Former Gov Phil Bredesen (D-TN) — and his Republican rival for the US Senate, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) — have both been talking up plans to expand broadband access in rural places. But they're pitching two very different solutions. Bredesen's idea is proposing legislation that would allow the Tennessee Valley Authority to get rural residents hooked up. Today, the federal agency is primarily known as a power company, but it initially had a societal mission as well: Its dams were meant to control floodwaters and generate electric power for struggling communities across the Southeast. Bredesen says it could provide internet infrastructure as well. "TVA seemed, to me, to be the perfect vehicle to do that. It's in its DNA. It started out as a rural development agency in the 1930s." Chairman Blackburn is not in favor of the TVA idea. In a statement, she opposed the idea of broadband being treated as a utility. She called it an anticompetitive solution that will create a government monopoly and raise taxes. She says she's focused on free-market solutions, with the government helping private companies.

Network neutrality activists have gotten together to fight the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, saying he would put the wishes of big cable and big telecom over the interests of the public. Free Press, Public Knowledge, Fight for the Future, Demand Progress and 20 others have sent a letter to the Senate in opposition. His Senate nomination hearings--in the Judiciary Committee--are scheduled to begin Sept 4, although Democrats are trying to delay them, partly in hopes of regaining the Senate and blocking the nomination themselves. 

Kavanaugh is currently a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which is the court of primary jurisdiction for Federal Communications Commission decisions. Back in October, he dissented from a decision by the full court not to grant ISPs request that it reconsider its decision upholding the Title II reclassfication, a reclassification Kavanaugh said was unlawful and should have been vacated. Free Press et al. said that dissent revealed "his commitment to protect the alleged rights of the big cable and phone companies that provide broadband internet access rather than the communications rights of everyone in America who relies on an open internet."

Chattanooga (TN) has the fastest internet in the United States. Why is that? The Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, the city’s municipally owned telecom and utilities provider, has invested heavily in fiber-optic network infrastructure, delivering 1-gigabit-per-second connections. That has enabled residents to access superfast broadband services, but it could also spur the deployment of new services, including telehealth. The city is actively exploring the idea of delivering telehealth services to residents who subscribe to EPB broadband services. With EPB closing in on 100,000 total subscribers, telehealth services could potentially benefit a significant number of residents. “We’re right at about 98,000 customers today in our fiber optics division and getting close to having 100,000 by this fall,” said EPB President David Wade. "That’s a big milestone and one we are going to celebrate.” As the Times Free Press reports, when EPB launched its fiber-optic services in 2009, it projected it would get about 35,000 users. Given that momentum, the city wants to use its broadband investments to offer a wider array of services. “We’re very interested and committed to participating in this telehealth market, and are evaluating our options,” Katie Espeseth, vice president of product development at EPB, tells Government Technology. “Having partners that provide innovative products and services is how we plan to maintain our competitive edge in this market.” If users get broadband service from an ISP, they can add telehealth services for as little as $30 per month, potentially. 

A barista gets burned at work, buys first-aid cream at Target, and later that day sees a Facebook ad for the same product. In another Target, someone shouts down the aisle to a companion to pick up some Red Bull; on the ride home, Instagram serves a sponsored post for the beverage. A home baker wishes aloud for a KitchenAid mixer, and moments after there’s an ad for one on his phone. Two friends are talking about recent trips to Japan, and soon after one gets hawked cheap flights there. A woman has a bottle of perfume confiscated at airport security, and upon arrival sees a Facebook ad for local perfume stores. These are just some of the many discomforting coincidences that make today’s consumers feel surveilled and violated. The causes are sometimes innocuous, and sometimes duplicitous. As more of them come to light, some will be cause for regulatory or legal remedy.

Online services are only accelerating the reach and impact of data-intelligence practices that stretch back decades. They have collected your personal data, with and without your permission, from employers, public records, purchases, banking activity, educational history, and hundreds more sources. They have connected it, recombined it, bought it, and sold it. Processed foods look wholesome compared to your processed data, scattered to the winds of a thousand databases. Everything you have done has been recorded, munged, and spat back at you to benefit sellers, advertisers, and the brokers who service them. It has been for a long time, and it’s not going to stop. The age of privacy nihilism is here, and it’s time to face the dark hollow of its pervasive void.

[Ian Bogost is the Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in Media Studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology.]

GOP lawmakers on the House Commerce Committee are urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to improve a platform listing common cyber vulnerabilities. Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rep Gregg Harper (R-MS), and Rep Rob Latta (R-OH), wrote a letter to Homeland Security Sec Kirstjen Nielsen suggesting that the program is granted a line item in the DHS budget instead of receiving uneven funding through contracts. The lawmakers also recommended that the program be reviewed biennially by both DHS and MITRE, the nonprofit that also manages the platform. The platform — known as the Comment Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program — was established nearly two decades ago to help companies, groups, agencies and others identify and share bugs.

Sprint and T-Mobile continue to work to obtain regulatory approval for their proposed merger. But, according to some analysts, don't expect the discussion to turn to conditions—including divestitures—until later in 2018. “We would not be surprised to see opponents refrain from offering conditions in these initial rounds of filings,” wrote the analysts at Wall Street firm New Street Research. “Generally, the opposition wants to push to kill the deal and only offer conditions as a last resort. There are many good reasons for such a strategy, but the biggest one is that one has to paint a picture of the horrors to arise and offering conditions at this time undercuts the clarity of images of problems to come.” The firm said that there are five major conditions hanging over the T-Mobile and Sprint transaction:

1. Spectrum: Sprint and T-Mobile may be required to divest significant spectrum holdings in order to get approval for their deal. Interestingly, the analysts at Wells Fargo also noted that such a divestiture could enable the creation of a smaller wireless provider.
2. Opposition from mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and wholesale dealers
3. Jobs: Although Sprint and T-Mobile have promised to increase the number of employees if their merger is approved, the New Street analysts said that this remains a concern in the Trump administration.
4. Interoperability: Sprint and T-Mobile could be required to ensure that their phones are interoperable with those of other carriers. 
5. Foreign ownership. Because Sprint’s parent is Japanese carrier SoftBank and T-Mobile's parent company is Germany's Deutsche Telekom, foreign ownership could become an issue in any transaction.

Tumblr is changing its community guidelines to more explicitly ban hate speech, glorifying violence, and revenge porn. The new rules go into effect on September 10th. “It’s on all of us to create a safe, constructive, and empowering environment,” Tumblr writes in its blog post. “Our community guidelines need to reflect the reality of the internet and social media today.” Tumblr struck out words in its hate speech policy that encouraged users to argue with negative speech that “doesn’t rise up to the level of violence or threats of violence” and to only report something if it was “especially heinous.” Users can now report hate speech directly in the mobile app through the small paper airplane icon on the bottom right-hand side of a post. Tap “report” and then tap “something else,” which will take you to a list of more specific violations, including hate speech.

In response to requests from Congress made on November 13 and November 15. 20! 7, the Federal Communications Commission Oflice of Inspector General (OlG) conducted an investigation into whether FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Chairman Pai "has taken actions to improperly benefit Sinclair Broadcast Group and "is executing his leadership of the FCC free from influences that compromise his objectivity and impartiality," especially with regard to the proposed merger of Sinclair and Tribune Media." 

After a comprehensive investigation including review of the emails, phone records and visitor logs noted above, coupled with interviews of the Chief of Staff and Chairman Pai, we found no evidence, nor even the suggestion, of impropriety, unscrupulous behavior, favoritism towards Sinclair, or lack of impartiality related to the proposed Sinclair-Tribune Merger. Our review did not reveal any improper actions. When asked specific questions as to whether any actions that ultimately may have inured to Sinclair’s benefit were influenced by any promises or threats either by Sinclair or any other entity, including President Trump or the Executive Office of President, the Chairman unequivocally replied in the negative. These responses were confirmed by the Chairman’s Chief of Staff. We have found no evidence that would lead us to question these responses.To the contrary, actions taken by Chairman Pai in the rulemakings identified in the letters from Congress are, as he stated in his interview, consistent with his long-held, and publicly espoused, policy beliefs. Based on our findings, we would recommend no further investigation into this issue at this time.

Prior to his appointment as FCC chairman, then-FCC Commissioner Pai met with President-Elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower -- in what Pai reffered to as a “job interview.”  Trump asked him if he was interested in becoming chairman of the FCC. Pai said yes. Also in attendance at the meeting were Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.  “Mr. Trump then asked Commissioner Pai to explain ‘what I had been doing.’ He had his (Pai’s) resume in front of him. Pai detailed his telecommunications experience and explained his vision for the future that included broadband infrastructure advancements and his personal dedication to making the internet accessible and affordable throughout rural America,” the report says. “The President-elect did not ask any specific policy-related questions, nor did he question him about his regulatory philosophy, although he was interested in the legal framework of the AT&T/Time Warner merger,” he wrote. “There was no discussion about Sinclair or any specific FCC proceeding.” While the meeting was publicized at the time, the report newly revealed that Trump “was interested in the legal framework” of AT&T’s proposed merger with Time Warner, a deal Trump had criticized publicly. Months later the Justice Department would go on to sue to block the deal, failing to mount a successful court challenge. The result is being appealed.On July 16, the report said, Chairman Pai received a phone call from White House lawyer Donald McGahn, who wanted to know the status of the FCC’s Sinclair merger review. Asked this month about contacts between the Trump administration and the FCC concerning the merger, Chairman Pai told reporters that the White House had never “contacted us to express a view” about the deal.

Then, on May 5, 2017, Chairman Pai received a cryptic email from Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, according to the probe. The email contained the message “Just tried you — had a quick thing to run by you." The report added that Chairman Pai received a phone call from a blocked number at 10:03 a.m. Chairman Pai did not remember the exchange, according to the inspector general’s report.

Chairman Pai’s relationship with Sinclair needed to be investigated in light of Sinclair’s ties to the President and the Chairman’s abysmal responses to Congressional Democrats’ numerous oversight letters.  It should not take an IG investigation to get answers to basic questions regarding independence and integrity. The IG report provides the first detailed responses to Congress’ questions. Beyond that, questions remain regarding the Chairman’s personal communications, which the IG noted were beyond his reach, and his conversations with Jared Kushner and Don McGhan.  I’m glad the IG confirmed he will conduct an additional forensic examination on communications with the White House.