December 2017

Cyber Diplomacy Act gives cyber the importance it needs at the State Department (Brookings)

Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Mon, 12/04/2017 - 10:10

Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai were surprise guests at China’s internet conference (The Verge)

Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Mon, 12/04/2017 - 10:09

White House paranoid: 'Everyone thinks they’re being recorded'

Paranoia is enveloping the White House and President Donald Trump’s network of former aides and associates as Robert Mueller’s Russia probe heats up. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of the plea deal he reached last week, adding to the worry already inside Trump’s circle surrounding the secret deal struck earlier this summer by former campaign aide George Papadopoulos, whose cooperation was kept quiet for months before being unsealed in late October.

Trump lawyer claims the "President cannot obstruct justice"

John Dowd, President DonaldTrump's outside lawyer, outlined a new and highly controversial defense/theory in the Russia probe: A president cannot be guilty of obstruction of justice. The "President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [the Constitution's Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case," Dowd claims.

Facebook Has a New Messaging App Aimed at Those 13 and Under

More than 1 billion people — mostly adults — use Facebook’s Messenger app to communicate every month. Now, the future of Messenger is set to become much younger.

Daily Digest 12/4/2017

Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Mon, 12/04/2017 - 09:50

Daily Digest 12/4/2017 (FCC Delays National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier)

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Mon, 12/04/2017

Benton Foundation

Sorry for the delay this morning; it was a rough weekend

The FCC asked for net neutrality opinions, then rejected most of them

If you heard that the Federal Communications Commission received a staggering 21.7 million comments during its open comment period on its forthcoming net neutrality ruling, you might assume this phenomenon represented democracy in action. But in reality, those 21.7 million comments represent a new challenge to democracy — specifically to the way we register what actually counts as an opinion. The FCC made clear that it would be dismissing most of the 21.7 million comments submitted to its website as part of the open comment period on its planned repeal of net neutrality laws.

Loading a Website Should Not Be a Copyright Violation (Public Knowledge)

Submitted by benton on Mon, 12/04/2017 - 07:28

AT&T wants you to forget that it blocked FaceTime over cellular in 2012

AT&T recently said the company has never blocked third-party applications and that it won't do so even after the rules are gone. Just one problem: the company fails to mention that AT&T blocked Apple's FaceTime video chat application on iPhones in 2012 and 2013. AT&T blocked FaceTime on its cellular network when users tried to access the application from certain data plans, such as unlimited data packages.

Benton

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