May 2017

May 4, 2017 (Pai's Proposal Is Threat to Online Speech)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017

MORE INTERNET BROADBAND
   Gigabit Opportunity Zones Bill Introduced
   Statement of Chairman Pai on the Introduction of the Gigabit Opportunity Act - press release [links to Benton summary]
   How Do Teens With Limited Internet Apply to College?
   With latency as low as 25ms, SpaceX to launch broadband satellites in 2019 [links to Benton summary]

COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
   With press freedom under attack worldwide, US is setting wrong example - Committee to Protect Journalists
   On World Press Freedom Day, the United States Faces New Threats and Awareness [links to Free Press]
   Can Freedom of the Press Survive Trump’s Onslaught? - Foreign Policy op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   Hate Speech And The Misnomer Of 'The Marketplace of Ideas' - NPR op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   The Age of Misinformation - Jonathan Zittrain op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   Public Trust in Government Remains Near Historic Lows as Partisan Attitudes Shift - Pew research [links to Benton summary]

JOURNALISM
   Combating Fake News: An Agenda for Research and Action - research
   FBI Director Says ‘Legitimate’ Journalism Different From WikiLeaks’ ‘Intelligence Porn’ [links to Huffington Post]
   Roger Stone claims Sean Hannity made 'insane effort' to be White House chief of staff [links to Benton summary]

SECURITY/PRIVACY
   Google Docs users hit with sophisticated phishing attack [links to Verge, The]
   House Oversight Committee grill IRS, Education officials over data breach [links to Hill, The]
   Appeals Court Sides With CNN In App Privacy Battle [links to Benton summary]
   The FBI Director Thinks a Law Against Encryption Is Possible Under Trump [links to Vice]
   When push comes to shove, how quickly will you give up your data for convenience? - Quartz op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   How to Protect Your Privacy as More Apps Harvest Your Data [links to New York Times]

ELECTION 2016
James Comey: the notion that the FBI swayed the election “makes me mildly nauseous” [links to Vox]
Why the media can’t sympathize with President Trump or Hillary Clinton [links to Washington Post]

ADVERTISING
Op-Ed: Do TV Political Ads Still Matter in the Age of Social Media? [links to Broadcasting&Cable]

CONTENT
   After Posting of Violent Videos, Facebook Will Add 3,000 Content Monitors [links to Benton summary]
   Facebook enters war against “information operations,” acknowledges election hijinx [links to Ars Technica]
   Facebook Scrambles to Police Content Amid Rapid Growth [links to New York Times]
   Can you get a court to take an opinion that mentions you off its Google-searchable website? [links to Washington Post]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
T-Mobile Asks FCC to Reject Repack Reconsideration [links to Broadcasting&Cable]

TELEVISION
MoffettNathanson: The Cord-Cutting Future Has Arrived [links to Benton summary]

LABOR
The Future of Jobs and Jobs Training [links to Pew Research Center]
How to close the tech-job gap for minorities and low-income earners [links to American Public Media]

TELECOM
Court opinion considers soundboard technology and the Robocall Rule [links to Federal Trade Commission]

LOBBYING
Dropbox hires new lobbying firm to help out on immigration, surveillance [links to Hill, The]

GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATION
GAO Report: Sustained Attention to Innovations, IT Systems, and Cost Estimation Is Needed [links to US Government Accountability Office]

POLICYMAKERS
Representatives Launch Virtual Reality Caucus [links to Benton summary]
Ex-FTC Bureau Chief Jessica Rich Joins Consumer Reports [links to Broadcasting&Cable]

COMPANY NEWS
   Apple announces $1 billion fund for American manufacturing [links to Hill, The]
   Fox’s Unfamiliar but Powerful Television Rival: Sinclair [links to Benton summary]
   Facebook Revenue Surges, Fueled by Mobile [links to Wall Street Journal]
   Sprint posts deeper than expected quarterly net loss [links to Financial Times]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   The Stories Of 8 Journalists Languishing In Turkish Prisons For Doing Their Jobs [links to Huffington Post]
   This Is How the Free Press Dies - Vice [links to Benton summary]
   China tightens rules on online news, network providers [links to Reuters]

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NETWORK NEUTRALITY

SEN NELSON: BIPARTISAN NN BILL APPEARS 'IMPOSSIBLE'
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL) said that while he continued to talk with Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) about a bipartisan network neutrality bill, the current reality is that "there are too many folks, from [FCC] chairman Ajit Pai to the stakeholders and lawmakers who are dug in on a particular side of this issue, so it is making compromise an impossible task." That came in opening remarks in a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on broadband deployment. Ranking Member Nelson said consumers "deserve better" than chairman Pai's proposal (to roll back Title II classification for both wired and wireless broadband, eliminate the general conduct standard, remove interconnection from net neutrality oversight, and review the Open Internet rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization). "Consumers need to know that we have their back and they deserve certainty and finality when it comes to their essential right to a truly free and open Internet protected by clear, enforceable net neutrality rules."
benton.org/headlines/sen-nelson-bipartisan-net-neutrality-bill-appears-impossible | Broadcasting&Cable | Morning Consult | Hearing Page
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PALLONE: PAI'S PROPOSAL IS THREAT TO ONLINE SPEECH
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai's effort to roll back Title II classification and rethink Open Internet rules was a threat to free speech online. Ranking Member Pallone, who strongly backed the Open Internet order, said that online dialog is critical to democracy but would be jeopardized by Republicans pushing to overturn the rules. He said that without net neutrality rules, large corporations can "begin to choke off conversations they don’t like and speed up ones they do." He said network conglomerates that control the infrastructure are buying content, like news outlets, which gives them a financial incentive to give preference to their own news. But he says the incentive could also be political.
benton.org/headlines/rep-pallone-pais-proposal-threat-online-speech | Broadcasting&Cable | The Hill
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DEMS DEMAND CONCESSIONS FROM GOP TO GET NN COMPROMISE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Ali Breland]
Democratic lawmakers say they’re not interested in cutting a network neutrality deal with Republicans, arguing that their counterparts across the aisle aren’t offering enough concessions. Even as the net neutrality battle focuses on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal to curb the rules, observers say bipartisan legislation is necessary to establish a firm set of rules that can’t simply be overturned the next time FCC leadership changes parties. Democratic Reps and Sens say Republicans need to yield more ground, particularly regarding FCC jurisdiction over broadband providers. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) has a draft of net neutrality legislation in the works, but said that it would be “impractical” to move forward with it unless Democrats get on board. A net neutrality bill would need 60 votes in the Senate, meaning that at least some Democrats would have to sign onto a Republican bill. None have indicated interest in doing so thus far.
benton.org/headlines/democratic-lawmakers-demand-concessions-gop-get-net-neutrality-compromise | Hill, The
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PAI ON A LIGHTER TOUCH
[SOURCE: Vox, AUTHOR: Eric Johnson]
A Q&A with federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on network neutrality. “We don’t want to impose monopoly-style regulation developed for Ma Bell in the 1930s, to apply to every single company in the United States that is building out a broadband network,” Chairman Pai said. “We would much rather have the free-market ‘light touch’ approach that the Clinton administration adopted. We’re not saying the choice is either Title II or the Wild West, it’s light-touch regulation, the middle ground, that we’re looking to return to.” He continued, “We have to remember that not all four million were in support of the [net neutrality] rules. Some 1.6 to 1.7 million were opposed. But this is not a numerical threshold. What we have to do at the agency is figure out the right regulatory framework to preserve a free and open internet and the incentive to invest in networks.”
benton.org/headlines/podcast-fcc-chairman-ajit-pai-calls-lighter-touch-internet-regulation | Vox
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TRUMP'S ATTACK ON OPEN INTERNET IMPERILS DEMOCRACY
[SOURCE: The Cap Times, AUTHOR: John Nichols]
[Commentary] No act of the recklessly authoritarian Trump Administration poses a greater threat to democratic discourse than the now-announced plan to gut network neutrality rules. With newspapers dying, radio syndicated, broadcast television commercialized beyond relevance, and cable television mired in scandal and dead-end punditry, the internet is the essential tool for the communication of ideas and the mobilization of those who choose to resist the autocratic impulses of President Trump and his crony-capitalist cabal. “Chairman Pai’s plan to gut the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules will devastate black communities,” said Rashad Robinson, the executive director of Color of Change, the civil rights group that played a vital role in securing the FCC’s embrace of genuine net neutrality in 2015. “Net neutrality is essential to protecting our free and open internet, which has been crucial to today’s fights for civil rights and equality.”
benton.org/headlines/president-trumps-attack-open-internet-imperils-democracy | Cap Times, The
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VERIZON ACCUSES NN ADVOCATES OF LYING TO RILE BASE
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Kate Kaye]
Network neutrality is under threat and advocacy groups such as Free Press, Fight for the Future and others are pushing to save it. That's not how Verizon, one of the Internet Service Providers hoping for a reversal of Federal Communications Commission rules enabling net neutrality, sees it. "You gotta understand, there are a lot of advocacy groups out there that fundraise on this issue," said Craig Sillman, executive VP-public policy and general counsel at Verizon. "So how do you fundraise? You stir people up with outrageous claims. Unfortunately, we live in a time where people have discovered that it doesn't matter what's true, you just say things to rile up the base."
benton.org/headlines/verizon-accuses-net-neutrality-advocates-lying-rile-base | AdAge
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MORE INTERNET/BROADBAND

GIGABIT OPPORTUNITY ZONES BILL INTRODUCED
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sen Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) has introduced a bill, the Gigabit Opportunity (or GO) Act, that she says would accelerate the deployment of high-speed broadband in low-income and rural communities. It would also add some Hill imprimatur to proposals already offered up by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. The bill would give tax breaks to companies for investing in gigabit-capable expansion into those communities, direct the FCC to release a framework that encourages states, counties and cities to voluntarily adopt streamlined broadband laws and be designated as a “Gigabit Opportunity Zone," and defer capital gains for upgrades and allow companies to expense the cost of creating those zones, as well as allow states to more easily issue tax-exempt bonds.
FCC chairman Ajit Pai has launched two proceedings to make it easier to build out broadband, wireless and wired, and has proposed creating Gigabit Opportunity Zones providing such tax breaks and streamlined approvals for buildouts.
benton.org/headlines/gigabit-opportunity-zones-bill-introduced | Multichannel News
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HOW DO TEENS WITH LIMITED INTERNET APPLY TO COLLEGE?
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Steven Melendez]
Nowadays, students looking to go to college complete almost the entire application process online: finding schools, sending in application forms and essays, and applying for financial aid, all with the click of a mouse or tap of a screen. By fall 2014, colleges and universities received 94% of their applications online, up from 68% in 2007 and 49% in 2005, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling (the NACAC). But between getting into college and figuring out how to pay for it, a strictly online application process can become an additional challenge for teens who have limited financial means and minimal access to the internet. Students whose application fees are waived due to family incomes often end up only applying to a single college. Meanwhile, the average American teen applies to between four and six, according to Annie Reznik, executive director of the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success, a group of more than 90 colleges including Harvard, Princeton, Penn State, and the University of Arizona working to improve application success. “This digital divide is essentially one more barrier that low-income students face,” says David Hawkins, NACAC’s executive director for educational content and policy.
benton.org/headlines/how-do-teens-limited-internet-apply-college | Fast Company
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COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY

WITH PRESS FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK WORLDWIDE, US SETTING WRONG EXAMPLE
[SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists, AUTHOR: Joel Simon]
[Commentary] [P]revious US presidents have been able to exert their influence around the world on behalf of press freedom, however inconsistently. The issue is not partisan, either. The Obama administration raised concerns about press freedom abuses in Egypt, Ethiopia, Turkey, China, and Vietnam; former President George W. Bush told the Today Show that he raised the issue with Russia President Vladimir Putin. Sadly, President Donald Trump has expressed no such interest in protecting this framework or setting a positive example. In fact, while speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania for his 100th day in office, Trump said the media was a "disgrace" and that members of the press were "incompetent, dishonest people." These comments are even more alarming for being part of a broader trend. Among former regional leaders such as Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, and Kenya, press freedom has deteriorated. Still, because he is the president of the United States, Trump's comments are different. As the award-winning Salvadoran reporter Óscar Martínez put it, "Trump inhabits the global showcase. In attacking the US press, he attacks all of the press and puts it at risk."
benton.org/headlines/press-freedom-under-attack-worldwide-us-setting-wrong-example | Committee to Protect Journalists
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JOURNALISM

COMBATING FAKE NEWS
[SOURCE: Harvard University, AUTHOR: David Lazer, Matthew Baum, Nir Grinberg, Lisa Friedland, Kenneth Joseph, Will Hobbs, Carolina Mattsson]
Recent shifts in the media ecosystem raise new concerns about the vulnerability of democratic societies to fake news and the public’s limited ability to contain it. The relatively small, but constantly changing, number of sources that produce misinformation on social media offers both a challenge for real-time detection algorithms and a promise for more targeted socio-technical interventions. There are some possible pathways for reducing fake news, including: (1) offering feedback to users that particular news may be fake (which seems to depress overall sharing from those individuals); (2) providing ideologically compatible sources that confirm that particular news is fake; (3) detecting information that is being promoted by bots and “cyborg” accounts and tuning algorithms to not respond to those manipulations; and (4) because a few sources may be the origin of most fake news, identifying those sources and reducing promotion (by the platforms) of information from those sources. As a research community, we identified three courses of action that can be taken in the immediate future: involving more conservatives in the discussion of misinformation in politics, collaborating more closely with journalists in order to make the truth “louder,” and developing multidisciplinary community-wide shared resources for conducting academic research on the presence and dissemination of misinformation on social media platforms.
benton.org/headlines/combating-fake-news-agenda-research-and-action | Harvard University
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May 2017

To Understand ‘Brexit,’ Look to Britain’s Tabloids

How One Major Internet Company Helps Serve Up Hate on the Web

As US media gave Trump a honeymoon, international journalists took aim

Law Enforcement Agencies' Requests for Facebook Data Continue to Rise

Trump Praises Fox News Ratings, Trashes ‘Out of Control’ Media

May 4, 2017 (Pai's Proposal Is Threat to Online Speech)

Podcast: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai calls for a ‘lighter touch’ to internet regulation

Facebook Scrambles to Police Content Amid Rapid Growth