Tech
Source: Proposed FCC rule undermines Trump’s rural broadband directives
A source close familiar with the internal machinations of the Federal Communications Commission told Big League Politics the panel, now controlled by Republican-appointed members and chairman, intends to resist President Donald J. Trump’s program to bring broadband Internet to rural communities.
In play is a move pushed by the mobile phone industry that reverses the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service rules adopted in 2015 by the FCC in a unanimous vote by all five commissions, by expanding the tracts of land for each license, the Priority Access Licenses, from the current regions based on the Census Bureau’s sub-division of the country to much larger Partial Economic Areas.
Big League Politics has seen the draft of a coalition letter being circulated by advocates for rural broadband to conservatives organizations and operatives as the first step in their push to convince the FCC to maintain the current license map.
Advocates of rural broadband champion the smaller Census Bureau regions because they more precisely isolate out urban and non-urban populations.
The smaller regions also provides opportunities to smaller Internet providers, who have the capitization to bid on the smaller tracts, but not the larger ones that would become the province of the national mobile providers.
If the FCC goes forward with the larger regions, the advocates argue that mobile phone companies have the economic incentive to bid for the larger regions with the pockets of urban density that they want, while leaving the rural communities in the rest of the region back where they started: white space on the map.
In his Jan. 8 Executive Order 13821, “Streamlining and Expediting Requests to Locate Broadband Facilities in Rural America,” Trump directed the federal bureaucracy to drive the expansion of Internet service in the non-urban centers.
Currently, too many American citizens and businesses still lack access to this basic tool of modern economic connectivity. This problem is particularly acute in rural America, and it hinders the ability of rural American communities to increase economic prosperity; attract new businesses; enhance job growth; extend the reach of affordable, high-quality healthcare; enrich student learning with digital tools; and facilitate access to the digital marketplace.
It shall therefore be the policy of the executive branch to use all viable tools to accelerate the deployment and adoption of affordable, reliable, modern high-speed broadband connectivity in rural America, including rural homes, farms, small businesses, manufacturing and production sites, tribal communities, transportation systems, and healthcare and education facilities.
In the FCC’s 2016 “Broadband Progress Report,” the commission said that roughly 23 million rural Americans did not have access to the quality of broadband that is the everyday expectation of urban and suburban American–39 percent of the country’s rural population.
Tech
Facebook Runs Electoral Interference to Stop Surging Congressional Candidate Laura Loomer
Facebook’s discriminatory practices against Loomer may be illegal.
Congressional candidate Laura Loomer has dominated fundraising numbers and is crushing the polls, but Big Tech is intervening in an attempt to halt her campaign’s momentum.
Loomer announced on free speech platform Gab that Facebook is banning her campaign ads in what could be considered a form of electoral interference.
“This newest ban goes beyond just a ban of the Laura Loomer For Congress Facebook Page (which is required to run ads). My campaign was told yesterday that if a PAC attempted to advertise to promote my campaign, their ads would be taken down. Facebook said their new policy is that nothing about Laura Loomer is permitted on Facebook and for the duration of the election cycle, my campaign will not get access to run any of our own ads,” Loomer wrote.
“People will be banned for simply typing my name “Laura Loomer”. We have received several reports today from supporters who said their pages were suspended because the posted my donation link and my ads!” she added.
Loomer said in a statement provided to different media outlets that this should be considered criminal electoral interference because her primary competitor, incumbent Democrat Lois Frankel, is allowed to publish ads on Facebook’s vast monopoly platform.
“I’m the only federal candidate in the nation banned from advertising on Facebook. My competitor, Lois Frankel is running ads on Facebook to reach voters, and my campaign is shut out. This is illegal election interference,” Loomer said.
“If the idea of banning Lois Frankel from advertising on Facebook outrages you, you should be equally outraged over the fact that my campaign is universally de-platformed and is being denied equal access to run ads on Facebook,” she added.
Loomer is currently suing Facebook and other tech giants due to her arbitrary removal from the platform, as Big League Politics has reported:
According to Allum Bokhari of Breitbart, Facebook has demanded a federal judge in Miami to immediately dismiss a defamation lawsuit that Laura Loomer brought against them.
Facebook put forward the argument that its decision to ban her as a “dangerous individual” does not fall under the grounds of defamation.
Facebook filed a motion to dismiss where it argued that “calling someone ‘dangerous’— or saying that she ‘promoted or ‘engaged’ in ‘hate’— is a protected statement of opinion.”
Facebook called attention to how other platforms have banned her and stated that “this is clearly an issue where, at a minimum, reasonable minds can disagree.”
Additionally, the motion cited Loomer’s appearances with Gavin McInnes, another individual that Facebook labeled as “dangerous”, as a justification for deplatforming her.
Breitbart News exclusively revealed a year ago that Facebook takes into account off-site behavior to determine whether certain users get deplatformed.
Bokhari noted that Facebook engages in the monitoring of “the on-platform and off-platform activities of prominent political individuals in an internal file called ‘Hate Agent policy review’.”
Loomer aims to become the next U.S. Representative in Florida’s 21st Congressional district in spite of the Big Tech conspiracy gunning for her.
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