Reporting

President Trump says his State of the Union viewership was the highest ever. The ratings say otherwise.

President Donald Trump boasted that the viewership of his State of the Union speech was “the highest number in history” — a claim at odds with ratings figures released the day before. In a Feb 1 tweet, President Trump said, "Thank you for all of the nice compliments and reviews on the State of the Union speech. 45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history. @FoxNews beat every other Network, for the first time ever, with 11.7 million people tuning in. Delivered from the heart!

Cuba hands note of protest to U.S. over internet task force

Cuba handed a note of protest to the top U.S. diplomat in Havana on Jan 31 over the Trump administration’s creation of a Cuba Internet Task Force that it said was an attempt to violate its sovereignty and carry out subversive activities.  The U.S. State Department said recently it was convening the task force to promote “the free and unregulated flow of information” on the Communist-run island that has one of the lowest internet penetration rates in the world. The group would examine ways of “expanding internet access and independent media”, it said.

San Francisco Asks Vendors for Citywide Broadband Proposals, Mandates Net Neutrality

San Francisco’s (CA) attempt to bring affordable, high-speed Internet service to every home and business in the city is set to take a major step forward Jan 31 as city officials begin choosing private-sector partners to build the network at the lowest possible cost.

America's Digital Infrastructure Is Crumbling, Too

In Jan 30's State of the Union message, President Donald Trump called on Congress to allocate at least $1.5 trillion for "the infrastructure investment we need."   Much of the conversation relates to people's most tangible perception of infrastructure: roads, rails and bridges. The media rightly give us increasingly frequent images of derailed train cars, collapsed trestles, cracked stanchions and crumbling bridges. But in the 21st century, infrastructure is more than concrete and metal. Equally important is the digital infrastructure that underlies America’s economy and governments.

The pharmaceutical industry is no stranger to fake news

Accusations of “fake news” are all the rage now, with people often throwing around the term when they read an article that tells them something they don’t want to hear. But an entire industry called “product defense,” created years ago by the tobacco industry, uses falsehoods and misdirection to protect companies from bad media and regulatory scrutiny. The pharmaceutical industry is no stranger to these tactics. Document archives have revealed how tobacco companies helped create and hone product .defense strategies.

Get to know the city of Detroit's propaganda arm

Early in Jan, in the days after Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he'd be moving forward with a plan to require thousands of Detroit businesses to buy into a costly surveillance program intended to reduce crime, a sponsored post that looked favorably upon the program appeared at the top of our Facebook timeline. The linked content — "Inside the Real Time Crime Center, DPD's 24-hour monitoring station" — had all of the trappings of a news story. There was a headline, a byline, a mix of quotes and information.

The White House promised to restore a petitions site that was critical of President Trump. It hasn’t.

The White House took down the popular “We The People” petitions website, started by Barack Obama’s administration, in December, with the promise that the site would be restored by “late January.” As of 3 p.m. on Jan. 31, the site, which allows citizens to post petitions that require a White House response when they meet a certain number of signatures, is still down.

Lawmakers hammer Facebook and Twitter for not fully investigating if Russian bots spread the #ReleasetheMemo campaign

Top Democratic lawmakers slammed Facebook and Twitter for dodging new questions about Russian efforts to spread propaganda on their platforms.  For Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), their continued concerns center on the #ReleaseTheMemo campaign. The hashtag, popular at times on Twitter, calls attention a still-secret report produced by congressional Republicans that its leaders say shows abuse of power at the FBI.

Telecom Policymaking a Piecemeal Effort, House Commerce Chairman Walden Predicts

Congressional action to update the Telecommunications Act will be incremental, according to House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). "We're looking at it piece by piece," Walden said at the 2018 State of the Net conference on Jan 29. He added that Congress also "needs to look at the FCC operation" overall, acknowledging that "we live in a different era" than when the 1996 Telecom law was enacted. Walden said he expects a "program-by-program" evaluation, but did not suggest any timetable or urgency for the review.

New paper tariffs could cost jobs at US publishers

In mid-January, the US Department of Commerce slapped a tariff on Canadian newsprint, which is used by around 75 percent of US publishers and is particularly prevalent in the Northeast. Even though the duty may yet be reversed, American newspapers—already struggling to go to print in an era of rapidly declining circulation—have to pay it in the meantime. Many publishers fear it’ll add upward of 10 percent to their print costs, and could even result in job losses. The tariff will affect publishers of all sizes, from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal on down.

Facebook’s Experiment in Ad Transparency Is Like Playing Hide And Seek

Facebook has said it plans to avoid a repeat of the Russia fiasco by improving transparency. An approach it’s rolling out in Canada now, and plans to expand to other countries this summer, enables Facebook users outside an advertiser’s targeted audience to see ads. The hope is that enhanced scrutiny will keep advertisers honest and make it easier to detect foreign interference in politics. So we used a remote connection, called a virtual private network, to log into Facebook from Canada and see how this experiment is working.

Google Search results to give 'diverse' answers

Google says it will soon alter its Search tool to provide "diverse perspectives" where appropriate. The change will affect the boxed text that often appears at the top of results pages - known as a Snippet - which contains a response sourced from a third-party site.

At present, Google provides only a single box but it will sometimes show multiple Snippets in the future. The change could help Google tackle claims it sometimes spreads lies. But one expert warned the move introduced fresh risks of its own.

Draft FEC Rules Target Political Ads on Social Media

The Federal Elections Commission is moving forward with a plan to introduce new rules on political advertising on social media ahead of the 2018 election cycle. The commission has a working draft of the rules in front of it now, longtime Democratic FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub said, though she divulged few details. 

The Fight for High-Speed Internet Continues in Burlington, N.C.

Even as AT&T continues to expand its fiber optic network to condominium and apartment complexes in Burlington (NC) — AT&T says that at least 10 condominium and apartment complexes are connected to its fiber optic network — most city residents and businesses don't have access to fiber optic Internet. Instead, they get their Internet service through slower cable or DSL lines. The average speed is 41.4 megabits per second, according to Broadband Now, a nonprofit company that tracks Internet access in cities around the country.

This Week in Comcast: Is municipal broadband the next net neutrality?

Like network neutrality, publicly-owned broadband is a topic that’s often murky, as major players seek to establish their own set of facts and define the issue based on their own priorities. Outside cash, for or against, pours in to fight the issue.  Comcast, for its part, is a known contributor to industry associations that have put up large chunks of change to fight municipal broadband legislation at the grassroots level, such as in Fort Collins (CO) where city officials recently approved building out a municipal network.

AT&T to lose hundreds of 5G millimeter wave spectrum licenses as part of FCC/FiberTower settlement

The Federal Communications Commission announced a settlement with AT&T’s FiberTower that involves the company returning hundreds of millimeter wave spectrum licenses to the agency. The settlement essentially means AT&T won’t get access to those spectrum licenses, and it paves the way for the agency to reauction those licenses at some point in the future.  Specifically, as part of the agreement, FiberTower is abandoning all of its 24 GHz spectrum licenses (around 121 total) and roughly the same number of 39 GHz spectrum licenses.

Wireless Workers Launch New 'Network'

Communications Workers of America members at AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have created a national network of union and non-union workers organizing to "protect good jobs and quality customer service." According to CWA, hundreds are meeting in Orlando (FL) Jan 30 to strategize about changing the industry "from within." That coincided with a planned demonstration in front of AT&T and Verizon stores there by wireless workers in support of AT&T Wireless employees in the Southeast currently trying to negotiate a new contract.

DOJ, SEC Probe Apple Over Updates That Slow Older iPhones

Apparently, The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating whether Apple violated securities laws concerning its disclosures about a software update that slowed older iPhone models. The government has requested information from the company. The inquiry is in early stages, apparently, and it’s too soon to conclude any enforcement will follow. Investigators are looking into public statements made by Apple on the situation.

California Senate defies FCC, approves net neutrality law

The California State Senate approved a bill to impose network neutrality restrictions on Internet service providers, challenging the Federal Communications Commission attempt to preempt such rules. The FCC is already being sued by 21 states and the District of Columbia, which are trying to reverse the net neutrality repeal and the preemption of state laws. Attempts to enforce net neutrality rules at the state or local level could end up being challenged in separate lawsuits.

UK mass digital surveillance regime ruled unlawful

British Appeal court judges have ruled the government’s mass digital surveillance regime unlawful in a case brought by the Labour deputy leader, Tom Watson. Liberty, the human rights campaign group which represented Watson in the case, said the ruling meant significant parts of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 – known as the snooper’s charter – are effectively unlawful and must be urgently changed. The government defended its use of communications data to fight serious and organised crime and said that the judgment related to out of date legislation.

In Age of Trump, Political Reporters Are in Demand and Under Attack

Since President Donald Trump took office a year ago, the political press has endured a sustained assault from a chief executive who has called journalists “the enemy of the American people.” Yet the news media has also driven decisions inside the West Wing to a degree perhaps unmatched since the scandal-ridden days of Richard Nixon. And White House aides and reporters alike say that political reality is being refracted by the media in an unprecedented way.

Zuckerberg promises to show Facebook users more local news

Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook will now start showing users more local news stories in their feeds — the latest in a string of reforms the company has announced in 2018.  “Local news helps build community — both on and offline,” Zuckerberg wrote in a post. “It's an important part of making sure the time we all spend on Facebook is valuable.”

The Trump Administration said it has no plans to build a 5G wireless network

The Trump administration labored to clarify on Jan 29 that it currently has no plans to build its own ultra-fast 5G wireless network, despite publication of a memo that suggested the idea was under consideration. At issue is a proposal put forth by an unnamed official at the National Security Council, a White House-based body that advises the president on critical U.S. and foreign policy matters. The document called for the U.S. government to effectively nationalize a portion of the telecom sector — a radical departure from current policy — in a bid to combat Chinese influence.

Providers say service won't change after net neutrality rules lifted

Even the largest internet service providers say customers won’t see their service affected because of the [network neutrality] rule change.