twenty-first-century equivalent of AT&T eavesdropping on each of its customers’ phone conversations, or of the postal service taking information from private correspondence.” The suit was specifically brought on behalf of non-Gmail users, who haven’t agreed to have their emails scanned under Google’s Terms of Service.

Yahoo Says 1 Billion User Accounts Were Hacked

Yahoo, already under a cloud from its summertime disclosure that 500 million user accounts had been hacked in 2014, disclosed that another attack a year earlier had compromised more than 1 billion Yahoo accounts. The newly disclosed attack involved more sensitive user information, including unencrypted security questions. Yahoo is forcing all of the affected users to change their passwords and it is invalidating the security questions. Yahoo had agreed to sell its core businesses to Verizon Communications for $4.8 billion. Verizon said that it might seek to renegotiate the terms of the transaction after the first hacking was disclosed. It’s unclear how the newest information will affect its view of the purchase.

Tech workers pledge to never build a database of Muslims

When asked in 2015 on the campaign trail whether he thought the United States should create a database of Muslims in the country, Donald Trump said, “Oh, I would certainly implement that — absolutely." On Dec 13, hundreds of members of the technology industry weighed in on whether they would help build such a database. The answer? Absolutely not. By Dec 14 some 590 software engineers, designers, business executives and data processing personnel from US firms such as Google, Twitter, Microsoft, Mozilla and Palantir Technologies had signed a pledge “choosing to stand in solidarity with Muslim Americans, immigrants, and all people whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by the incoming administration’s proposed data collection policies."

As part of the pledge, the individuals promised, among other things, to:

  • Refuse to participate in the creation of databases that would allow the government to target individuals based on race, religion or national origin
  • Advocate within their organizations to minimize data collection that would facilitate ethnic or religious targeting
  • Responsibly destroy high-risk data sets and backups
  • Resign from their organization if ordered to build such a database

FCC Announces Effective Dates of Broadband Privacy Rules

In this Public Notice, the Wireline Competition Bureau announces the effective dates of certain broadband privacy rules and provides guidance to telecommunications carriers and interconnected VoIP providers on implementation of the requirements adopted in the 2016 Privacy Order. A summary of the 2016 Privacy Order, FCC 16-148, was published in the Federal Register on December 2, 2016. Pursuant to the implementation framework outlined in the 2016 Privacy Order, except for the new data security requirements and certain other provisions subject to Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the provisions adopted in the 2016 Privacy Order will become effective on January 3, 2017. The 2016 Privacy Order provides that the data security obligations (new section 64.2005) will be effective on March 2, 2017.

It also states that the new breach-notification requirements (new section 64.2006) will become effective the later of PRA approval or June 2, 2017 (6 months after Federal Register publication) and the notice and customer approval provisions (new sections 64.2003, 64.2004, and 64.2011(b)) will become effective the later of PRA approval or December 4, 2017 (12 months after Federal Register publication). Pursuant to the 2016 Privacy Order, small providers will have an additional 12 months before the new notice and customer approval rules are effective.

Emergency Alert System Revamp Pulled From FCC Agenda

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler's Emergency Alert System (EAS) revamp has been pulled from the Dec 15 meeting agenda. In fact, the FCC has dispensed with almost all of the items that had been on its Dec 15 meeting agenda for vote, either having already been voted or in the case of EAS and one other, removing them from the lineup. That will provide time for some goodbyes since it is expected to be the last meeting of Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel and potentially FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.

The current January meeting is scheduled for Jan 20, after which Chairman Wheeler would no longer be chairman and probably will no longer be at the commission. The EAS item according to the FCC, "improves alerting organization at the state and local levels, builds stronger community-based alerting exercise programs, and protects the EAS against accidental misuse and malicious intrusion." It was also planning to vote on an EAS further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on "proposals to leverage technological advances to improve alerting and additional measures to preserve EAS security."

FirstNet Outlines Operational Readiness, First 100-Days for Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) outlined its readiness for a public-private partnership to deploy the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (Network), including a plan to ensure progress on key Network components in the first 100 days of the partnership. Meeting Dec 14 in Sacramento (CA), the FirstNet Board and executive team discussed major steps in the evolution of FirstNet as an operational entity. The Board also addressed how FirstNet will meet the objectives for initial deployment of the Network. Specifically, FirstNet leadership focused on the critical work to be completed during the first 100 days on core design and technology roadmaps, the state plans portal, and other network components.

"We are now in implementation mode and stand ready to move forward on this Network for public safety,” said FirstNet Chair Sue Swenson. “The first 100 days will be critical to setting the foundation for success; we are prepared from both an operational and planning standpoint to deliver public safety the network they deserve."

FCC's O'Rielly Shares Many Trump Policy Positions

Republican Commissioner Michael O'Rielly of the Federal Communications Commission says he shares many of the policy positions of President-elect Donald Trump and advised that while the FCC still has important functions—like spectrum management—how those are handled going forward is an open question. What is not is whether a Republican FCC, if Commissioner O'Rielly has anything do about it, will take a whack at the regulatory underbrush and the Title II-related actions—on broadband privacy and zero rating, for example—of the current administration.

Commissioner O'Rielly says the commission in a Trump Administration should focus on four main things: 1) remove regulatory underbrush, which he said were regulations that have been on the books "for a long time" but make no sense in the current marketplace; 2) undertake structural reforms of the commission itself, saying that structure has "broken down"; 3) undertake a pro-growth, pro-innovation agenda, for example antenna citing for wireless nets; and 4) undo bad and partisan policies, where he said he and his fellow Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai's input was not "even given the time of day."

© 1994-2026 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.