Daily Digest 10/8/2021 (The Device Divide)

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
Table of Contents

Digital Inclusion

$20 million lawsuit claims Altice reneged on its Keep Americans Connected pledge  |  Read below  |  Linda Hardesty  |  Fierce
To Close the Digital Divide, Congress Must Also Close the Device Divide  |  Read below  |  Jenna Leventoff  |  Op-Ed  |  Morning Consult

Broadband Infrastructure

FCC Makes Available Over $163 Million for Broadband in 21 States  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission
AT&T and Frontier Communications Strike Network Deal  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  AT&T

Platforms/Social Media

Benton Foundation
The Facebook Files and the Future of Social Media  |  Read below  |  Kevin Taglang  |  Analysis  |  Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
Rep Eshoo Calls for Subpoena of Facebook Documents  |  Read below  |  Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA)  |  Press Release  |  House of Representatives
Facebook’s Would-Be Regulators Are Between a Rock and a Hard Place  |  Wall Street Journal
Facebook Under Pressure: Can Congress Regulate Big Tech?  |  Wrap, The
Like whistleblower Frances Haugen, these Facebook employees warned about the company’s problems for years. No one listened.  |  Washington Post
Facebook Renews Its Ambitions to Connect the World  |  Read below  |  Lauren Goode  |  Wired
Facebook’s Terragraph is bridging the last mile gap in Alaska  |  Read below  |  Sue Marek  |  Analysis  |  Fierce
Facebook says its fiber-spinning robot will dramatically reduce costs  |  Read below  |  Sue Marek  |  Fierce
Social media companies remove less hate speech in 2021  |  Politico
Google and YouTube will cut off advertising money for climate change deniers  |  Vox

Wireless

Department of Defense is the largest private 5G network deployer  |  Fierce
What do we know about duopolies? Insights from the history of cellular phones  |  Telecommunications Policy

Privacy

FTC expands its privacy options  |  Read below  |  Benjamin Din  |  Politico

Education

FCC Extends E-Rate Program Gift Rule Waiver through June 30, 2022  |  Federal Communications Commission

Health

Maintaining health information exchange competitiveness in a new health care market  |  Read below  |  Niam Yaraghi, Samantha Lai  |  Analysis  |  Brookings

Content

Social media companies remove less hate speech in 2021  |  Politico
Cloudflare doesn’t have to cut off copyright-infringing websites, judge rules  |  Ars Technica

TV

Media Matters: AT&T Needs to 'Immediately Sever Ties' with OAN  |  Next TV

Labor

Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Silenced No More Act to protect whistleblowers in California  |  California Office of Governor

Security

Hackers are waging a guerrilla war on tech companies, revealing secrets and raising fears of collateral damage  |  Washington Post

Industry/Company News

2021 Rural Telecommunications Benchmark Study  |  Read below  |  Research  |  BKD
Telegram says it added 70 million new users during Facebook outage  |  Guardian, The
Google Fiber Growing as Atlanta Grows  |  Google

Policymakers

Lawmakers are frustrated with delayed FCC appointments  |  Read below  |  Benjamin Din  |  Politico

Stories From Abroad

US Set Out to Hobble China’s Huawei, and So It Has  |  Wall Street Journal
Ireland’s status as tax haven for tech firms like Google, Facebook, and Apple is ending  |  Vox
Russian court orders bailiffs to enforce fine on Facebook for breaching Russian laws on illegal content  |  Associated Press
Today's Top Stories

Sample Category

$20 million lawsuit claims Altice reneged on its Keep Americans Connected pledge

Linda Hardesty  |  Fierce

The owner of a New York City barbershop has filed a $20 million class-action lawsuit against Altice, claiming that Altice reneged on its Keep Americans Connected pledge during the pandemic. Artem Shalomayev, owner of 3715 Barber Shop in the Bronx, is suing on behalf of potentially thousands of other similarly-situated small business owners, according to the plaintiff's lawyer Jon Norinsberg. On March 13, 2020, then-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced the Keep Americans Connected initiative, asking broadband providers to pledge not to terminate service to any residential or small business customers because of their inability to pay their bills and to waive any late fees. More than 800 companies, including Altice, signed the chairman’s pledge. Shalomayev said he was sent three Altice invoices from March to June 2020, charging for internet and phone services even though his business was mandatorily closed. His suit says that Altice then terminated his services based on non-payment in late June 2020, which he views as going against the pledge. According to his complaint, Shalomayev asked an Altice customer service representative if he could pay the bills in order to get his service restored, and the representative said that his service was permanently disconnected, that he would have to set up a new account and pay a $180.00 reconnection fee. Norinsberg stated that the lawsuit is focused on the issue of being forced to enter a new contract with a new reconnection fee when services shouldn’t have been terminated in the first place. Although Shalomayev is the only plaintiff at this time, Norinsberg said his law firm is estimating a 50,000-member class with similar damages.

To Close the Digital Divide, Congress Must Also Close the Device Divide

Jenna Leventoff  |  Op-Ed  |  Morning Consult

The “device divide” is one of the top reasons why individuals aren’t connected to the internet. That’s why it won’t matter how much Congress invests in connecting everyone to affordable, reliable high-speed internet (and it is investing a lot) — Congress won’t be able to achieve universal connectivity without making sure that low-income consumers can afford to purchase a device. The Device Access for Every American Act, introduced by Sen Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Rep A Donald McEachin (D-VA), would get devices into the hands of those who need them. This legislation would provide low-income consumers with a voucher to purchase a high-quality computer or tablet directly from a retailer or device refurbisher. Each household would be eligible for two devices so that multiple members of the household can connect simultaneously. To help get the word out, the legislation also includes funding for robust advertising of these available benefits. This is a crucial piece of legislation that Congress must include in its forthcoming budget reconciliation package. A device voucher program, like the one proposed in the Device Access for Every American Act, will help low-income consumers to afford a device — and finally get online. Congress is about to make a generational investment in our digital future. For these monies to have a lasting impact, they must address the device divide. If they do not, we’ll continue to have families that simply cannot connect, and as a result, fall further behind.

[Jenna Leventoff is a senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge.]

FCC Makes Available Over $163 Million for Broadband in 21 States

Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission announced that it is ready to authorize $163,895,636 to 42 providers in the second round of funding for new broadband deployments through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The FCC is also continuing its work to refocus the program to ensure that funding goes to unserved areas that need broadband. As part of that process, 85 winning bidders have chosen not to pursue buildout in 5,089 census blocks in response to letters the FCC sent asking applicants to review their bids in areas where there was evidence of existing service or questions of potential waste. In this funding wave, 42 broadband providers will bring fiber-to-the-home gigabit broadband to approximately 65,000 locations in 21 states over the next 10 years. The FCC continues to closely review long-form applications of other winning bidders that were previously announced to ensure they meet the technical, financial, and operational capabilities to comply with program obligations. In July 2021, the FCC sent letters to 197 winning bidders offering providers an opportunity to withdraw their funding requests from places where there was evidence of service or where questions of waste have been raised. In response to these letters, numerous winning bidders have conducted new due diligence on the areas in question, and many have decided not to pursue support in the identified areas.

AT&T and Frontier Communications Strike Network Deal

Press Release  |  AT&T

AT&T will work with Frontier Communications to bring fiber-optic connectivity to large enterprise customers outside AT&T’s current footprint. The two companies signed multi-year strategic agreements that will also support the deployment of AT&T’s 5G mobility network. As the demand for edge computing and 5G networks grows, so too does the need for resilient fiber pathways for a connected society. Enterprises need more bandwidth to keep data moving fast. By collaborating with Frontier, AT&T will be able to offer large enterprise customers high-speed, low-latency and highly secure connectivity in markets where it does not own a fiber network or currently plan to build one. AT&T is building out additional fiber across its wired footprint and plans to reach about 2.5 million incremental customer locations passed by the end of 2021 and 30 million locations by the end of 2025. The company will be able to utilize Frontier’s fiber network to help reach enterprise customers in Frontier’s service territories reaching 25 states. In addition, AT&T will tap Frontier’s Ethernet network to boost connectivity between cell towers and the core network.

The Facebook Files and the Future of Social Media

Kevin Taglang  |  Analysis  |  Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

We might be tempted to remember this as Mark and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. A series of damaging articles in the Wall Street Journal, a whistleblower testifying before Congress, and a massive outage of the platform. But Facebook's problems date back much farther than this week. The ramifications could last long into the future—and impact much more than the social media giant.

Rep Eshoo Calls for Subpoena of Facebook Documents

Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA)  |  Press Release  |  House of Representatives

Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA), senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called on the Committee to subpoena documents from Facebook related to recent whistleblower complaints and testimony. “Frances Haugen courageously exposed what we've long suspected: Facebook has known the harm caused by their platform and has done nothing about it," stated Eshoo. "The Energy and Commerce Committee must subpoena all documents from Facebook related to Ms. Haugen's testimony and her SEC whistleblower complaints, particularly those related to the mental health of children, Covid-19, election misinformation, algorithmic amplification, and targeted advertising. Ms. Haugen’s disclosures are highly instructive to our legislative process and any frivolous lawsuits or other retaliation against her would be highly problematic.”

Facebook Renews Its Ambitions to Connect the World

Lauren Goode  |  Wired

Facing heightened scrutiny for its social media policies and relentless quest for growth, Facebook is now turning its attention to getting more people high-speed internet access in hard-to-reach places. The move comes with some irony, as it comes on the heels of Facebook’s own massive outage, which temporarily took down all of the apps in its empire. Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer trumpeted the work of the company’s Connectivity group and revealed plans to connect a billion more people around the globe via high-speed internet. Schroepfer says Facebook is working on a new, 24-fiber transatlantic subsea cable system that will connect Europe to the US; has improved its aboveground, fiber-deploying robot; and has been testing a “last-mile” wireless internet system that delivers gigabit speeds over the air. Facebook is among several tech companies with ambitions of expanding internet access around the world, but many have run into both technical and political obstacles. However, the company is in a uniquely powerful position: In some parts of the world, Facebook is already synonymous with the internet, even if it is not technically an internet service provider. And as its content moderation and targeted advertising practices fall under increasing scrutiny, having its hands in the underlying infrastructure of the internet raises concerns. Some telecom operators and human rights activists have accused the company of building a two-tiered internet that could widen disparities in access.

Facebook’s Terragraph is bridging the last mile gap in Alaska

Sue Marek  |  Analysis  |  Fierce

Facebook-led Terragraph is a technology designed to bridge the last mile gap between the subscriber and the service provider’s closest fiber node. Terragraph's fixed wireless service delivers multi-gigabit-speed data using 60 GHz unlicensed millimeter wave spectrum. The technology works by using its transmitters, which are typically deployed on street lights or rooftops, to create a distributed network. It can extend a fiber network wirelessly through these nodes to provide last-mile connectivity. In the US, Alaska Communications has deployed Terragraph using Cambium equipment and is delivering high-speed internet with speeds up to 1 Gbps to more than 6,500 homes in Anchorage. The service, which is called AKXinternet, requires the installation of a small radio on the rooftop of a home, plus interior wiring to connect the radio to the modem and then the network must be configured. On its website, Alaska Communications estimates that this will take about two hours to complete an installation. With the lengthy installation process, I’m skeptical about Terragraph’s ability to generate traction with service providers, unless they have a good fixed-wireless access business case. However, the solution seems to be a good fit for wireless internet service providers, especially if it can deliver 1-Gbps speeds in areas where fiber is non-existent.

[Sue Marek is a contributing editor at Fierce.]

Facebook says its fiber-spinning robot will dramatically reduce costs

Sue Marek  |  Fierce

Facebook Connectivity thinks it has developed a cheaper and faster way to deploy fiber that doesn’t involve digging up streets. Instead, the company has created Bombyx, an aerial fiber-deploying robot that crawls along power lines and wraps fiber around those lines. The company envisions Bombyx being used as a middle-mile fiber solution, meaning it can bring fiber capacity to a pole mount and from there a service provider would either have to use underground fiber or wireless for the last-mile connection. Facebook Connectivity is the part of Facebook that is tasked with working on technologies and partnerships with the goal of bringing the internet to more people around the world. Its executives said Bombyx is exiting its research and development phase and the company is now looking for potential partners, such as electric utility companies. Bombyx could be deployed on electrical infrastructure anywhere in the world where communities are looking for a low-cost way to deploy fiber, including in the US. Facebook says that one of the big disadvantages faced by power companies that are currently deploying aerial fiber is that these companies typically have to interrupt the power service to homes and businesses during the process. Bombyx, however, doesn’t require that because it would wrap the power lines with fiber without human assistance.

FTC expands its privacy options

Benjamin Din  |  Politico

Privacy advocates cheered the Federal Trade Commission’s decision to revive its rarely used “penalty offense authority” against for-profit colleges that make misleading or deceptive claims, a move that shows the agency is expanding its enforcement options after the Supreme Court gutted its authority to seek monetary damages from companies that engage in illegal conduct. The FTC could use this penalty offense authority to target various other cases, including several involving tech — and it should do so, FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra and his then-adviser Samuel Levine argued in a paper published October 2020 (Levine is now director of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection). Some examples they cited: gig economy companies that mislead workers about how much money they can make; companies that employ influencers for posts or fake reviews without disclosing that they’re sponsored; and deceptive data practices, such as when companies tell users they’re collecting data for one purpose and then use that data for another. FTC Chair Lina Khan said the agency was “resurrecting a dormant authority to deter wrongdoing and hold accountable bad actors who abuse students and taxpayers.” The authority, granted to the FTC in 1975, allows the agency to fine companies if they knowingly engage in behavior the FTC has deemed “unfair or deceptive.”

Maintaining health information exchange competitiveness in a new health care market

Niam Yaraghi, Samantha Lai  |  Analysis  |  Brookings

The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the skyrocketing adoption of information technologies, especially in the health care system. The digital transformation of the health care industry is not merely restricted to increased use of telemedicine and telehealth, but also the creation of new care-delivery systems unexpectedly driven by agents external to the health care system, including new medical technology startups and retail companies. This also may be the very first time that agents outside of the market are leading changes inside the health care market, with new entrants to the market challenging the role that traditional health care providers have played. While the expansion of approved telehealth services and higher insurance reimbursements by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) paved the way for remote health care, dramatic changes in patient and physician attitudes, coupled with high return expectations of venture capitalists and entry of retail companies into the health care market, have been key drivers of the current digital transformation. A market that has traditionally been shielded from outside competition is now being disrupted by new, unconventional competitors. In turn, this has transformed the field of health information exchange (HIE), bringing forward the larger question of what their role in an evolving and highly competitive health care market.

[Niam Yaraghi is a nonresident senior fellow of governance studies and Samantha Lai is a research assistant at the Brookings Center for Technology Innovation.]

2021 Rural Telecommunications Benchmark Study

Research  |  BKD

The 2021 BKD Rural Telecommunications Benchmark Study is unique in that it has data from 170 rural telecommunications companies in 18 states. Every year the BKD study provides an in-depth look at how the rural telecommunications industry has performed. This year we look at the impact of 20 years of broadband services. The biggest takeaways from the 2021 Rural Telecommunications Benchmark Study are:

  • Twenty years after the rollout of broadband services, internet revenues continue to provide growth opportunities to the rural telecommunications industry
  • Companies electing the form of regulation ACAM I and ACAM II have benefited financially in the short term from the election
  • Rural companies are financially strong
  • Even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, increased competition, and regulatory and legislative uncertainty, the rural telecommunications industry has succeeded in the growth of broadband services, revenues, and operating income

Lawmakers are frustrated with delayed FCC appointments

Benjamin Din  |  Politico

Lawmakers are getting frustrated with the Biden administration’s lack of urgency in appointing a fifth commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission. The five-member agency has been down a commissioner since former GOP Chair Ajit Pai vacated the position during the presidential transition. Democratic lawmakers and progressive groups expected President Joe Biden to move quickly on a nominee, since a fully staffed FCC would be crucial to achieving progressive goals like reinstating net neutrality rules and increasing transparency around internet billing. Nearly nine months in, Biden still hasn’t made his pick. Making matters complicated, Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s term lapsed in June 2020, which means she’ll have to leave the FCC by the end of 2021 unless President Biden nominates her and the Senate confirms her to another five-year term — a Herculean task with so few legislative days left this year and so much else on Congress’ schedule. With Rosenworcel out, the remaining Democrat, Geoffrey Starks, would become acting chair. He would have the power to set the voting agenda at monthly open meetings, but the two Republican commissioners could outvote him on every item if they so chose. Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA), who supports Rosenworcel for permanent chair, lamented the White House inaction during an Energy and Commerce hearing. “I think it’s troubling,” she said. “The FCC should not be left without a permanent chair being named.”

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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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