Daily Digest 12/19/2017 (Digital Inclusion and Equity)

The Federal Communications Commission's decision to review what qualifies as high-speed broadband has drawn a crowd of critics armed with smartphones and other devices. Almost a dozen groups including Public Knowledge, New America’s Open Technology Institute, the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) have launched the #MobileOnly challenge. Between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, participants will spend an entire day only accessing the internet via a mobile device. The idea is to demonstrate that mobile has various limitations that make it not a sufficient substitute for wired broadband.

The fight for municipal broadband has been a quiet drama unfolding across dozens of cities nationwide in recent years. In addition to Colorado, around 20 states have legislation on the books curtailing the construction of city-owned broadband networks, which threaten the dominance of corporate Internet service providers. But a growing number of communities like Fort Collins (CO) are pushing back against these laws. Their attempts could take on added urgency because of efforts at the federal level to rework how the internet is governed. The FCC voted to abolish its hard-line rules protecting network neutrality. The changes could help the internet’s corporate overlords get richer and stifle the ability of smaller internet companies to compete. But municipal networks, which operate without a profit motive and generally champion equitable service, could serve as a countermeasure to the growing corporate takeover of the internet. Ultimately, city-owned ISPs may be the only neutral networks we have left.

House Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) announced plans to introduce a net neutrality bill soon. “Everybody is for a free and open internet, and that is what we want to preserve," Chairman Blackburn said in a video released on her Twitter page the same day as the FCC vote. "You can look for legislation next week where Congress will do its job. We will codify the need for no blocking, no throttling and making certain that we preserve that free and open internet.” Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) are among those who have also signaled an interest in developing legislation of some kind to enshrine the rules into law. Most Republican supporters of net neutrality legislation are looking to codify a standard that's weaker than the now-overturned rules.

[Commentary] Who really thinks that allowing the large telecom corporations more control over what Americans see and read is a good thing? Giving monopolies more power will make it harder for new companies to enter the marketplace and limit the pace of innovation. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and the end of network neutrality exemplify everything that is currently wrong with Washington. Vested interests corrupt the policy process, lie to the American people and make decisions that further concentrate wealth and power in the hands of an elite few, with bleak consequences for the American people and our economy. Taking a clear stand against this may at the very least increase the chance that the inevitable next such outrage can be stopped. [Barret McCormick is a professor of political science at Marquette University]

Political divides in the American news landscape do not end with Americans’ preferences for different news sources; rather, they extend to how members of the U.S. Congress communicate with constituents in the digital age. Between January 2015 and July 2017, nearly half (48%) of the links to national news outlets that members of Congress shared on Facebook were to outlets predominantly linked to by members of just one party, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis. What’s more, 5% of these news links pointed to outlets that were exclusively linked to by members of one political party. The study also finds that Democratic members of Congress became more likely to share stories from national news outlets once President Donald Trump took office in January 2017. Prior to the November 2016 presidential election, 8% of all Facebook posts made by Democrats linked to national news, a proportion that doubled to 16% after Trump’s inauguration. By contrast, the share of congressional Republican posts linking to national news stories remained about the same before and after the inauguration (9% vs. 8%). The new analysis finds some evidence that the ways that Facebook audiences interact with congressional posts containing news links may be modestly reinforcing the ideological divide. Specifically, the Facebook audience re-shared news stories from outlets that fell on the most liberal or conservative ends of a “sharing score” 21% to 22% more often than when the link came from a news source that fell in the middle.

Consumer groups want the Federal Trade Commission and retailers to crack down on Interconnected toys and smartwatches to protect kids' privacy.  It has been a year since the groups, which include Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, filed a complaint with the FTC about two toys, Caylaa and i-Que Intelligent Robot because they collect and analyze what children say and respond to it. They alleged there was inadequate notice of what the toys were doing or protection of the information creating "A risk of stalking and physical danger."  The call for action comes as the FTC is being given more oversight of the internet following the FCC decision to eliminate most of its net neutrality rules and make the FTC the primary enforcer of internet openness. 

Health and Human Services Department officials confirmed that they had singled out a handful of words that should be avoided in the upcoming budget process, but said they had not blocked employees from using them outright. A department spokesman further said that the guidance came from within HHS, not from the Office of Management and Budget. HHS spokesman Matt Lloyd said that employees had misinterpreted the guidance. “HHS and its agencies have not banned, prohibited or forbidden employees from using certain words,” said Lloyd. “Recent media reports appear to be based on confusion that arose when employees misconstrued guidelines provided during routine discussions on the annual budget process. It was clearly stated to those involved in the discussions that the science should always drive the narrative.” Officials who have been briefed on the budget guidance, however, said the message was clear.  “It was interpreted as 'you are not to use these words in the budget narrative,'" said one person who received a briefing. “The idea that it's all a misunderstanding is laughable.”