Friday, October 22, 2021
Headlines Daily Digest
Today: The Decade of Digital Inclusion
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Philadelphia and the Digital Divide: Substantial Progress Since 2019, but Work Still to be Done
Digital Inclusion
Broadband Competition
State Initiatives
Wireless
Privacy
Health
Platforms/Social Media
Elections and Media
Kids and Media
Security
How We Live Now
Company News
Stories From Abroad
Digital Inclusion
A June-July 2021 survey of 2,500 Philadelphia shows that—in the aftermath of the public, private, and philanthropic sectors coming together—there has been substantial progress in closing digital gaps in the city. In 2019, American Community Survey (ACS) data showed that 70% of Philadelphia households had wireline broadband at home, a figure that grew to 84% according to the “Connecting Philadelphia” report. That is a sizable change. The Pew Research Center, for instance, shows that, nationally, broadband adoption grew from 73% to 77% over a similar timeframe. What accounts for the fast growth rate in the City of Brotherly Love?
[John Horrigan is a Benton Senior Fellow. He designed the Philadelphia survey and analyzed the data.]
Sen Cortez Masto Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Support American Leadership in Innovation and Technology
Sens Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced the National Science, Innovation, and Technology Strategy Act (S.3015) to support US competitiveness in innovation and technology. The bipartisan legislation will ensure innovators and government agencies are working together to provide guidance on technological issues like artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, the digital divide in broadband, and smart communities. To do this, the bill would require a national strategy and regular national reviews to assess what the federal government is doing to maintain global leadership in science and technology. Analysis from this bill will help make advancements in these areas and provide guidance on the coordination of federal programs needed to address societal and national challenges.
With the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, internet infrastructure was brought to the forefront as a pressing need. The demands of large-scale work from home, school from home, accelerated e-commerce, telehealth, and even family gatherings pushed more of our lives online and exponentially increased demands on internet infrastructure to unprecedented levels and strained capacity in unanticipated ways. This demand also helped shift the real estate industry itself from thinking just in terms of physical space to also considering how to engage within a virtual environment. As conversations about the future of working from home and other COVID adaptations continue, one thing has become abundantly clear: the need for increased bandwidth will only continue to accelerate. Moreover, for people to be full participants in a 21st-century society, both economically and socially, they will need modern digital connectivity. Unfortunately, like so many other aspects of society, access to this connectivity and its many benefits are often deeply uneven—both between urban and rural communities and between neighborhoods and zip codes within the same city—thus creating what is known as the digital divide. The Broadband and Real Estate: Understanding the Opportunity report identifies challenges and the opportunities in addressing the digital divide, the tools and techniques available for both the real estate and land use industry, and the need for communities to expand and best take advantage of this connectivity.
In their 2021 State of the State addresses, at least 40 Governors highlighted the importance of broadband infrastructure and the interconnections with remote learning and telemedicine. These are critical to closing equity gaps and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic crisis. Expanding the physical infrastructure of the internet is only part of the challenge of extending access and connectivity to broadband services across the country. The affordability of sufficient internet service remains a significant barrier to increasing adoption and closing the digital divide in both urban and rural communities. For Governors seeking to expand the affordability of broadband services, the following types of strategies have emerged among the leading best practices:
- Providing direct customer assistance,
- Incentivizing affordable rates through grant programs,
- Expanding service options, and
- Investing in infrastructure and community anchor institutions.
Broadband Competition
Give Competition the Keys to the Condo and Send Monopolies Down the Garbage Shoot
In a Federal Communications Commission proceeding aimed at bringing more competition to consumers living and working in multiple tenant environments (MTEs), like apartments and condominiums, INCOMPAS calls for immediate action that bans anti-competitive industry practices such as Graduated Revenue Share Agreements, Exclusive Wiring Arrangements (including sale-and-leaseback deals) and Exclusive Marketing Agreements that keep residents in the dark to more affordable alternatives. INCOMPAS has long been the leader on the MTE issue, advocating for ending monopoly practices that have harmed smaller providers for nearly a decade.
With American Rescue Plan funds flowing into state government coffers, about a third of the nation’s 50 states have announced what portion of their Rescue Plan dollars are being devoted to expanding access to high-speed Internet connectivity. As expected, each state is taking its own approach. California is making a gigantic investment in middle-mile infrastructure and support for local Internet solutions while Maryland is making one of the biggest investments in municipal broadband of any other state in the nation. And although Colorado does not prioritize community-driven initiatives, state lawmakers there have earmarked $20 million for Colorado’s two federally-recognized Indian tribes to deploy broadband infrastructure with another $15 million devoted to boosting telehealth services in the state. Undoubtedly, individual states’ funding priorities vary. Some states may be relying on previously allocated federal investments to boost broadband initiatives and/or have been persuaded the private sector alone will suffice in solving its connectivity challenges. And in some states, such as Illinois, Minnesota, and Maine, lawmakers have prioritized using state funds to support broadband expansion efforts while other states may be waiting on the infrastructure bill now making its way through Congress before making major broadband funding decisions. What follows is an assessment of the broadband plans of states using American Rescue Plan funds to improve internet connectivity and close the digital divide.
[Sean Gonsalves is a senior reporter, editor and researcher for ILSR's Community Broadband Network Initiative.]
Governor Ralph Northam (D-VA) announced that Virginia has received a record number of local and private sector applications to match state broadband investments, putting the Commonwealth on track to become one of the first states to achieve universal broadband access by 2024. Virginia anticipates more than $2 billion in total broadband funding, thanks to local and private sector matching funds that go beyond the $874 million in state appropriations since the Governor took office in 2018. The Virginia Telecommunication Initiative is the Commonwealth’s broadband program. It was started in 2017 to fund public-private partnerships to extend broadband service to areas unserved by an internet service provider. When the most recent application round closed last month, the program received 57 applications from 84 localities, requesting $943 million to connect more than 250,000 Virginia homes and businesses. These applications leverage $1.15 billion in private and local matching funds. The Department of Housing and Community Development is reviewing applications and expects to award the funds by the end of 2021.
Wireless
Senators Introduce Legislation to Establish a National 6G Strategy to Improve Broadband Access
Sens Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and John Thune (R-SD) introduced a bipartisan bill to establish a national strategy based on an expert council to implement future telecommunications networks, including sixth generation (6G). The Next Generation Telecommunications Act (S.3014) would establish a group to advise Congress on the next generation of telecommunications services, including 6G and other wireless communications. The expert council would develop a national telecom strategy, including focusing on America’s global leadership in broadband, expanding the telecom workforce, and making sure that telecommunication networks are resilient and secure. This approach to creating a national strategy on broadband is modeled after the successful Cyberspace Solarium Commission, which took a similar approach to strengthening America’s cybersecurity.
Investment bank Morgan Stanley published the results of its ninth annual broadband and wireless survey on Oct 18. Among the findings were that only 4% of respondents cited “innovative technology” such as 5G as an important factor in their choice of service. That number was unchanged from the previous year’s survey—despite an unremitting onslaught of marketing from wireless carriers and device makers for the next-gen wireless standard. Customers appear to be driven more by old-fashion promotions than cutting-edge technology. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile offered heavy discounts in 2020 for iPhone 12 models paired with new 5G plans. That appears to have continued with the newest crop; wireless analyst Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson notes that “promotions tied to premium unlimited plans have gotten richer” with the introduction of the iPhone 13 family in 2021. Indeed, the Morgan Stanley survey found price to be the most compelling driver in choice of a wireless plan, with 44% of respondents citing it as their top factor. That leaves 5G itself as an uncertain selling point—but one with some big bills attached.
Privacy
A Look At What ISPs Know About You: Examining the Privacy Practices of Six Major Internet Service Providers
Many internet service providers (ISPs) collect and share far more data about their customers than many consumers may expect—including access to all of their Internet traffic and real-time location data—while failing to offer consumers meaningful choices about how this data can be used. This report details the expanding scope and some troubling aspects of some ISP data collection practices. The report stems from orders the FTC issued in 2019 using its authority under 6(b) of the FTC Act to six internet service providers, which make up about 98 percent of the mobile Internet market: AT&T Mobility, Verizon, Charter Communications, Comcast/Xfinity, T-Mobile US, and Google Fiber.The FTC also issued orders to three advertising entities affiliated with these ISPs: AT&T’s Appnexus Inc., rebranded as Xandr; Verizon’s Verizon Online LLC; and Oath Americas Inc., rebranded as Verizon Media.
These companies have evolved into technology giants who offer not just internet services but also provide a range of other services including voice, content, smart devices, advertising, and analytics—which has increased the volume of information they are capable of collecting about their customers. The Federal Trade Commission identified several troubling data collection practices among several of the ISPs, including that they combine data across product lines; combine personal, app usage, and web browsing data to target ads; place consumers into sensitive categories such as by race and sexual orientation; and share real-time location data with third-parties. At the same time, the privacy protections many of the companies offer raised several concerns.
Platforms/Social Media
CFPB Orders Tech Giants to Turn Over Information on their Payment System Plans
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a series of orders to collect information on the business practices of large technology companies operating payments systems in the United States. Specifically, the orders will compel information on data harvesting and monetization, access restrictions and user choice, and other consumer protections. The information will help the CFPB better understand how these firms use personal payments data and manage data access to users so the Bureau can ensure adequate consumer protection. The CFPB’s work is one of many efforts within the Federal Reserve System to make payments safer, faster, and more competitive. The initial orders were sent to Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal, and Square. The Bureau will also be studying the payment system practices of Chinese tech giants, including Alipay and WeChat Pay. The CFPB’s orders build on the efforts of the Federal Trade Commission’s work to shed light on the business practices of the largest technology companies in the world. The orders also seek to illuminate the range of these consumer payment products and their underlying business practices.
Sen Luján Introduces Legislation to Hold Tech Platforms Accountable for Algorithmic Promotion of Extremist Content
Sen Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) introduced the Protecting Americans from Dangerous Algorithms Act (S.3029) to hold large social media companies accountable for using computer algorithms that promote harmful and dangerous content that leads to offline violence. Reps Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) and Anna G Eshoo (D-CA) introduced companion legislation in the US House of Representatives. The bill narrowly amends Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to remove liability immunity for a platform if it uses an algorithm to amplify or recommend content directly relevant to a case involving interference with civil rights (42 U.S.C. 1985); neglect to prevent interference with civil rights (42 U.S.C. 1986); and in cases involving acts of international terrorism (18 U.S.C. 2333). 42 U.S.C. 1985-1986 are Reconstruction-era statutes originally signed into law to protect newly established civil rights under the 14th Amendment. These laws reaffirm that every person is not only required to treat citizens equally, but must provide equal protection of free speech and free expression from threats of violence and inequality. They have been invoked in recent lawsuits against domestic extremists. The third statute (18 U.S.C. 2333) is implicated in several lawsuits, including against Facebook, alleging its algorithm connected Hamas terrorists with one another and enabled physical violence against Americans. The bill only applies to platform companies with 10 million or more users.
Facebook's oversight board said the company hadn’t been forthcoming about how it exempts high-profile users from its rules and said it is drafting recommendations for how to overhaul the system, following a Wall Street Journal investigation into the practice. The oversight board said Facebook had repeatedly failed to turn over, or provided incomplete, information about how it treats content from large numbers of prominent users. It made calls using a separate set of rules—different from those applied to regular users and known internally as “cross-check,” or “XCheck.” The board, which Facebook created to provide guidance about the company’s enforcement systems and make binding decisions about specific enforcement actions, said the company had failed to mention XCheck when it referred its decision to ban former President Donald Trump from the platform to the board in spring 2021. The company only gave limited detail when asked directly about it by the board. Facebook’s public disclosures about the program made at the board’s recommendation at the time were insufficient, the board said. “We thank the board for their ongoing work and for issuing their transparency report. We believe the board’s work has been impactful,” a Facebook spokesman said, adding that the company “will strive to be clearer in our explanations to them going forward.”
Facebook is struggling to detect and deal with users’ creating multiple accounts on its flagship platform, according to internal documents that raise new questions about how the social-media giant measures its audience. An internal Facebook presentation in spring 2021 called the phenomenon of single users with multiple accounts “very prevalent” among new accounts. The finding came after an examination of roughly 5,000 recent sign-ups on the service indicated that at least 32 percent and as many as 56 percent were opened by existing users. The company’s system for detecting such accounts also tends to undercount them, according to the presentation. A separate memo from May 2021 said that the number of US Facebook users who are in their 20s and active at least once a month often exceeds the total population of Americans their age. “This brings out an elephant in the room: SUMA,” the memo’s author wrote, using an internal abbreviation for “Single User Multiple Accounts.” The author added that the issue could render Facebook’s ratio of users active each day “less trustable.” At issue is the reliability of the information that helps inform some big advertisers’ spending decisions. While Facebook says it doesn’t bill advertisers based on its estimates of an ad’s target audience, some advertisers look at those estimates when planning where to allocate their budgets—especially big brands that have turned to Facebook to reach large audiences as broadcast and cable television viewership have declined.
Company News
AT&T's Third-Quarter Results Show Continuing Customer Growth in Wireless, Fiber and HBO Max
AT&T reported third-quarter results that showed continuing customer growth in wireless, fiber and HBO Max. “We continue to execute well in growing customer relationships, and we’re on track to meet our guidance for the year,” said John Stankey, AT&T CEO. “We had our best postpaid phone net add quarter in more than 10 years, our fiber broadband net adds increased sequentially, and HBO Max global subscribers neared 70 million. We also have clear line of sight on reaching the halfway mark by the end of the year of our $6 billion cost-savings goal.” The company had 289,000 AT&T Fiber net adds with 37 percent penetration. Revenues were $3.1 billion, up 3.4 percent year over year due to gains in broadband more than offsetting declines in legacy voice and data services and other services. Broadband revenues increased 7.6 percent, which reflects fiber subscriber growth and higher ARPU resulting from increases in fiber customers and pricing. Total broadband and DSL subscriber net adds were 6,000, reflecting growth in fiber subscribers offsetting losses in slower-speed services. AT&T Fiber net adds were 289,000. AT&T Fiber is marketed to more than 15 million customer locations.
France has hailed a victory in its long-running quest for fairer action from tech companies after Facebook reached an agreement with a group of national and regional newspapers to pay for content shared by its users. Facebook announced a licensing agreement with the APIG alliance of French national and regional newspapers, which includes Le Parisien and Ouest-France as well as smaller titles. France had been battling for two years to protect the publishing rights and revenue of its press and news agencies against what it termed the domination of powerful tech companies that share news content or show news stories in web searches. Pierre Louette, the head of the media group Les Echos-Le Parisien, said the terms agreed would allow Facebook to implement French law “while generating significant funding” for news publishers, notably the smallest ones. Other newspapers, such as the national daily Le Monde, have negotiated their own deals in recent months. Facebook said that besides paying for French content, it would also launch a French news service, Facebook News, in January 2022 – a follow-up to similar services in the US and UK – to “give people a dedicated space to access content from trusted and reputable news sources.”
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 Grace Tepper (grace AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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