Dish Network is predicting Hillary Clinton will win the presidency and the House will remain in GOP hands. In a news release Monday, Dish pointed to its predictive model, based on customer viewership data from Internet-connected set-top boxes. Dish said the model used the relationship between programs Dish customers watched in 2014 with the state-by-state outcomes of the 2014 House elections as well as the relationship between House party control and presidential party affiliation historically, and that, when tested against 2014 House elections, called results at a 98 percent reliability point. The company said its modeling showed Republicans taking 245 of the 435 House seats, giving Democrats a two-seat gain.
Aides to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton apparently considered lauding federal regulators for blocking Comcast's attempted buy of Time Warner Cable last year in a Clinton opinion piece that ultimately appeared in Quartz Oct. 20, 2015. That’s according to new emails released by WikiLeaks Tuesday, the result of an apparent hack of campaign manager John Podesta’s email account that U.S. intelligence officials believe involves the Russian government. “Should we applaud the FCC and Justice blocking the Comcast-Time/Warner merger?” asked Clinton adviser Mandy Grunwald in an Oct. 19 email reviewing a draft of the piece. Traveling press secretary Nick Merrill responded within the hour, addressing Kristina Costa, the aide who first circulated the draft requesting edits: “As the boyfriend of an FCC staffer who helped block that merger, yes. Kristina, her name is Val if you could please compliment her by name.” A few minutes later, Clinton aide Michael Shapiro weighed in and referred to an exchange he and Clinton domestic policy adviser Sara Solow had with Comcast Senior Executive Vice President David Cohen, who has donated thousands of dollars to Clinton's bid: “I think we were trying to keep this as a diagnosis of what's wrong with capitalism systemically, rather than naming specific folks. Sara and I talked to David Cohen today to give a heads up -- and our sense was we'd get deeper into broadband concentration specifically once we do our technology innovation agenda, rather than to some extent previewing or preempting it here.” That Quartz piece last year detailed Clinton’s desire for robust antitrust enforcement and mentioned priorities such as retaining strong net neutrality rules, but no reference to Comcast/TWC was included in the final version. Gonring, Spahn President Andy Spahn emailed Podesta in February to give “a head’s up” of a Senate letter to federal regulators from signers including Clinton primary opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., “calling for higher scrutiny of the Charter-Time Warner deal,” acquisitions of TWC and Bright House Networks that ultimately cleared regulators. “It's not a surprising development, and we don't anticipate the letter getting much play, but it could come up on your end given Sanders' involvement,” Spahn told Podesta. “Please keep us in the loop if it becomes an issue for you. Happy to get you or someone on your team more information if need be.”
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology formed a working group focused on semiconductors, said group co-chairmen John Holdren, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Paul Otellini, a former head of Intel, in a White House blog post Monday. “Semiconductors are essential to many aspects of modern life, from cellphones and automobiles to medical diagnostics to reconnaissance satellites and weapon systems,” they said. “Additional public and private investments in R&D are almost certain to be required if the past remarkable pace of improvements in price and performance of semiconductors and the benefits deriving therefrom are to continue -- R&D that looks to create new technologies that can leapfrog beyond the limits of today’s technology and explore entirely new computer architectures and their integration into systems well beyond the traditional computing sphere, including automotive and other mobile applications.” The group “will identify the core challenges facing the semiconductor industry at home and abroad and identify major opportunities for sustaining U.S. leadership” and “deliver a set of recommendations on initial actions the Federal government, industry, and academia could pursue to maintain U.S. leadership in this crucial domain,” the co-chairs said.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton had “been a bit ambivalent” about “tweeting her support” for the net neutrality order that the FCC approved Feb. 26, 2015, said her aide Jake Sullivan in an email from Feb. 15 of that year, released by WikiLeaks last week. Consultant Tom Freedman had asked John Podesta, a chief official in Clinton’s election effort, if it would “make sense to say something positive now including about her commitment to an open and accessible web?” pegged to the FCC vote, and Podesta turned to other officials including Sullivan. “But I agree -- it's a good issue to be out front on,” Sullivan told Freedman. “We'll revisit.” Clinton backed the FCC majority's approach, including reclassification of internet services under Title II of the Communications Act, in an interview Feb. 24 of that year (see 1504160034). Among other recent emails released, which U.S. intelligence agencies say are likely sourced to a cyber-hack affiliated with the Russian government, Washington Monthly editor-in-chief Paul Glastris congratulated Podesta “on municipal broadband” in an email dated Feb. 28, 2015, and cited a piece Podesta wrote for the magazine in 2006. “When I read that the FCC had overturned state restrictions on municipal broadband I immediately thought of you,” Glastris wrote. Clinton aide Sara Solow also emailed Podesta about Charter Communications’ acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks when the deal was still pending in January of this year. “I actually thought the business case for their merger was pretty sympathetic,” emailed Solow, mentioning a briefing with Charter and saying the combined company wouldn't serve as large a broadband market as AT&T when combined with DirecTV. “I also found it interesting that there hasnt [sic] been ANY congressional hearing on this,” she added. “Skepticism much lower.” In a follow-up email, she wrote, “See no reason to have a view at this point. Don't think there is any pressure to oppose and make this another example of consolidation; on the other hand no upside in supporting.”
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy unveiled an initiative Friday that the administration dubbed “Harnessing the Small Satellite Revolution,” touting relevant steps in a fact sheet. “NASA will establish a Small Spacecraft Virtual Institute at Ames Research Center in the heart of Silicon Valley early in 2017” that will act “within the agency to promote relevant programs, guidance, opportunities, and best practices, as well as share lessons learned on smallsat missions,” the fact sheet said. “NASA is also working to standardize its management practices associated with smallsat missions to reduce the administrative burdens associated with them in comparison to larger, more traditional space missions.” The Commerce Department will expand the Space Commerce Office’s role “to reflect the growing importance of commercial space as a driver of economic growth, productivity, and job creation” and “enable the Office’s Director to advise the Secretary of Commerce on commercial space issues and the office to coordinate policy on critical issues such as licensing, export controls, export promotion, and open data,” it said. “This will enable the Office’s Director to advise the Secretary of Commerce on commercial space issues and the office to coordinate policy on critical issues such as licensing, export controls, export promotion, and open data.” The White House earlier this month pledged $50 million toward small satellite tech (see 1610130001).
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump refused again to say the Russian government masterminded the hacking of servers at the Democratic National Committee and other Democratic Party-affiliated organizations, during Wednesday's debate. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security jointly confirmed earlier this month that the Russia government was behind “the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.” Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton asked Trump Wednesday to “admit and condemn that the Russians are doing this and make it clear that he will not have the help of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in this election.” Clinton later said 17 U.S. intelligence agencies “concluded that these [cyberattacks] come from the highest levels of the Kremlin and are designed to influence our election, and I find it deeply disturbing.” Trump said Clinton “has no idea whether it was Russia, China or anybody else” behind the hacks. “Our country has no idea,” Trump said. “Yeah, I doubt it.” Trump suggested during the Sept. 26 debate (see 1609270056) that “lots of other people” could be behind the hacks, including China or “someone sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.” Trump said during the Oct. 9 debate that Democrats were attributing the hacks to Russia because “they are trying to tarnish me with Russia.”
President Barack Obama Monday touted his efforts to connect U.S. schools to broadband. “We're bringing in high-speed internet into schools and libraries, reaching 20 million more students and helping teachers with digital learning,” Obama said at a high school in Washington, D.C. “And coding isn’t, by the way, just for boys in Silicon Valley, so we’re investing more in getting girls and young women and young people of color and low-income students into science and engineering and technology and math.” He cited the nature of the global economy and how “jobs can go wherever they want because of the internet and because of technology.” A White House fact sheet released Monday noted the ConnectED broadband initiative that Obama invoked.
The White House released a report on the role and potential benefits of artificial intelligence, including how AI-enabled products should be regulated. "In general, the approach to regulation of AI-enabled products to protect public safety should be informed by assessment of the aspects of risk that the addition of AI may reduce alongside the aspects of risk that it may increase," said the Wednesday report. Policymakers and regulators should discuss whether existing regulations adequately address such risks and how they can change regulations if they increase compliance costs or slow the development or adoption of AI innovations without affecting safety or competition. For instance, the report pointed to the regulatory challenges in developing driverless cars and drones, which potentially could provide many economic and societal benefits, but also present public safety issues. The report also touched on government R&D to advance AI, the need for a better skilled workforce and consequences of the technology's impact on jobs, safety and security. The report, which lists nearly two dozen recommendations that federal agencies and other stakeholders should take in this area, was released a day before the White House's innovation conference in Pittsburgh that will include AI as a topic (see 1610110008).
President Barack Obama will participate in a White House-sponsored conference on science and technology innovation Thursday in Pittsburgh. Co-hosted by Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, it will touch on technology and data use to improve communities, artificial intelligence and other areas, said a White House blog post last week. Participants will include Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, Fitbit CEO James Park and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D). Representatives from Facebook, Google and Microsoft will speak.
A private meeting between the transition team for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and telecom and tech officials was postponed. Trump transition officials initially scheduled an hourlong meeting for Thursday morning at the BakerHostetler law firm offices in Washington, with likely attendees expected to include CTA, the Internet Association, MPAA, Information Technology Industry Council and CTIA, plus people representing individual companies and possibly New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, chairman of the Trump transition effort (see 1609290070). But industry officials told us the meeting was pushed back a day and is now expected to occur Friday. The Trump campaign lacks any telecom and tech agenda, and some Republican lawmakers told us Trump should look to Congress (see 1609300050).