Ars Technica reports about Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai crowing about how successful stopping net neutrality has been. Citing the new Broadband Deployment Report, the FCC chairman says that broadband deployment is going great in the United States, and it is mostly because of the Dec. 14 vote to repeal of net neutrality rules. Trouble is, the new report only covers broadband deployments through December 2016. So, the Obama administration's FCC is actually responsible for any growth in broadband cited in the report. While the commission voted to repeal net neutrality in Dec. 2017, a full year after the period covered by the report, the repeal does not actually go into effect until two months from now. So the rules -- which are not yet affecting anything -- to allow ISPs to block and throttle Internet traffic or prioritize traffic in exchange for payment are helping spread broadband throughout the country, according to Pai. In the future when ISPs won't need to be as transparent with customers about hidden fees, that will mean more customers in the past will have better access to broadband, according to Pai.

The Los Angeles Times reports the Federal Communications issued a record fine last week to a non-profit broadcaster for violating underwriting rules. The Cesar Chavez Foundation, an affiliate of the United Farm Workers union, received a $115,000 fine and a one-year moratorium on new underwriting from for-profit sponsors on its stations KUFW-FM (90.5) in Woodlake, California, and KNAI-FM (88.3) in Phoenix, Arizona. The stations ran underwriting announcements comparing an underwriter's business with competitors' and listing discounts, and urging listeners to contact a business. All that is against the rules for non-profit stations running underwriting spots, which are meant to just be an endorsement of the station by the business, not an advertisement for shopping there. KUFW got fines of $12,500 in 2010 over similar violations, so they should have known the rules by now.

Karl Bode reports at TechDirt that several states are considering legislation to keep net neutrlity in their borders, even though the FCC's order rolling back those rules prohibited states from exactly that. New York and Wyoming have done something different. Governors in those states signed executive orders barring those state governments from doing business with any Internet company not following the old net neutrality rules guaranteeing consumers equal access to the Internet for consumers without excess charges or special fees for faster service. But Rhode Island, Washington state, and California, are just trying to reinstate the old rules within their borders. California, for instance, just passed SB-460 21-12, prohibiting ISPs from paid prioritization and other anti-competitive acts. But states do not regulate the airwaves, Internet airwaves included. Ernesto Falcon at the Electronic Frontier Foundation says California legislators ignored his group's recommendations to avoid endangering the new law in court. So while California is currently suing the FCC over the net neutrality rollback, ISPs will likely soon be suing California if it passes this new law bringing net neutrality back to the state.

Ars Technica reports that the Federal Communications Commission issued a preliminary report Jan. 30 about the false missile alert sent to mobile phones and television and radio broadcast stations in Hawaii in early January. The employee who sent the alert claims he did not hear a recording saying a missile announcement was just a test. The employee, in a written statement because he refused to be interviewed, says he did not hear, "exercise, exercise, exercise,” but heard "this is not a test." Proving what he heard may or may not be difficult, but the fact that one person could send a missile alert to everyone in Hawaii, and no one retracted that warning for 38 minutes, is not in question. The report says a shift change a few minutes before the incident helped to make it possible. "As a result, the day shift supervisor was not in the proper location to supervise the day shift warning officers when the ballistic missile defense drill was initiated," the FCC wrote. The report blames, "a combination of human error and inadequate safeguards contributed to the transmission of this false alert" and that "HI-EMA has taken steps designed to ensure that an incident such as this never happens again." Now, in Hawaii, there is a two-person process to send out missile alerts and a new process to cancel an alert in case of an error. Read the full story at Ars Technica.

For a few hours last weekend, the administration of Donald Trump was touted not for efforts to "Make America Great Again," but for an idea to bring America into the future. Axios reported that the Trump administration was proposing a federal takeover of a portion of the nation’s mobile network, bringing 5G technology to the entire country. 5G is the fifth-generation mobile network that transmits data 10 times faster than the current 4G LTE standard. That means just about anyone with a cell phone gets virtually unlimited data. It means that there is enough bandwidth for self-driving cars, home appliances, the electrical grid, traffic lights, health equipment, air quality monitors, and all sorts of other devices hooked to the internet. FCC chief Ajit Pai quickly put out a statement saying he was very much against the idea of nationalizing 5G. “I oppose any proposal for the federal government to build and operate a nationwide 5G network,” he said in a statement. “The main lesson to draw from the wireless sector’s development over the past three decades — including American leadership in 4G — is that the market, not government, is best positioned to drive innovation and investment.” Of course it was not long before Recode reported that, no, a national effort to give America a state-of-the-art wireless system was not happening. The regime has no plans to build its own ultra-fast 5G wireless network. White House officials said the original story was based on a dated document, floated by a single staff member, and not reflective of their thinking on the issue. What Pai wants -- to give more public spectrum to commercial carriers such as AT&T and Verizon to create private 5G networks -- is what will most likely happen.

Ars Technica reports that the mayor of San Jose, California quit the Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee Jan. 25 because the recommendations of the comittee favor the interests of private industry over municipalities. The problem, "became particularly apparent at our most recent meeting in Washington, DC," Sam Liccardo told FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in his resignation letter. "One working group, which did not have a single municipal representative among its 30-plus participants, created a draft model state code that included provisions to eliminate all municipal control over when, how, and whether to accept industry applications for infrastructure deployment. Another working group had an industry representative dramatically re-write its draft municipal code in the eleventh hour, pushing aside the product of months of the working group’s deliberations. The result, in each case, were provisions that plainly prioritized industry interests." Vice's Motherboard got a copy of Pai's schedule in the months leading up to his vote to rollback net neutrality, and it seemed to back up Liccardo's claim. Their reports says, "From July 1, 2017 through December 21, 2017, Pai met or spoke with high level executives from Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile three times each. He met with AT&T twice, and Charter twice as well. These included calls and meetings with: T-Mobile CEO John LeGere; AT&T CEO John Donovan; Craig Silliman, the executive vice president—public policy and general counsel at Verizon; Hans Vestberg, Verizon's executive vice president and president of Global Networks and Chief Technology Officer; Kathryn A. Zachem, Comcast’s executive Vice President, Regulatory and State Legislative Affairs; and Executive Vice President of Field Operations at Charter, Tom Adams. All top-level FCC officials meet and talk to corporate honchos regularly, "but his schedule definitely shows a preference for large corporations over consumer advocacy groups," the Motherboard report says. One of the Democrats on the FCC commission, Mignon Clyburn, also recalled the same issue. "I noticed that there was an expressed preference for industry over municipalities in broadband deployment efforts. As I have said many, many times before, one size does not fit all, and private industry infrastructure investments do not always flow to communities that are most in need."

Rick Karlin reports in Capitol Confidential that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is keeping up his efforts to promote New York as a radio-controlled drone state with the second annual film competition for the unmanned aircraft. He's calling the part of Central New York and the Mohawk Valley along Interstate 90 the Drone Corridor, where companies are building and testing drones. So the New York State Fair now holds a film festival for camera-equipped drone operators. “We are building the unmanned aerial vehicle industry from the ground up in Upstate New York, with the goal of becoming a global hub in drone research and development,” Cuomo said. “This film festival and competition highlights our investment and draws attention to the amazing work being done with drones, while continuing the economic growth seen in Central New York.” There are many categories to enter, and a small cash prize with a screening at the state fair in August. June 30 is the deadline for entries at https://filmfreeway.com/NYSFairDroneFilmFestival.

Recode reports that Burger King released an pro-net neutrality, pro-Burger King ad this week. In the video, customers in a Burger King restaurant are told they'll get their food quicker if they pay more. On Dec. 14, the Federal Communications Commission rolled back net neutrality rules, allowing internet companies to charge customers more for quick access to the internet. The video, called "Whopper Neutrality," is clearly a metaphor for the end of net neutrality, and fast and slow lanes online. The ad is embedded above. "Burger King did not weigh in at the FCC in 2015 when it wrote the net neutrality rules that the agency’s Republican leaders later scrapped in December," Recode writes. "Burger King has not filed a lawsuit to challenge the repeal. A spokesperson declined to say [Jan. 24] if it would launch or join one later."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a 19-year-old Michigan man, Brandon Griesemer, made 22 calls to CNN threatening to go to Atlanta headquarters and kill employees. The FBI arrested him last week, and he was released hours later on $10,000 bail. “I’m smarter than you. More powerful than you. I have more guns than you. More manpower. Your cast is about to get gunned down in a matter of hours.” He allegedly told a CNN operator in one call, "Fake news. I'm coming to gun you all down." The same day news of the threat was announced, President Donald Trump tweeted about "Crazy Jim Acosta of Fake News CNN," about another issue. A CNN statement said, “We take any threats to CNN employees or workplaces around the world extremely seriously. This one is no exception. We have been in touch with local and federal law enforcement throughout and have taken all necessary measures to ensure the safety of our people.” Griesemer had made a threatening call to an Ann Arbor mosque in September.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that two months after cutting ties with radio host Garrison Keillor, Minnesota Public Radio revealed some details about why Jan. 23. MPR said the host of “A Prairie Home Companion” subjected a woman to “dozens of sexually inappropriate incidents … over a period of years” including “unwanted sexual touching.” On Nov. 29 MPR said it would no longer distribute and broadcast the 75-year-old Keillor’s “The Writer’s Almanac” and “The Best of A Prairie Home Companion Hosted by Garrison Keillor” after allegations of “inappropriate behavior with an individual who worked with him.” What was first thought to be a single incident is now one woman detailing a number of alleged incidents in a 12-page letter. That letter is still not public, but the Star Tribune says she was a longtime writer for the show, and one of several women who claim to have received inappropriate messages from the host. A friend of the woman said, the messages turned “threatening," and that, "he is not the nice guy that all of his fans think he is.” Keillor criticized MPR for releasing details of the complaint, and then wrote, "She signed her e-mails ‘I love you’ and she asked if her daughter could be hired to work here, and so forth. She attended the last show in L.A. She still features ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ prominently on her Facebook page."

Techcrunch reports that the Federal Communications Commission has backed off from lowering what constitues a broadband signal. Currently, the FCC considers a fixed signal with speeds of 25 megabits download and 3 megabits upload broadband. They were considering lowering that to a mobile signal with 10 megabits download and 1 upload, which would then allow them to claim that much of the country has broadband internet. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, was happy her Republican colleagues kept the current standards, saying “I’m glad that the FCC has backed away from its crazy idea to lower the broadband speed standard. But it defies logic to conclude that broadband is being reasonably and timely deployed across this country when over 24 million Americans still lack access.” Republican FCC head Ajit Pai seems to agree, recently proposing a $500 million project to expand rural broadband.

Shashank Bengali and Aoun Sahi report in the Los Angeles Times that on Jan. 19 Pakistan closed Radio Mashaal, a U.S. government-funded radio station. Pakistani authorities said Radio Mashaal broadcasts were “against the interests of Pakistan,” saying the station's reports made the country seem like “a hub of terrorism” and “a failed state.” The Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence, part of the Pakistani military, made the decision, according to the report. Recently the administration of Donald Trump says it will withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance from the country because, it said, terrorists from Pakistan are crossing into Afghanistan to attack U.S.-led coalition troops there. Trump himself has called out “lies and deceit” from Pakistan recently on Twitter. Pakistan said the U.S-funded station's broadcasts were “in line with [a] hostile intelligence agency’s agenda.” The station broadcast in the Pashto language and was popular in the northwestern part of the country where many Pashtun refugees who have fled from Afghanistan live. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "The station is part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a nonprofit broadcasting organization funded by Congress and based in Prague, Czech Republic. Started during the Cold War as an alternative to pro-Soviet propaganda, the organization airs programs in 23 countries that it says face media restrictions, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran." Radio Free Europe president Thomas Kent said the station has, "no connection to the intelligence agencies of any country."

The Hill reports that the Federal Communications Commission says it will stay open for a week after the government shut down at midnight Jan. 19. “In the event of a partial government shutdown, because of available funding, the Federal Communications Commission plans to remain open and pay staff at least through the close of business on Friday, January 26,” FCC spokesman Brian Hart said in a statement. After that, only 227 of its 1,492 employees get to keep working -- emergency personnel, the five commissioners, and 185 workers whose salary doesn’t come from annual appropriations. The FCC's monthly open meeting on Jan. 30 might get postponed. The commission is set to vote on updating the country’s Wireless Emergency Alert system at that meeting.

Radio Corax in Halle, Germany and the Goethe-Institut launched a new international fellowship program for radio art this year. The Radio Art Residency is the first fellowship program of its kind throughout Europe, giving artists from abroad the opportunity to work for a period of three months at Radio Corax. "What that sounds like is to be decided by the artists: the radio is not only an exhibition space for their acoustic art works, but provides a space for experimentation. Artists are invited to experience and to question the medium with all its techniques and narratives," according to the residency website. Artists should contact Tina Klatte at tina-klatte@radiocorax.de for more information.

The Communications Law blog reports that the Federal Communications Commission issued a record $13.4 million fine to Sinclair Broadcasting for not adequately disclosing sponsored content in its programming. That's because Sinclair violated FCC rules 1,700 times on its 64 stations. The FCC requires broadcasters to identify anyone who has paid for programming, and Sinclair repeatedly did not. The FCC has been criticized during the past year for going easy on Sinclair, weakening limits on the number of stations a company can own in individual markets, easing the way for the conservative broadcast group to buy Tribune Broadcasting for $3.9 billion. Sinclair currently owns 193 stations including the CBS affiliate and the CW affiliate in Albany, and Tribune owns another 42 broadcast television stations. If that deal goes through, Sinclair would be the largest local TV operator in the country, broadcasting to an estimated 72 percent of all American households. While most polls show local TV news is trusted, Sinclair does not just hide its paid programming, but also its conservative slant on the news. So, while everyone knows when they watch Fox News, they are watching a conservative version of the news, when viewers watch the CBS and CW stations in Albany, they mostly believe they are just watching the local news. But just like this FCC fine indicates, with Sinclair, you don't always know who is behind their programming. In fact, the Democrats on the FCC Commission argued the fine was too small. "The ‘punishment does not fit the crime’ against a company that grossed more than $2.7 billion in revenue last year. [The] meager fine... fails to match the scope and egregious nature of the violations that were committed," Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel wrote in a statement.

Radio artist Joe Frank died Jan. 15, 2018, after a lifetime of surreal and influential radio works. While most Americans are probably not familiar with his work, many have heard his voice or his echo. He could be best known for his 1982 monologue "Lies," which Martin Scorsese used, without permission, as the basis for the movie "After Hours." (Scorsese settled out of court.) His distinctive, resonant voice can be heard on voiceover work for The Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, and commercials for Zima and the Saturn Corporation. He worked at WBAI in New York, and was a co-anchor for the weekend edition of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" in the late 1970s. In 1993 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for Radio Art, and in 2003 he won a Third Coast International Audio Festival Lifetime Achievement Award. One of the first jobs of "This American Life" host Ira Glass was working for Frank. He was truly, won of radio's most unique voices. A feature-length film, Joe Frank: Somewhere Out There, about Frank's life and work, is scheduled for release in 2018. The film was completed prior to Frank's death and includes interviews with collaborators and other radio personalities.

Variety reports that the Federal Communications Commission has received at least "a handful" of complaints about bad language on network newscasts. CNN and NBC anchors were quoting the president of the United States, who reportedly called many African countries an expletive in a White House meeting last week. The FCC does not regulate speech on cable networks, so CNN has nothing to worry about, and over-the-air broadcasters may air profanity during "safe harbor" between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. NBC, though, did quote the president during its evening newscasts, so, technically, it could get in trouble with a fine up to $383,038 per incident. “Factors in determining how FCC rules apply include the specific nature of the content, the time of day it was broadcast, and the context in which the broadcast took place,” the FCC says on its website. So, while there may be a rule against such language over the air, the enforcement is arbitrary. Generally, the FCC does not fine stations when a station reports a newsworthy expletive, which would seem to be the case this time.

A new study from the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard finds that when municipalities in the United States build their own broadband networks, they are significantly cheaper for consumers then the services provided by telecommunication companies. The study only includes 27 community-owned broadband networks with at least the federal minimum 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload in communities where there was also comparable commercial service available. "We found that most community-owned fiber-to-the-home networks charged less and offered prices that were clear and unchanging, whereas private ISPs typically charged initial low promotional or “teaser” rates that later sharply rose, usually after 12 months.... We also made the incidental finding that Comcast offered different prices and terms for the same service in different regions," the study reports. While large companies such as AT&T, Time Warner/Charter, or Verizon can save money on economies of scale because they are larger, municipal broadband networks don't require high profits for the owners, nor do they need to spend so much on advertising. The telecommunications industry has convinced several states to not allow cities and towns to create their broadband networks because they do create cheaper access to the internet, which the study confirms. New York is one state that does not block communities from creating their own networks, with a bunch of municipal internet in the western part of the state near Rochester, and in that city. Chattanooga, Tennessee has the nation's largest municipal broadband network, with generally great reviews. Consumer Reports says that, "Some of the best-loved Internet providers are owned and run by local governments."

Matt Sebastian reports in Boulder's Daily Camera that the Colorado city is a hotbed of pirate radio, with at least five stations in the area broadcasting recently. Four of them are working together as the Colorado Community Radio Network, and a fifth recently got the attention of the Federal Communications Commission. Longmont's KROC (106.5-FM) did not get a visit from FCC enforcement officials trying to stop their illegal broadcasts. Instead, one of the five FCC commissioners -- not an enforcement officer -- sent a threatening letter to a Colorado news organization that wrote a story about the microradio station. "Pirate radio should never be romanticized or its negative impact minimized. In learning of a pirate station, the proper action should have been to alert the Federal Communications Commission’s Field Office in Denver to initiate an investigation and potentially enforcement proceedings, not suggest people listen while they can," FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly wrote to the news outlet. "The Longmont Observer generally doesn't comment on letters to the editor, however, we do find it odd, and by what we can tell, unprecedented, that an FCC commissioner would write a tiny digital-only, locally focused news outlet in Longmont, Colo., and tell us what story we should write, and how to write it," Sergio R. Angeles, president and co-founder of the nonprofit Longmont Observer, wrote in an editor's note appended to the Jan. 3 letter from O'Rielly. "It is absolutely unprecedented for an FCC commissioner to attempt to badger journalists for simply doing their jobs," John Anderson, director of the Journalism and Media Studies program in the Department of TV & Radio at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and a member of Wave Farm's board, wrote on his DIYmedia.net blog, where he tracks pirate radio enforcement actions. Why is an FCC commissioner sending letters to news organizations rather than enforcement officers? Congress has dramatically reduced the FCC budget, and the FCC has reduced the number of its field offices. FCC Enforcement Bureau chief Rosemary Harold told Inside Radio that “less than 50 people” are working pirate radio cases across the country out of 13 field offices. But, Anderson reports, FCC enforcement actions were up in 2017. "There were 383 enforcement-actions across 18 states, compared to 207 actions in 2016 covering just nine states," he writes. Many of those actions were multiple warning letters sent to pirates and their landlords.