Daily Digest 11/7/2017 (More Hacks)

Today's event: Advancing the Internet of Things in Rural America

Elections

Donald Trump a victim of hackers years before election

Four years ago, well before the furor over allegations Moscow meddled in the 2016 election that put Donald Trump in the White House, at least 195 web addresses belonging to Trump, his family or his business empire were hijacked by hackers possibly operating out of Russia.  The Trump Organization denied the domain names were ever compromised. But a review of internet records by the AP and cybersecurity experts shows otherwise. And it was not until the week of Oct 30, after the Trump camp was asked about it by the AP, that the last of the tampered-with addresses were repaired. After the hack, computer users who visited the Trump-related addresses were unwittingly redirected to servers in St. Petersburg, Russia, that cybersecurity experts said contained malicious software commonly used to steal passwords or hold files for ransom.

Russian Twitter Support for Trump Began Right After He Started Campaign

Kremlin-backed support for Donald Trump’s candidacy over social media began much earlier than previously known, a new analysis of Twitter data shows. Russian Twitter accounts posing as Americans began lavishing praise on President Trump and attacking his rivals within weeks after he announced his bid for the presidency in June 2015. A US intelligence assessment released early in 2017 concluded the Kremlin developed a “clear preference” for Trump over his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, but cited December 2015 as the earliest suspected time that Russian social-media accounts advocated for Trump. The earlier starting point of pro-Trump tweets highlights the breadth of the Russian effort to manipulate social media during the 2016 election. Kremlin-paid actors sowed division among Americans with fake pages and accounts, inflammatory postings and thousands of paid ads aimed at both liberal and conservative audiences, according to testimony before Congress last week.

DNC Subpoenaed in ‘Dossier’ Lawsuit

BuzzFeed has subpoenaed the Democratic National Committee for information related to the Democratic hack — its latest salvo in the media company’s efforts to defend itself against an ongoing libel suit connected to its publication of the infamous Steele dossier. The subpoena was served on the DNC on Nov 3. Aleksej Gubarev, a Russian technology executive, has sued BuzzFeed for libel for its decision to publish a series of memos authored by the former British spy Christopher Steele. Those memos — part of a so-called “dossier” of information about President Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, include claims strongly denied by Gubarev that his companies were recruited by the Kremlin’s security organs to break into Democratic Party computer systems ahead of the 2016 election.

Early Comey memo accused Clinton of gross negligence on emails

Government & Communications

What it will take to keep Trump tweeting from behind China’s great firewall

President Donald Trump embarks on a nine-day trip to Asia this weekend. It is his longest foreign trip so far as US president, and will include two days in China—behind the country’s Great Firewall. Does that mean the world is in for an extended version of his recent 11-minute Twitter time out? Probably not. While China’s massive censorship machine technically blocks Chinese citizens from using Twitter, there are ways around it—especially for foreigners.

via Quartz

Law professors file brief backing suit against Trump's Twitter blockades

Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of seven professors Monday in support of the Columbia Knight First Amendment Institute’s lawsuit challenging Trump’s ability to block opponents from his @realDonaldTrump Twitter feed. The group, which includes Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California Berkeley School of Law, said, “such practices are a familiar playbook for authoritarian regimes.” “False impression that political leaders are adored by the public is critical to warping the public’s understanding of how those leaders are really viewed by the public and, in turn, to quashing democratic impulses,” they wrote. In the 26-page brief, the legal scholars argue Trump has violated the First Amendment rights of critics he has blocked from commenting on his account.

Internet/Telecom

What's the FCC Doing to the Lifeline Program?

[Commentary] On November 16, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on an item that will impact the commission's Lifeline program, which provides discounts on telecommunications services for qualifying low-income consumers. On October 26, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai released a draft of the item in advance of the November vote. Here we break down the rules that the FCC plans on changing immediately at the November meeting, the new proposals the FCC is seeking comment on, and the more general evaluation the FCC is launching into the program's "ultimate purposes." [Kevin Taglang]

How Verizon and Comcast are working to ensure states don’t pass their own net neutrality bills

Comcast and Verizon have both asked the Federal Communications Commission to make clear that the FCC's new policy on network neutrality — which could be put to a vote as early as Dec — will preempt state and local regulations that might read differently. The request marks the industry's latest step to weaken federal rules that regulate broadband companies like legacy telephone companies. The broadband industry fears that even if the FCC succeeds in deregulating, states could take steps “countermanding” the federal agency's decision, according to the Verizon white paper. “Allowing every State and locality to chart its own course for regulating broadband is a recipe for disaster,” the company said. "It would impose localized and likely inconsistent burdens on an inherently interstate service." Then there's the question of whether state and local preemption could wind up being a double-edged sword.

FCC Delays, Denials Foil Rural Schools' Broadband Plans

Hundreds of state and local efforts to connect rural and remote schools to fiber-optic networks have been delayed or rejected by federal officials during the past two years, jeopardizing the push to bring high-speed internet to the country's hardest-to-connect classrooms. Broadband proponents say the problems stem from confusing barriers erected by the Federal Communications Commission and the Universal Service Administrative Company, which oversee and administer the E-rate, a $3.9 billion program to help schools and libraries pay for internet access and other telecommunications services. "If the commission really wants to close the digital divide, they should be rolling out the red carpet for these fiber projects," said Evan Marwell, CEO of the nonprofit advocacy group EducationSuperHighway. "Instead, they are rolling out the red tape."
 

How tax reform can support rural broadband

[Commentary] As the House GOP released the first draft of the tax plan the week of Oct 30, rural broadband deployment, an issue that continues to receive bipartisan congressional attention, may find some helpful incentives. For telecommunications companies that are highly capital-intensive, the draft that the Senate eventually adopts could impact investments in new rural broadband facilities or the upkeep of existing network infrastructure in rural and urban areas.

FCC Backs Charter in VoIP Case

The Federal Communications Commission has weighed in with a federal court to support Charter's challenge to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's application of legacy Title II telecom regulations to its interconnected VoIP phone service. The case is being heard by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Minnesota. "The Minnesota PUC has adopted a blunderbuss approach to VoIP regulation that threatens to disrupt the national voice services market," the FCC's legal team says.

BDAC Chair Provides Status on Committee

I am pleased to report that the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) has made tremendous progress in fulfilling its charter. At the BDAC’s next meeting on November 9, I expect each working group to come ready to present a detailed, substantive work product for the BDAC to consider. I am optimistic that the BDAC will come out of this meeting with some initial recommendations for the FCC as well as a plan to tackle the next phase of its work. The work occurring in the various BDAC working groups is highly complex and interrelated, and the November 9 meeting is the BDAC’s first real opportunity to take a comprehensive look at the recommendations that are taking shape. This meeting will also give the BDAC a chance to identify areas that would benefit from harmonization as each working group seeks to complete its recommendations for the full BDAC. I look forward to joining my fellow BDAC members in an intense working session on November 9th.

Ownership

Think of the Public Before the Broadcasters

[Commentary] As the son of a broadcast pioneer who got his license from the Department of Commerce in 1923 and as a former broadcaster myself, I read with great sadness “FCC to Lift Limits on Media Deals.” Although Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai justifies his proposal by saying it will lead to more news gathering locally and more news for consumers, my experience tells me it will be the opposite. First, viewers and listeners don’t need more news, they need better news. In my day the yardstick by which we decided what we covered was “Does the public need to know this?” Second, allowing ownership of multiple stations in a given market will drive the last nail in the coffin of the local “multiplicity of voices” that broadcasting originally sought to bring to the public.

A welcome step toward curbing 'rent extraction' during FCC merger reviews

[Commentary] Under the plain terms of the Communications Act, the Federal Communications Commission is obligated to review industry mergers and acquisitions to determine whether such transactions serve the public interest. Given that the FCC is “entrusted with the responsibility to determine when and to what extent the public interest would be served by competition in the industry," the commission’s merger review serves a useful and important function. However, the FCC’s long-standing practice of using backroom, closed-door negotiations between the regulator and prospective merging parties to extract political concessions has done much to erode the Agency’s credibility with Congress and the American people alike. It takes tremendous courage to curb government’s proclivity to extract rents from the private sector. For that, Chairman Pai and his Republican colleagues at the FCC deserve recognition.

21st Century Fox has been holding talks to sell most of the company to Disney

Apparently, 21st Century Fox has been holding talks to sell most of the company to Walt Disney Co., leaving behind a media company tightly focused on news and sports. The talks have taken place over the last few weeks and there is no certainty they will lead to a deal. The two sides are not currently talking at this very moment, but given the on again, off again nature of the talks, they could be revisited. For Fox, the willingness to engage in sale talks with Disney stems from a growing belief among its senior management that scale in media is of immediate importance and there is not a path to gain that scale in entertainment through acquisition.

via CNBC
Spectrum/Wireless

Altice USA, Sprint agree to wireless partnership

US cable operator Altice USA will sell mobile service on wireless carrier Sprint Corp’s network under a new multi-year agreement announced on Nov 5, becoming the latest firm to enter the wireless market in a bid to retain customers.  The companies announced the agreement a day after Sprint and T-Mobile US Inc ended merger talks. Under the terms of the agreement, Altice, the fourth-largest U.S. cable operator, will use Sprint’s network to provide voice and data services in the United States. It gave no time line on when it will introduce such services. The deal will allow Sprint to use Altice’s cable infrastructure to transmit cellular data and develop a next-generation network, or 5G. Sprint and T-Mobile on Nov 4 called off merger talks to create a bigger US wireless company to rival market leaders. That has left Sprint, the No. 4 US wireless carrier, to engineer a turnaround on its own.

Journalism

Disney Bars L.A. Times Reporters From Film Screenings

The Walt Disney Co is apparently punishing the Los Angeles Times for a negative story about Disneyland, a reporter said in a series of tweets Nov 3 that were supported by a written statement from the newspaper. "The Los Angeles Times has been 'put on pause' by Disney, barring its reporters and critics from seeing its movies," tweeted Glenn Whipp, who writes columns about film and television for the newspaper. "Disney didn't like the Times' recent two-part story detailing Disneyland's business ties with the city of Anaheim," Whipp continued.  Disney reportedly didn't invite a Times reviewer to an advance screening of Thor: Ragnarok, but the retaliation apparently didn't stop with that one film, and Whipp blames CEO Bob Iger for creating the dustup. In a tweet, Whipp called the decision "significant because Iger is said to harbor political ambitions when he retires from Disney in 2019. Is this how Bob Iger would react to reporters asking touch questions should he run for office?"

8 strategies for saving local newsrooms

[Commentary] Based on our research, we have identified eight key strategies local newsrooms should be considering to reinvigorate themselves:

  1. Focus on original reporting.
  2. Own the master narrative of your community.
  3. What are the metrics telling you? To what extent does this matter?
  4. Consider content partnerships.
  5. Do you have the right mix of structure, staff, and skills?
  6. Diversify your income.
  7. Make time to experiment.
  8. Stop talking the industry down.

[Christopher Ali is an assistant professor in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. Damian Radcliffe is the Carolyn S. Chambers Professor in Journalism at the University of Oregon.]

Reporters Without Borders: Facebook Test Threatens News

Reporters Without Borders, the group that works to protect journalists, and journalism, across the globe, has asked Facebook to abandon a news feed test it is conducting in six countries, saying the change, if implemented, would imperil many media outlets. Facebook says it is testing ways to improve its news feed, a test being conducted in Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Slovakia, Serbia, Guatemala, and Cambodia. "The goal of this test is to understand if people prefer to have separate places for personal and public content," Facebook explained. "We will hear what people say about the experience to understand if it’s an idea worth pursuing any further." But Reporters Without Borders was still worried. "Under this change, news media stories no longer appear in the main 'News Feed' unless they pay to appear there," the group said. "The 'News Feed' now only shows content from the user’s 'friends' and paid content, including advertisements.

One year later: Boredom gave us Trump

[Commentary] Can the media fight the prospect of cultural death through entertainment? It won’t be easy. Surely we need more reporting on the infrastructure bill, on the prospects for job retraining, on cyber-security and the chances that upcoming elections will actually render something like the will of the people. We could hear more about prisons, more about poverty, more about the environment. But as long as readers are clicking Dopey Donald stories, this will not be easy. Journalists will have to be willing, in effect, to fight their readers for control of the media. Will they be willing to do so? So yes—no reading, no thought, no conversation worth the time: those conditions can undermine a republic as much, maybe more, than economic distress or crime or racism or sexism or what have you. So yes—no one thought, no one read, and the republic began to totter. And then (perhaps) it commenced to fall. Meanwhile, the show goes on

Advertising

CNN: Fox cancels Trump impeachment ads

Fox News has canceled ads purchased by Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer that call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment, CNN’s Brian Stelter confirmed. “Due to the strong negative reaction to their ad by our viewers, we could not in good conscience take their money,” Fox News told Stelter. Steyer said that Fox News informed him on Oct. 31 that it was refusing to air the ad entitled “Join Us.” Steyer said the decision “shows no respect for democracy.” Steyer launched his $10 million “Need to Impeach” ad campaign in late October, drawing the ire of Trump, who called Steyer “wacky & totally unhinged.”

Diversity
Emergency Communications
Policymakers
Company/Industry News
Stories From Abroad

Fox News shows broke UK TV impartiality rules, Ofcom finds

The media regulator Ofcom has ruled that the Fox News programmes Hannity and Tucker Carlson Tonight breached impartiality rules covering British broadcasting. The rulings relate to coverage of the Manchester Arena bombing in May and President Donald Trump’s executive order in January that restricted travel to the US from seven majority-Muslim countries. Investors interpreted the rulings as a setback for the Murdoch family’s hopes of taking full control of Sky. 21st Century Fox, which is controlled by the Murdochs and owns Fox News, is trying to buy the 61 percent of Sky that it does not own in an £11.7bn deal. The deal is being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority on the grounds of media plurality and commitment to broadcasting standards. Sky pulled Fox News from its platform in Britain in August.

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