Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Headlines Daily Digest
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Where The 2020 Presidential Candidates Stand On Broadband Issues
Broadband
Wireless/Spectrum
Platforms/Content
Security/Privacy
Journalism
Elections and Media
Labor
Research
Policymakers
Broadband
Broadband is emerging as a critical campaign issue for the US 2020 presidential election, and there’s good reason: nearly 60 million people in the US do not have broadband service at home. Despite this staggering fact, only four of the 14 presidential candidates we looked at have released fleshed-out policy proposals to expand broadband access (all of them democrats). On the Democratic side, broadband has become a central piece to many rural revitalization plans but as mentioned, only four candidates have released detailed broadband proposals. Sens Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Mayor Pete Buttigieg (South Bend) have each released “Internet for all” type proposals that aim to connect all US households to the Internet; while some of the other candidates, including Sen Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Andrew Yang, have focused more on digital privacy policies to set them apart from the competition. Out of the five key broadband issues (Digital Inclusion/Closing the Digital Divide, Internet Infrastructure, Net Neutrality, Municipal Broadband, and Digital Privacy), only Sens Warren and Sanders have articulated policy proposal on all five.
Wireless/Spectrum
Weather forecast accuracy is at risk from 5G wireless technology, key lawmaker warns FCC, seeking documents
House Science Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) wrote Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai expressing concern about the potential interference of planned urban 5G networks with existing weather satellite sensors. The sensors, mounted aboard polar-orbiting satellites, are used to discern the presence and properties of water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere. The letter calls for the FCC to provide the scientific evidence it is using to inform the commission’s negotiating position ahead of a key international telecommunications meeting. Chairwoman Johnson is seeking the information by Oct. 7 for the committee to review before the start of that meeting Oct. 28.
The letter also, for the first time, releases two reports produced in the past year: one by NASA on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which operates satellites and contains the National Weather Service, and another by NOAA itself. These highly technical analyses concluded that if deployed widely and without adequate restrictions, telecommunications equipment operating in the 24 GHz frequency band would bleed into the frequencies that NOAA and NASA satellite sensors also use, significantly interfering with the collection and transmission of critical weather data. The NOAA report, for example, warns of a potential loss of 77.4 percent of data coming from microwave sounders mounted on the agency’s polar-orbiting satellites.
NDIA reviews what the term smart communities entail and how local government leaders are cementing divides if they fail to include strategies for digital inclusion and digital equity in their smart community plans. While there is a common misconception that the digital divide is a rural problem, three-fourths of the twenty million American households who still lack home broadband or mobile data connections live in urbanized areas, not in remote rural regions; and they are very likely low-income. There is still an urban digital divide and smart communities could make it worse. The solution to the urban digital divide is digital inclusion. Smart cities could embrace digital inclusion and make it happen. Digital inclusion should be part of every region’s smart community strategy. Fortunately, there are a few communities that have been smart enough to recognize that. NDIA reviews what these cities have done to bridge the divide in their region and provide some practical steps for other cities to follow.
Platforms/Content
‘Unconstitutional, unlawful and unsupported’: How Facebook initially tried to fight a multibillion-dollar US fine
Facebook initially mounted an aggressive legal offensive against federal regulators who sought to fine the tech giant billions of dollars for privacy abuses, arguing in newly revealed documents that the company did not harm consumers or profit from mishandling users’ data — and that it would have prevailed in court if it had come to that.
The arguments laid out by Facebook lawyers in a Feb. 28 white paper shed new light on the tech giant’s bare-knuckle, behind-the-scenes efforts at times to spare itself from the toughest punishments by the Federal Trade Commission. The “proposed penalty is unconstitutional, unlawful and unsupported by the allegations in the draft complaint,” lawyers wrote. “No court would entertain such a penalty, and neither will Facebook." The legal jostling between Facebook and the FTC illustrates the precarious decision that government regulators ultimately would have to make — try to fight the tech giant in federal court, embarking on a lengthy, painful legal battle, or settle with the company and obtain whatever relief Facebook was willing to stomach.
The case resulted in a record-breaking settlement that some critics still decried as too weak.
Maybe the answer to fixing social media isn’t trying to change companies with business models built around products that hijack our attention, and instead work to create a less toxic alternative. Nonprofit public media is part of the answer. More than 50 years ago, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act, committing federal funds to create public television and radio that would “be responsive to the interests of people.” Public media came out of a recognition that the broadcasting spectrum is a finite resource. Today, the limited resource isn’t the spectrum — it’s our attention. In this environment, the loudest, scariest voices win, because that’s what works best on a commercially driven platform that’s optimizing for engagement.
Instead of being run, as all these platforms are, are as profit-making entities, public social media would be grounded in its local community. An organization similar to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting could be formed, funded through a mix of government and foundation grants and member donations. And, as with other public media, its board and membership would hold it accountable not for meeting “engagement” metrics, but for how well it serves the public interest and members of its community.
[Mark Coatney is a former director of Tumblr.]
Media coverage of the 2020 Democratic presidential campaigns began in earnest well over a year ago — but it is not providing citizens with the news and information we need in order to cast informed ballots. We are two former Federal Communications Commission chairmen who believe one critical issue the media is avoiding is … the media itself. The high level of consolidation and corporatization that exists in the industry today speaks to media’s lack of interest in addressing the current shortfall in our news and information. In fact, consolidation has been the major driver in journalism’s decline. Just six conglomerates control 90% of traditional media, and social media is controlled by even fewer companies.
Reporters should begin asking candidates why we don’t have net neutrality and an open internet despite polls showing 85% of the public — Republicans, Democrats and Independents — support it. Reporters should be asking the candidates if media consolidation troubles them and what they might do about it. Reporters should be asking why so many communities live in news deserts today and what they would do to fix this. Journalists need to be a contributing part of the solution to the declining state of their own craft. It’s their responsibility, and it is our democracy that is at stake. We can no longer afford for the media to continue ignoring itself in covering presidential campaigns.
[Michael Copps is a former FCC commissioner and chairman. He is special advisor on Media & Democracy Reform at Common Cause. Newton Minow is the former chairman of the FCC.]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that Evan Swarztrauber has joined his office as a Policy Advisor. Swarztrauber starts Sept 30 in his new role and replaces Nathan Leamer, who recently left the FCC. Swarztrauber previously worked for FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr as a Policy Advisor on media issues. He also hosts the FCC’s official podcast. Prior to joining the FCC, he was Director of Public Affairs at TechFreedom, managing the organization’s communications and outreach teams, and representing the organization in a diverse array of coalitions. Swarztrauber also served as a communications staffer in the New York State Assembly and worked on a variety of political campaigns in New York City. Evan received his undergraduate degree from George Washington University.
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org) and Robbie McBeath (rmcbeath AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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