Ars Technica reports that on July 16 Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai said he's against the Sinclair Broadcast Group's acquisition of Tribune Media Company. The Republican had not previously been in favor much of any regulation of communications companies, so the announcement was a surprise. The FCC recently rolled back broadcast TV station ownership limits, which allows Sinclair to own more stations. "Pai has been repeatedly accused of making regulatory changes that benefit Sinclair; the FCC's inspector general in February agreed to investigate whether Pai has improperly coordinated with Sinclair on rule changes," Ars Technica's Jon Brodkin writes. "The evidence we've received suggests that certain station divestitures that have been proposed to the FCC would allow Sinclair to control those stations in practice, even if not in name, in violation of the law," Pai wrote in a statement July 16. He recommended the merger get reviewed by an administrative law judge. Politico described sending the case to an administrative law judge is, "a lengthy administrative process often viewed as a deal-killer." Sinclair also took a public relations hit nationally a few weeks ago when a video compiling local station anchors being forced to read exactly the same political script went viral. Currently, Pai and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, are two "no" votes out of four, with one commissioner still being confirmed. Rosenworcel said recently that, "too many of this agency's media policies have been custom-built to support the business plans of Sinclair Broadcasting. With this hearing designation order, the agency will finally take a hard look at its proposed merger with Tribune. This is overdue and favoritism like this needs to end."

Hudson Valley representatives in Congress, Democrats and a Republican, representing the 18th, 19th, and 20th Congressional Districts, have all signed up to prosecute pirate radio broadcasters with penalties unlike any before. John Faso (R-Kinderhook), and Democrats Sean Patrick Maloney and Paul Tonko, are all co-sponsors of H.R. 5709, or the Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act. The PIRATE Act most notably raises the maximum fine for broadcasting without a license from $100,000 to $2 million. (Currently, the Enforcement Bureau estimates the FCC’s collection-rate at 10 percent in anti-pirate actions. The House proposal would also hasten the FCC's enforcement process and mandate twice-a-year sweeps of the reputed top five pirate markets in the country. There has not been a major bust of any pirate radio stations in the Hudson Valley in many years, and the Federal Communication Commission recently cut back its enforcement office. But these three Hudson Valley lawmakers now have a large interest in the issue. Faso has received a $1,000 political donation during the current 2018 campaign from the National Association of Broadcasters. Tonko received $7,000 during the 2016 campaign from the National Association of Broadcasters. and Faso also got $500 from the NAB during the 2016 campaign. At a hearing on June 13, the House’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology approved the PIRATE Act on a voice vote. Next, the proposal heads to the full House Energy and Commerce Committee where it will likely see amendments with minor changes. There is no current similar bill in the U.S. Senate.

Ars Technica reports that on July 5 the Federal Communications Commission announced it denied a petition to reverse a decision taking away a broadband subsidy from many Native Americans. The FCC voted 3-2 in November 2017 to make it more difficult for tribal residents to get a $25-per-month Lifeline subsidy that reduces the cost of Internet or phone service. Small wireless carriers and tribal organizations have also sued the FCC in the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit over the issue. "Petitioners have not shown that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims," the FCC said in its July 5 announcement. "The 2017 Lifeline Order contains a comprehensive explanation of the basis for the Commission's decision to limit enhanced Tribal support to rural Tribal areas, and to target such support to facilities-based providers." Americans with incomes at or near federal poverty guidelines can get the Lifeline subsidies, though the current Republican-led FCC is doing all it can to limit who receives the benefits. Sprint is the only mobile phone service carrier actively participating in the Lifeline program now, according to the petition. The FCC decision blocks small cell phone services users from receiving the benefits. "[A]pproximately two-thirds of eligible low-income consumers on Tribal lands have chosen non-facilities-based ETCs [eligible telecommunications carriers] as their Lifeline provider, demonstrating the overwhelming success of the model," the petition to the FCC said. "At the same time, facilities-based wireless carriers have retreated from the Lifeline program across the country, including in many states home to American Indian tribes like [petitioner] Crow Creek [in South Dakota]. In more than a dozen states, AT&T and Verizon relinquished their status as ETCs. AT&T and Verizon continue to apply for and receive permission to relinquish their ETC status in additional states, and stopped applying for ETC status in new states long ago." T-Mobile has "largely phased out Lifeline service, explaining that Lifeline was not a 'valuable or sustainable product for [its] base' of subscribers," the petition said. "Sprint is the only one that still participates meaningfully as a retail provider in the Lifeline program, but Sprint does not provide Lifeline service on Tribal lands." The changes will take effect after October 2018, depending on when they are approved by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

Radio World reports that the Federal Communications Commission is proposing a $2.8 million fine against HobbyKing for creating 65 radio transmission systems for aerial drones that use unauthorized radio frequency bands. Some of the transmission systems from the manufacturer also had “excessive transmission power levels.” HobbyKing makes devices to create video links between transmitters on the aerial drones and the users on the ground over amateur radio bands. The FCC limits manufacturers to 1000mW of power but three HobbyKing transmitters had power readings of 1500 mW and 2000 mW. HobbyKing failed to respond to the enforcement bureau’s previously issued a citation notifying HobbyKing of its legal and regulatory obligations. The fine was so large, the FCC said, in part because the company failed to stop marketing the alleged noncompliant equipment after a cease and desist order from the bureau.

The New York Times reports that sound may be a cause of a mysterious ailment infecting American diplomats and their families in China recently. This report comes after the 2016 case of American Embassy employees and their family members in Cuba falling ill with headaches, nausea, hearing loss, cognitive issues, and other symptoms after they reported hearing odd sounds. The result in Cuba was colder relations between the Cuban and U.S. governments. These new sound attacks come as U.S. leaders wonder if the Chinese are undermining relations with North Korea. The Times article seems to float the possibility that China or Russia could be responsible for the attacks. The article says "The injuries in Cuba, like those in China, followed disturbing sensations of sounds and vibrations that have been described variously as the noises made by cicadas, static, metal sheets waving or, in [one] case, marbles rolling around a metal funnel." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this week he is creating a health care task force to examine “the unexplained health incidents that have affected a number of U.S. government personnel and family members stationed overseas.”

Ars Technica reports that President Donald Trump did follow normal tradition and nominated FCC Assistant Enforcement Bureau Chief Geoffrey Starks to fill the open seat on the Federal Communications Commission. The president usually appoints his own party's nominees for the Federal Communications Commission board, and accepts and approves recommendations from the opposing party. Starks would replace Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat who recently retired. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, from New York, recommended Starks. At the FCC, in the enforcement division, Starks worked on "waste, fraud, and abuse in Universal Service Fund programs," according to Politico. Republicans, with the GOP in the White House, maintain a 3-2 majority on the FCC board.

Gizmodo reports that Google is not renewing its contract with the U.S. Department of Defense providing artificial intelligence to analyze drone footage. Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene announced the decision June 1, and next week the company is said to be announcing a different direction. Google will unveil new ethical principles about its use of artificial intelligence. Gizmodo also revealed internal Google emails that showed the company was working, "to develop machine learning algorithms for the Pentagon, with the goal of creating a sophisticated system that could surveil entire cities." In one of the emails Gizmodo uncovered, Fei-Fei Li, chief scientist for AI at Google Cloud, wrote, “Google is already battling with privacy issues when it comes to AI and data; I don’t know what would happen if the media starts picking up a theme that Google is secretly building AI weapons or AI technologies to enable weapons for the Defense industry.” Now Greene is telling employees that the ethical use of artificial intelligence is important, and that, “It is incumbent on us to show leadership.”

TechDirt reports that the Federal Communications Commission repealed net neutrality with a December 2017 vote after millions of fake comments were made to the FCC's website in support of the repeal. That's old news, and the FCC was supposed to have done something about allowing so many fake replies to its public comment process. It has not. Well, the FCC has blocked a law enforcement investigation into who was behind the posting of the fake comments. And the Government Accountability Office still is investigating. Two Senators, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Pat Toomey (R-PA), aren't happy about that. They sent a letter May 21 to FCC chief Ajit Pai demanding action. Both of these senators "identities" filed false comments on the FCC’s net neutrality proposals. "Late last year, the identities of as many as two million Americans were stolen and used to file fake comments during the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) comment period for the net neutrality rule,” the Senators wrote in a letter to Pai. “We were among those whose identities were misused to express viewpoints we do not hold. We are writing to express our concerns about these fake comments and the need to identify and address fraudulent behavior in the rulemaking process." Now they want the FCC to add CAPTCHA technology to block some of the bots from posting fake comments in the names of other Americans. The internet fraud is not just at the FCC's website: The Wall Street Journal reported that 40 percent of the comments about the Labor Department’s “fiduciary rule” were also fake.

The Hill reports that U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ruled that President Donald Trump’s Twitter account is a public forum, and he can't block anyone. The First Amendment does not permit the president to block citizens, who have access to their own government. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University brought the lawsuit on behalf of seven citizens who were blocked from the @realDonaldTrump account. They all had expressed different opinions then the president in reply tweets before being blocked. Muting is allowed, Buchwald wrote in the ruling, but not blocking. "Muting preserves the muted account’s ability to reply to a tweet sent by the muting account, blocking precludes the blocked user from ‘seeing or replying to the blocking user’s tweets’ entirely,” she wrote. Strangely, Buchwald did not give an unblocking order of any kind. “Because no government official is above the law and because all government officials are presumed to follow the law once the judiciary has said what the law is, we must assume that the President... will remedy the blocking we have held to be unconstitutional,” Buchwald wrote.

Politico reports that two anonymous senior administration officials say a cellphone that President Donald Trump uses isn’t equipped with sophisticated security features designed to prevent hacking or surveillance. Trump has two iPhones, one just for phone calls, the other just for presidential tweets and for reading news sites which, one would think, are not fake. White House staff reportedly want him to swap out the Twitter phone each month, but he will not because it is “too inconvenient,” according to a anonymous source. A former Obama administration official said that president turned over his White House phones every 30 days to be examined for hacking and other suspicious activity. The Obama phones did not have cameras or microphones; Trump's phone do. “It’s baffling that Trump isn’t taking baseline cybersecurity measures at a time when he is trying to negotiate his way out of a trade war with China, a country that is known for using cyber tactics to gain the upper hand in business negotiations,” said Samm Sacks, a China and technology expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Obama's deputy chief technology officer agreed. “This would be the case of a president overruling literally the most rudimentary advice given by the communications agencies,” said Andrew McLaughlin.

The National Association of Amateur Radio reports that text from the proposed Amateur Radio Parity Act (HR 555) has been used for the Courtney-Hartzler-Rogers Amendment to the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. The Amateur Radio Parity Act would give radio amateurs in restricted communities the right to install effective outdoor antennas, even if their communities bar such structures. The bill has the support of both Republicans and Democrats, but has not gotten to the House floor for a vote in the past several years. It has a much better chance of getting passed tucked into the defense bill, which many representatives will be reluctant to vote against no matter what amendments are added. “The bill does entitle each and every Amateur Radio operator living in a deed restricted community to erect an effective outdoor antenna. Full stop. That is the principal benefit of this legislation,” ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, stressed. “There are tens of thousands of ham radio licensees who now, absent the legislation, cannot erect any outdoor antenna at all. Once the bill passes both Houses, the FCC would still have to implement it into the Part 97 Amateur Service rules.