Daily Digest 12/6/2019 (Oversight)

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
Table of Contents

Agenda

FCC To Hold Open Commission Meeting Thursday, December 12, 2019  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission
What They're Saying About Chairman Pai's Proposal to Promote Innovation in the 5.9 GHz Band  |  Federal Communications Commission

Oversight

House FCC Oversight Hearing  |  Read below  |  John Eggerton  |  Broadcasting&Cable
FCC Announces Jan 6 2020 As Effective Date of Kari's Law and RAY BAUM'S Act Rules  |  Federal Communications Commission

Internet/Broadband

USDA Invests $62.3 Million in Rural Broadband Infrastructure for Alabama Families  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Department of Agriculture
USDA Invests $12.8 Million in Rural Broadband for Illinois Families  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Department of Agriculture
Too Big to be Left Unnoticed: America's Uncompetitive Broadband Market  |  Read below  |  Jonathan Sallet  |  Analysis  |  Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
C Spire Gigabit to Expand to Birmingham, Other Alabama Communities  |  telecompetitor
Google Fiber ends $50, 100Mbps plan, but 1Gbps is still $70 with no data cap  |  Ars Technica
What’s New in Civic Tech: San Antonio Surveys Digital Equity  |  Government Technology
Op-ed: The Meaninglessness of the .Org Domain -- Don’t have to be a nonprofit to secure a website in this respected domain  |  New York Times

Wireless

FCC’s $9B Rural 5G Fund Insufficient; Hides Poor State of Broadband Deployment  |  Common Cause
MoffettNathanson: Comcast and Charter Have Reached ‘Clear Relevance’ in US Wireless  |  Multichannel News
FCC Says 5G Doesn’t Pose New Cellphone-Radiation Threats  |  Wall Street Journal

Telecom

 
Public Interest Groups Urge Congress to Hold the FCC Accountable for America’s Degrading Telephone Network  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Public Knowledge
Court Halts Operations of VoIP Service Provider after the FTC and OH Alleged that it Helped in Robocall Scheme  |  Federal Trade Commission

Ownership

Congress must act to increase minority broadcasters  |  Read below  |  Rep G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)  |  Op-Ed  |  Hill, The

Platforms/Content

Investigation reveals a covert plot to control some of Facebook’s largest far-right pages, harvest Islamophobic hate for profit  |  Guardian, The
Fake ‘Likes’ Remain Just a Few Dollars Away, Researchers Say  |  New York Times

Privacy

FTC Faces Push to Study Ads Targeting Children  |  Read below  |  Ryan Tracy  |  Wall Street Journal
Privacy policy and competition  |  Brookings Institution

Security

New lawsuit challenges Trump administration policy to collect foreigners’ social media accounts  |  Read below  |  Tony Romm, Drew Harwell  |  Washington Post
Senators Wyden, Leahy Request Ethics Investigation of AG Barr’s Approval of Illegal DEA Mass Surveillance Program  |  US Senate
A Billion Surveillance Cameras Forecast to Be Watching Within Two Years  |  Wall Street Journal
Phone logs in impeachment report renew concern about security of Trump communications  |  Washington Post
Roslyn Layton: End-to-end encryption is politics, not privacy  |  American Enterprise Institute

Elections & Media

US Conference of Mayors Prioritizes Tech Issues for 2020 Election  |  Government Technology
Philip Napoli: Can We Still Rely on Counterspeech to Correct Disinformation in Political Advertising?  |  Columbia University Press

Preemption

What Do Puppy Mills, 5G, and Paid Sick Leave Have in Common? State interference in local governance  |  New America

Policymakers

Comcast senior EVP and chief diversity officer David Cohen stepping down, will remain top adviser to CEO Brian Roberts  |  Broadcasting&Cable

Stories From Abroad

2019 Global Expression Report: Freedom of Expression At Lowest Point For a Decade  |  Article 19
Australia's election watchdog lacks power to investigate who is paying for Facebook political ads  |  Guardian, The
 
Today's Top Stories

Agenda

FCC To Hold Open Commission Meeting Thursday, December 12, 2019

Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Thursday, December 12, 2019:

  1. Implementation of the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act of 2018 (WC Docket No. 18-336): The FCC will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would propose to designate 988 as the 3-digit number for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline.
  2. Use of the 5.850-5.925 GHz Band (ET Docket No. 19-138): The FCC will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would take a fresh and comprehensive look at the rules for the 5.9 GHz band and propose, among other things, to make the lower 45 MHz of the band available for unlicensed operations and to permit Cellular Vehicle to Everything (C-V2X) operations in the upper 20 megahertz of the band.
  3. Facilitating Shared Use in the 3.1-3.55 GHz Band (WT Docket No. 19-348): The FCC will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would seek comment on removing the existing non-federal allocations in the 3.3-3.55 GHz band as a step towards potential future shared use between federal incumbents and commercial users.
  4. Connect America Fund (WC Docket No. 10-90); Developing a Unified Intercarrier Compensation Regime (CC Docket No. 01-92): The FCC will consider an Order on Remand and Declaratory Ruling that would promote continued investment in IP-based networks by clarifying that a local exchange carrier partnering with a VoIP provider may assess end office switched access charges only if the carrier or its VoIP partner provides a physical connection to the last-mile facilities used to serve the end user.
  5. Cable Service Change Notifications (MB Docket No. 19-347); Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative (MB Docket No. 17-105); Amendment of the Commission’s Rules Related to Retransmission Consent (MB Docket No. 10-71): The FCC will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would seek comment on modernizing requirements for notices cable operators must provide consumers and local franchise authorities.
  6. Reexamination of the Comparative Standards and Procedures for Licensing Noncommercial Educational Broadcast Stations and Low Power FM Stations (MB Docket No. 19- 3): The FCC will consider a Report and Order that would revise the Commission’s Noncommercial Educational Broadcast Station and Low Power FM Station comparative processing and licensing rules.
  7. The FCC will also consider three enforcement actions.

Oversight

House FCC Oversight Hearing

John Eggerton  |  Broadcasting&Cable

Chairman Ajit Pai and the rest of the Federal Communications Commission took hits from both sides of the aisle in a House Communications Subcommittee oversight hearing Dec 5. Democratic Reps were particularly pointed in their criticisms of the FCC over broadband mapping, internet deregulation, merger approvals, and the funding cap on the Universal Service Fund, among other issues. Full Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) did not appear happy that he had to learn from a press release that the FCC was establishing a new nine-billion-dollar 5G rural subsidy fund, including a billion dollars for precision agriculture. He said it sounded good, but he had a lot of questions, including where the $9 billion is coming from and about the fact that there are still not accurate maps to show where broadband is and isn't. "We expect to have a little more notice and a little more communication on some of these big announcements," he said, adding that that might have addressed some of the questions the FCC would be getting at the hearing. Ranking Member Walden also did not appreciate not receiving a heads up from Chairman Pai on his proposal to repeal the T-Band spectrum auction and retain it for public safety, a proposal Chairman Walden floated at the last FCC oversight hearing. Ranking Member Walden said he had not been taken up on his outreach on that offer, "so I must say I find it interesting that just last week the chairman called on Congress to repeal the T-Band auction mandate, which was not coordinated or discussed with me and my staff despite our efforts to find a solution."

In a letter from Chairman Pai to House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (PA) that was shared during the hearing, Chairman Pai said that the FCC's Enforcement Bureau investigation into carriers' selling of user's location data should be wrapped up by the end of Jan. At the hearing, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel expressed her frustration with the pace of the investigation and with what she said was the Chairman's refusal to share documents related to the investigation. Commissioner Rosenworcel said in her testimony that the FCC's approval of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger was essentially a back-room deal. She said the FCC should have to make public the initial draft of the item so Congress, the courts and the public can see what changed, and why.

Broadband/Internet

USDA Invests $62.3 Million in Rural Broadband Infrastructure for Alabama Families

Press Release  |  Department of Agriculture

The US Department of Agriculture invested $62.3 million in high-speed broadband infrastructure that will create or improve e-Connectivity for more than 8,000 rural households, 57 farms, 44 businesses, 17 educational facilities, 14 critical community facilities and three health care facilities in rural Alabama. Tombigbee Electric Cooperative, Inc. will use a $29.5 million 50 percent loan-grant combination to develop an All-Dielectric Self-Supporting (ADSS) fiber network in unserved areas of Marion, Lamar, Fayette, Franklin, Winston and Walker counties. This investment is expected to reach 2,152 households, 20 farms, 15 businesses, 10 critical community facilities, five educational facilities and one health care facility. Millry Telephone Company, Inc. will use a $28.2 million 50 percent loan-grant combination to develop a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network in Choctaw and Washington counties. This investment is expected to reach 3,797 households, 20 farms, 15 businesses, 11 educational facilities, four critical community facilities and two health care centers. Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc. will use a $2 million loan to develop a FTTH network in Jackson and DeKalb counties. This investment is expected to reach 1,676 homes and one educational facility. National Telephone of Alabama, Inc. will use a $2.7 million 50 percent loan-grant combination to develop a fiber-to-the premises (FTTP) network in Colbert County. This investment is expected to reach 378 rural households, 17 farms and 14 businesses.

USDA Invests $12.8 Million in Rural Broadband for Illinois Families

Press Release  |  Department of Agriculture

The US Department of Agriculture invested $12.8 million in high-speed broadband infrastructure that will create or improve e-Connectivity for more than 1,650 homes in rural Illinois. Wabash Telephone Cooperative, Inc. will use a $12.8 million 50 percent loan-grant combination to deploy 298 miles of fiber-optic cable in unserved areas of Jefferson and Wayne counties in Illinois. This investment is anticipated to reach 1,684 households, 31 farms, 29 businesses, nine educational facilities, two critical community facilities and one health care center.

Too Big to be Left Unnoticed: America's Uncompetitive Broadband Market

Jonathan Sallet  |  Analysis  |  Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

My theme today – what is going unnoticed. Simply put, we should pay more attention to the lack of competition in the provision of fixed broadband to homes and small businesses. As a general matter, we can expect people with only one choice to pay monopoly prices, and people with only two to pay the higher prices typically charged by duopolies. People with three or more choices typically pay less. Clearly, people who can barely afford to pay a competitive price, say, low-income Americans, are particularly vulnerable to artificially high prices. Some may be disconnected entirely if prices are above competitive levels. Remember we’re talking about millions and millions of American households, so any effects from limited competition spread far and wide. We’re in a time when there’s a lot of discussion of growing market concentration and the importance of competition. There may be more discussion of antitrust in next year’s election than in any since 1912. But separate from antitrust, public policy can promote competition.

Telecom

Public Interest Groups Urge Congress to Hold the FCC Accountable for America’s Degrading Telephone Network

Press Release  |  Public Knowledge

Public Knowledge joined 23 other public interest, civil rights, tribal, and rural advocacy groups (including the Benton Institute) in a letter urging the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology to require Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai to address public safety concerns about America’s increasingly fragile and unreliable communications network. 

As the blackouts caused by wildfires in California starkly demonstrated, even some of the wealthiest and well-connected places in the United States, such as Marin County, can lose access to voice and data services when we need them most. For millions of Americans still dependent on traditional copper-line service, years of lax oversight and deregulation have made even traditional voice service unreliable on a daily basis. This degradation of our telephone network disproportionately impacts rural communities, communities of color, the elderly, the poor, and Tribal lands, all of whom remain heavily reliant on traditional copper lines. But even in areas with more modern networks, the lack of any regulatory oversight and accountability has made our communications networks unreliable, such as the multi-state outage in December 2018 on CenturyLink that knocked out broadband and voice service for over 24 hours. 

Public Knowledge contends that since the Trump FCC has repeatedly repealed pre-existing safeguards and preempted states from exercising their own oversight, Congress must require Chairman Pai to address these concerns.

Ownership

Congress must act to increase minority broadcasters

Rep G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)  |  Op-Ed  |  Hill, The

Though women and minorities constitute an increasingly large portion of our country’s populace, ownership of broadcast media remains dominated by white males. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has long ignored its congressional mandate to ensure a diversity of media viewpoints and continues to disregard orders from federal courts to increase women and minority participation in media ownership. The time has long passed for Congress to act.

In order to level the playing field with respect to broadcast ownership, the FCC need only look at what it has done in the past to spur inclusion in the industry. In 1978, the FCC established the Minority Tax Certificate Program, providing a tax incentive to those who sold their majority interest in a broadcast station to minorities. Though repealed in 1995, the tax certificate boosted ownership significantly, raising the number of minority-owned stations from 40 to 323. This is why I introduced the Expanding Broadcast Opportunities Act of 2019 (HR 3957). My bill promotes diversity in broadcast ownership by reestablishing the Minority Tax Certificate Program at the FCC and will accelerate investment in minority and women owned broadcast stations by modifying the Commissions’ incubator program to consider race and gender for eligibility. These actions will empower historically disadvantaged groups and encourage new entrants into the broadcast industry.

Congress cannot sit idly as Commissioner Ajit Pai’s FCC continues to ignore and undermine the rule of law. To address problems as ubiquitous as racial and gender inequality, lawmakers must craft legislation that is tailored to assist racial minorities and women, specifically.

Privacy

FTC Faces Push to Study Ads Targeting Children

Ryan Tracy  |  Wall Street Journal

Pediatricians and consumer advocates are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate practices for collecting online data about children, amid concerns advertisers might be manipulating children with targeted ads. “Advertising to children is a lucrative, booming business, and not enough is understood about these new methods of surveilling and monetizing children, or the impact that it has on their privacy and wellbeing,” according to a letter to the FTC dated Dec 5.  The document was signed by 31 groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, Consumer Reports, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and Center for Digital Democracy. Among other things, the groups want the FTC to gather information on how companies use data about children, how popular products such as Facebook’s Instagram recognize child users, and on whether existing privacy regulations are effectively protecting children. The letter notes that advertising practices are evolving, citing for example “playable” ads for mobile phones that combine ads with a game.

Security

New lawsuit challenges Trump administration policy to collect foreigners’ social media accounts

Tony Romm, Drew Harwell  |  Washington Post

Free-speech advocates are challenging the Trump Administration’s policy of requiring foreigners to list their social media accounts as part of their visa applications, alleging in a lawsuit filed Dec 5 that the policy violates federal law and runs afoul of the Constitution. The requirement — implemented as part of the President’s controversial crackdown on immigration — amounts to an illegal surveillance dragnet that threatens to chill political expression online, according to a group of documentary filmmakers, who filed their case with the backing of two advocacy groups, the Brennan Center for Justice and the Knight First Amendment Institute. Since May, the State Department has required visa applicants to list the names of all social media accounts they’ve had over the past five years on any of 20 services, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The rules affect an estimated 14.7 million visa applicants each year, plaintiffs allege, and allow the US government to identify not only their declared accounts but also to learn the identities of their followers, family members and friends. The plaintiffs in the case, the Doc Society and the International Documentary Association, contend that the Trump administration’s social media policies specifically have imperiled their work with foreign filmmakers

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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 Robbie McBeath (rmcbeath AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.


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