Daily Digest 5/17/2018 (Senate Votes to Uphold Net Neutrality)

Democratic lawmakers say they can make political hay of the battle over network neutrality among a small — but committed — group of midterm voters. The linchpin of that strategy is a vote in the Senate May 16 on a measure to undo the Federal Communications Commission’s 2017 repeal of net neutrality rules. That raises the prominence of the effort to preserve the neutrality rules — and will put at least some Republicans on record as opposing it. The net neutrality voters care a lot about the issue, even if they make up only a small portion of the population. “Here’s the thing: I’m not suggesting that this is going to move the majority of voters,” said Sens Brian Schatz (D-HI). “What I’m telling you is that for millions of motivated and infrequent voters, this is a top issue.” “For the people who are well-versed on this issue, it really matters,” said Sen Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who is in a competitive race this fall. “I’m not sure how many Missourians are as tuned in to net neutrality. Especially once you get over the age of about 35 or 40, I'm not sure people are as aware about what the problems are.”

Senators Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), members of the Senate Commerce Committee, led 61 senators in a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, supporting the advancement and the accessibility of broadband services in rural communities. In the letter, the senators requested more predictable and long-term efficiencies in the FCC’s High-Cost Universal Service Fund, which is responsible for helping meet the Commission’s goal to provide reliable and affordable communications to all Americans. Making sure the USF mechanism works as intended will enable businesses to invest and build out networks in areas lacking broadband services. The program is critical for rural Americans who live in regions of the country where service is needed, but where deploying broadband is difficult and costly.

A similar letter was led by Reps. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Collin Peterson (D-MN) and signed by 130 members of the House of Representatives.

On behalf of Internet Association, which represents the world’s leading internet companies, I want to take this opportunity to respond to your open call for "Silicon Valley CEOs” to testify before Congress (San Francisco Chronicle, House Committee Seeks Input From Tech CEOs, May 14, 2018). I am happy to testify on behalf of our members to help the committee explore the ways that the internet benefits all Americans. Our companies also invite you to join IA on a “Community Crawl” in your district to hear from non-tech businesses, nonprofits, and other stakeholders about how the internet helps them grow and brings their community closer. Additionally, we welcome you and your colleagues from the committee to continue visiting our individual companies, as many have over the last decade, where you can receive in-depth briefings from leading experts on all the topics you have raised.

Facebook allows advertisers to target users it thinks are interested in subjects such as homosexuality, Islam or liberalism, despite religion, sexuality and political beliefs explicitly being marked out as sensitive information under new data protection laws. The social network gathers information about users based on their actions on Facebook and on the wider web, and uses that data to predict on their interests. These can be mundane – football, Manhattan or dogs, for instance – or more esoteric. An investigation found that Facebook is able to infer extremely personal information about users, which it allows advertisers to use for targeting purposes. Among the interests found in users’ profiles were communism, social democrats, Hinduism and Christianity.

Pro-Trump media is spreading across the US, disseminating Trumpian rhetoric about fake news and mainstream media bias through every medium. The big picture, from Rodney Benson, chair of NYU's Department of Media, Culture, and Communication: "Many of the media moving toward subscriptions have disproportionately left-liberal audiences. ... While liberal media draw their circles ever tighter around themselves (via paywalls, high-level content, etc.), conservatives are fighting to extend their mass reach."

Reps Ro Khanna (D-CA) and John Ratcliffe (R-TX) introduced legislation to improve citizens’ interaction with the federal government online, while reducing the cost of assistance from federal agencies.  The 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA) will lower federal costs and increase efficiency by digitizing government processes and establishing minimum standards for federal websites, including mobile-friendly interfaces in compliance with the latest security protocols. Recent data from the IRS shows that in-person or live assistance calls to the agency cost taxpayers between $40 and $60 on average, while digital transactions cost only $0.22 on average. By allowing more in-person transactions to be replaced with online transactions, the 21st Century Idea modernization will reduce such federal costs significantly.

The competition is stiff, but Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai may be the most reviled man on the internet. He is despised as both a bumbling rube, trying too hard to prove he gets it, and a cunning villain, out to destroy digital freedom. The anger emanates from his move, shortly after being appointed by President Donald Trump, to repeal Obama-era net ­neutrality regulations. He called his policy the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, an Orwellian touch in the view of his critics, who see ­it as a mortal threat.

People who know Pai swear that his nerdy persona is authentic. And even his adversaries will admit that he’s an anomaly in the Trump administration: a skillful practitioner of the Washington game. Pai has spent his entire professional life in the capital, acquiring influential patrons (Sen Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Attorney General Jeff Sessions) and insider expertise. Behind Pai’s brainy, technocratic mask, though, is an alter ego: ruthless conservative ideologue. In this sense, he is emblematic of Trump’s Washington, where all debates—even the bone-dry bureaucratic ones—have become so heated that they are fought like matters of life and death. Pai’s competence has allowed him to make quick work of undoing the Obama administration’s legacy at the FCC. But his polarizing politics assure that the battle over internet regulation will keep raging.

As Harold Feld, an ardent critic who works for the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, laments, “Why was my area of policy the one that got the guy who actually knows what he’s doing?”