Free Republic

Even as critics worry what an incoming Biden administration could do to harm the communication gains of the past four years at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), most agree that 5G development will likely continue largely unimpeded.The likely next chair of the FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, will almost certainly push for the reimplementation of Title II rules on internet service providers – despite no evidence they did anything but harm communication growth. The good news is that Rosenworcel has generally been in agreement with Republican leadership when it comes to the importance of the deployment of 5G.That includes support of the...

WASHINGTON--An executive from a company that manages a large portion of the Internet's infrastructure on Thursday slammed federal wiretapping rules expected to take effect next spring. Paul Kouroupas, vice president of regulatory affairs for Global Crossing, strongly criticized the Federal Communications Commission's broadening of a 1994 law--originally intended to cover telephone providers--as disproportionately costly, complex, and riddled with privacy concerns. His company is one of the world's largest Internet backbone providers. "Our customers are large Fortune 500 companies--not too many of those companies are conducting drug deals or terrorist activities out of Merrill Lynch's offices or using their phones in...

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai said he plans to leave the commission on Jan. 20, 2021. This opens the door to President-elect Joe Biden to select a new head of the telecommunications regulator. While best known for wrecking network neutrality, in his resignation letter Pai largely ignored that issue. His only comment relating to it was "this FCC has not shied away from making tough choices. As a result, our nation's communications networks are now faster, stronger, and more widely deployed than ever before." Few would agree with his rosy view. While according to the FCC's 2020 Broadband...

Conservative firebrand Candace Owens is celebrating her first major victory in her legal battle against Facebook's "fact-checkers. "Owens, a political author and commentator, challenged Facebook's left-leaning fact-checking partner PolitiFact over a “false” rating — and won.

Most experts agree that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under a prospective Biden administration (and a new FCC Chairman) will look to implement Title II net neutrality regulations on internet carriers despite no clear evidence on why such restrictions are needed. While Biden didn’t prioritize the issue during his campaign, net neutrality is an idea that is near and dear to the hearts of many in the Democratic Party. The FCC implemented the Title II rules under Obama-era chairman Tom Wheeler in 2015, with current Chairman Ajit Pai leading the commission to overturn the regulations in 2017. U.S. providers have...

Republican activists and concerned citizens have started filing Federal Communications Commission complaints against networks that are falsely referring to Joe Biden as the “president-elect.” The FCC prohibits broadcasters from intentionally distorting the news. ... As Maria Viti, one of the members of the “Riot Coverage Crew” leading the effort, tweeted, “the media can make projections for each state but have no legal authority to call a state until the state election results are certified.” Currently, multiple states are still being contested. There has been a widespread effort by the media, including Fox News, to cover up widespread claims of voter...

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr slammed Big Tech on Thursday for censoring users who tried to share a New York Post article about Hunter Biden. “By silencing core political speech on this important story, I think Big Tech has crossed a line,” Carr told "Cavuto: Coast to Coast” on Thursday. “For those of us in the conservative movement, we’ve long been talking about the need to rein in Big Tech.” “I think it’s one of the greatest threats to individual liberty and this week was a watershed moment with the attention drawn to the censorship engaged in by Big Tech,” he...

Ryan James Girdusky @RyanGirdusky The right needs to do more than tweet... we need action. We need Nate Simington confirmed to the FCC to take on Big Tech. @SenatorWicker is holding up his nomination. Call (202) 224-6253 and demand his nomination be brought up for a vote. Quote Tweet The Columbia Bugle Flag of United States @ColumbiaBugle · 3h Big Tech is doing more to influence our elections than foreign governments. 1

Back in 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its Restoring Internet Freedom Order (RIFO) which provided “a framework for protecting an open internet while paving the way for better, faster, and cheaper internet access for all consumers.” Shortly after the proposals were approved, CNN famously proclaimed the decision was the “end of the internet as we know it.” John Oliver’s segment on Last Week Tonight covering RIFO led 150,000 Americans to file comments opposing the new rules. The previous rules, which were imposed just two years before, required internet services to be treated in the same regulatory manner as a 1930s-style...

Aimee Jorjani, chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Why is a Trump appointee stopping progress on America’s efforts to compete with China in the vital arena of 5G technology? That’s the question being asked in the wireless industry, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the White House itself. In June of 2019, Aimee Jorjani was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the first full-time chairman of the obscure Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP). The council is a creation of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and its job is to “promote the preservation, enhancement, and sustainable use...

Does Section 303(n) of the Communications Act of 1934 mean that the feds can search your home without a warrant if you have a ham radio license, slang for having an amateur radio license? Conspiracy theories have arisen that this Act is used to justify warrantless inspections of homes with wireless equipment, those accused of broadcasting without a license or even anyone’s home. What does the Act say, and what does the government actually do regarding its enforcement?

Does Section 303(n) of the Communications Act of 1934 mean that the feds can search your home without a warrant if you have a ham radio license, slang for having an amateur radio license? Conspiracy theories have arisen that this Act is used to justify warrantless inspections of homes with wireless equipment, those accused of broadcasting without a license or even anyone’s home. What does the Act say, and what does the government actually do regarding its enforcement?

HUGE! Trump White House Implements Executive Order on Online Censorship: Prevents Tech Giants from Altering Users’ Free Speech – Demands Transparency of Moderation Practices This Is Big! On Wednesday Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Apple’s Tim Cook testified before Congress in the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust. Since 2016 and the election of Donald Trump the tech giants have been censoring and banning conservative voices online. The Gateway Pundit has been a huge target of these liberal tech giants. Of course, the CEOs dismissed allegations that they are targeting and censoring conservative users despite ALL...

The Trump administration moved forward with plans to regulate content on social-media platforms Monday, formally asking federal regulators to start overseeing how these platforms treat user-generated content. In a petition to the Federal Communications Commission, the Commerce Department called for an FCC rule-making to reinterpret key elements of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. That provision has given online companies broad immunity from legal liability for their users’ actions, and wide latitude to police content on their sites. “Unfortunately, large online platforms appear to engage in selective censorship that is harming our national discourse,” the petition says. “The...

A week before the Federal Communications Commission officially signed off on a plan for Ligado Networks to use L-Band spectrum, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee, sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, warning the plan could harm the Global Positioning System. The April missive was the first sign some members of Congress were unhappy with the plan, but it would not be the last, as officials from the departments of defense, transportation and other government agencies raised alarms about how Ligado’s system could damage GPS capability for the military and...

Twitter placed a warning label on one of President Trump's tweets about the protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota over George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody. The social media giant said the early Friday morning tweet, which called the protesters "THUGS" and implied they could be shot, "glorified violence" and therefore violated Twitter's rules on violence. Twitter did not take the tweet down, but it is hidden from view unless a user wants to see it. . . . "Twitter is doing nothing about all of the lies & propaganda being put out by China or the Radical...

Under a little-known regulation that dates back to the 1930s, the president has legal power over electronic transmissions. The FCC and the DCB were empowered by Section 606 of the 1934 Communications Act, which expressly gave the president full control over electronic transmissions in such circumstances. Section 606(c), in particular, gave the president full control to suspend and commandeer the country's entire electronic regulatory system. "Upon proclamation by the President that there exists war or a threat of war, or a state of public peril or disaster or other national emergency, or in order to preserve the neutrality of the...

The agency on April 24 issued “show cause orders” to China Telecom Americas, China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks Corp, and its wholly-owned subsidiary ComNet (USA) LLC, directing them to explain why the FCC shouldn’t start the process of revoking their authorizations to operate in the country. ...the order reflects “deep concern” among federal agencies about “these companies’ vulnerability to the exploitation, influence, and control of the Chinese Communist Party, given that they are subsidiaries of Chinese state-owned entities,” Pai said. “No matter their cries to the contrary, these firms are beholden to the Chinese Communist Party, and their operation in...

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr launched a vicious Twitter thread response against Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying Thursday night, listing off several Chinese whistleblowers who were reportedly silenced by the communist government after speaking out about the coronavirus. “Could you un-disappear them so we could speak?” Carr blasted as he listed off the various whistleblowers in the thread, which included doctors Ai Fen and Li Wenliang and journalists Li Zehua and Ren Zhiqiang.

A left-wing group funded with millions from liberal billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Network tried to get the FCC to label President Donald Trump’s coronavirus briefings as “hoaxes.” The attempt failed. The Federal Communications Commission “denied a request that it investigate and take action on a broadcast the petitioners allege has made material and deadly contributions to the spread of COVID-19: President Trump’s frequent press conferences,” according to TechCrunch April 6. Between 2004-2017, Soros’s Foundation to Promote Open Society and Open Society Institute gave at least $3,660,000 combined to Free Press, according to Foundation Directory Online data.