Almost a year ago to the day, I filed a FOIA request with the Federal Communications Commission for emails related to the now-infamous Ajit Pai Harlem Shake video. A few months later, the FCC rejected the request under the equally-infamous b(5) exemption, arguing that releasing these emails would harm the agency’s ability to make stupid videos in the future.

The fight to keep the FCC from killing net neutrality isn't over yet. Last December, in a party-line vote, the FCC reversed the 2015 policy that keeps Internet service providers from picking and choosing who gets faster access, more traffic, and for how much money. California is currently working to impose its own state-wide net neutrality laws, but a major push in Congress is currently under way also.

The Justice Department is investigating whether crimes were committed when potentially millions of people’s identities were posted to the FCC’s website without their permission, falsely attributing to them opinions about net neutrality rules, BuzzFeed News has learned. Two organizations told BuzzFeed News, each on condition that they not be named, that the FBI delivered subpoenas to them related to the comments.

The Sacramento County’s Department of Human Assistance (DHA) is terminating its invasive automated license plate reader (ALPR) program, following an EFF investigation that found the agency was accessing driver data to investigate welfare recipients without enacting the basic civil liberties safeguards required by California law.

Nexstar set to become the largest US operator of local TV stations after buying Tribune Media.

Fight for the Future announced Wednesday that on Nov. 29, supporters of restoring nationwide net neutrality rules—which the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rolled back last year—are planning "an epic, final protest to pressure lawmakers before a crucial deadline to save the internet."

The Federal Communications Commission plans to publish a report on Wednesday that will purportedly reveal whether internet service The Federal Communications Commission plans to publish a report on Wednesday that will purportedly reveal whether internet service providers are providing the broadband speeds they claim they are. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai published a cheesy Thanksgiving blog post on Tuesday. Mixed in with some quaint dad jokes and various other announcements, Pai mentions that the FCC is releasing a “Communications Marketplace Report” that includes information on broadband speed.

Democrats and Republicans can agree on at least one thing: The spam robocall situation has gotten entirely out of hand. Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat, and Senator John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, introduced a bill on Friday that aims to ramp up the penalties on illegal robocalls—and stop them from reaching your phone in the first place.

SpaceX today received US approval to deploy 7,518 broadband satellites, in addition to the 4,425 satellites that were approved eight months ago. The Federal Communications Commission voted to let SpaceX launch 4,425 low-Earth orbit satellites in March of this year. SpaceX separately sought approval for 7,518 satellites operating even closer to the ground, saying that these will boost capacity and reduce latency in heavily populated areas. That amounts to 11,943 satellites in total for SpaceX's Starlink broadband service.

Even if you don't agree with Ajit Pai's stance on some important issues, you might still want to hear about his latest campaign against robocalls. The FCC chairman has demanded (PDF) the adoption of a robust call authentication system to prevent caller ID spoofing, telling American carriers to implement the technology no later than 2019. Pai has sent letters to the CEOs of 14 voice providers to ask them to conjure up concrete plans to adopt the SHAKEN/STIR framework, which would validate legitimate calls across networks before they reach recipients.

The man who killed net neutrality in the US is racing-up with innovations like blockchain to effectively regulate them. Ajit Pai, the chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said that his office would be looking into the emerging technologies for their potential impact on the telecom sector.

California has agreed to delay the enforcement of its “gold standard” net neutrality bill, according to a statement from the law’s sponsor Sen. Scott Wiener. The net neutrality rules were set to go into effect next year, but California officials have agreed to wait until the courts have resolved any pending litigation over the Federal Communications Commission’s roll back of the federal rules late last year.

It doesn’t quite match the turning water into wine miracle, but it’s close. First Baptist Church in this community north of Boston was gutted Wednesday by a seven-alarm fire, but a large painting of Jesus survived. Even though 150-year-old church was damaged beyond repair, the painting was virtually untouched by fire, smoke or water. Investigators are looking into what sparked the blaze.

The Federal Communications Commission chairman slammed wireless carriers on Tuesday for failing to quickly restore phone service in Florida after Hurricane Michael, calling the delay "completely unacceptable." But FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's statement ignored his agency's deregulatory blitz that left consumers without protections designed to ensure restoration of service after disasters, according to longtime telecom attorney and consumer advocate Harold Feld.

In the leadup to the FCC's historic vote in December 2017 to repeal all net neutrality protections, 22 million comments were filed to the agency. But unfortunately, millions of those comments were fake. Some of the fake comment were part of sophisticated campaigns that filed fake comments using the names of real people - including journalists, Senators and dead people.

A new billboard on Interstate 690 showing a photo of a former professional fighter's dead son and a headline that says "Vaccines Can Kill" is spreading dangerous misinformation, according to a pediatric infectious disease specialist. A California anti-vaccine group put up the electronic billboard this week near exit 5 in Solvay. More than 27,000 motorists heading toward Syracuse pass the sign each day.

California Governor Jerry Brown today signed net neutrality legislation into law, setting up a legal showdown pitting his state against Internet service providers and the US government. The California net neutrality bill, previously approved by the state Assembly and Senate despite protests from AT&T and cable lobbyists, imposes rules similar to those previously enforced by the FCC.

The new industry-backed regulations are likely to attract lawsuits from state and local government groups that worry they will cost them revenue, make it easier for internet providers to sue them and do little to address the digital divide. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved sweeping regulations on Wednesday for 5G wireless infrastructure, significantly curtailing the authority of states and localities.

A report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has confirmed what others have reported for years: that official data on internet access across the country greatly over estimates availability and competition. The report [PDF] is focused specifically on tribal lands – small semi-autonomous areas of the United States governed by indigenous tribes – but its conclusions are directly applicable to the rest of the country.

We’ve repeatedly tried to make it clear that while everybody tends to focus on the death of net neutrality itself, the Pai FCC’s “Restoring Internet Freedom” order killing net neutrality had a farbroader impact than just killing net neutrality rules. As part of the repeal, Comcast, Verizon and AT&T also convinced FCC boss Ajit Pai to effectively neuter FCC authority over ISPs entirely, making it harder for the agency to hold giant ISPs accountable on a wide variety of issues ranging from privacy to transparency (the recent fire fighter kerfuffle being a prime example).