Community Anchor Institutions and Residential Broadband Adoption
Introduction
February 2017
FCC's O'Rielly to Speak at American Cable Association Summit March 29
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Tue, 02/07/2017 - 14:32The Future of Digital Rights Is A Library Card
New America
Thursday, February 16, 2017
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EST
As the Internet and its usage continue to shape our lives, there's one place that can turn anxiety around digital privacy into action: public libraries.
In the early twentieth century, when the library profession was debating its relationships to free speech, information about patrons flowed in a relatively simple manner—by borrowing a book. But in the seventy-five years since the American Libraries Association made the pledge to protect patron privacy, the Internet has fundamentally changed libraries' relationship to information. Libraries have become reliant on numerous third-party software applications to help them provide services to patrons, and many people go to their library to access the Internet.
For members of chronically underserved communities who depend on public technology resources, vulnerability to digital profiling is high stakes. Building a digitally inclusive society will require more than just expanding access—it will require expanding the privacy systems that make safe and secure access possible.
Collaborative work facilitated by New America's Open Technology Institute has found that government surveillance programs, targeted treatment of online consumers, and the vulnerabilities of sensitive personal data have hastened the need for more comprehensive solutions to the issues of digital privacy—solutions that libraries can be leaders in championing.
INTRODUCTION
Joshua Breitbart @joshdotfm
Senior Advisor for Broadband, Office of the Mayor of New York City
PARTICIPANTS
Jaime L. Anno
Manager of Organizational Assessment, Queens Library
William Marden @MardenBill
Director, Data Privacy and Compliance, New York Public Library
Story Bellows @storybellows
Chief Innovation and Performance Officer, Brooklyn Public Library
Seeta Peña Gangadharan
Assistant Professor, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics
Fellow, New America's Open Technology Institute
Op-ed
Op-ed
New America
Thursday, February 9, 2017
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
https://www.newamerica.org/oti/events/next-three-billion/
Agenda:
9:45 a.m. Registration and Coffee
10:00 a.m. Welcome and Overview of Challenge
- Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO of New America, @SlaughterAM
- Megan Smith, Former U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Entrepreneur, Engineer, @smithmegan
- Manu Bhardwaj, Former Senior Advisor on Technology & Internet Policy, U.S. State Department
10:30 a.m. Presentations and Panel Discussion: Local Strategies
- Steve Song, Senior Research Associate, Network Startup Resource Center, @stevesong
- Vanu Bose, President & CEO, Vanu Inc., @vanubose
- Christopher Yoo, Founding Director, 1 World Connected and Professor, University of Pennsylvania Law School, @1_WorldConnect
- Dave Wright, Director, Regulatory Affairs & Network Standards, Ruckus Wireless, @wifidave
Moderator: Kim Hart, Technology Editor, Axios, @khart
11:40 a.m. Lunch Break
12:10 p.m Luncheon Keynote
- Jack Spilsbury, Global Connect Initiative Senior Coordinator, U.S. State Department
- Antonio Garcia Zaballos, Inter-American Development Bank, @the_IDB
- Patsy Doerr, Global Head of Corporate Responsibility, Thomson Reuters, @patsydoerr
12:30 p.m. Presentations and Panel Discussion: Global Strategies
- Marian Croak, VP Access Strategy & Emerging Markets, Google Inc., @GooglePubPolicy
- Greg Wyler, Founder & Executive Chairman, OneWeb, @greg_wyler
- Bob Pepper, Head of Global Connectivity Policy and Planning, Facebook, @rmpepper
- Paul Garnett, Director Affordable Access Initiatives, Microsoft, @MicrosoftIPC
Moderator: Cecilia Kang, National Technology Correspondent, The New York Times, @ceciliakang
2:00 p.m. Adjourn
FCC Lifeline Reversal on FreedomPop, Eight Others Draws Fire
The Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline actions drew harsh responses from a range of stakeholders. For example, the Benton Foundation issued a press release with comments from one of its directors and from nine other organizations criticizing the decision. “The unexpected revocations will not only limit choices for Lifeline customers, but also have a chilling effect on participation of other potential broadband providers of Lifeline service,” said Amina Fazlullah, director of policy at the Benton Foundation. Organizations criticizing the decision in the press release included the Communications Workers of America, the Free Press, the NAACP, the National Consumer Law Center and others.
BuzzFeed vs. Trump
In January, we reached out to BuzzFeed in the wake of the dossier to find out whether the company felt it would be putting itself at risk — legal and financial — by publishing such materials. Recently, Aleksef Gubarev, the Russian-born chief executive of tech firm XBT, sued BuzzFeed for defamation.
Though Gubarev’s lawyer insists that his client is in no way tied to the president’s administration and the suit is not political, it does pose a major question for BuzzFeed: What are the potential repercussions of its aggressive approach to journalism, which pushes beyond some of its more traditional competitors? And in the Trump era, how should it balance the risk and reward of hard-hitting journalism at a company that makes most of its money on light-hearted entertainment?
Rep Jordan (R-OH): Media trying to undermine Trump
Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH) argued that the media is trying to undermine President Donald Trump and his recent executive orders. “Does the media have a bias? And is the media out to make sure that they can undermine some of the things that the president is doing? I think that’s pretty clear,” Rep Jordan told CNN’s “New Day.”
CNN host Chris Cuomo pressed Rep Jordan over President Trump’s recent claim that the media does not cover terrorist attacks, a statement Cuomo said “is demonstrably false.” “I’ll take your word for it that you didn’t underreport that. You actually reported some of those,” Rep Jordan said. “All. All is the word you’re looking for,” Cuomo replied.
First Amendment Support Climbing Among High School Students
Support among American high school students for the First Amendment is stronger today than it has been in the last 12 years, according to the latest in a series of large nationwide surveys of the nation’s rising voters. Some 91 percent of high school students say they believe that individuals should be allowed to express unpopular opinions, according to a Knight Foundation survey of nearly 12,000 students conducted in 2016. The survey is the sixth in a series, the first of which was carried out in 2004, when 83 percent supported such rights.
A 21st century celebration of the Communications Act
[Commentary] Feb 8 is the 21st anniversary of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. It’s an opportunity to to review the Act for its relevance to the converged world of communications, content, and computing. Indeed, updating the Act enjoyed wide support three years ago, when a broad array of stakeholders participated in the House Commerce Committee’s “#CommActUpdate” process through a series of thought papers on regulatory modernization, spectrum policy, competition, interconnection, universal service, and video content and distribution.
This rational, inclusive, and orderly process collected hundreds of substantive responses until it was hijacked by advocacy groups which aimed to nationalize networks by reclassifying broadband network providers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. This was a beginning step by the FCC to tax and regulate the internet like the telephone network and to limit free speech, which fortunately has been halted by a backlash of 60 million voters against over-regulation.
[Rosyln Layton is currently aiding with the FCC transition, and is a PhD Fellow at the Center for Communication, Media, and Information Technologies (CMI) at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, Denmark]