August 2018

Lawmakers Push FCC Chairman Pai for Answers on DDoS Non-Attack

Four Democratic representatives are pressing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai for answers about the FCC's misidentification of a flood of network neutrality comments as a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, specifically when he and others at the FCC found out about the inaccurate diagnosis. The Reps suggested that there were only two options: that Chairman Pai already knew it was not a DDoS attack but had not shared that information, or that he was ignorant of it, which they suggested would be "dereliction of duty."

Altice USA Files With FCC to Begin Small-Cell Trials Sept. 1 (Multichannel News)

Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Tue, 08/14/2018 - 13:16

Public Knowledge Files Amicus Brief in U.S. v AT&T/Time Warner Appeal (Public Knowledge)

Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Tue, 08/14/2018 - 13:12

The Constitution won’t let President Trump silence White House aides -- NDAs are only for classified information (Washington Post)

Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Tue, 08/14/2018 - 13:12

FTC Approves Modifications to Video Game Industry Self-Regulatory COPPA Safe Harbor Program (Federal Trade Commission)

Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Tue, 08/14/2018 - 13:10

Chairman Pai Remarks Before Michigan Association of Broadcasters

For its part, the Federal Communications Commission will not take the value of broadcasting for granted so long as I am Chairman. I’m committed to modernizing our rules in order to allow broadcasting to flourish. Our record over the past year-and-a-half is proof of this. And with your indulgence, I’d like to walk through some of that record.

Sen. Warner’s Platform Regulation: A good step forward, but what about ISPs?

Sen Mark Warner’s (D-VA) proposals to regulate social media platforms are by far the most ambitious to come from Congress. ProMarket gathered three experts to discuss the pros and cons. Below is the reaction of Beton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate Gigi Sohn:

The Unlikely Activists Who Took On Silicon Valley — and Won

Alastair Mactaggart has became the most improbable, and perhaps the most important, privacy activist in America. Almost by accident, though, Mactaggart had thrust himself into the greatest resource grab of the 21st century. To Silicon Valley, personal information had become a kind of limitless natural deposit, formed in the digital ether by ordinary people as they browsed, used apps and messaged their friends.

Opinion: We're Bad At Regulating Privacy, Because We Don't Understand Privacy (TechDirt)

Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Tue, 08/14/2018 - 12:06

People Still Don't Like Their Cable Companies, CR's Latest Telecom Survey Finds (Consumer Reports)