Daily Digest 10/24/2018 (We Must Let Our Minds Be Bold)

Benton Foundation
Table of Contents

News from the FCC Meeting

FCC Proposes More Spectrum for Unlicensed Use  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission
  • Statement on Proposal to Allow Unlicensed Use of 6 GHz Band  |  AT&T
  • Public Knowledge Applauds NPRM to Allow Unlicensed Use of 6 GHz Spectrum  |  Public Knowledge
FCC Acts to Increase Investment and Deployment in 3.5 GHz Band  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission
FCC 3.5 GHz Band License Changes Will Make Closing the Rural Digital Divide More Difficult  |  Public Knowledge
  • Statement on FCC Changes to 3.5 GHz Band  |  AT&T
FCC Action on Rural Business Data Services  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission
FCC Eliminates Paper Filing for Broadcast Station Contracts  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission
FCC Seeks to Eliminate Its Cable Rate Regulations  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission
FCC Proposes $63 Million Fine for Lifeline Violations  |  Federal Communications Commission
FCC Announces Excellence in Economics & Engineering Award Winners  |  Federal Communications Commission

Broadband/Internet/Telecom

Attorneys General of Texas, Arkansas, and Nebraska help FCC kill net neutrality and preempt state laws  |  Read below  |  Jon Brodkin  |  Ars Technica
See how passionate your congressional district is about net neutrality  |  Quartz
Why rural areas can't catch a break on speedy broadband  |  Read below  |  Marguerite Reardon  |  C|Net
In farm country, forget broadband. You might not have internet at all  |  Read below  |  Shara Tibken  |  C|Net
Rural Maine communities taking lack of broadband into their own hands  |  Read below  |  J Craig Anderson  |  Portland Press Herald
AT&T’s fix for the broadband mapping problem? Get everyone’s address  |  Read below  |  Mike Dano  |  Fierce
Affordable Communication Is Under Attack  |  Read below  |  Cheryl Leanza  |  Op-Ed  |  Sojourners
Commentary: Telcos flailing against tide to turn into dumb pipes  |  ZDNet

Ownership/Competition

We Must Let Our Minds Be Bold  |  Read below  |  Jonathan Sallet  |  Analysis  |  Benton Foundation

Wireless

NCTA CEO Michael Powell: 5G is 25% Technology, 75% Marketing  |  Multichannel News
5G will unlock whole new applications -- here are the most promising  |  C|Net
Crown Castle increases outlook for small cell deployments in 2019  |  Fierce
T-Mobile's Mayo: Edge computing is ‘not as imminent as maybe the hype cycle would suggest’  |  Fierce

Children and Media

Child Advocates to FCC: Rules Were Not Made to Be Broken  |  Read below  |  John Eggerton  |  Broadcasting&Cable
PTC: FCC Yet to Address Fundamental KidVid Questions  |  Read below  |  John Eggerton  |  Broadcasting&Cable
Google Is Teaching Children How to Act Online. Is It the Best Role Model?  |  New York Times

Security/Privacy

Yahoo to pay $50 million in damages for massive security breach  |  Read below  |  Michael Liedtke  |  Associated Press
House Commerce Committee Releases Whitepaper on Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure Cybersecurity Practices  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  US House of Representatives Commerce Committee
US Begins First Cyberoperation Against Russia Aimed at Protecting Elections  |  Read below  |  Julian Barnes  |  New York Times
Cybersecurity hub planned for Baltimore's Port Covington  |  Baltimore Sun
Kathryn Montgomery & Jeff Chester: 20 years of children’s online privacy success provides blueprint for comprehensive policy  |  Hill, The
Op-ed: Why Privacy Regulations Don’t Always Do What They’re Meant To  |  Harvard Business Review

Platforms

Twitter bans more InfoWars accounts  |  Read below  |  Oliver Darcy, Rob McLean  |  CNN
Facebook’s top political ad spender is ... Facebook  |  Vox

Health

The biggest pandemic risk? Viral misinformation  |  Nature
How 5G can transform healthcare  |  Verizon

Policymakers

OMB Announces Permanent US Digital Service Leadership  |  nextgov
Karl Bode: Ajit Pai, Telecom Lobbyists Are Now Coordinating Their Lies In Perfect Symmetry  |  TechDirt

Elections

How Russia’s “influence operations” targeted the midterms (and how they still do)  |  Ars Technica
Brookings survey finds 57% say they have seen fake news during 2018 elections and 19% believe it has influenced their vote  |  Brookings Institution
Younger Americans are better than older Americans at telling factual news statements from opinions  |  Pew Research Center
Analysis: Google steps up security efforts as most political campaigns use its email services  |  Washington Post
Opinion: Fox News and Trump Reboot a Fearmongering TV Drama From 2014  |  New York Times

Content

Google's new video-game streaming service could mark the beginning of the end for gaming consoles  |  Business Insider
Why the golden age of streaming could be coming to an end  |  Vox

Company News

Charter’s nationwide price hike could cost you another $91 a year  |  Ars Technica
Four Central Texas cities sue Time Warner cable over unpaid fees  |  KWTX
 
Google Facebook Amazon’s Civil Liability Immunity = A Culture of Un-Ethics?  |  Scott Cleland
Amazon Lobbying Reaches Company Record Amid Pentagon Competition  |  Bloomberg

Stories From Abroad

Repressive regimes are weaponizing social media to maintain power  |  Axios
Report: Global Broadband Subscriptions Hit 1 Billion  |  Point Topic
Global Internet Access is Even Worse than Dire Reports Suggest  |  Read below  |  Emily Dreyfuss  |  Wired
Today's Top Stories

News From the FCC Meeting

FCC Proposes More Spectrum for Unlicensed Use

Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission proposed to make up to 1200 megahertz of spectrum available for use by unlicensed devices in the 6 GHz band (5.925-7.125 GHz). The proposed rules are designed to allow unlicensed devices to operate in the 6 GHz band without interfering with the operation of the licensed services that will continue to use this spectrum. In those portions of the 6 GHz band that are heavily used by point-to-point microwave links, the Commission proposes to allow unlicensed devices to operate where permitted by an automated frequency coordination system and invites comment as to whether this is necessary for devices operated only indoors. In the other portions of the band where licensed mobile services, such as the Broadcast Auxiliary Service and Cable Television Relay Service, operate, the unlicensed devices would be restricted to indoor operations at lower power. These proposed rules will allow a valuable spectrum resource to be more intensively used to benefit consumers while allowing the existing licensed uses of the 6 GHz band to continue uninterrupted.

FCC Acts to Increase Investment and Deployment in 3.5 GHz Band

Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Report and Order that makes modifications to the rules governing the Citizens Broadband Radio Service in the 3.5 GHz band. This action will promote additional investment and encourage broader deployment in the band, ensure that our rules for this service keep up with technological advancements, and help to maintain U.S. leadership in the deployment of next-generation services, including 5G. Specifically, the Order:

  • Changes the size of Priority Access Licenses (PAL) license areas from census tracts to counties;
  • Extends the PAL license term to ten years and makes these licenses renewable;
  • Establishes end-of-term performance requirements;
  • Ensures seven PALs are available in each license area;
  • Allows the use of bidding credits for rural and Tribal entities;
  • Permits partitioning and disaggregation of PALs;
  • Updates information security requirements to protect registration information; and
  • Facilitates transmission over wider channels while maintaining protections for other services

FCC Action on Rural Business Data Services

Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission is allowing certain rural telecommunications carriers the opportunity to transition from rate-of-return regulation to light-touch incentive regulation for their business data services. Recognizing the importance of business data services to the nation’s economy, the FCC in 2017 modernized its regulation of those services for large carriers – known as price cap carriers – to encourage deployment of modern, packet-based services. To bring that modernization to rural America, this Order builds on the 2017 framework, which was recently upheld almost entirely by the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The carriers eligible for this modern framework are those that are receiving fixed rural universal service support, typically through a cost model, a framework that is a more efficient alternative to traditional, cost-based mechanisms. This Order:

  • Provides an opportunity for eligible rate-of-return carriers to move their legacy business data services to incentive regulation that is similar to the price cap regulation adopted in 2017. Legacy business data services are those that operate at lower speeds – 45 Mbps (DS3) or less – and use a network protocol known as “time-division multiplexing,” or TDM.
  • Relieves electing carriers’ lower speed TDM-based services that go to end-user customers of ex ante pricing regulation in areas deemed competitive by a competitive market test. These services are known as “end user channel terminations.”
  • Eliminates ex ante pricing regulation of electing carriers’ higher speed TDM-based business data services (above DS3) and their packet-based business data services.
  • Forbears from requiring electing carriers to comply with cost support, cost assignment and jurisdictional separations requirements.

The Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks comment on creating a pathway to ending ex ante pricing regulation for the lower speed TDM-based transport services of rate-of-return carriers opting in to the incentive regulation framework the Commission adopted today. These services provide higher volume connections between points of traffic aggregation on the network rather than serve end-users. In addition, a Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking addresses a remand in the Eighth Circuit’s decision on the 2017 rules by seeking comment on a proposal to remove pricing regulation of the TDM transport services of price cap carriers.

FCC Eliminates Paper Filing for Broadcast Station Contracts

Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission eliminated the nearly 80-year-old requirement that broadcasters routinely file paper copies of station contracts and certain other documents. Broadcasters have the option of either uploading these documents directly to their online public inspection file or maintaining an up-to-date list in of these documents in their online file and providing copies of the documents to requesting parties within seven days. Thus, the routine paper filing requirement is redundant and unnecessary. Eliminating these paper filings, and instead relying on the online public file rules, will reduce burdens on broadcasters while preserving transparency and ease of access to station documents for both the FCC and the public.

FCC Seeks to Eliminate Its Cable Rate Regulations

Press Release  |  Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Report and Order addressing cable rate regulations. In most of the US, basic service tier and equipment rates, together known as cable rates, are no longer regulated because the markets are deemed to be competitive by law due to the availability of satellite television and other services. However, in some communities in two states, Hawaii and Massachusetts, rates remain regulated. Under our current rules, cable operators in those markets must use a series of FCC forms to calculate reasonable rates that local franchising authorities must review and approve.

This FNPRM seeks comment on whether to adopt fundamental changes to the FCC’s existing complex cable rate regulation framework. For example, it asks whether the FCC should eliminate all existing rate regulation forms and create a simplified structure for ensuring reasonable basic service rates in those few localities that remain rate regulated. Alternatively, it seeks comment on updating the existing cable rate regulation rules, including limiting equipment rate regulation, exempting small cable systems owned by small cable companies from rate regulation, and clarifying that cable services provided to commercial establishments such as office buildings and shopping malls are not subject to rate regulation. It also seeks comment on streamlining the initial rate setting methodology, which requires using data from as far back as 1992. These proposed changes would eliminate multiple FCC forms and rules. The Report and Order eliminates or revises rules that have become obsolete due to the sunset of rate regulation for cable programming service tiers, are unnecessary given changes in industry practices, or have become obsolete due to changes in Commission policy.

Broadband/Telecom

Attorneys General of Texas, Arkansas, and Nebraska help FCC kill net neutrality and preempt state laws

Jon Brodkin  |  Ars Technica

The Federal Communications Commission's repeal of network neutrality rules has received support from the Republican attorneys general of TX, AR, and NE. The three states filed a brief Oct 19 in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, urging judges to reject a lawsuit filed against the FCC by 22 other states. The action highlights a partisan split among state attorneys general: states with Democratic attorneys general are fighting to save net neutrality while states with Republican attorneys general are either fighting against net neutrality or standing on the sidelines. 

The net neutrality repeal has drawn interest from state governments partly because the FCC claimed that it can preempt states from enacting their own net neutrality rules. The states' lawsuit against the FCC seeks to reinstate federal net neutrality rules and prevent preemption of state laws, such as one just passed in CA. But the TX/AR/NE brief supports the FCC's authority to change decisions made by previous administrations. The FCC's new leadership can look at the same set of facts and come to a different conclusion without violating the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which dictates how agencies can make policy changes, they wrote.

Why rural areas can't catch a break on speedy broadband

Marguerite Reardon  |  C|Net

In spite of the billions of dollars in private investment and government subsidies over multiple decades, the numbers still paint a disturbing picture. Roughly 39 percent of rural Americans lack access to high-speed broadband, compared with just 4 percent of urban Americans. The internet that rural Americans can access is slower and more expensive than it is for their urban counterparts. And to add insult to injury, the rural population generally earns less than those in urban areas.  Building networks in rural America is incredibly expensive, and in some places it's nearly impossible. The terrain can be a problem in areas like West Virginia, nestled among the Appalachian, Allegheny, and Cumberland mountain ranges. In Alaska or Minnesota, the ground could be frozen for more than half the year, making it nearly impossible to install fiber or other infrastructure. But the biggest barrier to getting broadband in certain areas of the country is low population density. Even as progress is made to get rural America connected, the disparity between the haves and have-nots in terms of speed and network quality is likely to get worse. Big broadband providers will focus on the more densely populated and profitable areas of the country, delivering gigabit speed broadband -- often from not just one provider but from multiple companies. The advent of 5G wireless, which promises to bring increased speeds and network responsiveness, is also unlikely to reach rural communities.  

In farm country, forget broadband. You might not have internet at all

Shara Tibken  |  C|Net

For many people in the rural US -- from stretches of Kansas to vast swaths of Alaska -- it's like living in an undeveloped nation when it comes to internet connectivity. Population density matters because it determines whether an internet company will invest in building out its network or if it will stick to its traditional borders. The problem runs deeper than the willingness of ISPs to move into new areas. When the Federal Communications Commission in 2015 changed the definition of broadband to 25 megabits per second for download speeds, up from 4 Mbps, it found that 55 million Americans, or 17 percent of the population, lacked access to advanced services. The following year, the FCC concluded that percentage of underserved Americans had dropped to 10 percent. The reality is that 80 percent of the 24 million people still without broadband are located in rural parts of the US. And experts say today's figures are almost certainly inaccurate because of faulty maps. "The current [broadband coverage] map is a nightmare," says Christopher Ali, an assistant professor in the University of Virginia's Department of Media Studies 

Rural Maine communities taking lack of broadband into their own hands

J Craig Anderson  |  Portland Press Herald

Many rural communities in Maine have been waiting decades for the major internet service providers to bring broadband service to their areas, a situation exacerbated by the state having the second slowest internet speeds in the country. The lack of broadband is a deterrent to would-be residents and businesses, and it thwarts local efforts at economic development. It also deprives existing residents of opportunities for entertainment, education, employment, and digital health services. Proponents of broadband expansion in Maine say rural areas have been left behind because internet service providers don’t see a financial benefit to upgrading their rural networks, the state lacks strong leadership to push comprehensive broadband initiatives, and many rural residents still don’t understand why broadband service is important to their communities. A growing number of rural towns are no longer satisfied with waiting for the private sector to bring them up to speed. Despite inadequate help from the state and federal governments, a handful of communities in Maine are working on taxpayer-subsidized broadband infrastructure projects that could serve as a model for the rest of the state. Another 50 or so towns are trying to drum up public support for broadband projects of their own.

AT&T’s fix for the broadband mapping problem? Get everyone’s address

Mike Dano  |  Fierce

AT&T is proposing a potential solution to our broadband mapping problem: Get everyone’s address. 

“While it may seem logical to map where broadband is available in order to determine where it is lacking, collecting data only on deployed areas does not provide the information necessary to effectively promote deployment to areas that still have no broadband,” AT&T wrote to the Federal Communications Commission. “To support the deployment of broadband to unserved areas, it is also necessary to have detailed information about the locations of homes and businesses in those areas. As AT&T and others have found, this type of information is not readily available, but it is critical to accurately estimating the cost of deployment, designing efficient networks, and assessing when adequate deployment has been achieved.”

Specifically, AT&T argued that the FCC should consider “an address-based approach to fill the data gaps. The result of the approach we proposed would be a data source that enables the Commission and other policymakers to more accurately target and direct funding to the communities and locations that do not have broadband.” 

AT&T laid out a lengthy process that the operator said would ultimately result in a map containing every address in the country as well as what kind of telecom service was available at that address:

  • All telecom operators should submit whatever street address information they have to the FCC,
  • Data that would then be supplemented with data from public resources and a crowd-sourcing campaign,
  • FCC should identify the latitude and longitude for each street address in the master address database,
  • FCC should allow consumers to improve the database by adding their own data,
  • Fixed and wireless telecom operators would “submit data that ‘overlays’ the foundational address data to identify areas where they currently can provide broadband service, including the technology and speed.”

Affordable Communication Is Under Attack

Cheryl Leanza  |  Op-Ed  |  Sojourners

The support structures that assist low-income families cannot work unless those in need have functional means of communication. Doctors monitoring children with fragile health, employers who can offer an extra shift to a struggling worker, nutrition support programs like SNAP which must confirm income eligibility — all these must be able to communicate with a low-income person, often within limited timeframes. Our collective and individual economic well-being is dependent on communications tools. But the current chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is proposing to cut off almost 70 percent of the households that use the Lifeline program by cutting off the companies with the most popular and affordable Lifeline products. Not only that, but he is proposing to cut off support for voice service outside of rural areas and impose ineffective and administratively complex budget caps and mandatory co-pays which will particularly harm the most vulnerable on the program, including seniors and people with disabilities. The voices of people of faith and moral conscious can make a difference to this program and to the connective tools that will bring economic security to millions of people in the United States. We need to ensure that we do not become a society divided between the “information rich” and “information poor,” leaving struggling people without the tools to succeed in modern society.

[Cheryl Leanza serves as policy advisor to the United Church of Christ’s historic media advocacy ministry, UCC OC Inc]

Ownership/Competition

We Must Let Our Minds Be Bold

Jonathan Sallet  |  Analysis  |  Benton Foundation

With publication of Louis Brandeis: A Man for This Season by the Colorado Technology Law JournalJon Sallet and the Benton Foundation are offering this new series adapted from that article to demonstrate that progressive competition policy incorporated both the goals and the means that Brandeis believed would provide the strongest tools to fight against the trusts and the monopolies of his day. This series is part of an ongoing examination of how to update Brandeis—and, more importantly, antitrust—for the digital age. Jon will be presenting the key conclusions from his Brandeis article to the Federal Trade Commission, in its hearing on the Consumer Welfare Standard on November 1, 2018 and in an event hosted by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth on November 14, 2018. In the early years of the 20th Century, Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) was known as the “the people’s lawyer,” in part because of his tireless advocacy for effective antitrust laws to curb the power of industrial trusts like U.S. Steel. In 1916, Brandeis joined the United States Supreme Court, where he was known for his fierce opinions in favor of free speech and the ability of states to act as “laboratories” of innovation in public policy. He is also credited with creation of the “Brandeis Brief,” which relied on empirical evidence and social sciences to support the constitutionality of state laws. Brandeis co-authored the first, and seminal, law review article advocating for the protection of individual privacy.

The importance of the Brandeisian approach to competition remains important because, like him, we find ourselves in a time when we must consider deeply and creatively the manner in which antitrust laws, institutional structures, including sectoral regulation, and the rule-of-law can best further the cause of competition. But antitrust is too important to be left only to antitrust experts. Brandeis can help us incorporate a broader range of substantive and process values and learnings into the discussion of the formation of antitrust laws. Moreover, Brandeis provides insight on the drafting of antitrust laws, on the role that the legal system should play, on the use of sectoral regulation, and, always, on the importance of facts and experimentation in fighting for competition. The more I read the words that Brandeis wrote and spoke, the more I came to appreciate the bold manner in which he reached for very big goals, while recognizing the careful manner he believed was appropriate for legal institutions. He was like a person standing on a beach, taking in the grand view of sea and mountains in the distance, while simultaneously examining the smallest grain of sand at his feet. We should do our best to do the same.

[Jonathan Sallet is a Benton Senior Fellow]

Children and Media

Child Advocates to FCC: Rules Were Not Made to Be Broken

John Eggerton  |  Broadcasting&Cable

A coalition of organizations told the Federal Communications Commission that the FCC should retain its children's programming rules. The Center for Digital Democracy, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Common Sense Kids Action, Color of Change, Dr. Jenny Radesky, and the Benton Foundation wrote:

Having now reviewed the comments, Child Advocates believe that the record supports retention of the current guidelines. The record does not show that non-broadcast platforms provide significant educational programming for children. In addition, many families continue to rely on over-the-air broadcasting and cannot afford the alternatives. And despite changes in viewing habits, large numbers of children still watch broadcast television.

The coalition says it is not against updating the Children's TV Act (which the FCC rules enforce) to reflect marketplace changes, but revamping the FCC rules first would be putting the kiddie cart before the pony. The main asks and critiques: 

  1. Non-broadcast children’s programming is generally not designed to educate or inform children
  2. Many families continue to watch and rely on over-the-air broadcasting
  3. Many families are unable to afford non-broadcast alternatives 
  4. Many children watch broadcast television 
  5. Adopting the NAB safe harbor would reduce the amount, viewership and advertising revenues from children’s educational programming, making production uneconomical
  6. There is no merit to NAB’s claims about the benefits of putting all children’s educational programming on multicast channels
  7. Broadcasters, cable and DBS operators must maintain publicly accessible records sufficient to verify compliance 
  8. The commission should not eliminate the Children’s Television Program Reports
  9. Cable and satellite operators must continue to provide documentation showing compliance with advertising guidelines in their online public inspection files.

PTC: FCC Yet to Address Fundamental KidVid Questions

John Eggerton  |  Broadcasting&Cable

The Parents Television Council says the Federal Communications Commission needs to answer some fundamental questions before it decides to make any "material" changes to its children's TV rules, which would mean voting on an order stemming from the July Notice of Proposed Rulemakiing it approved launching the review of the rules. The questions PTC says have yet to be answered in the Notice of Propose Rulemaking:

  1. What are the Educational/Informational needs of children, especially in light of the rapid and massive evolution in media technology? 
  2. What is the public interest obligation of a broadcaster in the 21st Century and when does an obligation become a burden? 
  3. What has been the impact of Educational/Informational TV content on children in recent years?
  4. If children aren’t watching today’s E/I content, why is that and what can/should be done to make it more appealing?

Security

Yahoo to pay $50 million in damages for massive security breach

Michael Liedtke  |  Associated Press

Yahoo has agreed to pay $50 million in damages and provide two years of free credit-monitoring services to 200 million people whose email addresses and other personal information were stolen as part of the biggest security breach in history. The restitution hinges on federal court approval of a settlement filed Oct 22 in a 2-year-old lawsuit seeking to hold Yahoo accountable for digital burglaries that occurred in 2013 and 2014, but weren’t disclosed until 2016. It adds to the financial fallout from a security lapse that provided a mortifying end to Yahoo’s existence as an independent company and former CEO Marissa Mayer’s six-year reign. Yahoo revealed the problem after it had already negotiated a $4.83 billion deal to sell its digital services to Verizon Communications. It then had to discount that price by $350 million to reflect its tarnished brand and the specter of other potential costs stemming from the breach. About 3 billion Yahoo accounts were hit by hackers that included some linked to Russia by the FBI.

House Commerce Committee Releases Whitepaper on Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure Cybersecurity Practices

The House Commerce Committee released a white paper detailing the committee’s investigation and recommendations regarding coordinated vulnerability disclosure (CVD) cybersecurity practices. The committee offers two main recommendations to support public and private sector organizations in their adoption of CVD programs as part of their cybersecurity risk management strategies.

  1. Congress should explore ways to clarify the differences between “hacking” and CVD practices, to incentivize organizations to adopt CVD programs, and to offer protections to CVD participants who perform CVDs in accordance with modern best practices.
  2. Congress should explore ways to encourage federal agencies and private sector stakeholders to address and minimize the negative public responses to CVDs.

The white paper concludes, “The nature of our modern connected society requires collaboration, and thus—as recent years have manifestly demonstrated—CVD remains one of the most valuable, effective methods for embracing that collaboration and facing those risks. Consequently, Congress, the rest of the federal government, the private sector, and third-parties should all find ways to support and adopt CVD.”

US Begins First Cyberoperation Against Russia Aimed at Protecting Elections

Julian Barnes  |  New York Times

The United States Cyber Command is targeting individual Russian operatives to try to deter them from spreading disinformation to interfere in elections, telling them that American operatives have identified them and are tracking their work, according to officials briefed on the operation. The campaign, which includes missions undertaken in recent days, is the first known overseas cyberoperation to protect American elections, including the Nov midterms. The operations come as the Justice Department outlined on Oct 19 a campaign of “information warfare” by Russians aimed at influencing the midterm elections, highlighting the broad threat the American government sees from Moscow’s influence campaign. Senior defense officials said they were not directly threatening the operatives. Still, former officials said anyone singled out would know, based on the United States government’s actions against other Russian operatives, that they could be indicted or targeted with sanctions. American officials also said the campaign is one aspect of a broader effort, which includes purges by social media companies of fake accounts that spread propaganda, to fight Russian intrusion in democratic elections. 

Content

Twitter bans more InfoWars accounts

Oliver Darcy, Rob McLean  |  CNN

Twitter removed more than a dozen accounts affiliated with the fringe right-wing media organization InfoWars. A Twitter spokesperson said the company permanently suspended 18 accounts, in part, for attempting to help InfoWars and its founder, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, circumvent the ban Twitter placed on them in Sept by posting material related to the media organization. The 18 suspensions came after "numerous violations and warnings."

Stories From Abroad

Global Internet Access is Even Worse than Dire Reports Suggest

Emily Dreyfuss  |  Wired

Four years ago, the United Nations predicted that more than half of the global population would be connected to the internet by 2017, buoyed in part by “the fastest growing technology in human history”: mobile broadband. The world missed the mark. Now the UN expects to achieve that goal by the end of 2019, and that still leaves an estimated 3.8 billion people offline. The connected population grew by 19 percent in 2007; in 2017 it grew by less than 6 percent. Hidden in the broad number of people the UN already considers to be online is a bleaker picture, one in which even that access is severely limited by factors both economic and cultural.

Any solution requires a recognition of the gender gap in global internet access, and the array of forces that can cause and compound the problem. [T]hat’s the thing about broad numbers on global internet access: Hiding inside them are stories of individual lives and smaller divides. The global rate of growth is slowing, yes, but the reality is even worse. And that means billions of people, already some of the most vulnerable in the world among them, are being left behind.

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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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