Manipulating Social Media to Undermine Democracy
Governments around the world are dramatically increasing their efforts to manipulate information on social media, threatening the notion of the internet as a liberating technology. Online manipulation and disinformation tactics played an important role in elections in at least 18 countries over the past year, including the United States, damaging citizens’ ability to choose their leaders based on factual news and authentic debate. The content manipulation contributed to a seventh consecutive year of overall decline in internet freedom, along with a rise in disruptions to mobile internet service and increases in physical and technical attacks on human rights defenders and independent media. This report assesses internet freedom in 65 countries, accounting for 87 percent of internet users worldwide. The report primarily focuses on developments that occurred between June 2016 and May 2017, although some more recent events are included as well.
AG Sessions Questions Reporting on AT&T–Time Warner Merger
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, testifying at a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, pushed back on recent reports suggesting the politicization of the government's review of the AT&T and Time Warner merger. Last week, it was widely reported that the Department of Justice asked AT&T in a Monday meeting to divest Turner as a condition of winning approval, possibly owing to President Donald Trump's distaste for CNN. "First, I would say that I don't accept, and cannot accept, the accuracy of that news report," Sessions told Rep Hank Johnson (D-GA). When asked specifically whether the Department of Justice has asked AT&T to divest Time Warner, Sessions said, "I don't think...I'm able to accept as accurate news reports that have come out on that." Speaking about the merger review process more broadly, Sessions said: "Our work is professional." Later in the hearing, Rep.
AT&T’s Merger Fight Heads Toward Pre-Thanksgiving Showdown
The Justice Department is encouraging AT&T to address antitrust officials’ concerns about the $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner before the Nov. 23 Thanksgiving holiday or face a lawsuit to block the deal. The Justice Department wants to keep AT&T, the biggest US satellite-TV provider, from gaining Time Warner cable networks like TNT and CNN and then withholding their programming from competitors such as Comcast. AT&T has said it has no incentive to do that. But the Justice Department prefers that AT&T either sell Time Warner’s Turner division, which owns TNT and CNN, or divest its DirecTV satellite unit to address the issue. Antitrust officials advised AT&T to explore alternatives such as selling Turner and then forming a joint venture with the newly separated company. Such a venture could sell advertising on the Turner networks to exploit AT&T’s user data, without the telecommunications giant owning the broadcasting unit, said one of the people.
AT&T Ready to Probe the White House’s Role in Time Warner Deal
Apparently, AT&T will try to dig into whether the White House influenced the Justice Department’s review of the company’s planned takeover of Time Warner if the government sues to block the deal. In the event of a trial over the $85.4 billion deal, AT&T intends to seek court permission for access to communications between the White House and the Justice Department about the takeover, apparently. The Justice Department’s antitrust division is poised to file a lawsuit to stop the deal if it can’t reach an agreement with the companies. That has sparked speculation that President Donald Trump, a relentless critic of Time Warner’s CNN, is pushing the department’s leadership to oppose the combination, which had been expected to win conditional approval by the end of the month. The White House and the Justice Department have denied Trump had any involvement in the review.
State Attorneys General Are Google's Next Headache
Rupert Murdoch spent a lifetime building a media empire — will he break it up?
NHMC Files Application for Review Requesting Additional Documents Owed Under the FCC’s FOIA Obligations in the Net Neutrality Proceeding
The National Hispanic Media Coalition filed an Application for Review (AFR) to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC), Office of the General Counsel (OGC) seeking review of the letter dated September 14, 2017 stating that the FCC was producing its “final production of documents” in response to NHMC’s FOIA requests filed in early May 2017. Subsequent to the final production, NHMC spoke with the office of Chairman Pai, as well as with the offices of Commissioners Clyburn, O’Rielly, Carr, and Rosenworcel regarding the missing documents and the importance of this evidence to the current Net Neutrality proceeding. In addition, NHMC met with FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau and OGC to again highlight their concerns over the FCC’s failure to produce the missing documents, and the importance of the FCC incorporating the documents which had been produced into the record. [more at the URL below]
Diller: Net Neutrality Is Essentially Unassailable
Barry Diller, chairman of edge provider IAC (ask.com, The Daily Beast, and Angie's List, among many others) told CNBC he doesn't care what the Federal Communications Commission does or doesn't do about network neutrality because he doesn't think that neutrality can now be violated. Tasked to weigh in on the issue given the Trump Administration pledge to roll back Title II -- FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to proposed that rollback soon. "I think it is over," he said. "I don't care what they do about net neutrality. It is [the] practice of the world," he said. "I do not believe no matter what law supports or is tossed aside, that net neutrality is not going to be the way things are done. You're still going to be able to push a button and publish to the world, without anybody in between asking you for tribute. I think that is now just the way things are done. I don't think it can be violated no matter what laws are back."
Ajit Pai Won't Have the Last Word on Net Neutrality
NYC Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer Issues Request for Information on Citywide Broadband Deployment
The City of New York's Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer released a Request for Information (RFI) to gather input from industry experts to inform the City's implementation plan for universal broadband. Universal broadband refers to the City’s goal to connect every resident and business with affordable, reliable, high speed internet service by 2025, as stated in One New York: The Plan for a Strong and Just City. The results of the RFI can be used to shape a more formal request for proposals or other measures to help the City achieve its goal. New York City has a history of being ambitious and forward-thinking in infrastructure, and the City is open to creative solutions that will maximize public benefit and private investment, and provide reliable, high-quality services to meet community needs. The RFI lays out five principles to guide the City's broadband investments and partnerships: Performance, Affordability, Equity, Choice and Privacy.
FCC’s latest gift to telcos could leave Americans with worse Internet access
The Federal Communications Commission will vote Nov 16 on a plan that, according to Chairman Ajit Pai, will strip away regulations that prevent telcos from upgrading their networks. But in doing so, the Republican-controlled FCC plans to eliminate a requirement that telcos provide Americans with service at least as good as the old copper networks that provide phone service and DSL Internet. The requirement relates to phone service but has an impact on broadband because the two services use the same networks. As carriers like AT&T and Verizon turn off copper networks throughout much of the country, many people fear that the networks won't be replaced with fiber or something of similar quality. That's why the FCC in 2014 created a "functional test" for carriers that seek permission to abandon copper networks.
Critics Eviscerate FCC Lifeline Proposal
The National Grange, which advocates for rural and agricultural interests, has joined with Consumer Action and the former chair of the Oglala Sioux Tribe Utility commission to oppose Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal to revamp the FCC's Lifeline low income advanced communications subsidy program, called Lifeline. They used words highly charged words like "knock out," "cripple," "kill" and "destroy" to characterize the proposal. The Grange et al. warned that the revamp could end almost all Lifeline wireless service to tribal lands and could "wipe out" service for millions.
'Way too little, way too late': Facebook's factcheckers say effort is failing
Journalists working for Facebook say the social media site’s fact-checking tools have largely failed and that the company has exploited their labor for a public relations campaign. Several fact checkers who work for independent news organizations and partner with Facebook said that they feared their relationships with the technology corporation, some of which are paid, have created a conflict of interest, making it harder for the news outlets to scrutinize and criticize Facebook’s role in spreading misinformation. The reporters also lamented that Facebook had refused to disclose data on its efforts to stop the dissemination of fake news. The journalists are speaking out one year after the company launched the collaboration in response to outrage over revelations that social media platforms had widely promoted fake news and propaganda during the US presidential election.
These are the eight ways Twitter can punish you for nasty tweets or messages (Vox)
Facebook Co-Founder Launches Philo, a $16-a-Month TV Service (NBC News)
YouTube creators are frustrated that a bot keeps demonetizing their videos (The Verge)
AG Sessions again changes his account of what he knew about Trump campaign’s dealings with Russians
Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Nov 14 again revised his account of what he knew about the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russians, acknowledging for the first time that he recalled a meeting where a foreign policy adviser mentioned having contacts who could possibly broker a meeting between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Sessions said he now remembered adviser George Papadopoulos saying in March 2016 that he knew people who might be able to help arrange a Trump-Putin meeting. When Sessions was asked in Oct whether he thought surrogates from the Trump campaign had communications with the Russians, he said, “I did not, and I’m not aware of anyone else that did, and I don’t believe it happened.” But at Tuesday’s hearing, Sessions said his memory had been refreshed. “I do now recall the March 2016 meeting at the Trump hotel that Mr.
Donald Trump Jr. Communicated With WikiLeaks During Campaign
Donald Trump Jr. had multiple online conversations during the 2016 presidential campaign with WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that released a hacked trove of Democrats’ emails, according to four congressional officials. Trump, the president’s son, in recent weeks handed over Twitter messages he exchanged with WikiLeaks to several congressional committees investigating Russia’s attempts to disrupt the election, according to the officials. In September, Trump acknowledged in a closed-door interview with the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had corresponded with the group during the campaign, the officials said. The correspondence, which began weeks before the Nov. 8, 2016, election and continued through much of 2017, is the second time it has been publicly revealed that Trump communicated with people and organizations with ties to the Russian government who were trying to undermine the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.
Facebook wants 'flexibility' in political advertising regulations
Facebook says that it supports the government’s push to further regulate election ads on digital platforms, but qualifies that it wants flexible rules.The company explained in comments it sent to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that new regulations should give “advertisers flexibility to meet their disclaimer obligations in innovative ways that take full advantage of the technological advance.” The firm explained that by “technological advances,” it means instead of firm rules requiring specific text to show up on political ads on its platform, Facebook would instead like to see a provision that allows the company the freedom in how it shows users who is buying ads. “For example, allowing ads to include an icon or other obvious indicator that more information about an ad is available via quick navigation (like a single click) would give clear guidance on how to include disclaimers in new technologies as they are developed,” Facebook offered as a potential solution.
After Russian meddling, Google and Facebook shift their stance on a crucial issue for voters
Facebook and Google told federal election officials they are open to greater oversight over the lucrative business of online political advertising, a shift for the tech giants who acknowledged recently that their ad platforms were exploited by Russian operatives during and after the 2016 election. Google even took a step further than its rivals telling regulators that they should create a broad rule that would ban foreign entities from buying any kind of political ad aimed at influencing voters, not just the ones that mention candidates. Russian operatives generated and published "issue" ads on Facebook far more frequently than those that explicitly promoted candidates. Many of the issue ads sought to divide American society over politically charged topics such as immigration, Black Lives Matter, and gun rights.
Wireless Lobby Wants FCC To Block Privacy Laws
CTIA - The Wireless Association is joining Verizon and Comcast in asking the Federal Communications Commission to prohibit states from subjecting broadband providers to privacy rules. "The Commission ... should preempt any state or local broadband-specific regulation, irrespective of whether the state or locality claims that its regulation promotes or supplements federal goals," CTIA said. "Thus, for example, state 'network neutrality' regulations addressing the treatment of traffic on the network would be preempted, as would state broadband-specific privacy requirements." Verizon, Comcast, the CTIA and others make the request as the FCC is preparing to roll back the net neutrality rules. Those rules, passed in 2015, classified broadband as a utility service, and imposed some common carrier regulations on providers -- including bans on blocking or throttling service, and charging higher fees for prioritized delivery.
Facebook safe from massive privacy lawsuit for now
A senior adviser for the European Union's top court told an Austrian privacy activist that he can't sue Facebook on behalf of 25,000 people. The adviser said that activist Max Schrems could sue the company on his own but that a class action suit would likely fall flat in court. Schrems has accused the social network of violating European privacy laws, taking aim at what he sees as invalid privacy policies and data-sharing agreements the company has with US intelligence agencies. A run-in with Facebook is nothing new for the activist, who was responsible for bringing the case that resulted in the EU's highest court declaring in 2015 that Safe Harbor, the US-Europe data-sharing pact, was illegal. He is now trying to sue the company's Irish division in Austrian court, not only for violating his own privacy, but the privacy of about 25,000 signatories who live in Austria, Germany and India. His hope is to claim 500 euros ($576) in damages for each of them, or about $12.5 million euros.
Ads May Soon Stalk You on TV Like They Do on Your Facebook Feed
Targeted ads that seem to follow you everywhere online may soon be doing the same on your TV. The Federal Communications Commission is poised to approve a new broadcast standard that will let broadcasters do something cable TV companies already do: harvest data about what you watch so advertisers can customize pitches. The prospect alarms privacy advocates, who say there are no rules setting boundaries for how broadcasters handle personal information. The FCC doesn’t mention privacy in the 109-page proposed rule that is scheduled for a vote by commissioners Nov 16. “If the new standard allows broadcasters to collect data in a way they haven’t before, I think consumers should know about that,” said Jonathan Schwantes, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union.
Disney Ban Elevated Tension at Los Angeles Times Newsroom
A dispute between The Los Angeles Times and the Walt Disney Company has ignited a battle between the paper’s employees and its new top management. On the morning of Nov. 3, the newspaper published a note to readers revealing that Disney had barred its journalists from attending advance film screenings in response to a Times investigation into the entertainment company’s business ties with Anaheim (CA). Outrage over Disney’s move was soon rocketing around social media. During a daily meeting attended by roughly a dozen editors, a staff member proposed publicizing the two-part investigative series that had precipitated the ban. But Lewis D’Vorkin, the recently installed editor in chief of The Times, flatly rejected the idea, apparently. Later, some journalists received messages by email and Slack warning them against retweeting any praise of Times stories.
The Man Playing Peacemaker Between Trump and Tech
As tensions mount between President Donald Trump and his fiercest critics in Silicon Valley, Michael Kratsios has the thorny task of playing peacemaker. Kratsios, one of the White House’s top technology advisers, is developing a high-tech policy agenda that he says will spur innovation in emerging technologies such as drones and artificial intelligence. “We are really working on issues that policy makers have never tackled before,” said Kratsios, the US deputy chief technology officer. “It’s just a question of putting smart people around a table and trying to come up with an innovative approach to regulating” new technologies, he said. To do that, he will need to work closely with the science and tech communities—some of the staunchest critics of Trump’s policies.
ACA, Others, Back FCC-Limiting Small Business Bill
A large group of associations representing smaller entities has called on the bipartisan leadership of the HouseCommerce Committee to support a bipartisan bill providing them some regulatory relief at the Federal Communications Commission. They wrote the chair and ranking member of the committee to register their support for the Small Entity Regulatory Relief Opportunity (SERRO) Act (HR 3787), which is being considered as part of legislation to reauthorize the FCC now being considered by the full committee. The bill would streamline the process for seeking waivers for small entities from regulations that would disproportionately disadvantage them relative to larger players. Even more important, it actually delays applying new regulations on smaller entities for a year unless Congress or the FCC decide it is not appropriate, and would reduce the need for applying for waivers on a case-by-case basis.
The rumors of Google Fiber’s death have been greatly exaggerated
[Commentary] Few stories in tech have been more breathlessly hyped on the way up and gleefully eulogized on the way down than Google Fiber. Since Google announced last fall that it was pausing Google Fiber’s expansion into new markets, Access, the Google subsidiary that houses Google Fiber, has laid off more than 20% of its workforce, faced continued delays in Fiber’s existing markets and gone through three chief executives (or four, depending on how you’re counting). By any traditional yardstick of success, Google Fiber has been a failure. But it may have achieved exactly what Google set out to do: disrupt the U.S. home broadband market. Like an obscure punk band, Google Fiber has been far more influential than its finances would suggest. Google’s disruption of the home broadband market did not materially change the competitive environment for home broadband, other than in a handful of cities.
San Antonio, Google Fiber has arrived (Google)
IAC's Barry Diller: Comcast is the 'most perfectly positioned ' company in media now
"Of all those companies, Comcast is the most perfectly positioned because they are really on the distribution side in a significant way, and they're on the production side also in a significant way," said Barry Diller at the Internet Association's Virtuous Circle Summit. "Whichever one you bet on for having the ability to grow in the period when big technology companies take over almost anything, that's a pretty good bet." The era of a handful of traditional media companies dominating the landscape is over as more technology giants get in the game, Diller said. Existing media companies can still survive, but they'll never have the monopoly over entertainment and advertising while Facebook and Google have such large user bases. Cord-cutting is less of a risk for companies like Comcast, Diller explained. If people stop buying its cable bundle, it still owns the data pipeline.