Daily Digest 8/27/2019 (Skills Training)

Benton Foundation
Table of Contents

Broadband/Telecom

Skills training is the key to ending the digital divide  |  Read below  |  John Horrigan  |  Op-Ed  |  Baltimore Sun
Making the Digital Transition an “Upgrade for All” Again  |  Read below  |  Harold Feld, Shiva Stella  |  Analysis  |  Public Knowledge
Public Knowledge Urges Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to Overturn FCC’s Move to Widen Digital Divide  |  Public Knowledge
CAF Phase II Auction Support for 375 Bids Ready for Authorization  |  Federal Communications Commission
Beware Medicare scammers, warns FCC Chairman Pai  |  Fox News

Wireless

AT&T, FTC reach settlement over data throttling lawsuit  |  Read below  |  Bevin Fletcher  |  Fierce
Waiver Allowing T-Mobile to Apply for Auction 103  |  Federal Communications Commission
Cities Are Saying No to 5G, Citing Health, Aesthetics—and FCC Bullying  |  Read below  |  Christopher Mims  |  Wall Street Journal
The FCC needs to update its cellphone tests for radiofrequency radiation  |  Read below  |  Devra Davis  |  Op-Ed  |  Chicago Tribune
Mobile performance rankings for the ten largest US metro areas in first half of 2019  |  RootMetrics

Television

FCC Still Weighing Nexstar-Tribune  |  Read below  |  John Eggerton  |  Broadcasting&Cable
Sinclair Eyes More Regional Sports Networks including 4 owned by AT&T  |  Wall Street Journal

Privacy

Google defends tracking cookies—some experts aren’t buying it  |  Ars Technica

Patents

Court pauses Charter’s $140 million patent payment to Sprint  |  Fierce

Elections

FEC vice chairman heavily involved in tech issues resigns, leaving agency unable to vote  |  Read below  |  Maggie Miller  |  Hill, The
Netroots groups call for 2020 candidates to pledge to restore net neutrality  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Demand Progress
Bernie Sanders on his plan for journalism  |  Read below  |  Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT)  |  Op-Ed  |  Columbia Journalism Review
Bernie Sanders joins striking AT&T workers on picket line before Louisville rally  |  WLKY
Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency fear ransomware against 2020 election  |  Reuters

Stories From Abroad

Policy Brief: Exporting digital authoritarianism  |  Brookings Institution
China Is Sending Keyboard Warriors Over The Firewall: Online forums rally fans to defend national pride abroad  |  Foreign Policy
Australia plans to block sites hosting extremist content during attacks  |  Ars Technica
The Huawei challenge: Not ‘politics vs. economics,’ but balancing politics, economics, and national security  |  American Enterprise Institute
French President Emmanuel Macron: US, France reached 'very good agreement' on digital tax  |  Hill, The
Today's Top Stories

Broadband/Telecom

Skills training is the key to ending the digital divide

John Horrigan  |  Op-Ed  |  Baltimore Sun

The Technology Policy Institute conducted a survey of 1,275 people on Comcast’s Internet Essentials service to explore what having service at home means to low-income households. The research shows that once people subscribe to broadband, school-age children use home access for schoolwork and streaming educational media. Their parents also quickly get hooked, using the internet to search for jobs and to manage their lives more efficiently. Parents use their new connection to communicate with teachers and school administrators. Even more interesting, adults get bitten by the “curiosity bug” — the key to all learning. Two-thirds develop an interest in digital training for privacy and security, and half want more training to improve their job skills. Interestingly, the survey findings undercut the notion that only the most self-motivated broadband adopters are the ones who pursue digital skills training. In reality, even when we control for motivation levels, we see that digital skills training makes a significant difference. When newly connected adults have the training they need to understand how to use the internet, they are more likely to use the internet to pursue learning or job opportunities.

What does this mean for policymakers and other stakeholders who want to close the digital divide? For one, the findings show the importance of having digital skills training available at community anchor institutions. These community partners are highly trusted and inviting for people without extensive online experience. Our research underscores the importance of partnerships between internet providers and local institutions, which help increase awareness of discounted offerings and serve as a bridge to digital skills training. Broadband adoption programs such as Internet Essentials, in conjunction with digital skills training, can help create opportunities for more Americans by fostering inclusion in a digital world.

Making the Digital Transition an “Upgrade for All” Again

Harold Feld, Shiva Stella  |  Analysis  |  Public Knowledge

Copper networks still form the backbone of America’s communication system despite the rise of fiber -- and providers are either pulling the plug or letting them fall into disrepair. With growing concern that carriers were effectively abandoning their legacy copper lines in rural areas degrading local phone service to unusably low quality, newly appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler began a proceeding in Jan 2014 to create rules to govern what became known as the “Technology Transition” of the legacy telephone network to an all IP-based network. In April 2017, a mere eight months since the Federal Communications Commission completed the rulemaking, Chairman Pai began the process of repealing the Tech Transition safeguards. Why? As usual, Chairman Pai claimed that this deregulation would accelerate broadband deployment. Also as usual, the 2017 Order confidently predicted that carriers had incentive to keep their networks in repair and to avoid abandoning or mistreating their customers, blithely ignoring the rather voluminous record that in the real world outside the Washington Beltway that carriers were, at that very moment, abandoning their customers and allowing their networks to break down in some areas to the point of unusability. 

This is why we sued the FCC, and why -- along with other public interest groups -- we’re going to argue for reinstating the rules before the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug 27. History has shown us that we cannot just trust carriers to keep their word when it comes to protecting consumers during the transition to digital, and no American deserves to be left behind in the digital era. This technology transition should be an upgrade for everyone.

Wireless

AT&T, FTC reach settlement over data throttling lawsuit

Bevin Fletcher  |  Fierce

AT&T has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over a 2014 lawsuit related to the carrier’s data throttling practices and disclosures. A court filing shows AT&T has approved final terms of the deal, and the parties are requesting a 90-day stay through November 21 so FTC Commissioners can vote on the settlement.

Cities Are Saying No to 5G, Citing Health, Aesthetics—and FCC Bullying

Christopher Mims  |  Wall Street Journal

Cities and towns throughout Northern California are issuing ordinances that would exclude new 5G cell sites from residential areas, citing supposed health concerns. Whatever the basis for residents’ objections to new cell towers, countless mayors, governors, and council members across the country—have little or no power under current rules to act on their constituents’ wishes. Nor do they have the leeway they once did to set pricing for cell sites, a lucrative source of funding for civic initiatives. Those who do take action are creating ordinances that put their cities at risk of being sued by the telecoms, as happened in Aug in Rochester (NY). 

Billed as the key to the future—of telecommunications, of global competition, of innovation and even of municipal infrastructure—5G has instead become a bone of contention. In addition to upgrading existing towers, it will require an estimated half-million new towers and small-cell sites on utility poles, lampposts, and buildings. Experts also anticipate a long rollout period, potentially of a decade or more. Most cities want 5G, but they don’t want to be told how, when and at what cost. Rules the Federal Communications Commission has already passed, meant to expedite 5G’s rollout, might well be creating acrimony that serves to do the exact opposite.

The FCC needs to update its cellphone tests for radiofrequency radiation

Devra Davis  |  Op-Ed  |  Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune recently published test results indicating that some cellphones can emit radiation causing exposure up to five times higher than current limits allow. This shocking data comes on the heels of the government of France’s revelations that phones emit radiation between four and 11 times their allowable limits. For more than a decade, the Federal Communications Commission has knowingly relied on unrealistic test methods to evaluate radiofrequency radiation from a single phone selected for testing by major manufacturers. Repeated submissions and presentations to the FCC have documented numerous deficiencies in the current protocol, as noted in 2012 by the Government Accountability Office in a report mandated by Congress.

 It is astonishing that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, leading an agency with no expertise in health, recently declared that current limits for exposure to cellphone wireless radiation do not need to be updated. This breezily offered press statement shows a reckless disregard for science, ignores the ever-growing volume of independent scientific research indicating serious risks of harm to the environment and public health, and also ignores the Chicago Tribune independent test results.

The small nation of Cyprus provides one model of what can be done when independent expert medical advice is heeded. Cyprus has an awareness campaign running full-page ads on public buses. It also features one of the world’s first hospitals to remove Wi-Fi from the pediatric units and pediatric intensive care. It is no accident that the FCC has floated its consequential proposal — to stick with its outdated standards — in the midst of the summer doldrums when Congress and schools are out of session. Congress should demand a full and frank accounting of the FCC’s flawed system.

[Dr Devra Davis is a fellow at American College of Epidemiology and is president of Environmental Health Trust.]

Television

FCC Still Weighing Nexstar-Tribune

John Eggerton  |  Broadcasting&Cable

While the Justice Department signed off on Nexstar's purchase of Tribune in July with TV station spin-offs in 13 markets, the Federal Communications Commission has yet to complete its public interest review of the merger. Currently, the deal is on day 192 of the FCC's informal 180-day shot clock. That 180-day shot clock not an official deadline, and the FCC has occasionally gone far past it, as it did in the Nexstar-Media General merger, when it took 329 days to sign off. But in its most recent quarterly statement, Nexstar signaled to investors it was still expecting it to close in the third quarter, which would give the FCC 'til the end of Sept to make that happen.

Elections

FEC vice chairman heavily involved in tech issues resigns, leaving agency unable to vote

Maggie Miller  |  Hill, The

Matthew Petersen, the vice chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), submitted his resignation letter to President Donald Trump, leaving the agency without the necessary number of commissioners to vote on proposed actions. Petersen, a Republican who has served as a commissioner since 2008, wrote that he will formally step down on Aug 31.  Petersen was heavily involved in technology issues, which he highlighted in his resignation letter. “To ensure promising new technologies designed to encourage voter outreach, small-dollar fundraising, and political association continue to flourish, I have consistently opposed unnecessarily rigid regulatory rulings,” Petersen wrote. “I've also been a staunch advocate for protecting the Internet as a vibrant medium for disseminating political speech and increasing participation in the democratic process.” In July, Petersen joined the other FEC commissioners in voting unanimously to allow federal political campaigns to accept discounted cybersecurity services from Area 1 Security. He also voted last year in favor of allowing federal campaigns and national parties to accept a package of “enhanced online account security features” from Microsoft.

Netroots groups call for 2020 candidates to pledge to restore net neutrality

Press Release  |  Demand Progress

A broad coalition of some of the largest network neutrality advocacy groups is launching an activism site and pledge, which asks all 2020 presidential candidates to support strong net neutrality and reject telecom donations. “It’s not enough for candidates to simply say they support net neutrality,” said Mark Stanley, director of communications for Demand Progress.  “We’re looking for specific commitments from candidates to appoint commissioners who will restore the Title II-based net neutrality protections repealed by the [Federal Communications Commission], and who will close dangerous loopholes that allow ISPs to create fast lanes and unfairly privilege some apps over others." 

The Pledge:

We ask all 2020 presidential candidates to publicly call for the restoration of strong open internet protections; reject contributions from phone and cable company executives, lobbyists, and PACs; and pledge to appoint FCC Commissioners who will:

  • Restore all of the Title II-based net neutrality rules, enforcement authority, broadband competition and consumer protections the FCC eliminated in 2017
  • Enforce a ban on circumventing net neutrality at the point where data enters ISPs’ networks
  • Ban harmful forms of ‘zero-rating’ that advantage some apps over others or require apps to pay fees

Bernie Sanders on his plan for journalism

Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT)  |  Op-Ed  |  Columbia Journalism Review

Real journalism requires significant resources. One reason we do not have enough real journalism in America right now is because many outlets are being gutted by the same forces of greed that are pillaging our economy. For example, two Silicon Valley corporations—Facebook and Google—control 60 percent of the entire digital advertising market. At the same time, corporate conglomerates and hedge fund vultures have bought and consolidated beleaguered local newspapers and slashed their newsrooms—all while giving executives big payouts. We need to rebuild and protect a diverse and truly independent press so that real journalists can do the critical jobs that they love, and that a functioning democracy requires.

When I am President, my administration will put in place policies that will reform the media industry and better protect independent journalism at both the local and national levels. For example, we will reverse the Trump administration’s attempts to make corporate media mergers even more likely in the future. In the spirit of existing federal laws, we will start requiring major media corporations to disclose whether or not their corporate transactions and merger proposals will involve significant journalism layoffs.  In a Bernie Sanders administration, we will reinstate and strengthen media ownership rules, and we will limit the number of stations that large broadcasting corporations can own in each market and nationwide. We will also direct federal agencies to study the impact of consolidation in print, television, and digital media to determine whether further antitrust action is necessary. Finally, when it comes to Silicon Valley, I will appoint an Attorney General as well as Federal Trade Commission officials who more stringently enforce antitrust laws against tech giants like Facebook and Google, to prevent them from using their enormous market power to cannibalize, bilk, and defund news organizations. 

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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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