Trump’s FCC May Let ISPs Sell Your Private Data Without Your Consent

If you like your online privacy rights, can you keep them? Under Trump, the chances are grim.

Federal regulations protecting consumers from broadband industry privacy abuses will soon be eliminated if the nation’s largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and their Republican allies on Capitol Hill have their way.

The US broadband privacy safeguards, which were approved last year by the Federal Communications Commission, require ISPs like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon to obtain “opt-in” consent before they “monetize” sensitive consumer data, including online browsing activity, mobile app data, and emails and online chats.

As President Trump and GOP lawmakers move swiftly to remove regulations across large swaths of the economy, the nation’s biggest ISPs are working overtime to ensure that the FCC’s privacy policy is part of the regulatory rollback. The broadband industry is pursuing a dual-track strategy by pressuring the FCC to halt the privacy policy, while simultaneously lobbying Congress to rescind the rules outright.

Under the recently-approved FCC policy, consumers must affirmatively give their ISP opt-in permission to use private information for marketing purposes. The big ISPs, not surprisingly, want the right to monetize such data by default, with the burden falling on the user to opt-out.

Consumer advocates are pushing back. “Without these rules, ISPs could use and disclose customer information at will,” a coalition of public interest groups recently wrote to Capitol Hill leaders. “The result could be extensive harm caused by breaches or misuse of data.”

The pro-consumer coalition includes Access Now, the ACLU, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Center for Media Justice, Free Press Action Fund, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, New America’s Open Technology Institute, and Public Knowledge.

The FCC’s privacy policy, which was approved late last year under the leadership of former agency chairman Tom Wheeler, covers “sensitive information” like financial and health data, children’s information, social security numbers, precise geolocation data, web browsing history, mobile app usage data, and the content of online communications.

“I will strongly oppose any efforts to roll back the broadband privacy rules either by Congress or at the FCC.”

Sen. Edward J. Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat, warned in a statement that the “big broadband barons want to turn back the clock and undo these fundamental consumer protections so they can freely collect and profit from customer’s sensitive personal information.”

“I will strongly oppose any efforts to roll back the broadband privacy rules either by Congress or at the FCC,” Markey added.

Not content to make billions of dollars annually off wireless, pay-TV, and internet service subscriptions, the broadband industry giants also want the ability to make even more money off consumers by tracking their online activities and displaying hyper-targeted advertising based on private user preferences and internet browsing habits. (ISPs have already begin experimenting with various forms of this concept, such as AT&T’s short-lived “pay-for-privacy” offering. If the FCC’s privacy policy is killed, those plans could quickly proliferate.)

In a recent letter to Congress, a coalition representing the nation’s largest broadband companies argued that the FCC privacy policy could “interfere with the ability of consumers to receive customized services and capabilities they enjoy and be informed of new products and discount offers.”

The broadband industry coalition, which is asking lawmakers to use its authority under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to rescind the rules, added that the FCC policy could “significantly harm consumers as well as our nation’s digital economy.”

Gaurav Laroia, policy counsel at Free Press Action Fund, at DC-based public interest group, strongly disputed those assertions.

“In a dishonest and hypocritical move, these same companies and their lobbyists are claiming that the privacy protections will somehow harm internet users,” Laroia said in a statement. “Clearly that’s a lie. The companies that carry all of our speech online have no business profiting from the information they gather without our consent.”

“The cable, telecom, wireless and advertising lobbies’ request for CRA intervention is just another shameless industry attempt to overturn rules that empower internet users and hamstring the agency’s ability to protect consumer data going forward,” Laroia added. “Congress should stand with internet users and reject this request out of hand.”

The ISPs also complain that the FCC’s rules don’t apply to websites like Google and Facebook, which also collect huge amounts of consumer data. As a result, the telecom industry asserts that the FCC’s policy puts it at a competitive disadvantage relative to the Silicon Valley giants.

But public interest groups say this argument is disingenuous, because the FCC doesn’t have primary jurisdiction over these firms—the Federal Trade Commission does. And in any event, the big telecom companies will still be able to “monetize” the massive amount of sensitive consumer information they collect—they just need to ask users for consent.

“The FCC’s rules give broadband customers confidence that their privacy and choices will be honored, but it does not in any way ban ISPs’ ability to market to users who opt-in to receive any such targeted offers,” the public interest groups wrote. “The rules merely require the ISPs to obtain that informed consent.”

from Trump’s FCC May Let ISPs Sell Your Private Data Without Your Consent

Here's How Republicans Plan to Kill Net Neutrality, Climate, and Labor Rules

Republicans in Congress are wasting no time laying the groundwork for a wholesale attack on federal regulations protecting the environment, guaranteeing internet freedom, and ensuring consumer safety and labor rights.

The Republican-controlled House has passed a trio of bills that would give Congress effective veto power over future regulations advanced by the Federal Communications Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and a host of other federal government agencies.

This is about more than just the new Trump administration silencing federal agency Twitter accounts—it’s a brazen GOP effort to fundamentally undermine the power of US regulatory agencies.

These bills would allow Congress to roll back Obama-era regulations en masse, and perhaps more importantly, would give lawmakers the power to effectively veto any future regulations that are not approved by both houses of Congress.

The scope of the Republican assault on the federal regulatory apparatus is unprecedented, according to public interest advocates. At risk are regulations protecting everything from clean air and water, to food and drug safety, to workplace and labor standards, to rules protecting internet freedom and privacy.

“This is a sweeping attack by politicians on the concept of independent, expert regulatory decision-making,” Todd O’Boyle, program director at Common Cause, a DC-based public interest group, told Motherboard.

“This is about rewarding the majority party’s corporate and ideological paymasters.”

The Congressional Review Act (CRA) already gives Congress limited authority to overturn federal regulations on a case-by-case basis. (On Thursday, a coalition of “free market” groups asked Congress to use its CRA authority to rescind FCC rules protecting consumers from broadband industry privacy abuses.)

The three bills passed by the GOP-controlled House, which have yet to be approved by the Senate, would go much further than the CRA.

• The Midnight Rules Relief Act (MRRA) would give Congress the power to retroactively rescind multiple regulations in one fell swoop, for example by bundling together rules safeguarding clean water, clean air, and power plant emissions. This law would dramatically expand upon the CRA, and allow wholesale deregulation of broad swaths of the economy.
  

• The Regulation from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act (REINS Act) would mandate that no federal regulations would be allowed without both House and Senate approval. This would give Congress effective veto power over all federal regulations. This could effectively paralyze the government's ability to promulgate new pro-consumer regulations.

• The Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) would nullify the so-called Chevron Doctrine, which is a long-standing and well-established legal principle that gives deference to federal agencies when it comes to the enforcement of regulations. This law could have the effect of kneecapping the ability of independent agencies to enforce their own rules.
  

In a statement, Rep. Ted W. Lieu, a California Democrat who represents Los Angeles County, said he was “highly disturbed” by the passage of the REINS Act.

“By requiring Congress to approve of major rules, Republicans are unabashedly preventing the Administration from protecting the environment, public health, and consumer safety,” Lieu said. “More troubling is that Republicans rejected several important Democratic amendments, including ones to reduce lead in drinking water and protect low-income communities from carbon pollution.”

In a letter to top Capitol Hill lawmakers, several prominent public interest groups warned that the Republican-backed trio of laws represents a “radical assault on essential consumer safeguards.”

“Each bill would upend longstanding and fundamental structures of federal administrative law,” the public interest groups wrote in the letter, which was signed by Public Knowledge, Common Cause, Fight for the Future, and other groups. “Taken together, they would take a blunt hatchet to fundamental safeguards upon which we all rely in our daily lives, leaving consumers to the mercy of dominant, monopolistic industry interests to exploit them as they see fit.”

“This is the final pathology of Obama-derangement syndrome.”

Why is the Republican-controlled Congress doing this? Conservative economists, right-wing policy wonks, and Republican politicians, often funded by big business, have long railed against what they view as regulatory overreach, which they claim has stifled the US economy and killed jobs.

Indeed, GOP lawmakers have been aiming to dismantle the federal regulatory apparatus for years. With Trump in the White House, they now have their chance. “I will sign the REINS Act should it reach my desk as President and more importantly I will work hard to get it passed,” Trump told a conservative columnist last year.

Some public interest advocates see another rationale to the Republican agenda.

“This is about ideology and money getting in the way of good sense,” said Todd O’Boyle, of Common Cause. “Just look at who funds the campaigns of the congressional majority—largely corporate America. They want to set their own rules, or better yet, have no rules. This is about rewarding the majority party’s corporate and ideological paymasters.”

Harold Feld, senior vice president at DC-based consumer rights group Public Knowledge, said that Republicans, in their ideological fervor to attack Obama-era regulations, might come to regret passing the REINS Act and the other bills.

“This is the final pathology of Obama-derangement syndrome,” Feld told Motherboard. “It’s pure ideology, and it’s stupid, because it’s self-injuring. It’s going to make their lives more difficult, because these bills gum up the works and will make it harder for them to promulgate rules they support in the future.”

“There’s a difference between campaigning and governing,” Feld added. “Winning was easy, governing is harder.”

from Here's How Republicans Plan to Kill Net Neutrality, Climate, and Labor Rules

Trump’s Reported Pick to Run the FCC, Ajit Pai, Wants to Kill Net Neutrality

President Donald J. Trump has chosen Republican Ajit Pai to lead the Federal Communications Commission, according to Politico, in a move that lays the groundwork for a broad rollback of consumer protections at the nation’s top telecom regulatory agency.

Pai, who has served as a Republican FCC commissioner since 2012, is a fierce critic of the FCC’s policy protecting net neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be equally accessible to consumers.

During a speech last month at the Free State Foundation, a right-wing think tank, Pai vowed to take a “weed whacker” to the FCC’s policy, along with a host of other pro-consumer initiatives that he opposes.

In a cruel irony, Pai is likely to take the lead in rolling back a policy that is strongly supported by the very man who first nominated him to become a FCC commissioner—none other than former President Barack Obama.

A 44-year-old Harvard and University of Chicago-educated lawyer, Pai has built a reputation at the FCC as an outspoken critic of his own agency. Over the last several years, he repeatedly accused the FCC’s Democratic majority under former chairman Tom Wheeler of overstepping the agency’s regulatory authority, and even violating federal law.

Trump’s reported decision to elevate Pai to lead the FCC indicates that the new administration is wasting little time before moving to put a conservative, anti-regulatory stamp on an agency with broad authority over the nation’s cable, phone, and satellite companies.

“During the Trump Administration, we will shift from playing defense at the FCC to going on offense.”

“I’m optimistic that last month’s election will prove to be an inflection point—and that during the Trump Administration, we will shift from playing defense at the FCC to going on offense,” Pai told the Free State Foundation audience last month.

Pai, who worked as Associate General Counsel at telecom titan Verizon earlier in his career, is viewed by policy experts as a close ally of broadband giants like Comcast, AT&T, as well as his former employer. He is one of two Republicans who now hold a majority at the FCC, following the departure of Wheeler and his Democratic colleague Jessica Rosenworcel earlier this month.

In recent years, Pai repeatedly battled Wheeler over the FCC’s net neutrality policy, which prohibits corporate giants like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon from creating online fast lanes for deep-pocketed content companies, or favoring their own services at the expense of rivals. Broadband industry lobbyists, and their GOP allies like Pai, say the rules have stifled investment, but public interest advocates vehemently deny that assertion.

On the day in 2015 that the FCC issued its Open Internet order enshrining net neutrality, Pai declared that the agency’s action “imposes intrusive government regulations that won’t work to solve a problem that doesn’t exist using legal authority the FCC doesn’t have.”

Despite that assertion, the FCC net neutrality policy was upheld as legal last June by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. But with Republicans now in control of the FCC, Pai’s prediction that the policy’s “days are numbered” may very well come true.

During his final speech last week, outgoing FCC Chairman Wheeler warned that GOP efforts to weaken or kill the net neutrality policy will harm consumers, stifle online innovation, and threaten broadband industry competition.

“To take those protections away at the request of a handful of ISPs threatens any innovation that requires connectedness and with it the productivity gains, job creation, and international competitiveness required for America’s economic growth,” Wheeler said.

In addition to opposing net neutrality, Pai voted against a variety of pro-consumer FCC initiatives, including efforts to ensure broadband privacy protections, rein in exploitative prison phone costs, and encourage deployment of internet access around the country, especially in low-income, rural and underserved communities.

Pai, who has spent much of his career working in DC and is well-known on Capitol Hill, had been viewed as a front-runner to become interim FCC, at a minimum. He reportedly met with Trump in New York earlier this week.

Pai’s term at the FCC expired in 2016, but he is technically allowed to continue to serve through the end of 2017. The Trump administration will have to renominate Pai for a second term at the agency before the end of this year. He will then have to be confirmed by the Senate, a likely outcome given his close ties to Senate Republicans who control that chamber.

from Trump’s Reported Pick to Run the FCC, Ajit Pai, Wants to Kill Net Neutrality

In Final Speech, FCC Chief Tom Wheeler Warns GOP Not to Kill Net Neutrality

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler delivered an impassioned defense of US net neutrality protections on Friday, one week before Republicans who have vowed to roll back the policy are set to take control of the agency.

In his final public speech as the nation’s top telecom regulator, Wheeler warned that Republican efforts to weaken FCC rules ensuring that all internet content is treated equally will harm consumers, stifle online innovation, and threaten broadband industry competition.

“The open internet is the law of the land,” Wheeler declared during a speech at the DC offices of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. “Tampering with the rules means taking away protections consumers and the online world enjoy today.”

Open internet advocates say strong net neutrality safeguards are needed to prevent internet service providers (ISPs) like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon from creating online fast lanes for their own content or discriminating against rival services. The telecom giants, and their Republican allies in Congress, accuse the FCC of overstepping its authority and shackling their business models.

Wheeler’s departure from the FCC on January 20, President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration day, will leave the agency in the hands of Republican officials who have made no secret of their intention to dismantle the FCC’s policy. That would be a grave mistake, Wheeler said.

“To take those protections away at the request of a handful of ISPs threatens any innovation that requires connectedness and with it the productivity gains, job creation, and international competitiveness required for America’s economic growth,” Wheeler said. "It is time to keep moving forward. This is not the time to retreat and take things away.”

“Vigilance to protect that which Americans now enjoy must be our watchword.”

The FCC’s policy safeguarding net neutrality is the centerpiece of an ambitious pro-consumer agenda advanced by Wheeler over the last three years. Open internet advocates say that without net neutrality, hugely popular online video and communications services like Netflix and Skype could have been snuffed out by ISPs in favor of their own rival offerings.

“Those who build and operate networks have both the incentive and the ability to use the power of the network to benefit themselves even if doing so harms their own customers and the greater public interest,” Wheeler said. “Access to the network is what the new economy is built on, and it must not be taken away.”

Unfortunately for open internet advocates, the prospects for the FCC’s net neutrality policy are bleak under Trump’s administration. The president-elect’s FCC transition team is led by right-wing ideologues who are expected to recommend a new anti-net neutrality chairman to replace Wheeler. And Trump himself has taken to Twitter to disparage the FCC’s policy.

In his speech, Wheeler warned Republicans soon to be in control of the FCC that reversing the agency's net neutrality policy is “not a slam dunk” because of the “high hurdle, imposed by the Administrative Procedure Act, of a fact-based showing that so much has changed in just two short years that a reversal is justified.”

Meanwhile, in Congress, Republicans are already scheming to kneecap the FCC’s policy. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the Tennessee Republican who was recently tapped by the GOP to be the new chairman of the House telecom subcommittee, has described net neutrality as a “socialistic” Obama plot to take over the internet.

Blackburn, who has received mountains of campaign cash from the telecom industry since first being elected in 2002, has been trying to kill net neutrality for years. In the coming months, she will finally get her chance, possibly by working with other lawmakers to pass new legislation that claims to protect net neutrality, while actually gutting the FCC’s policy.

Outgoing FCC Chairman Wheeler, who has written books about the Civil War, concluded his remarks by quoting from Abraham Lincoln’s famous first inaugural address: “While the people retain their virtue, and vigilance, no administration … can very seriously injure the government, in the short space of four years.”

“The vigilance Lincoln spoke of means we must be alert to name-only, so-called net neutrality policies that actually retreat from the protections that exist today,” Wheeler said. “Vigilance to protect that which Americans now enjoy must be our watchword.”

from In Final Speech, FCC Chief Tom Wheeler Warns GOP Not to Kill Net Neutrality

FCC Says AT&T’s Zero-Rating May Violate Net Neutrality, But Punts on Action

Federal Communications Commission officials have concluded that a controversial AT&T wireless plan likely violates US open internet rules, but the agency has run out of time to crack down on the practice before Republicans take control of the FCC next week.

The FCC on Wednesday released its long-awaited policy review of “zero-rating,” which refers to a variety of practices that broadband companies use to exempt certain internet services from monthly data caps, effectively favoring those services by providing consumers with an economic incentive to use them instead of rival offerings.

FCC staffers concluded that AT&T’s sponsored data plan, which doesn’t count the company’s DirecTV video content against data caps, likely violates the General Conduct Rule contained in the FCC’s policy safeguarding net neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be equally accessible to consumers. That rule gives the FCC wide latitude to crack down on anti-competitive broadband practices.

“We have serious concerns that AT&T Mobility’s Sponsored Data program presents competitive problems,” officials from the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau wrote. “Based on the information gathered to date, we believe there is a substantial possibility that some of AT&T’s practices may violate the General Conduct Rule.”

Many open internet advocates view zero-rating, which has emerged as the latest battlefront in the decade-long war over net neutrality, as an attempt to skirt the FCC’s rules prohibiting broadband companies like AT&T and Verizon from favoring their own services or discriminating against rivals.

“Zero-rating plans like those offered by AT&T and Verizon are a scheme to manipulate consumers.”

“Despite clever branding gimmicks, so called ‘free data’ or zero-rating plans like those offered by AT&T and Verizon are a scheme to manipulate consumers and transfer money from their pockets to a company’s bottom line,” Sen. Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat, said in a statement. “This report lays the framework for ensuring zero-rating plans don’t betray net neutrality and is a step in the right direction towards maintaining a free and open internet.”

Over the last year, the FCC has conducted an extensive review of various zero-rating practices, including plans offered by AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. But by taking so much time to finish its inquiry, the FCC has effectively run out the clock on itself. With the FCC’s anti-net neutrality Republican members poised to take control of the agency next week, it’s virtually certain that no enforcement action will be forthcoming.

As a result, consumers can expect wireless zero-rating plans to proliferate over the next year and beyond. That doesn’t mean that the FCC’s policy review was a waste of time or a meaningless exercise, according to Harold Feld, Senior Vice President at DC-based digital rights group Public Knowledge.

In an interview with Motherboard, Feld expressed frustration that the FCC under Chairman Tom Wheeler didn’t act with greater speed to address zero-rating. But the agency’s review is still important, he said, because it puts the two Republican FCC commissioners, Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly, in the awkward position of having to roll back a pro-consumer policy opposed by wireless industry lobbyists. And that could be politically painful.

“I hope that Pai and O’Rielly take a hint from the failed Republican effort to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics,” said Feld. “There are a lot of voters out there who don’t want the first actions of this new administration to be doing favors for big companies. When they say they want to drain the swamp, that doesn’t mean feed the alligators.”

Perhaps sensing that Wheeler has laid a trap for him, Pai, who is widely expected to be named acting FCC chairman after President-elect Trump is sworn-in on Jan. 20, lashed out at the agency’s zero-rating review, and its conclusion that AT&T is likely violating net neutrality.

“This report, which I only saw after the FCC released the document, does not reflect the views of the majority of Commissioners,” Pai said in a statement. “Fortunately, I am confident that this latest regulatory spasm will not have any impact on the Commission’s policy-making or enforcement activities following next week’s inauguration.”

In addition to concluding that AT&T’s program likely violates net neutrality, the FCC also expressed concern about Verizon’s FreeBee data plan, which likewise offers zero-rated content to wireless customers. T-Mobile’s Binge On plan, by contrast, was given a pass by the FCC, because it “appears not to discriminate against or disadvantage (much less unreasonably discriminate or unreasonably disadvantage) any edge provider or end user.”

Broadband giants like AT&T and Verizon say that zero-rating promotes competition and benefits consumers by allowing them to use in-house or otherwise favored services without exceeding data caps, thereby saving money.

In a statement, Joan Marsh, AT&T senior vice president for regulatory affairs, said that it “remains unclear why the Wireless Bureau continues to question the value of giving consumers the ability to watch video without incurring any data charges.”

“This practice, which has been embraced by AT&T and other broadband providers, has enabled millions of consumers to enjoy the latest popular content and services—for free,” Marsh added. “We hope the government continues to support a competitive marketplace that lowers costs and increases choice for consumers.”

With Republicans opposed to the FCC’s net neutrality policy poised to assume control of the agency, it’s virtually certain that AT&T and other wireless companies will be able to continue offering zero-rated plans for the foreseeable future, without interference from federal regulators.

from FCC Says AT&T’s Zero-Rating May Violate Net Neutrality, But Punts on Action

Why Marsha Blackburn’s Rise Is Bad News for Net Neutrality and Science

Big Telecom’s best friend in Congress just got a very big promotion.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the arch-conservative Tennessee Republican who has received mountains of campaign cash from the telecom industry, has been chosen by the GOP to lead a key Congressional subcommittee with broad jurisdiction over cable, phone, and internet issues.

For years, Blackburn has worked tirelessly to undermine pro-consumer policies advanced by the Federal Communications Commission—policies that have invariably been opposed by the very corporate giants that have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into her campaign coffers.

In particular, Blackburn has waged a relentless campaign against the FCC’s policy safeguarding net neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be equally accessible, which she has disparaged as “socialistic.” She has also opposed efforts to promote community broadband networks, to make internet access more affordable for underserved communities, to increase competition in the video “set-top box” market, and to protect consumer privacy from broadband industry abuses.

As a result, Blackburn has earned a reputation among public interest advocates as the biggest enemy of internet freedom, openness, accessibility, and affordability on Capitol Hill. In the new Congress, she will serve as Chairman of the influential House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, which has oversight of the FCC, as well as all matters related to cable, wireless, and broadband networks, including privacy and cybersecurity.

Blackburn’s rise to the top of the broadband policy mountain comes at a time when Republicans are poised to take control of the FCC under the incoming Trump administration. Public interest groups are bracing for Trump’s appointees, working together with leading GOP lawmakers like Blackburn—who is also a member of Trump’s transition team—to begin rolling back pro-consumer policies that are opposed by corporate interests.

“To understand where her true loyalties lie, one need only follow the money.”

“With Blackburn, the myth of Sisyphus comes to mind,” said Christopher Mitchell, Director for Community Broadband Networks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and a longtime open internet advocate. “It feels like every time you get used to the challenges we have ahead of us, it gets harder. She’ll do what AT&T and Comcast want, and I’m guessing it’ll be a disaster, and then she’ll have to own it.”

Blackburn’s coziness with the telecom and media industry interests has been well documented.

“To understand where her true loyalties lie, one need only follow the money trail of campaign contributions from massive media companies like AT&T, Comcast, News Corp and Verizon,” Tim Karr, Senior Director of Strategy at Free Press Action Fund, a DC-based public interest group, said in a statement.

Over the last several years, AT&T and Verizon have been Blackburn's second and third largest donors, pouring $75,750 and $72,650 into her campaigns, respectively, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. She's also received $66,000 from the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, an industry trade group, and $49,500 from Comcast, the nation's largest cable company.

“Match the inflow of corporate cash to the policy positions that Blackburn takes and an unsavory picture emerges,” said Karr. “While DC’s top lobbyists are likely rejoicing over Blackburn’s selection to head the subcommittee, everyday internet users—and those seeking more affordable internet access—have a lot to fear from this swamp dweller.”

On issue after issue, Blackburn has parroted the arguments advanced by these corporate giants, often in conjunction with right-wing talking points like “states' rights” and “limited government.” She frequently rails against “unelected bureaucrats” at the FCC, who she claims have committed egregious “government overreach” by issuing “job-killing regulations.”

In a brazen example of Orwellian spin, Blackburn even went so far as to call her anti-net neutrality legislation the “Internet Freedom Act.”

Claiming that the administration “needs to stop mimicking some of the most restrictive policies of countries like China,” Blackburn warned in 2014 that “federal control of the internet will restrict our online freedom and leave Americans facing the same horrors that they have experienced with HealthCare.gov.” She has also asserted that net neutrality would “stifle innovation, restrict freedoms, and lead to billions of dollars in new fees and taxes for American consumers.”

Needless to say, none of that has happened.

Blackburn is a climate science denier who rejects the theory of evolution.

Among her other beliefs, Blackburn has rejected the scientific consensus that humans contribute to global warming—she’s actually claimed that the Earth is cooling and questioned whether human activity is the “cause for carbon emissions”—and has stated that she does not believe in the theory of evolution. (In addition to campaign contributions from the telecom industry, Blackburn has received more that $460,000 from fossil fuel companies, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.)

When she’s not demonstrating fealty to corporate interests or promoting bunk science, Blackburn displays an alarming ignorance about the tech policy issues that will soon come under her purview at the House telecom subcommittee. “We all know that what [the FCC] would like to do is regulate the internet so they can tax the internet,” Blackburn bizarrely claimed in 2015. “So they can then come in and set all the rates. So they can then come in and assign priority and value to content.”

All of that is completely false—the FCC’s net neutrality policy has nothing to do with taxing the internet, and the agency specifically used its forbearance authority to make clear that it was not interested in setting broadband rates. In reality, the FCC’s policy, which is opposed by Blackburn's corporate patrons, is designed to ensure that the internet remains an open and level playing field for innovation, economic growth, and free speech.

“She consistently votes against internet users, mouthing the most uninformed talking points imaginable to explain her opposition to common-sense safeguards for open, affordable and safe communications platforms,” said Karr. “If you actually wanted to drain the Washington swamp of politicians who curry favor with corporate special interests, the last thing you’d do is elevate Blackburn.”

Motherboard staff writer Jason Koebler contributed additional reporting.

from Why Marsha Blackburn’s Rise Is Bad News for Net Neutrality and Science

Yahoo! Is Dead, Will Now Be Called ‘Altaba'

Say goodbye to Yahoo.

The troubled internet giant announced in a public filing on Monday that it will change its name to Altaba following the $4.8 billion sale of its core business to telecom titan Verizon, marking the end of one of the most famous brand names in Silicon Valley history.

Yahoo didn't provide an explanation for what “Altaba” means or why it was selected as the new name of the company. But it’s worth noting that the name is phonetically similar to “Alibaba,” the name of the Chinese internet giant that is part-owned by Yahoo.

The company also announced that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, the veteran former Google executive who tried and failed to turn around the internet pioneer, will exit the company’s board after more than four years at the helm. Yahoo co-founder David Filo is also leaving the company's board.

Monday’s announcement is just the latest surprising twist for a company that from its founding in 1994 helped define the first major stage of the web, first as a “guide to the World Wide Web” and later a search engine, but one that has long since been eclipsed by Silicon Valley rivals like Google, and more recently, Facebook and Twitter.

Once the company’s core internet business sold, Yahoo (Altaba) will effectively become an investment company, with significant stakes in Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan, along with some intellectual property and other assets. Yahoo’s 15% stake in Alibaba is worth in excess of $30 billion.

And after the dismal 2016 that Yahoo had, it’s not surprising that the company would want to rebrand itself.

Over the last several months, Yahoo has suffered the indignity of disclosing that it was the victim of several major hacking incidents in recent years. After first announcing that information associated with at least 500 million user accounts had been stolen by a “state-sponsored actor,” Yahoo was forced to later acknowledge a separate incident in which a whopping 1 billion user accounts were affected.

Those disclosures came after Verizon had already announced its plan to buy Yahoo for $4.8 billion, prompting the telecom giant to reportedly ask for a $1 billion discount on the sale price. It’s entirely possible that Verizon might still walk away from the deal altogether.

Verizon wants to integrate Yahoo’s internet business with fellow, faded dot-com-era giant AOL, which the telecom giant bought last year for $4.4 billion, in order to gain a stronger foothold in the online advertising space.

The problem facing Verizon is that the online advertising market is already dominated by Google and Facebook. In 2015, Google and Facebook accounted for 64% of all online advertising revenue, according to data from Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser cited by Bloomberg.

For Mayer, the Verizon deal and the subsequent hacking disclosures amount to disappointing conclusion to a multi-year effort to turn around Yahoo’s internet business, which has been ailing for nearly a decade.

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from Yahoo! Is Dead, Will Now Be Called ‘Altaba'

Obama Wants Rosenworcel Back at the FCC, But Trump’s GOP May Balk

President Obama is not throwing away his last shot to shape the Federal Communications Commission before he leaves office.

The White House on Wednesday renominated outgoing FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel for another five-year term at the agency, in a surprising, last-ditch effort to extend the FCC career of a respected advocate for internet openness and broadband access.

“I applaud President Obama’s reappointment of Jessica Rosenworcel to the FCC, and hope that Congress will act quickly to confirm her nomination,” outgoing FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement.

That may be wishful thinking.

Rosenworcel, a Democrat whose term expired on Tuesday, faces steep odds of returning to the FCC any time soon, now that Republicans are preparing to take control of the nation’s top telecom regulatory agency.

Obama originally nominated Rosenworcel for a second term in 2015, but for the last year Republican lawmakers have stonewalled her reconfirmation, despite unanimous, bipartisan approval from the Senate Commerce Committee. (Blocking Obama’s nominees is, of course, old hat for Republicans.)

If the GOP-controlled Senate continues to block Rosenworcel, Republicans would assume a 2-1 FCC majority on Jan. 20, when Wheeler is set to step down. That would pave the way for Republicans to quickly begin rolling back a variety of pro-consumer FCC initiatives including policies safeguarding net neutrality and promoting broadband privacy.

There’s still a remote chance that Rosenworcel could ultimately be reconfirmed to the FCC seat she just vacated—if Trump allows her nomination to stand—but that would tie up the FCC at 2-2 until Trump’s replacement for Wheeler is confirmed, a process that could take months. It’s hard to imagine why Republicans would want to do that.

“It’s difficult to see a path forward for Rosenworcel, because nothing has changed on the Republican side, and if anything they are stronger now,” said a Capitol Hill source who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. “Republicans refused to move forward on her reconfirmation during the last Congress, so it’s hard to see why they would have a rationale to change direction now.”

“I believe we have a duty to protect what has made the internet the most dynamic platform for free speech ever invented.”

Rosenworcel, who earlier this week tweeted about how she was cleaning out her FCC office, did not return a request for comment on her renomination.

Since her initial confirmation to the FCC in 2012, Rosenworcel, a 45-year-old lawyer and former Senate staffer, has earned a reputation as a passionate advocate for expanding internet access to help close the “digital divide,” and as a fierce defender of net neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be equally accessible to consumers.

“I believe we have a duty to protect what has made the internet the most dynamic platform for free speech ever invented,” Rosenworcel wrote in a recent essay reflecting on her tenure at the FCC. “That is why I supported network neutrality rules to prevent online blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization.”

The FCC’s two Republican commissioners have made no secret of their desire to dismantle the legal basis underpinning the FCC’s net neutrality protections. That’s music to the ears of broadband industry giants like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon, as well as their Republican allies in Congress and on Trump’s FCC transition advisory team.

Rosenworcel’s signature issue has been what she calls the “Homework Gap,” which refers to the lack of affordable home internet access for low-income children. Last year, she helped spearhead an initiative to expand the FCC’s Lifeline subsidy program, which for decades has helped low-income people afford phone service, to include broadband internet access.

“This simple change will help bridge the digital divide—and close the Homework Gap,” Rosenworcel wrote in her essay. Republicans in Congress have repeatedly tried to undermine the Lifeline program, in a harbinger of things to come under a GOP-controlled FCC.

Although Rosenworcel regularly voted with her two Democratic FCC colleagues, Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, she occasionally displayed an independent streak, such as when she refused to sign on to the agency’s proposed “set-top box” reforms, which would have opened the video market up to greater competition. Nevertheless, Rosenworcel is highly respected by many public internet advocates.

“Rosenworcel has made enormous contributions during her tenure at the FCC,” Andrew Schwartzman, a veteran telecom policy lawyer now affiliated with Georgetown University Law Center, told Motherboard by email. “Her tenacity has brought us major advances in public safety, broadband deployment, availability of spectrum and, especially, by defining and reducing the Homework Gap to bring broadband to many more young Americans and their teachers.”

It’s no secret why many Democrats, including President Obama, support Rosenworcel. She’s in favor of strong net neutrality protections, broadband privacy safeguards, and expanded internet subsidies for low-income communities. It’s also not surprising, for these reasons, that GOP lawmakers, emboldened by Trump’s victory, are likely to oppose her return to the FCC.

from Obama Wants Rosenworcel Back at the FCC, But Trump’s GOP May Balk

The FCC Just Approved a Landmark New Way For Deaf People to Communicate

The Federal Communications Commission last week approved one of the most important advances in communications technology for deaf and hard of hearing people in decades, in one of the agency’s final acts under the leadership of outgoing FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.

In a move that’s being hailed by accessibility advocates and leaders in the deaf and hard of hearing community as a historic step forward, the five-member FCC unanimously adopted rules to facilitate the transition from outdated, analog teletype (TTY) devices to a new, internet-based, real-time text messaging standard (RTT) compatible with the latest smartphones.

As a result of the FCC’s action, the nation’s wireless carriers and device manufacturers will be required to support RTT functionality, which allows real-time text messaging—without the need to hit “send”—in which the recipient can instantly see letters, characters and words as they are being typed.

“We now have the opportunity—as we design our new communications system that is based on internet-protocol—to finally make our nation’s communications systems accessible to everyone,” FCC Chairman Wheeler said at the agency’s monthly meeting last Thursday.

This innovation will facilitate more natural, conversation-friendly communication for deaf and hard of hearing people—without the need for separate, specialized hardware. It will also allow 911 operators to receive incomplete messages during an emergency, potentially saving lives. RTT technology is expected to be interoperable across wireless networks and devices, creating the potential for unprecedented ease of communication between deaf and hearing people.

“This is a way for deaf and hard of hearing consumers to communicate in ways that haven’t been available before.”

“This isn’t just a fancy new version of text messaging,” said Drew Simshaw, a staff attorney at the Georgetown University Law Center Institute who represented Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (TDI) during the FCC process. “This is a closer equivalent to the type of communication that most hearing consumers take for granted. This is a way for deaf and hard of hearing consumers to communicate in ways that haven’t been available before.”

For decades, tens of thousands of deaf, hard of hearing, speech-impaired, and deaf-blind people have relied on TTY devices, which are rudimentary keyboards connected to the traditional PSTN telephone network that facilitate non-verbal, text-based communication. (For deaf-blind people, these machines can be connected to devices that produce a Braille display.)

A TTY device. Image: Wikimedia Commons

The origins of TTY devices date back to the 1960s, when Dr. James Marsters, a deaf orthodontist, worked with two colleagues to develop a groundbreaking system that used an acoustic coupler—what we now call a modem—to send audio tones over the phone network that were then converted into readable messages. In their earliest form, TTY devices were bulky, slow-operating machines that weighed as much as 200 pounds, and printed messages between the sender and recipient on paper.

In later years, Marsters would help advance the development of Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS), which improved phone communication between deaf and hearingpeople with the assistance of a third-party person, known as a “communications assistant” (CA), who translated TTY text messages from the sender into speech for the hearing recipient.

The advent of video-calling in the late 1990s and early 2000s led to the development of Video Relay Services (VRS), in which deaf people use American Sign Language to communicate by video with a CA, who then translates the sign language into speech.

A Successful Translation From Research to Reality

During a wide-ranging interview with Motherboard using VRS along with Skype messaging and email, Dr. Christian Vogler, who is Director of Gallaudet University’s Technology Access Program, described the importance of the transition for the deaf and hard of hearing community.

Vogler, a computer scientist who has been deaf since birth, was a driving force behind the transition and was specifically cited by both FCC Chairman Wheeler and FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai for his contributions to the process. (Gallaudet University is a world-renowned liberal arts university based in Washington, DC, where all of the programs and services are designed for deaf and hard of hearing students.)

“Being at the FCC meeting was very emotional for me for two reasons,” Vogler said. “First, because consumers are getting more access to telecommunications services. Second, because this is a successful translation from research into practice that has taken 15 years. I have been working so hardto push this through and get it passed by the FCC.”

Vogler, 43, became interested in engineering and computer science at an early age. “I got my first computer at the age of 12, the venerable C64,” he told Motherboard. “From there one thing led to another. I became interested in what made computers tick, got into self-taught programming, and eventually figured out that this was what I wanted to do for a living.”

By the time Vogler earned his PhD in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003, he had already stopped using TTY devices in the late-1990s in favor of VRS, for several reasons, he said.

First, the TTY devices of that era couldn’t distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters, nor could they produce important characters like the “@” symbol—a major drawback for an internet-savvy computer scientist. Second, the devices were too time-consuming. They could only transmit 60 words per minute, and only one party to a TTY conversation could send messages at a time, slowing discussions to a crawl.

But VRS, while faster and more efficient than TTY, had drawbacks as well, Vogler said. First, he had given up the ability to have direct conversations with businesses, colleagues, friends, and family members who also had TTY devices. With VRS there is always a human intermediary. Second, Vogler had lost the ability to have a direct connection to 911 services, which is something that most hearing people take for granted, but could lead to a life-or-death situation for deaf or hard of hearing people during an emergency.

“In dropping TTY we gave up direct communication access with the mainstream phone world, and direct effective emergency calling,” Vogler said. “RTT offers us the opportunity to get both back.”

Wireless Providers and Device Makers Will Take The Lead

The FCC’s vote establishes a technological standard for RTT services that was spearheaded by a team of developers and advocates for the deaf and hard of hearing community, in conjunction with the nation’s leading telecom providers, including AT&T, which took a leading role in the process, as part of the industry-wide Internet Protocol (IP) transition from traditional telephony to internet-based communication.

Over the coming months and years, wireless companies like AT&T and device manufacturers like Samsung are expected to introduce RTT apps for consumers, with the ultimate goal being “native” functionality baked into, and interoperable with, all smartphones and text-messaging apps. Ultimately, RTT technology could prove so popular among all consumers, not just deaf and hard of hearing people, that it could become a new standard for text-messaging services.

For FCC Chairman Wheeler, who announced last week that he is stepping down in January, the successful vote advancing the TTY to RTT transition amounts to a poignant and deeply symbolic conclusion to a three-year tenure during which he made communications accessibility a key priority for the nation’s top telecom regulatory agency. In his comments at last Thursday’s meeting, Wheeler used American Sign Language to praise and thank the assembled deaf and hard of hearing advocates who have worked tirelessly to encourage FCC action on this issue.

“Chairman Tom Wheeler has, in his few years at the FCC, boldly and efficiently removed barriers that have long frustrated deaf and hard of hearing people with respect to making telephone calls, watching videos, and using the internet,” Howard A. Rosenblum, CEO of the National Association of the Deaf, said in a statement. “The NAD thanks him for his dedicated efforts to make the world more accessible for everyone, and wishes him well on his future endeavors.”

from The FCC Just Approved a Landmark New Way For Deaf People to Communicate

As Tom Wheeler Departs, AT&T Tells the FCC to Take a Hike on Zero-Rating

Corporate lawyers don’t use profanity when addressing US federal regulators—at least not in public.

But if they did, AT&T’s latest response to the Federal Communications Commission’s inquiry into the telecom giant’s controversial “zero-rating” practices would likely include many “colorful” turns-of-phrase that are not printable by a family-friendly news organization like Motherboard.

In an absolutely scathing letter sent to the FCC on Thursday, AT&T essentially told the nation’s top telecom regulator to, um, go fly a kite, after the agency reached a preliminary conclusion earlier this month that the broadband giant’s practice of exempting video content from its DirecTV subsidiary for mobile subscribers is anticompetitive and harmful to consumers.

AT&T’s response appeared just hours after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the former telecom industry lobbyist turned public-interest champion, whose pro-consumer policies have bedeviled broadband giants like AT&T for the last three years, announced his intention to step down from the agency to make way for a new Republican chairman under President-elect Donald Trump, as is customary for incoming administrations.

Zero-rating refers to a variety of practices that broadband companies use to exempt certain internet services from monthly data caps, effectively favoring those services by providing consumers with an economic incentive to use them instead of rival offerings. Open internet advocates say that many of these practices, including AT&T’s Data Free TV and DirecTV NOW products, violate net neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be equally accessible to consumers.

AT&T referred to the FCC Wireless Bureau’s position on zero-rating as “nonsensical,” “error-ridden,” and “untenable.”

AT&T and other mobile broadband giants, like Verizon and T-Mobile, characterize such offerings as innovative services that will save consumers money, by allowing their customers to access internet content for free or reduced cost, and increase competition against their cable rivals like Comcast and Charter.

In its letter to the FCC, AT&T took aim at the agency’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, which has led the agency’s year-long inquiry into zero-rating.

“AT&T takes sharp issue with the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau’s preliminary conclusions,” Joan Marsh, AT&T’s Senior Vice President for federal regulatory policy, wrote, adding that the Wireless Bureau’s approach would “deny consumers a service they value, raise prices, lower consumption, and curb the disruptive potential of Data Free TV.”

Marsh, who has spent 20 years as an AT&T telecom policy lawyer, went on to assert that the FCC Wireless Bureau “has no authority to inflict this agenda on American consumers,” and warned that any “final conclusions the Bureau may purport to draw against Data Free TV would thus be unenforceable.”

Elsewhere in AT&T’s letter, Marsh referred to the FCC Wireless Bureau’s position as “nonsensical,” “error-ridden,” and “untenable.”

For good measure, Marsh took a clear swipe at outgoing FCC Chairman Wheeler by smugly remarking that the two Republican FCC commissioners, Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly, who will assume a 2-1 majority at the agency under a Trump administration, have warned that “whatever judgment the Bureau purports to pass on this program before January 20 will very likely be reversed shortly thereafter.”

In other words, AT&T appears to be saying to Wheeler: “You’re out of here, so we don’t have to listen to you anymore.”

In this respect, Marsh is right, which may account for her triumphalist, sharply-worded tone. Under a Trump administration, the FCC is likely to halt, if not reverse, the agency’s inquiry into zero-rating, as well as other policies safeguarding net neutrality and protecting online privacy. These policies, which were championed by Wheeler and his Democratic colleagues, including Jessica Rosenworcel, whose reconfirmation to the agency was recently blocked by the GOP-controlled Senate, are now in serious jeopardy.

Wheeler announced Thursday that he will step down on Jan. 20, the day that President-elect Trump is set to be inaugurated, to make way for new GOP leadership at the FCC. In the remaining days of his tenure, Wheeler and his colleagues at the Wireless Bureau face a stark choice.

The FCC can move forward with an enforcement action cracking down on AT&T’s zero-rating practices, establishing a regulatory record and a set of principles that the next FCC will be forced to confront and dismantle. Or, the agency can do nothing, and effectively surrender to AT&T and other telecom giants, having concluded that whatever action they take on zero-rating is doomed under a Trump FCC.

A FCC spokesperson told Motherboard that the agency has received and is reviewing AT&T’s letter.

from As Tom Wheeler Departs, AT&T Tells the FCC to Take a Hike on Zero-Rating

Trump’s FCC: GOP Snubs Rosenworcel, Setting Stage for Net Neutrality Rollback

Senate Republicans wrapped up business over the weekend without reconfirming a key Federal Communications Commission official, laying the groundwork for a wholesale rollback of important consumer protections under a Trump presidency.

By failing to reconfirm FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, despite earlier pledges to so, Senate Republicans effectively removed one Democratic commissioner from the five-member agency. With FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler expected to step down in January, Republicans are poised to hold a 2-1 majority at the agency, giving them the opportunity to pursue what is likely to be an industry-friendly, deregulatory agenda.

The first major item on the Republican chopping block is likely to be the FCC’s landmark open internet policy protecting net neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be equally accessible to consumers. President-elect Trump’s FCC advisory team are staunch opponents of net neutrality, and the agency’s two Republican commissioners have made no secret of their desire to dismantle the FCC’s net neutrality protections.

Since her initial confirmation to the FCC in 2012, Rosenworcel, a 45-year-old former Senate staffer, has developed a reputation as a whip-smart and passionate regulator with a deep concern for addressing the “digital divide,” especially for children. Her signature issue has been what she calls the “homework gap,” which refers to the lack of affordable internet access for low-income kids in underserved and rural communities.

“The Senate’s failure to vote on her reconfirmation represents a stunning loss for the public interest.”

During her tenure at the FCC, Rosenworcel, whose term is set to expire at the end of this year, earned the respect of Democrats and Republicans alike, which is why lawmakers from both parties strongly supported her renomination. But despite assurances from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Republicans failed to reconfirm her for another term at the agency, despite earlier promises to do so.

“Senate inaction and political gamesmanship should never have cost Commissioner Rosenworcel her seat at the FCC,” Todd O’Boyle, Program Director for Media and Democracy at Common Cause, a DC-based public interest group, told Motherboard. “She’s fought in the trenches to enshrine historic open internet protections, to improve connectivity for schools and libraries, and to close the homework gap for low-income households. The Senate’s failure to vote on her reconfirmation represents a stunning loss for the public interest.”

The battle over Rosenworcel’s renomination dragged on for more than a year, and was riven with Capitol Hill intrigue. Senate Republicans had initially promised to reconfirm her in exchange for Democratic approval of Republican FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. But last summer, Republicans backed away from that pledge, because, they said, FCC Chairman Wheeler refused to clearly state his willingness to step down under a Republican presidency, as is customary under a new administration.

Republicans held the ambiguity over Wheeler’s stance as a bargaining chip over Rosenworcel’s head. If Wheeler promised to step down under a Republican presidency, GOP lawmakers said, they would reconfirm her. Wheeler refused to make his intentions clear, effectively giving the GOP an excuse to hold up Rosenworcel’s reconfirmation. It was only in recent weeks that Wheeler pledged to resign immediately if it would assure Rosenworcel’s renomination.

But it was too late.

Senate Republicans wrapped up business over the weekend without action on Rosenworcel’s renomination, effectively ending the FCC career of a public servant who is widely regarded as one of the most talented and knowledgeable FCC officials to serve at the agency in the last decade.

“At the end of the day, this was not Rosenworcel or Wheeler’s fault,” said a Capitol Hill source with knowledge of the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. “This was a case study about the obstructionism that’s been the hallmark of Senate Republicans during this last Congress. Republicans promised to reconfirm Rosenworcel, and they reneged on that promise, again and again.”

Public interest advocates fear that under Trump’s FCC the agency will no longer protect internet openness, promote cable and wireless competition, ensure broadband privacy protections, rein in exploitative prison phone costs, or encourage deployment of internet access around the country, especially in low-income, rural and underserved communities.

Wheeler now faces a difficult choice. With Rosenworcel out of the picture, the 70-year-old FCC chairman is now the proverbial “last-man standing” preventing an immediate Republican takeover of his agency. As FCC chairman, Wheeler is obliged to step down from that role in January, to allow President-elect Trump to select a new leader of the agency. But Wheeler’s term as a regular FCC commissioner does not expire until 2018. In other words, he can stay on, and along with his Democratic FCC colleague Mignon Clyburn, fight to preserve the pro-consumer legacy that he has built over the last three years.

Commissioner Rosenworcel did not return a request for comment, nor did a FCC spokesperson.

from Trump’s FCC: GOP Snubs Rosenworcel, Setting Stage for Net Neutrality Rollback

FCC Hits Verizon, AT&T on Zero-Rating, But It Might Be Too Late

The Federal Communications Commission issued a pair of sharply-worded letters to the nation’s largest mobile broadband companies on Friday, warning that the practice of “zero-rating” might undermine net neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be equally accessible to consumers.

But after a year-long investigation into zero-rating, the nation’s top telecom regulator may be too late to effectively police the practice, now that President-elect Trump has signaled that he intends to reverse federal open internet rules.

Zero-rating refers to a variety of practices that broadband companies use to exempt certain internet content and services from data caps, effectively favoring those services by providing consumers with an economic rationale to use them instead of rival offerings.

In AT&T’s case, the FCC was responding to complaints about the telecom giant’s plan to exempt content from DirecTV, which AT&T bought last year for $50 billion, from its broadband subscribers’ data plans. This would effectively undercut the principle of non-discrimination at the heart of net neutrality, according to open internet advocates.

In its letter to AT&T, the FCC said it had “reached the preliminary conclusion that these practices inhibit competition, harm consumers, and interfere with the ‘virtuous cycle’ needed to assure the continuing benefits of the Open Internet.” In its letter to Verizon, the FCC said the company’s FreeBee Data 360 plan “has the potential to hinder competition and harm consumers.”

The FCC asked both companies to respond to a list of questions by Dec. 15, so that the agency can “finalize” its review. That could lead to enforcement actions potentially banning both companies’ zero-rating practices.

“We’re glad that the FCC continues to raise concerns about these companies’ self-dealing exemptions,” Matt Wood, policy director at DC-based public interest group Free Press, said in a statement. “AT&T and Verizon impose arbitrary data caps and overcharges on most of their customers. This scheme gives these two carriers the leverage to favor their own video products and services and dress up double-charging as a discount.”

Open internet advocates are particularly concerned that if AT&T’s proposed $85 billion buyout of entertainment giant Time Warner is approved by the feds, the combined company could prioritize HBO or Warner Bros. content for AT&T’s 100 million mobile, video, and broadband consumers, to the detriment of its rivals. The proposed merger is certain to face tough scrutiny from federal regulators and lawmakers.

Broadband giants like AT&T and Verizon say that zero-rating promotes competition and benefits consumers by allowing them to use certain in-house or otherwise favored services without exceeding data caps, thereby saving money. “These are incredibly popular free services available to millions of customers,” AT&T said in a statement. “Once again, we will provide the FCC with additional information on why the government should not take away a service that saves consumers money.”

Verizon did not immediately return a request for comment on the FCC’s letter.

Open internet advocates argue that many of these plans violate net neutrality and disproportionately affect lower-income users who are less willing to incur larger monthly fees by exceeding data limits, thereby creating a kind of online “walled garden” for zero-rated content.

“The money flows from one pocket to another within each of these giant corporations,” said Wood. “That way, AT&T can keep people tied to the DirecTV content it bought last year, harming video choice and broadband competition while pretending that this is some kind of free lunch for its customers.”

Harold Feld, Senior Vice President at DC-based digital rights group Public Knowledge, applauded the the FCC’s apparent willingness to crack down on zero-rating, but lamented the fact that the agency had taken so long—nearly one year—to get tough on the practice, especially now that Trump appears ready to appoint FCC officials who will likely roll back many of the FCC’s open internet protections.

“There’s real value in this because it lays down a marker on zero-rating that the Republican FCC will have to deal with,” Feld told Motherboard. “In an ideal world, it would have been nice if they had done this last summer, but I think they thought they were going to have more time, once Hillary Clinton had won the election.”

“That just adds to the heartbreak of it, the thought that they could have moved faster,” Feld added. “As a Red Sox fan, it feels like Bill Buckner’s Game Six error during the 1986 World Series against the Mets.”

from FCC Hits Verizon, AT&T on Zero-Rating, But It Might Be Too Late

Forget Net Neutrality, Trump FCC Advisor Wants to Kill the FCC Itself

Under President Donald Trump, the US government’s policy protecting net neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be equally accessible to consumers, is likely to be rolled back, according to tech policy experts.

But that shift, as important as it would be, may be just the beginning of the changes in store for the Federal Communications Commission under Trump’s administration. In fact, the nation’s top communications regulator itself may look very different than it does today.

Like, very different. As in, practically non-existent.

That was the prospect raised recently by one of the two men that Trump has selected to advise him on FCC matters ahead of the billionaire mogul’s January inauguration.

In an October blog post for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) tech policy website, Mark Jamison, a University of Florida professor and Visiting Fellow at the conservative think-tank, floated the idea of essentially abolishing the FCC except for its most basic radio spectrum licensing function.

Under such a scenario, the FCC would no longer protect internet openness, promote cable and wireless competition, ensure broadband privacy protections, rein in exploitative prison phone costs, or encourage deployment of internet access around the country, especially in low-income, rural and underserved communities.

All of these functions are either unnecessary, or could be farmed out to other federal agencies or the states, according to Jamison.

“Telecommunications network providers and ISPs are rarely, if ever, monopolies,” Jamison asserted. “If there are instances where there are monopolies, it would seem overkill to have an entire federal agency dedicated to ex ante regulation of their services. A well-functioning Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in conjunction with state authorities, can handle consumer protection and anticompetitive conduct issues.”

“The only FCC activity that would seem to warrant having an independent agency is the licensing of radio spectrum,” he added. “Thus, at the end of the day, we don’t need the FCC, but we still need an independent agency.”

It sounds drastic, but such a move would be consistent with the small-government, anti-regulatory philosophy championed by AEI and other so-called “free market” groups—a philosophy that appears to be ascendent judging by the advisors that Trump has assembled as he prepares to assume the presidency.

“I’m not sure that Trump will want to dismantle the very regulatory agency that will allow him to browbeat the media.”

On the other hand, it’s not at all clear that Jamison’s plan will be met with wholehearted favor by President Trump, according to Harold Feld, Senior Vice President at DC-based digital rights group Public Knowledge.

“This is a radical conservative agenda that is utterly out of the mainstream,” Feld told Motherboard. “Besides, I’m not sure that Trump will want to dismantle the very regulatory agency that will allow him to browbeat the media.”

Jamison is an arch-conservative telecom wonk who was previously a regulatory policy official at wireless giant Sprint, and he has railed in the past against proposals to expand broadband access to low-income and underserved communities, claiming such plans would be a “waste” of resources that would harm the economy.

Jamison’s partner advising Trump on the FCC transition is Jeffrey Eisenach, a right-wing economist who is also affiliated with AEI, where he directs the group’s Center for Internet, Communications, and Technology Policy. Eisenach has done consulting work for broadband titan Verizon and is vehemently opposed to the FCC’s strong net neutrality rules.

The FCC’s net neutrality policy, which is enshrined in the agency’s landmark 2015 Open Internet order, prohibits internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T from blocking or discriminating against rival content. In practice, this means that these broadband giants can’t slow content and services from the likes of Netflix or Skype, which directly compete with them in the video and communications markets.

Public interest groups say that net neutrality is necessary to maintain the internet as an open platform for free speech, economic growth, and civic empowerment. But the nation’s largest broadband companies and their Republican allies in Congress argue that the FCC’s rules amount to a government overreach, and they’ve been trying to kill the policy ever since it was enacted. With a Trump-led Republican FCC takeover in sight, they may soon succeed.

Already, Trump’s election victory has essentially halted the current FCC’s work on major issues. Last week, the agency abruptly deleted the most important items from its monthly meeting agenda, after Republican lawmakers warned FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to avoid working on “partisan, or otherwise controversial items that the new Congress and new Administration will have an interest in reviewing.”

As a practical matter, that means the remaining big-ticket items on Wheeler’s pro-consumer agenda, including a plan to break the cable industry’s stranglehold on the video “set-top box” market, and a measure to rein in broadband costs for schools, libraries and hospitals, are now dead.

Open internet advocates reacted with alarm to Jamison’s proposal to abolish most of the FCC. “Such a proposal is dripping with irony, given that the dominant ISPs consistently rank among the most hated companies by consumers, ripping off their subscribers in numerous creative ways,” Lauren Weinstein, a veteran tech policy expert and net neutrality advocate, told Motherboard. “One of the few checks on their abuses has been the FCC.”

“Reducing the FCC's authority in this context would be a sure path toward the rich getting richer and subscribers being shafted even worse than they are today,” Weinstein added.

A FCC spokesperson declined to comment on Jamison’s proposal.

from Forget Net Neutrality, Trump FCC Advisor Wants to Kill the FCC Itself