A CLE heard criticism of FCC broadband mapping inaccuracies and of an AT&T executive appearing to some to celebrate a municipal network's struggles. Many at Thursday's Wolters Kluwer event agreed the maps need improvement, including Mississippi Public Service Commission Chairman Brandon Presley (D). He has a related draft NARUC resolution (see 1810310035). "The maps are completely inaccurate" and some providers claim to have service in places where they don't, he said: "We’re finding problems throughout our district," which covers about a third of Mississippi. Best Best law firm's Gerard Lederer, who represents municipalities, said "we simply would like to have facts. ... We really need to know where to fill in the gaps. If you don’t have agreement on that, I’m not sure how you can pursue the goal" of universal-type availability. The FCC has defended its process, and declined to comment now. An Oct. 24 tweet from AT&T Mississippi President Mayo Flynt that "another one bites the dust" on Opelika, Alabama, selling its "broadband business for big loss" also drew scrutiny Wednesday. USTelecom Vice President-Law and Policy Diane Griffin Holland said that, speaking personally, "We should not necessarily poke fun at or have a visceral reaction where a municipality seeks to take the initiative to deploy broadband." She thinks public-private partnerships could "take sort of the best of both worlds" to perhaps get "us closer to ubiquitous deployment." Mayo was highlighting AT&T's long-held position that "government-owned networks typically fail at great cost to taxpayers,” a spokesman said. “A number of municipal broadband efforts have failed over the last several years, often at great cost to local taxpayers," a USTelecom spokesman also noted. The group's "position has long been that bringing broadband to unserved areas is essential to closing today’s digital divide," he said. "The best way for municipalities to aid in this effort is through lowering the barriers to private sector deployment and partnering with private companies." As government is funding some projects to fill in digital gaps, some sought higher speeds. Speeds of 10/1 Mbps downstream/upstream may not be sufficient, and the Utilities Technology Council seeks 25/3 or higher, said General Counsel Brett Kilbourne. Many customers of utilities in sparsely populated areas buy 50 Mbps and above, even when slower speeds are available, he said. "Folks in rural areas want high speeds just as much as folks in urban areas."

Perhaps the biggest debate on cable among investors is how much 5G could threaten the industry's broadband market share, a longtime analyst said in a video released Tuesday by Citigroup. It's “a more uncertain environment than it's been” for the industry, said Jason Bazinet. Part of that is how far 5G from small cells will propagate through structures, he told an audience: 1,500 feet as some including in cable think or 3,000 feet as 5G "bulls" expect. The answer "makes a world of difference in terms of whether or not this is real," Bazinet said, because the shorter distance means about 20 percent of Americans can get in-home 5G over wireless networks v. 60 over the longer distance. "It may in fact be a wireless technology that dismantles the cable industry." Adding to uncertainty is whether T-Mobile and Sprint succeed in combining (see 1810310051) and building such a product, since Verizon is the only other major U.S. carrier that says it will do in-home fixed 5G. In a 5G-bullish outcome, "essentially, every single broadband net add is going to go to these networks, and cable stocks are done," the analyst said. "This big tent that the cable industry built because of that big, fat coaxial wire is now really vulnerable," he said earlier: "Because if something goes wrong with the internet" product financial stability, "the whole house of cards comes crashing down." CTIA didn't reply to queries Wednesday and NCTA declined to comment.

A key problem with U.S. privacy is few stakeholders fully understand the issues, said an expert who has discussed it with members of Congress at their request. "They don't know how it works," University of Pennsylvania communication professor Joseph Turow told C-SPAN. "It's very hard to regulate industries when the industries are the ones who are controlling the information, because the regulators, certainly in the Congress, have very little understanding of how this stuff works." He mentioned companies including or devices from Amazon, AT&T, Comcast, Facebook, Google, Verizon and brick-and-mortar retailers that may use people's information in ways Turow contends many don't understand. He worried about China's social rating-surveillance system slowly being adopted in the U.S. Those who can help privacy-caused ills are "all of the above" -- Congress, the FCC and FTC, states, tech companies and consumers -- Turow said on a Communicators episode to have been televised this weekend. "We have to make our regulators, our legislators understand this." The professor recommends educating students about such issues. Research, including what he's involved with, shows many people don't back trading some personal information for accessing tech services. It's not so much they "buy into" this but are "resigned," he said: "We are being trained to give away our data" and feel "there's nothing else we can do." He agreed privacy policies can be oxymoronic. "Most Americans have no clue really what the phrase 'privacy policy' means," surveys show, he said. They're "written by lawyers, to be read by lawyers, to be understood principally by lawyers," the academic said: Companies can do "almost anything they want to do if they write it in the right way." USTelecom members have long "embraced strong consumer privacy policies," a spokesman responded. "Privacy is a shared responsibility and the burdens and obligations cannot rest only with ISPs. Consumers expect and demand strong privacy protections," so Congress should "develop a national privacy framework" for the entire "internet ecosystem,” he added. The Association of National Advertisers, which earlier this year acquired the Data & Marketing Association, declined to comment. NCTA declined to comment, and the Internet Association didn't comment.

More work remains to further narrow the digital divide, a Cox Communications event heard Monday, even as speakers praised the cable ISP's stepped-up efforts. "Bridging the digital divide should be, in my view, a national mission," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. He seeks "a kick-starter for a national conversation" and said Cox's Connect2Compete low-cost broadband for the poor helps: It's "a bold initiative that is tackling the issue of broadband affordability." More than 400,000 low-income Americans at one point have been or still are connected via the plan. That's "almost two Topekas," the Kansas native said of the city there, to laughter. Cox's promise to spend $20 million over the next year on Connect2Compete is "going to make a ton of difference," said Zach Leverenz, founder-chair of EveryoneOn, which helps administer the program. "There’s more still to be done." He noted many millions of Americans can't afford broadband, and they are mostly minorities. Connect2Compete has boosted speeds and added digital literacy tools and has tech centers in boys and girls clubs, with the product targeting low-income families with school-age kids, said Cox President Pat Esser. "It's that multitiered access that is critical" to help close the broadband gap, he said. Cox's Connect2Compete and a similar product, Comcast's Internet Essentials, cost users about $10 monthly, spokespeople for the companies told us. Connect2Compete is in about 70,000 households, the Cox spokesman said. IE has connected 6 million low-income people from 1.5 million households to broadband, Comcast's representative noted, citing figures released in August. That makes it the top such U.S. program.

Focus on antitrust and consolidation in tech continued Friday. As the FTC held a competition hearing (see 1809210056), C-SPAN posted video of a critic seeking to break up platforms. A blogger said that won't help solve problems such as what some see as a tilt against conservative views.

Senators passed the Music Modernization Act Tuesday evening. The vote on S-2823 was unanimous, as expected, and by voice vote.

Two former Democratic commissioners stepped up criticism of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, slamming him on a range of issues including consolidation, net neutrality and transparency. The ex-FCC members, Mignon Clyburn and Gloria Tristani, laid into Sinclair for appearing not to be truthful with the agency during regulatory consideration of its now-dead plan to buy Tribune. They lamented administration involvement in FCC proceedings via President Donald Trump's tweets and in White House Counsel Don McGahn’s call to the agency about Sinclair/Tribune. But Clyburn said she might support or might not oppose T-Mobile/Sprint, which Tristani didn't support.

ASPEN, Colo. -- Rollout of next-generation wireless may take longer than some appreciate and customers may not immediately see the need to pay much more for it, some experts said. All on a Technology Policy Institute panel Tuesday agreed 5G will be used for things requiring low latency and high capacity and/or high speeds like telehealth and virtual reality, which some don’t see it as very profitable. They see progress narrowing the digital divide since the TPI panel on that subject a year ago (see 1708220036). Speakers mainly agreed smaller spectrum blocks can help such efforts when carriers expand rural broadband, answering a question from audience member ex-FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.

ASPEN, Colo. -- Chairman Ajit Pai defended his goals at the FCC, centering on broadband and closing the digital divide, before tech and telecom executives who laughed at his frequent jokes poking fun at himself. On a road trip to see broadband deployment and ATSC 3.0's rollout, he visited the Technology Policy Institute conference Tuesday for a Q&A. He said the Trump administration’s question about FCC review of Sinclair buying Tribune was appropriate, that an inspector general report on filing glitches bore out the agency’s and not critics’ contentions, and that a much-awaited economics office -- focus of a TPI panel last year (see Notebook at end 1708220036) -- still is coming. Ex-Chairman Tom Wheeler disagreed with Pai that the White House query on Sinclair/Tribune paled in comparison with then-President Barack Obama weighing in on an earlier net neutrality proceeding.

ASPEN, Colo. -- Updating privacy frameworks for consumer preferences, technology developments and regulatory actions in other countries and some U.S. states remains very much a work in progress, said speakers at a Technology Policy Institute conference. Microsoft Deputy General Counsel Julie Brill said Monday the U.S. may need to step up work to show the rest of the world this country takes privacy seriously. The ex-FTC member has shined a spotlight on privacy (see 1603220021) as have other Microsoft officials (see 1807130035) at past TPI and other events (see 1708210030).