Reporting

Knowledge Gap Hinders Ability of Congress to Regulate Silicon Valley

With bipartisan agreement, members of Congress said that Silicon Valley needed to be reined in with new regulations. But time and again, when the most pressing issues have landed on Capitol Hill — like gun violence, school shootings, immigration and border control — Congress has declared five-alarm fires only to fail to follow through on major legislation. The current zest for new privacy laws is also likely to stall as lawmakers wrestle with the technical complexities and constitutional vexations sure to emerge with any legislation to control content on the internet. Beyond the typical pol

President Trump, Having Denounced Amazon’s Shipping Deal, Orders Review of Postal Service

President Trump abruptly issued an executive order demanding an evaluation of the Postal Service’s finances, asserting the power of his office weeks after accusing Amazon, the online retail giant, of not paying its fair share in postage. In the executive order, issued just before 9 p.m., President Trump created a task force to examine the service’s “unsustainable financial path” and directed the new panel to “conduct a thorough evaluation of the operations and finances of the USPS” The president does not mention Amazon in the order, but it is clear that he intends for the panel to substanti

Facebook is in crisis mode. The teacher strikes show it can still serve a civic purpose.

If there’s ever a moment to capture the existential crisis at Facebook, it was these past couple of weeks. But while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was confronted by members of Congress with his company’s failures, more than 30,000 Oklahoma teachers were rallying at the state Capitol to demand better pay and funding for their state’s struggling schools. It was the teachers’ eighth day on strike.

Senators propose legislation to protect the privacy of users’ online data after Facebook hearing

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Kennedy (R-LA) will introduce legislation to protect the privacy of users’ online data. Though a bill has not been drafted yet, the legislation would, among other things, give users recourse options if their data is breached, and the right to opt out of data tracking and collection.

The proposed legislation will:

Facebook exits anti-privacy alliance it formed with Comcast and Google

Facebook recently teamed up with Google, Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon in order to kill a privacy law that's being considered in California. The five companies each donated $200,000 to create a $1 million fund to oppose the California Consumer Privacy Act, a ballot question that could be voted on in the November 2018 state election. If approved, the law would make it easier for consumers to find out what information is collected about them and to opt out of the sale or sharing of any personal information.

AT&T is trying to undercut the government’s star witness in the blockbuster Time Warner trial

With the Justice Department's top antitrust attorney, Makan Delrahim, looking on from the government's table, AT&T's witness claimed that regulators' economic analysis of the Time Warner deal is "theoretically unsound" and riddled with inaccurate assumptions. "The evidence doesn't support the government's claim that this transaction will harm consumers," said Dennis Carlton, an economist from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.

'Information Fiduciary' would regulate Facebook without going through Congress

We’re trusting services like Facebook with our data, and that trust should come with concrete legal responsibilities. To make that happen, Yale Law professor Jack Balkin proposes designating cloud providers as “information fiduciaries,” binding them an industry-wide code of conduct modeled after similar designations in law, medicine, and finance. In the abstract, the rule would require Facebook and other companies to not act against user’s interest, leaving courts to decide the penalties when they do.

Lawmakers want Facebook's help providing rural broadband

Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Capitol Hill to talk about data privacy. But several lawmakers from rural parts of the country used the opportunity to ask the Facebook CEO to help bring high-speed internet access to their rural constituents. Facebook has rolled out several initiatives to bring low-cost and free broadband to hard to reach areas of the world, such as India and Africa. Now US lawmakers say they'd like to talk to Zuckerberg about focusing those efforts closer to home.

FCC should investigate Sinclair for distorting news, put merger on hold, senators say

A dozen Democratic senators are asking the Federal Communications Commission to investigate Sinclair Broadcasting Group for distorting the news. 

The FCC should also pause its review of Sinclair's acquisition of Tribune Media — a merger that could expand the nation's largest broadcaster from 193 stations to 223 stations covering 72% of US homes  — the senators say, to determine whether the deal is in the public interest.

FTC Pick Pledges to Monitor Tech Giants

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, the last of President Donald Trump’s nominees for the Federal Trade Commission, said if selected she would keep a close eye on whether major tech companies are using anti-competitive or deceptive tactics amid growing concerns that they dominate their markets.

Facebook hearings didn't move the needle on regulation

After more than 10 hours of grilling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Congress is no closer to regulating the platform's privacy practices than it was when the hearings started. It's clear that lawmakers haven't coalesced around a regulatory end-goal, even though the threat remains.

Government's star witness takes the stand in marathon day of AT&T trial

Economist Carl Shapiro said his analysis of AT&T's purchase of Time Warner shows that US consumers could together pay an additional $571 million in the year 2021 if the deal is approved.

"The merger will in fact harm consumers and the harm is significant in terms of the dollar amount," Shapiro testified.

Zuckerberg Faces Hostile Congress as Calls for Regulation Mount

After two days and more than 10 hours of questioning of Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, there was widespread consensus among lawmakers that social media technology — and its potential for abuse — had far outpaced Washington and that Congress should step in to close the gap. But the agreement largely ended there.

After Facebook hearings, users want to know: who's protecting my data?

"Who’s going to protect us from Facebook?" asked Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL) at a House Commerce Committee hearing April 11. There's currently very little recourse for Facebook users whose privacy was breached by the Cambridge Analytica leak, says Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "The reason we need privacy laws is precisely because individuals lose control over their personal information when it is transferred to a business," Rotenberg said. "Privacy laws help ensure personal data is used only for its intended purpose."

Investigators Focus on Another Trump Ally: The National Enquirer

President Trump has long had ties to the nation’s major media players. But his connections with the country’s largest tabloid publisher, American Media Inc., run deeper than most. A former top executive of Trump’s casino business sits on AMI’s four-member board of directors, and an adviser joined the media company after the election. The company’s chairman, David J. Pecker, is a close friend of the president’s.

In Historic Move At Labor-Skeptic 'Chicago Tribune', Newsroom Pushes To Form Union

One of the nation's oldest and most prestigious regional newspapers, The Chicago Tribune, could soon have a unionized staff. On April 11, journalists from its newsroom informed management that they are preparing to organize and that they have collected signatures from dozens of colleagues. This is a historic move at a paper that, for decades, had taken a hard-line stance against unions.

What You Don’t Know About How Facebook Uses Your Data

Facebook’s tracking stretches far beyond the company’s well-known targeted advertisements. And details that people often readily volunteer — age, employer, relationship status, likes and location — are just the start. The social media giant also tracks users on other sites and apps. It also collects so-called biometric facial data without users’ explicit “opt-in” consent, and helps video-game companies target “high-value players” who are likely to spend on in-app purchases.

Mark Zuckerberg Testifies on Facebook Before Skeptical Lawmakers

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's appearance before Congress turned into something of a pointed gripe session, with both Democratic and Republican senators attacking Facebook for failing to protect users’ data and stop Russian election interference, and raising questions about whether Facebook should be more heavily regulated. Of specific interest were the revelations that sensitive data of as many as 87 million Facebook users were harvested without explicit permission by a political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, which was connected to the Trump campaign.

Facebook Fallout Deals Blow to Mercers’ Political Clout

Several Republicans with knowledge of Cambridge’s business said that fallout from the Facebook scandal — combined with widespread doubts about the accuracy of Cambridge’s psychological profiles of voters — had effectively crippled the firm’s election work in the United States. “They’re selling magic in a bottle,” said Matt Braynard, who worked alongside Cambridge on the Trump campaign, for which he served as the director of data and strategy, and now runs Look Ahead America, a group seeking to turn out disaffected rural and blue-collar voters. “And they’re becoming toxic.”

Sinclair mobilizes local TV stations to push message accusing CNN of 'dishonesty and hypocrisy'

Sinclair Broadcast Group has once again mobilized its local television stations to criticize media competitors, accusing CNN of "dishonesty and hypocrisy."  CNN media reporter Brian Stelter had came down hard on the network for its  mandated messaging condemning "one-sided news stories" and "bias." Many Sinclair journalists weren't happy with their corporate leaders either. Sinclair Chief Executive Chris Ripley tried to reassure employees in an internal memo, writing that local journalists had borne the brunt of the "politically motivated" backlash.

Sinclair CEO says ‘extremists’ trying to bully company

Sinclair Broadcast Group CEO Chris Ripley apologized to employees for having to endure what he called “politically motivated attacks” over the company’s recent promos. In a memo sent to staff, Ripley defended the scripts that anchors at more than 60 Sinclair stations were compelled to read, telling staff that the practice “is not unique to Sinclair, however, the blowback we received for doing so certainly is.” 

White House Wants Regulators to Keep Hands Off Tech Industry

The White House’s top tech adviser redoubled the Trump administration’s commitment to deregulate the tech sector and scorned countries that seek to restrict the information flowing across their borders. Michael Kratsios, the deputy U.S. chief technology officer within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, outlined the administration’s strategy for spurring the growth of emerging technologies. The plan echoes the president’s overall laissez-faire approach to economic policy while calling for stronger intellectual property protections on technologies developed in the US.

With Facebook on the ropes, Internet providers seek to press their advantage in Washington

As Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, defends his company's data practices this week before Congress, one of the nation's largest cable companies is asking federal lawmakers for a bill that would rein in social media platforms, search engines and other tech giants that have access to their users' personal data.

Sens Markey, Blumenthal Introduce Opt-In Edge Privacy Bill

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), have introduced the Privacy Bill of Rights bill, the Customer Online Notification for Stopping Edge-provider Network Transgressions (CONSENT) Act, which would require edge providers to obtain opt-in consent to use, share or sell users' personal info. It would not extend opt-in to data collection, but would require edge providers to notify users of such collection. The bill would require the Federal Trade Commission to establish online protections for "customers" of online edge providers, including Facebook and Google.