Reporting

To make sure the network neutrality rollback survives court challenges, newly appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai must justify his decision to redefine broadband less than three years after the previous change. He argues that broadband isn't telecommunications because it isn't just a simple pipe to the Internet. Broadband is an information service because Internet service providers give customers the ability to visit social media websites, post blogs, read newspaper websites, and use search engines to find information, the FCC's new proposal states. Even if the ISPs don't host any of those websites themselves, broadband is still an information service under Pai's definition because Internet access allows consumers to reach those websites.

As the Federal Communications Commission prepares to deregulate the telecommunication and cable industry by rolling back the agency's network neutrality rules, some people on both sides of the issue already say the battle is pretty much moot. On May 31, Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings signaled he thinks the current fight is unwinnable. "I think Trump's FCC is going to unwind the rules, no matter what anybody says," Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings said. "That's going to happen, and then we get to see what's going to come out of that."

Shifting from his previous blanket denials, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that “patriotically minded” private Russian hackers could have been involved in cyberattacks in 2016 to help the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump. While Putin continued to deny any state role, his comments to reporters in St. Petersburg were a departure from the Kremlin’s previous position: that Russia had played no role whatsoever in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and that, after Donald Trump’s victory, the country had become the victim of anti-Russia hysteria among crestfallen Democrats. Raising the possibility of attacks by what he portrayed as free-spirited Russian patriots, Putin said that hackers “are like artists” who choose their targets depending how they feel “when they wake up in the morning.”

In March, the Women’s Media Center released “The Status of Women in US Media 2017,” its annual report to assess “how a diversity of females fare across all media platforms.” The study found that men outnumber women both in bylines and as sources in stories. Journalism’s gender problem, however, looks a bit different outside male-dominated print and TV news. Online-only news outlets have come much closer to achieving gender balance, and a few journalism fellowships have made strides to better support female journalists. Women fared better in print news, according to the report, but not by much: men produced 62 percent of content.

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) says she’s working to get some Democratic Reps on board to the BROWSER Act, her broadband privacy bill that would require both companies like Google and internet service providers to develop opt-in policies for sharing users’ sensitive data. “I’m pleased that some of my colleagues across the aisle are interested in the bill — I am hopeful this is going to be bipartisan, bicameral,” she said without naming names. She also noted that she intends to broach the topic with the Administration as she continues to work with members of the White House on the infrastructure package. “As we move forward with broadband expansion and the infrastructure bill, it will give me the opportunity to talk with [the White House] and seek support for what we’re doing with privacy,” she added.

Comcast Senior Executive Vice President David Cohen said the pressure for action on privacy might fade as the FCC moves forward with its net neutrality rulemaking. “I think the fervor for privacy legislation may disappear if the FCC does proceed in four or five months and reclassifies broadband under Title I because then the FTC will again have jurisdiction to enforce privacy against ISPs as well as the internet ecosystem, so then there may be a question of whether any congressional legislation is necessary at that time,” Cohen said. He said whether all web browsing or just certain web browsing history should be deemed sensitive is a discussion that can be had during consideration of the bill.

Apparently, Verizon boss Lowell McAdam, his company facing slowing sales of mobile phones, made a proposal to acquire cable TV giant Charter Communications in recent months. The offer — valued at between $350 and $400 a share, and well over $100 billion, apparently— was rejected by Charter because it was too low — and because Charter and its largest shareholder, Liberty Media, weren’t ready to sell. Verizon, whose archrival AT&T has moved to expand beyond the wireless world by buying DirecTV and Time Warner, also recently expressed interest in another Liberty Media property, Sirius XM Holdings, apparently. Verizon’s interest in SiriusXM didn’t get as far as a bid.

As life increasingly migrates into the digital realm, more agencies within municipal government are finding that digital inclusion — the effort to provide all residents with equal access to technology, as well as the related skills to benefit — is vital to the well-being of the public. Cities such as Seattle (WA), Portland (OR), Austin (TX), Kansas City (MO), and Louisville (KY) have laid out official digital inclusion strategies and forward-thinking plans, and many other cities now have appointees or departments dedicated to the issue. At the same time, the number of tangentially related government agencies contributing to the work is rising, and as it does local government leadership is acknowledging that digital inclusion is an increasingly vital foundation for healthy, equitable cities, cities in which the entire populous has a chance to advance and thrive.

President Donald Trump has swatted away swirling questions over his associates' contact with Russian officials by questioning the legitimacy -- if not the existence -- of unnamed sources cited in stories about the ongoing investigation into the Kremlin's interference with the election. But on May 30, the president promoted a Fox News report that was centered around claims from a single anonymous source. A day later, President Trump leaned on his favorite cable news program, "Fox & Friends," to support his insistence that the investigation is nothing more than a "witch hunt." The sequence provided a vivid reminder that at perhaps the most dire moment of his young presidency, with reporters and lawmakers alike raising questions that could have political and legal ramifications for the White House, President Trump has found refuge in the typically friendly coverage of Fox News.

For two days in a row, since returning from President Trump's trip abroad, the White House press secretary has held uncharacteristically short press briefings in which he claimed not to know the answer to questions, outsourced questions to other officials or dismissed the premise of questions entirely. Both briefings included less than 20 minutes for questions -- far less than most prior briefings -- and ended with Spicer abruptly exiting the room to the consternation of reporters. At May 31's briefing, which was off-camera, one reporter could be heard shouting after the departing press secretary, "How short are these gonna be!?"

Christopher Liddell, the White House director of strategic initiatives, was granted a 90-day waiver to conduct White House business while his trust divested assets that were deemed to be in conflict with his new position. Liddell, previously a CFO for Microsoft, has been a go-to on tech policy matters and helps run the newly formed Office of American Innovation. Also granted an ethics waiver is Charles Herndon, the White House information technology director. Prior to joining the administration, Herndon worked for IT contractor CSRA. The waiver will allow Herndon to provide technology services to the White House, though he is barred from participating in work related to a Defense Information Systems Agency contract in which he "participated personally and substantially while an employee of CSRA."