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April 2017

April 10, 2017 (Banner Night!)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY APRIL 10, 2017


INTERNET/BROADBAND
   The tech industry is already rebelling against the FCC’s latest plan for net neutrality
   Sen Markey Blasts Chairman Pai's Reported Plan for Net Neutrality [links to Benton summary]
   US net neutrality advocates blast Pai effort to reverse rules [links to Reuters]
   Trump Is About to Find Out What Happens When You Mess With the Open Internet [links to Benton summary]
   Public Knowledge Responds to Reports of FCC Chairman Pai Repealing Net Neutrality [links to Public Knowledge]
   Ajit Pai’s net neutrality plan is nonsense - The Verge [links to Benton summary]
   At the moment, an “Infrastructure Bill” is Washington fantasy [links to bROOKINGS]
   We Could Have Good Satellite Internet If We Wanted [links to Vice]

SECURITY/PRIVACY
   Republican Reps Urge FCC to Continue Protecting Privacy
   Trump's FCC and FTC Chairs Rush in to Defend Big Telco's Assault on Internet Privacy - Free Press analysis [links to Benton summary]
   House Judiciary Committee asks for disclosure of number of Americans under surveillance [links to Benton summary]
   When Apps Secretly Team Up to Steal Your Data [links to Benton summary]
   Hacking Attack Woke Up Dallas With Emergency Sirens, Officials Say [links to New York Times]

ACCESSIBILITY
   Disabled Americans are less likely to use technology - Pew research

LABOR
   Google Pays Female Workers Less Than Male Counterparts, Labor Department Says
   Editorial: The Gig Economy’s False Promise [links to New York Times]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   The US government has withdrawn its request ordering Twitter to identify a Trump critic [links to Benton summary]
   White House agrees to save Trump tweets for National Archives [links to Christian Science Monitor]

BROADCASTING
   FCC Rules WSKQ-FM Radio Broadcast Was Indecent [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
   NAB Executives Get Personal With FCC on Repack Issue [links to Broadcasting&Cable]

CONTENT
   Google expands automatic “fact check” insertion into search results [links to Google]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   The hidden details in Comcast's wireless plan [links to USAToday]

JOURNALISM
   What does fake news tell us about life in the digital age? Not what you might expect - Nieman Lab op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   First Draft releases guide to savvy reporting on fake news [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
   What 100K Can Do for Civic Journalism in Chicago - City Bureau press release [links to Benton summary]
   Why faith in the media might not be as low as polls suggest [links to Washington Post]

CHILDREN AND MEDIA
   California lawmakers want to mandate internet for kids in juvenile detention [links to Benton summary]

AGENDA
   A Webinar For Consumers: What The FCC'S Consumer Help Center Can Do For You [links to Federal Communications Commission]

POLICYMAKERS
   President Donald Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator and Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs - press release
    SEE ALSO: A Trump Nomination Shows He’s Serious About Deregulation. The president picks a law professor to lead the most important office you’ve never heard of. [links to Wall Street Journal]

LOBBYING
   Europe’s eco Internet Industry Association ‘intensifying’ relationship with US’s Internet Infrastructure Coalition [links to Internet Infrastructure Coalition]

COMPANY NEWS
   Alphabet Moves Two Top Google Fiber Executives Off Project [links to Benton summary]
   Here’s why Facebook’s $1 billion Instagram acquisition was such a great deal [links to Vox]

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

TECH INDUSTRY AGAINST LATEST NET NEUTRALITY PLAN
[SOURCE: Vox, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
Silicon Valley is already rebelling against a plan by Republican Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai that would cancel the government’s network neutrality rules — and perhaps leave it to telecom giants like AT&T and Comcast to decide whether to adhere to open internet principles. "I think in practice, it goes against everything we would want in strong net neutrality protections,” said Evan Engstrom, the executive director of Engine. The group works with startups on policy issues in San Francisco (CA). As a result, Engstrom said he expected a “similar level of engagement that we saw the last time around when we had to fight” — a vicious rhetorical war that drew even John Oliver into the fray. And he said the tech industry again would “do everything we can to rally the community and the public.” To that end, one of the Valley’s lobbying voices in Washington, the Internet Association, will share its views privately with Chairman Pai at the FCC the week of April 10, apparently. The group, which represents the likes of Facebook, Google and Twitter, declined to comment on the meeting. In a statement, though, a spokesman for the Internet Association said, “Internet companies are ready to fight to maintain strong net neutrality protections in any forum. ISPs must not be allowed to meddle with people’s right to access content and services online and efforts to weaken net neutrality rules are bad for consumers and innovation.”
benton.org/headlines/tech-industry-already-rebelling-against-fccs-latest-plan-net-neutrality | Vox
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SECURITY/PRIVACY

REPUBLICAN REPS URGE FCC TO CONTINUE PROTECTING PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
More than half a hundred Republican Reps signed onto a letter asking Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to "continue ensuring" that consumer broadband privacy is maintained until the FCC "remedies" the Title II reclassification. Republicans are pushing the FCC to roll back Title II. Lead signatories on the letter were House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (R-OH). The letter was phrased to signal that they thought the FCC had been protecting privacy and just wanted to emphasize the need to continue to do so and to do so along the lines of the Federal Trade Commission's privacy by design approach to edge providers and, formerly, ISPs. "Until such time as the FCC rectifies the Title II reclassification that inappropriately removed ISPs from the FTC's jurisdiction, we urge the FCC to continue to hold ISPs to their privacy promises," the letter reads.
benton.org/headlines/republican-reps-urge-fcc-continue-protecting-privacy | Broadcasting&Cable | read the letter
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ACCESSIBILITY

DISABLED AMERICANS ARE LESS LIKELY TO USE TECH
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center, AUTHOR: Monica Anderson, Andrew Perrin]
More than 56 million people in the United States are living with a disability, according to the US Census Bureau. But even as a growing share of these Americans report going online or owning a smartphone, the digital divide between those who have a disability and those who don’t remains large.Disabled Americans are about three times as likely as those without a disability to say they never go online (23% vs. 8%), according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in the fall of 2016. When compared with those who do not have a disability, disabled adults are roughly 20 percentage points less likely to say they subscribe to home broadband and own a traditional computer, a smartphone or a tablet. Adults who report having a disability are also less likely to have multiple devices that enable them to go online. One-in-four disabled adults say they have high-speed internet at home, a smartphone, a desktop or laptop computer and a tablet, compared with 42% of those who report not having a disability.
benton.org/headlines/disabled-americans-are-less-likely-use-technology | Pew Research Center
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LABOR

GOOGLE PAY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jack Nicas]
An investigation of Google has found it systematically pays female employees less than their male counterparts, US Department of Labor officials said, a claim that adds to allegations of gender bias in Silicon Valley. The Labor Department found the gender-pay gap during a routine probe into whether Google, a federal contractor, is complying with laws that prohibit contractors from discriminating against applicants or employees. The department is suing Google to compel the company to disclose more compensation data for its investigation. At a procedural hearing before a federal administrative law judge in San Francisco, Labor Department Regional Director Janette Wipper said the agency “found systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce” at Google.
benton.org/headlines/google-pays-female-workers-less-male-counterparts-labor-department-says | Wall Street Journal | AP | Guardian
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POLICYMAKERS

TRUMP NOMINATIONS
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Press release]
President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate key additions to his Administration:
Vishal J. Amin of Michigan to be Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in the Executive Office of the President. Mr. Amin is currently Senior Counsel on the House Judiciary Committee. Earlier in his career, he served in the Administration of President George W. Bush at the White House, as Associate Director for Domestic Policy, and at the U.S. Department of Commerce, as Special Assistant and Associate Director for Policy in the Office of the Secretary. He received his bachelor's degree in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University and his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
Neomi Rao of Washington, D.C. to be the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. Ms. Rao is a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where she founded and directs the Center for the Study of the Administrative State. Her research and teaching focuses on constitutional and administrative law. Currently a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, Ms. Rao has previously served in all three branches of the federal government. She served as Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush; counsel for nominations and constitutional law to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary; and law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court. She practiced public international law and arbitration at Clifford Chance LLP in London. Ms. Rao received her JD with high honors from the University of Chicago and her BA from Yale University.
benton.org/headlines/president-donald-trump-announces-intent-nominate-intellectual-property-enforcement | White House, The
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Google Pays Female Workers Less Than Male Counterparts, Labor Department Says

An investigation of Google has found it systematically pays female employees less than their male counterparts, US Department of Labor officials said, a claim that adds to allegations of gender bias in Silicon Valley.

The Labor Department found the gender-pay gap during a routine probe into whether Google, a federal contractor, is complying with laws that prohibit contractors from discriminating against applicants or employees. The department is suing Google to compel the company to disclose more compensation data for its investigation. At a procedural hearing before a federal administrative law judge in San Francisco, Labor Department Regional Director Janette Wipper said the agency “found systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce” at Google.

President Donald Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator and Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate key additions to his Administration:

  • Vishal J. Amin of Michigan to be Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in the Executive Office of the President. Mr. Amin is currently Senior Counsel on the House Judiciary Committee. Earlier in his career, he served in the Administration of President George W. Bush at the White House, as Associate Director for Domestic Policy, and at the U.S. Department of Commerce, as Special Assistant and Associate Director for Policy in the Office of the Secretary. He received his bachelor's degree in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University and his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
  • Neomi Rao of Washington, D.C. to be the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. Ms. Rao is a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where she founded and directs the Center for the Study of the Administrative State. Her research and teaching focuses on constitutional and administrative law. Currently a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, Ms. Rao has previously served in all three branches of the federal government. She served as Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush; counsel for nominations and constitutional law to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary; and law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court. She practiced public international law and arbitration at Clifford Chance LLP in London. Ms. Rao received her JD with high honors from the University of Chicago and her BA from Yale University.

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