June 2017

COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY

KNIGHT INSTITUTE DEMANDS TRUMP UNBLOCK CRITICS ON TWITTER
[SOURCE: Knight First Amendment Institute, AUTHOR: ]
In a letter sent to President Donald Trump, the Knight First Amendment Institute asked the President to unblock the Twitter accounts of individuals denied access to his account after they criticized or disagreed with him, or face legal action to protect the First Amendment rights of the blocked individuals. The President’s Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, is a “designated public forum” subject to the First Amendment, according to the Knight Institute. The First Amendment bars the government from excluding individuals from a designated public forum because of their views. The Knight Institute asked the President to unblock its clients, or to direct his subordinates to do so.
benton.org/headlines/knight-institute-demands-president-trump-unblock-critics-twitter | Knight First Amendment Institute | read the letter | USA Today | The Verge
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NET NEUTRALITY

NET NEUTRALITY ONLINE PROTEST
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Some of the Internet's biggest names are banding together for a “day of action” to oppose the Federal Communications Commission, which is working to undo network neutrality regulations for Internet providers that it passed during the Obama Administration. Among the participants are Etsy, Kickstarter and Mozilla, the maker of the popular Firefox Web browser. Also joining the day of protest will be Reddit, the start-up incubator Y Combinator, and Amazon. On July 12, the companies and organizations are expected to change their websites to raise awareness of the FCC effort. Mozilla, for example, will change what users see on their screens when they open a new browser window. The digital rally recalls a similar online effort in 2012 by Google, Wikipedia and others to protest federal legislation on Internet piracy. The companies blacked out their websites in an effort to show how the bill could lead to censorship.
benton.org/headlines/amazon-kickstarter-reddit-and-mozilla-are-staging-net-neutrality-online-protest-july-12 | Washington Post | The Guardian | The Hill
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USTELECOM AND ITS AFTERMATH
[SOURCE: Phoenix Center, AUTHOR: Lawrence Spiwak]
As detailed in this BULLETIN, a proper implementation of Title II precluded the Federal Communications Commission’s approach, forcing the Agency to ignore the “vast majority of rules adopted under Title II” and “tailor[] [Title II] for the 21st Century.” Surprisingly, the DC Circuit found in United States Telecom Association v. FCC that the agency had wide latitude to interpret the Communications Act and not only upheld the agency’s decision to reclassify but also its gross distortion of Title II. In so doing, the DC Circuit has extended Chevron deference beyond any reasonable limit, greatly expanding the Commission’s authority well beyond its statutory mandate. This BULLETIN first presents several examples of how the 2015 Open Internet Order ignores both the plain language of Title II and the extensive case law to achieve select political objectives, followed by a discussion of the DC Circuit’s acceptance of such legal perversions. Next, this BULLETIN discusses how the FCC attempted to use the same theory of the case found in USTelecom to regulate the prices of Business Data Services. Conclusions and policy recommendations are at the end.
benton.org/headlines/ustelecom-and-its-aftermath | Phoenix Center
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END OF NN COULD SHACKLE IOT
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Klint Finley]
Network neutrality doesn’t just cover streaming video. It also ensures that you can use the devices that you want. Under the current net neutrality rules, your internet provider can’t stop you from connecting any laptop, tablet, smartphone, or Wi-Fi router you want to your home network. Without net neutrality, the days when broadband companies and cell carriers could let traffic flow faster to one brand of phone or computer over another could be coming. And that’s just the start. With people connecting more and more devices, from voice-controlled personal assistants like Apple’s forthcoming Home Pod to thermostats to cars, net neutrality becomes that much more important, even as the federal government moves to drop its own protections. Dismissing the rules could be a big problem for the future of the Internet of Things, since companies like Comcast–which is already working on its own smart home platform–certainly have the motivation to create fast and slow lanes for particular gadgets and services. If your internet provider can decide which personal assistant or smart home gadgets you can or can’t use, the broadband can dictate the winners and losers in the Internet of Things race. That wouldn’t bode well for competition, innovation, or you.
benton.org/headlines/end-net-neutrality-could-shackle-internet-things | Wired
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

MEASURING BROADBAND IN SCHIOOLS
[SOURCE: New America, AUTHOR: Chris Ritzo]
In schools across the United States, IT departments are routinely tasked with supporting teachers as they move toward more technology-centric instructional environments. It may seem obvious that this can only be done with a foundation of robust broadband infrastructure. In practice, however, schools don’t always know the state of their infrastructure, or how to best improve it. The challenges that school administrators face when budgeting for and deploying technology vary widely, as do their approaches to supporting its use within their schools. Measuring and assessing network health is a critical challenge facing public schools as they plan for both today’s and tomorrow’s broadband needs.
School districts lack network measurement tools.
School networks present unique technical challenges for network measurement.
Network management practices should be considered in any measurement program.
Upstream ISP peering may affect school network performance.
Performance measurements should be compared with data on network capacity.
benton.org/headlines/measuring-broadband-schools | New America
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SECURITY/PRIVACY

PROHIBITING TARGETED ADVERTISING ONLINE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Carl Szabo]
[Commentary] On its face, the BROWSER Act seems like pro-consumer privacy legislation. But it’s actually an awful deal for Americans who’ve come to depend on free online content and services. The BROWSER Act would disallow interest-based ads by default. In doing so, the act would erase $340 billion in advertising revenue from American websites over the next five years. That’s because the Act requires users to opt-in to interest-based advertising and studies have shown that such an opt-in regime reduces online ads’ effectiveness by 65 percent. Some might initially celebrate this change. But celebration will change to mourning when they realize the price we’ll be paying when websites lose all this ad revenue.
[Carl Szabo is senior policy counsel for NetChoice, a trade association of eCommerce businesses including AOL, Facebook, and 21st Century Fox.]
benton.org/headlines/it-would-be-mistake-congress-prohibit-targeted-advertising-online | Hill, The
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PUBLIC POLICY

IMPROVING THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC POLICY
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Alan Inouye]
[Commentary] Public policy is so frenetic nowadays that it is hard to focus beyond the latest proposal or… tweet. But talking strategically was my assignment as a plenary speaker at the recent Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide (PPDD) conference in San Diego. Admittedly, I appreciated the challenge to think about effective public policy development, the bigger picture and the long term—perspectives that have become scarce here in Washington. An examination of public policy addressing the digital divide is especially timely as it expands in new dimensions. In particular, advancing economic opportunity, such as enabled through the sharing economy and entrepreneurship, depends on the ability to integrate and leverage digital tools and services with the physical world—and ameliorating this digital divide is a major new focus here at the American Library Association.
[Alan S. Inouye leads technology policy for the American Library Association.]
benton.org/headlines/improving-practice-public-policy | Benton Foundation
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POLICYMAKERS

US GVT PATENT CHIEF RESIGNS
[SOURCE: Vox, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
Apparently, the leader of the US government’s leading patent agency, Michelle Lee, has unexpectedly resigned from her post. Lee, a former lawyer for Google, took over the US Patent and Trademark Office during the Obama Administration, and many in the tech industry — which publicly supported her work — believed that President Donald Trump would renominate her to the critical government post. But Lee instead informed the Commerce Department that she would be stepping down from the position. It is unclear if Lee is leaving government entirely or headed to another position. Still, it could amount to a major blow for the tech industry. In April, a series of companies and their lobbying organizations — including Amazon, Facebook, Google, Samsung and others — publicly defended Lee’s tenure and asked President Trump to renominate her for the agency.
benton.org/headlines/us-governments-patent-chief-has-resigned | Vox
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June 2017

Cybersecurity labor crunch to hit 3.5 million unfilled jobs by 2021

Report on Improving Cybersecurity in the Health Care Industry

Why smartphone security is a luxury for those who can afford it

Fiorina: President Trump's tweeting 'very destructive'

5G innovation in the states

Google Webpass heads to Seattle

Media Matters: Trump White House moves from lies to authoritarian-style propaganda

June 7, 2017 (President Trump and Twitter)

FBI Director Comey Told Attorney General Sessions: Don’t Leave Me Alone With President Trump

Attorney General Sessions Is Said to Have Offered to Resign