October 28, 2017 (Special Weekend Edition)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for SATURDAY, OCTOBER 38, 2017 (Weekend Edition)

You are receiving this special weekend edition of Headlines today because we’ll, sadly, not be in your In Box on Monday. We’re getting to launch a new version of benton.org and will be back on Tuesday, October 31 with 101 reasons why telecommunications policy is really spooky.


ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Facebook is taking a stricter stance on political advertising ahead of its testimony to Congress
   Sen Feinstein is demanding more information from Facebook and Twitter about Russian users on their sites
   Facebook scrubbed potentially damning Russia data before researchers could analyze it further
   Twitter's decision to ban ads from a Russian broadcaster could backfire [links to Verge, The]

JOURNALISM
   ‘When these guys leave, we’re still here’: A four-man local newspaper braces for white nationalists and the national media [links to Washington Post]
   Don’t confuse volume of news with importance - analysis [links to Benton summary]
   Political ignorance and the future of political misinformation online - WaPo op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   Political journalism has been profoundly shaped by men like Leon Wieseltier and Mark Halperin [links to Vox]

INTERNET/BROADBAND/TELECOMMUNICATIONS
   Commissioner Mignon Clyburn Statement on FCC Majority's Lifeline Proposal - press release
   Mobile Broadband Service Is Not an Adequate Substitute for Wireline - research
   CenturyLink agrees with Verizon, AT&T to realign the copper retirement process
   Op-ed: Net neutrality good for small business, low-income people, consumers [links to Des Moines Register]

OWNERSHIP
   FCC Announces Plan to Scrap Ownership Limits [links to Benton summary]
   Consumer Protection in the 21st Century - House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden
   FCC Chairman Pai Delivering Big For Broadcast On Nov 16 - Harry Jessell editorial [links to Benton summary]
   Modernizing the Mother of All Media Regulations - National Association of Broadcasters press release [links to Benton summary]
   Fake News Alert: Media Conglomerates Convince FCC that Facebook can Replace Local News Stations - analysis [links to Benton summary]
   President Trump’s FCC Chair Moves to Undermine Journalism and Democracy - John Nichols [links to Benton summary]

CONTENT
   In 2017, the Web Series May be the New TV Pilot [links to Verge, The]
   Google no longer lets you change domains to search different countries [links to Verge, The]

ADVERTISING
   On NFL Thanksgiving Menu: Six-Second Ads [links to New York Times]

PRIVACY/SECURITY
   Supreme Court's Cell Phone Tracking Case Could Hurt Privacy - op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   Your Data Is Being Manipulated - speech [links to Benton summary]
   New Cyber Shield Act Would Create IoT Cybersecurity Seal of Approval [links to Benton summary]
   Department of Commerce: Remaining Safe in a “Smart” World [links to Department of Commerce]
   T-Mobile Alerted 'A Few Hundred Customers' Targeted By Hackers [links to Vice]

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
   FirstNet Facts: Ensuring States, Territories & Public Safety Have the Information They Need [links to First Responder Network Authority]
   Hurricane Maria Communications Status Report for Oct. 27 [links to Federal Communications Commission]

HEALTH
   How can broadband help with the opioid crisis? [links to Blandin Foundation]

PATENTS
   Comcast Settles Sprint Patent Spat for $250M [links to Multichannel News]

POLICYMAKERS
   FCC Commissioner Carr picked to lead small cell deployment reform [links to Benton summary]
   Politicians Are Bad at Podcasting - analysis [links to Benton summary]

COMPANY NEWS
   Amazon's Jeff Bezos is now the richest man in the world with $90 billion [links to USAToday]
   The New York Times is now on Tor as its own Onion Service [links to Fast Company]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Facebook Allowed Questionable Ads in German Election Despite Warnings [links to Benton summary]

back to top

ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

FACEBOOK STANCE ON POLITICAL ADVERTISING
[SOURCE: Vox, AUTHOR: Tony Romm, Kurt Wagner]
Facebook is trying to make it easier to identify political ads in your News Feed. The company announced it will soon require advertisers — especially political candidates — to disclose more information about their advertising efforts on the platform as the company seeks to temper concerns from the US Congress about Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Facebook’s new policies include labeling political ads so they’re easier to identify, and creating a catalogue of these and other ads so users can see how much advertisers are paying and who they are targeting. But many of the changes intended to create more transparency don’t appear to address the most problematic ads purchased in 2016 by Kremlin-backed, online trolls. These ads, referred to as "issue ads," sought to stir social and political unrest in the United States around issues like Black Lives Matter, not necessarily to promote candidates like Donald Trump. Still, the announcements come as Facebook prepares for what could be a brutal grilling before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The panels are investigating Russia’s suspected interference in the 2016 presidential election, and they’ll also hear from senior executives at Google and Twitter during back-to-back hearings on Nov. 1.
benton.org/headlines/facebook-taking-stricter-stance-political-advertising-ahead-its-testimony-us-congress-next | Vox | The Hill
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


SEN FEINSTEIN DEMANDING MORE INFO FROM FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
[SOURCE: Vox, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is demanding that Facebook and Twitter turn over reams of new data about Russian disinformation spread on their platforms during the 2016 US presidential election. Her requests — detailed in exhaustive letters to the two tech giants’ chief executives — are part of her broader probe into the Kremlin’s potential coordination with President Donald Trump’s campaign. Specifically, Sen Feinstein seeks information about any Russian-connected user accounts, pages, organic content and ads that targeted their efforts at the United States. And with Twitter, in particular, she asks the company to share some direct messages sent and received by Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. In both cases, though, Sen Feinstein demands answers by Nov 6. That’s five days after Facebook and Twitter are set to send their senior legal advisers to Capitol Hill for back-to-back hearings before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, which have spearheaded lawmakers’ Russia investigations.
benton.org/headlines/sen-feinstein-demanding-more-information-facebook-and-twitter-about-russian-users-their | Vox
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


FACEBOOK SCRUBBED POTENTIALLY DAMNING RUSSIA DATA
[SOURCE: Business Insider, AUTHOR: Natasha Bertrand]
Facebook removed thousands of posts shared during the 2016 election by accounts linked to Russia after a Columbia University social-media researcher, Jonathan Albright, used the company's data-analytics tool to examine the reach of the Russian accounts. Albright, who discovered the content had reached a far broader audience than Facebook had initially acknowledged, said that the data had allowed him "to at least reconstruct some of the pieces of the puzzle" of Russia's election interference. "Not everything, but it allowed us to make sense of some of this thing," he said. Facebook confirmed that the posts had been removed. But a spokesman said it was because the company had fixed a glitch in the analytics tool — called CrowdTangle — that Albright had used which provided "an unintended way to access information about deleted content." "Facebook is cooperating fully with federal investigations and are providing info to the relevant authorities," the spokesman said.
benton.org/headlines/facebook-scrubbed-potentially-damning-russia-data-researchers-could-analyze-it-further | Business Insider
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

INTERNET/BROADBAND/TELECOMMUNICATIONS

CLYBURN STATEMENT ON LIFELINE PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn]
As I participate today in Silicon Harlem's annual conference, I'm reminded of the 929,000 New Yorkers, including those who live and work in the heart of Harlem, that depend on the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline program for affordable telecommunications services. I am saddened to affirm, during a conference that seeks to find solutions to narrow technology divides and create enhanced opportunities for the disconnected, that the FCC majority has issued a so-called proposal for the Lifeline program which promises to jeopardize our efforts at ubiquitous and affordable services for the citizens of New York and the rest of the country. If the goal of the current FCC majority is to widen existing divides, and ensure that our nation's most vulnerable are less likely to be connected, this item sets us on that path. It will harm those less fortunate, those who need to dial 911, stay in touch with their children's educators, keep a job, and stay healthy. The day we head down such a path, is a sad one indeed. I commit to doing everything in my power to ensure that the only universal service program designed to close the affordability gap, remains a shining and successful means for economically-strapped citizens to have voice and broadband services.
benton.org/headlines/commissioner-mignon-clyburn-statement-fcc-majoritys-lifeline-proposal | Federal Communications Commission
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


MOBILE IS NOT AN ADEQUATE SUBSTITUTE
[SOURCE: Columbia Telecommunications Corporation Technology and Energy, AUTHOR: ]
This report analyzes the current and emerging generation of mobile wireless technologies and Compares those technologies to wireline technologies such as fiber‐to‐the‐premises (FTTP), cable broadband, and copper DSL across a range of technical parameters, including reliability, resilience, scalability, capacity, and latency. The report also evaluates wireless carriers’ mobile pricing and usage structures—including so‐called “unlimited” data plans—because those policies play a significant role in whether consumers can substitute mobile for wireline service. The report concludes that, for both technical and business reasons, wireless technologies are not now, and will not be in the near to medium future, adequate alternatives or substitutes for wireline broadband.
benton.org/headlines/mobile-broadband-service-not-adequate-substitute-wireline | Columbia Telecommunications Corporation Technology and Energy
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top


CENTURYLINK AGREES WITH VERIZON, ATT TO REALIGN THE COPPER RETIREMENT PROCESS
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Sean Buckley]
CenturyLink is joining the chorus of incumbent telecommunication companies that want the copper retirement and legacy service discontinuance process to be simplified to facilitate the build out and expansion of next-gen fiber and IP-based services. In an Federal Communications Commission filing, CenturyLink has asked the regulator to streamline the Section 214 and copper retirement processes. “CenturyLink expressed wholehearted support for the Commission’s proposals to expedite and streamline the Section 214 and copper retirement processes,” Century wrote. “The migration to next-generation facilities and services is both natural and desirable. The Commission therefore should eliminate prior approval requirements where possible and streamline those that remain.”
benton.org/headlines/centurylink-agrees-verizon-att-realign-copper-retirement-process | Fierce
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

OWNERSHIP

CONSUMER PROTECTION IN THE 21ST CENTURY
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR)]
[Commentary] It is this committee’s mission to protect consumers, and in the coming months, we will be taking a more expansive look at the online experience to ensure safety, security, and an unfiltered flow of information. Recently, the Equifax data breach compromised the personal information of 145 million Americans, including social security numbers, addresses, credit card numbers, and more. This committee held a hearing on the breach and will continue to deeply scrutinize the staggering amount of personal information changing hands online and the business practices surrounding those transactions. My colleagues and I will hold a separate hearing to assess identity verification practices, and determine whether they can be improved to protect personal data on the web even after a consumer’s information has been breached. These hearings are just the start of a long-term, thoughtful, and research-focused approach to better illuminate how Americans’ data is being used online, how to ensure that data is safe, and how information is being filtered to consumers over the web. While technology is responsible for a lot of positive change in our world, malignant behavior online can have consequences that are not fully disclosed to the American people.
benton.org/headlines/consumer-protection-21st-century | Medium | The Hill
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top