Attempts by governmental bodies to improve or impede communications with or between the citizenry.
Government & Communications
White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway found to have violated Hatch Act
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act on two occasions, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) informed the Trump administration. Appearing in her official capacity, Conway endorsed and advocated against political candidates, the watchdog said, referring its findings to President Donald Trump "for appropriate disciplinary action."
Five decades after Kerner Report, representation remains an issue in media
[Commentary] In February of 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders issued the Kerner Report—which detailed an extensive and daunting list of inequalities and inequities that led to civil unrest in Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Newark. Among its findings, the commission highlighted how the lack of adequate representation among the people assigning, reporting, and editing media coverage might drive “the underlying problems of race relations.”
China Presses Its Internet Censorship Efforts Across the Globe
Within its digital borders, China has long censored what its people read and say online. Now, it is increasingly going beyond its own online realms to police what people and companies are saying about it all over the world. For years, China has exerted digital control with a system of internet filters known as the Great Firewall, which allows authorities to limit what people see online. To broaden its censorship efforts, Beijing is venturing outside the Great Firewall and paying more attention to what its citizens are saying on non-Chinese apps and services.
A New Tool To Help Close the Digital Divide
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has said that bridging the digital divide is his highest priority. And now, we have a valuable tool that will aid in efforts to bridge the gap: a new interactive broadband map, which will help the public and policy-makers understand where there are gaps in delivering fixed broadband and much more. This new map is built on the latest data for fixed-broadband deployment, collected every six months by the FCC from providers on Form 477.
Critiques of 2017 FCC Comment Process Also Apply to 2014
[Analysis] Criticisms of the 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom process apply also to the 2014 Open Internet process. A key difference between the comment process in 2017 compared to 2014 is that form letters became more sophisticated and more difficult to identify. In the future, bad actors are likely to continue improving their ability to make form letters appear unique, hide their origins, or simply make the comment process unmanageable.
Senate Democrats Have a Plan to Save Net Neutrality
[Commentary] Senate Democrats are proposing to undo the FCC’s wrongheaded rule through a process set up by the Congressional Review Act. [O]ne more vote [is needed] to ensure the internet remains free and accessible to all. That vote must come from the ranks of the Republicans, who so far have sided with internet service providers, the only group that is clamoring to remove the important consumer protections enshrined in net neutrality.
FirstNet FY 2017: Annual Report to Congress
In the next fiscal year, we will continue to operationalize the network and interface with public safety. We have already begun work on service offerings like priority and preemption, and new capabilities will come as the FirstNet core network is launched in the first half of calendar year 2018. In addition,
we will see new device, application, and service offerings. We also will see the first phases of our RAN buildout to reflect increased coverage across the
country.
Reddit, Tumblr, and Others will fight for net neutrality with protests Feb 27
Along with organizations Fight for the Future, Demand Progress, and Free Press Action Fund, companies including Reddit, Tumblr, Etsy, and Medium are participating in a day of online and offline protests on February 27th. The protest — called Operation: #OneMoreVote — will call upon businesses, web users, and more to “flood lawmakers with phone calls and emails from constituents.”
Supreme Court to hear Microsoft case: A question of law and borders
The Supreme Court is set to hear a case that could have far-reaching implications for law enforcement access to digital data and for US companies that store customer emails in servers overseas. What began as a challenge by tech giant Microsoft to a routine search warrant for a suspected drug dealer’s emails has become a marquee case over data access in the Internet age. At issue is whether a US company must comply with a court order to turn over emails, even if they are held abroad — in this case in a Dublin server.
The FCC’s Republicans went to a conservative confab. One won a gun, the other an ethics complaint.
The Federal Communications Commission's Republican majority arrived at an annual gathering of influential conservatives hoping to tout their business bona fides — from freeing the Internet from government’s grasp to battling back the efforts of their Democratic predecessors. Instead, the appearance by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and his GOP colleagues offered an unexpected brush with a national battle over gun control — and a new ethics complaint targeting FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly for his comments about President Donald Trump.