October 2018

Majority of Americans say President Trump is just venting when he calls the press 'enemies of the people'

A staple of President Donald Trump’s rallies is criticism of the news media, which he has often labeled as “enemies of the people.” What do the people think? Asked if President Trump’s words were an example of his expressing frustration or whether he was issuing a serious warning when he makes those kinds of remarks, 45% said they believed he was serious compared to 55% who said he was expressing frustration, according to a recent USC-Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. The public also split closely on whether President Trump’s remarks are potentially harmful.

Chairman Pai's 5G plans make it harder for small ISPs to deploy broadband

The Federal Communications Commission is changing the rules for an upcoming spectrum auction in a way that will make it harder for small carriers to buy spectrum for deploying rural broadband. The change—requested by T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon—will help the big carriers deploy nationwide 5G networks, according to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal.

Remarks of Commissioner O'Rielly at the 2018 Kentucky Broadcasters Association Conference

As many of you know, since Chairman Ajit Pai took the helm at the Federal Communications Commission, the Commission has been focused on eliminating archaic regulations that no longer make sense. These actions have taken many shapes, from eliminating the main studio rule to eradicating duplicative or non-useful forms at the Commission. In the coming months, I hope that we can bring to order many of these proceedings that we launched in 2017 and earlier in 2018.

Center for Digital Democracy’s Principles for U.S. Privacy Legislation

Today’s commercial practices have grown over the past decades unencumbered by regulatory constraints, and increasingly threaten the American ideals of self-determination, fairness, justice and equal opportunity. It is now time to address these developments: to grant basic rights to individuals and groups regarding data about them and how those data are used; to put limits on certain commercial data practices; and to strengthen our government to step in and protect our individual and common interests vis-à-vis powerful commercial entities.

Senators Blumenthal, Rubio press Super Micro for answers on hacking concerns

Sens Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) put pressure on IT company Super Micro, asking in a letter that it cooperate with law enforcement and explain more about the potential breach. Super Micro, Apple and Amazon have all refuted the Bloomberg report that detailed how the Chinese government was able to take advantage of vulnerabilities in Super Micro's supply chain, with the companies saying that their own investigations have not found evidence of a hack or of being compromised in the way described in the report.