Charter is ending its petition to get government approval for imposing broadband data limits on customers.
Charter is somewhat unique in that it must get government approval before imposing data limits. While other internet service providers (ISPs) are free to do what the market will bear, Charter’s restrictions were imposed as terms of its purchase of Time Warner Cable.
The company submitted its request in June 2020. The following month, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai requested public comment on Charter’s request. Since then, no forward progress has been made.
In a very brief filing, Charter has withdrawn its request.
Charter Communications, Inc. respectfully withdraws its petition in the above-referenced proceeding.
While no reason was given, a likely motivation is the incoming Biden/Harris administration and, with it, a Democratic-controlled FCC. As a result, it’s likely Charter would have faced significant pushback in any efforts to impose data caps, especially during a pandemic when internet connectivity is more important than ever.
The Biden transition team has selected David Recordon as the next White House Director of Technology.
Recordon is well-known in the open source community. He is one of the developers behind OpenId and oAuth, he has served as Engineering Director at Facebook and even served as the first Director of White House Information Technology under President Obama.
Recordon made the announcement of his appointment on LinkedIn:
I’m honored to have the opportunity to join the Biden-Harris administration’s White House senior team and am excited to both rebuild past and create new relationships with the incredible teams of career civil servants, active duty military members, and intelligence professionals who make technology work day in and day out for such an important set of missions. The pandemic and ongoing cyber security attacks present new challenges for the entire Executive Office of the President, but ones I know that these teams can conquer in a safe and secure manner together.
Give his vast, and prior, experience, it’s a safe bet Recordon will be well-equipped for his new role.
The controversial Section 230, protecting social media companies, may be under threat even with the incoming Biden/Harris administration.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects online platforms from being legally responsible for the content their users post. This has, in some ways, given rise to the toxic culture often associated with social media, as there are not strong incentives for companies to crack down on hate speech, cyberbullying and the like.
While companies have slowly began to self-moderate, it has increasingly become a murky situation. On the one hand, some critics have praised Facebook, Twitter and others for beginning to crack down on some content, while others have decried their attempts as censorship. These accusations have come from the very heights of government, as President Trump has alternated between using Twitter as his preferred communication platform and blasting the company when it flags his posts containing misinformation. As a result, most recently, Trump has even threatened to veto a defense spending bill unless Section 230 is repealed.
The situation is further complicated by the very fact that social media companies have begun moderating content. Critics argue the companies no longer need, nor should have, the protections of Section 230 since they’ve already begun to self-moderate—the very thing they weren’t legally required to do.
While Trump has been clamoring for the repeal of Section 230, some had thought a new administration might take a different approach. It appears, however, that Section 230’s future may still be uncertain.
At a virtual book launch hosted by Georgetown Law, Bruce Reed—who served as a top tech advisor for President-elect Joe Biden during his campaign—made the case for changes to Section 230.
I think there’s an emerging consensus that it’s long past time to hold the big social media platforms accountable for what’s published on their platforms, the way we do newspaper publishers and broadcasters.
Needless to say, Reed’s comments are non-binding. In the interview he even goes so far as to say that he doesn’t speak for the new administration’s tech policy. Nonetheless, his observations come from years serving as a close associate of Biden, both as a campaign tech advisor and as his chief of staff during his time as vice-president.
Therefore, while non-binding, Reed’s comments may very well indicate change is on the horizon for Section 230.
Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has announced he will step down on January 20.
Chairman Pai has presided over the FCC for the last four years, enacting a number of controversial changes. Most notably, Pai oversaw the repeal of the Obama-era net neutrality rules, as well as pursued efforts to block states from implementing their own. At the same time, under Pai’s oversight, the FCC focused on closing the digital divide and paving the way for faster 5G adoption.
Given the incoming Biden/Harris administration’s stand on net neutrality, and tech in general, it is not surprising that Chairman Pai is planning to resign. In is statement announcing his departure Pai highlighted his accomplishments, both personal and professional:
It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve at the Federal Communications Commission, including as Chairman of the FCC over the past four years. I am grateful to President Trump for giving me the opportunity to lead the agency in 2017, to President Obama for appointing me as a Commissioner in 2012, and to Senate Majority Leader McConnell and the Senate for twice confirming me. To be the first Asian-American to chair the FCC has been a particular privilege. As I often say: only in America.
I also deeply appreciate the chance to have worked alongside the FCC’s talented staff. They are the agency’s best assets, and they have performed heroically, especially during the pandemic. It’s also been an honor to work with my fellow Commissioners to execute a strong and broad agenda. Together, we’ve delivered for the American people over the past four years: closing the digital divide; promoting innovation and competition, from 5G on the ground to broadband from space; protecting consumers; and advancing public safety. And this FCC has not shied away from making tough choices. As a result, our nation’s communications networks are now faster, stronger, and more widely deployed than ever before.
Although it seems likely the incoming administration will reinstate net neutrality rules, it remains to be seen what other changes or rollbacks may be in store for current FCC policies.
It was bound to happen: Senators have expressed concern about Google’s role in developing a site to help screen potential coronavirus patients.
Google was caught off guard last week when President Trump said the company had 1,700 engineers working on a website designed to help screen potential coronavirus patients. In spite of the surprise, Google quickly got on board with the project and vowed to develop the site Trump had promised.
Unfortunately for the company, however, Google doesn’t have the best track record with privacy and security. As a result, several senators have raised concerns about the project, in a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Joining Sen. Bob Menendez in sending the letter were Sens. Sherrod Brown, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Richard Blumenthal.
“There are numerous privacy concerns about such an endeavor, including: whether people will be required to sign waivers forfeiting their privacy and personal data in order to access the questionnaire; whether Google or any of its subsidiaries will be prohibited from using data received through the website for commercial purposes; and whether Google and any of its subsidiaries will be prohibited from selling any data collected through the website to a third-party.”
The letter goes on to highlight the valuable nature of the data that will be collected and how much of a target it will be for hackers.
“To state the obvious, the information Americans enter on this website will be highly valuable to potential hackers, foreign state and nonstate actors with nefarious intent, and other criminal enterprises,” the senators continue. “We are concerned that neither the Administration nor Google has fully contemplated the range of threats to Americans’ personally identifiable information.”
Both points the letter raises are extremely pertinent. It was recently discovered that Google partnered with the Ascension healthcare group to collect the medical records of millions of American patients, without their knowledge. If patients are going to trust a website Google creates, they need to know their data is going to be used for the advertised purpose and not swallowed up into one of Google’s other commercial endeavors. Likewise, the data will represent a goldmine for hackers, requiring the very best in security technologies and processes.
The senators certainly aren’t the only individuals questioning whether Google is up to the task—on both fronts.
Attorney General Kamala Harris is in the middle of the battle between corporations and their religious freedoms, and the administration and its Affordable Care act. She previously filed a request for the Supreme Court to review whether for-profit businesses can deny coverage for contraceptives under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The cases of such businesses as Hobby Lobby, a biblically-founded family business, could have a huge impact on the course in which Obamacare continues to go.
Approximately 40 companies have sued, according to Fox News, stating that covering all or even some forms of birth control would violate their religious freedom rights. The issue has completely divided the lower courts, and caused a huge bump in the road for the new healthcare law. A decision could be made as early as Tuesday after closed-door meetings between the justices take place to decide whether or not to take on the controversial topic.
Should they decide to move forward with it, arguments could begin as early as March with a decision being made in June.
The Obama administration is worried that the victory for businesses like Hobby Lobby, could be used as “a sword used to deny employees of for-profit commercial enterprises the benefits and protections of generally applicable laws.” Kamala Harris has been a major voice in the fight against employers who claim religious freedom violations in the new Affordable Care Act. She to Twitter last week to express her disdain for the situation.
For profit companies should not be able to deny women access to healthcare based on the religious beliefs of the company’s owners. #ACA
Four years ago, the Supreme Court expanded the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 to enable corporations to invoke the same rights as individuals in religious freedom matters. Time will tell if that argument can stand up against the Obama administration.
San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris has announced, social network Tagged, has agreed to pay a fine of $650,000 for sending millions of deceptive emails in a 2009 campaign to boost its membership.
"Whether you’re doing business on Main Street or in cyber space, you can’t deceive the customer," said District Attorney Harris.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Tagged sent 40-60 million deceptive emails that falsely stated that a member of the social network had sent the recipient a photo or private message. Before the recipient could access the photo or message they were required to register with the site giving Tagged access to the users email contact list. Tagged repeated the process by sending the same misleading email to the recipient’s email contacts. Many consumers later learned Tagged had sent bogus emails in their names to all the people in their contact list.
"We cannot in the name of aggressive marketing allow social networking sites and other tech companies to use unfair practices that breech our trust, invade our privacy and tarnish our good names," said DA Harris.
In addition to ordering Tagged to pay $650,000 in penalties and costs, the company must also put in place a set of safeguards for future business practices. Tagged must provide clear disclosures and get the consumer’s consent before sending any email in the consumer’s name to people in the contact list.
"Whether you’re doing business on Main Street or in cyber space, you can’t deceive the customer," said District Attorney Harris.