What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been! This year’s AppCon, the App Economy Conference just wrapped up. While past AppCon events took place in Washington, D.C., 2020’s conference went completely digital. Fortunately, this change in the medium didn’t stop attending mobile app developers and tech innovators from opening a meaningful dialogue with political leaders about the impact of emerging technologies on society.

From broadband and 5G to telehealth and data privacy, here are the favorite AppCon 2020 highlights of Marc Fischer, our CEO and Co-Founder.

Better Internet Access Is Essential for Every Aspect of Society

The growth of the $1.7 trillion app economy and numerous other sectors depends on widespread internet access. Whether it’s educational opportunities, work, or healthcare, hundreds of millions of Americans turn to the internet every single day to get things done. With that said, do you know how many U.S. citizens currently lack access to adequate broadband connection? 20 million! Unsurprisingly, this transforms the digital divide into an enormous chasm.

During AppCon 2020, attendees got to meet with several members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to discuss the benefits that television white spaces, (TVWS), better broadband connectivity, and 5G infrastructure can bring to America. FCC Commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Brendan Carr joined in on the conversation and respectively honed in on ensuring broadband exists everywhere in the U.S. and making more spectrum available.

COVID-19 has made it readily apparent that internet access and connected devices are integral to carry out remote learning successfully. That’s why FCC Legal Advisor Umair Javed and Travis Litman, Chief of Staff and Senior Legal Advisor for the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, dedicated their time at AppCon 2020 towards discussing the digital divide’s effect on education and how it can be mitigated. AppCon attendees also got to talk with Evan Swarztrauber, a Policy Advisor of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, about increasing rural healthcare budgets and improving broadband access in these regions.

Whether it’s 5G, broadband, or TVWS, we strongly believe that everyone deserves strong internet access; it’s a necessity for practically every aspect of our modern lives. But this can only occur through more investment on a federal and private level.

Connected Health Tech Will Be a Cornerstone of Medicine, Even After COVID-19

Besides pulling back the curtain on how integral internet access is to remote education, COVID-19 has also unveiled the necessity of telehealth. Connected digital tools have been invaluable in the U.S. healthcare system’s battle with the pandemic. Doctors and patients have benefited immensely from the temporary restriction lifting on telehealth and medical app usage. That’s why a big part of AppCon 2020 focused on meeting with congressional leaders to ensure that digital health remains a cornerstone of our health system.

The U.S. currently spends $3 trillion on healthcare annually. $1 trillion of this goes through Medicare and Medicaid. Unfortunately, the country is still short by roughly 30,000 physicians, and this deficit will leap to 90,000 in approximately ten years. Around this exact same time, 70 million Americans will be 65 or older, and 80% of them will have at least one chronic condition. To make matters worse, 40% of Medicare patients have inadequate broadband access right now.

During their discussion with AppCon attendees, members of the U.S. Commerce Department acknowledged that telehealth has been extremely beneficial to Medicare. But for this technological paradigm to grow in the right direction, innovators and legislators must embrace what works and discard anything inefficient. We should take a lean approach to data management and prioritize the information that makes the most positive impact for the fewest dollars.

Dr. Donald Rucker, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), also spoke with attendees about the need to examine data gathering and usage so that patients can have agency over their healthcare. Rucker also discussed the difficulties of EMR integration, HIPAA compliance, and the often incomplete pictures of patient data that doctors around the country deal with.

COVID-19 has spurred a new age of digital innovation in the healthcare domain. We strongly believe that establishing telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and other digital advances as permanent fixtures is the right way to go. These technological capabilities allow patients to get treatment from the comfort of their own homes while drastically cutting costs. We hope that more political leaders start to see these clear-cut advantages for what they really are — a path towards a healthier future for all U.S. citizens

Data Privacy and Encryption Must Be Prioritized

There’s no doubt that we live in the information era. ACT’s member companies alone handle millions of terabytes of data every single day. We know that proper data security is imperative to protecting sensitive information and ensuring it’s being used appropriately. That’s why an entire week of AppCon 2020 was dedicated to this topic!

AppCon attendees and congressional leaders delved into the critical issues surrounding privacy legislation as well as the need for ubiquitous end-to-end encryption. They also made room to discuss the timely topic of facial recognition.

While the development of artificial intelligence has brought humanity several unprecedented capabilities, some of them demand more careful consideration regarding their usage. Facial recognition is one such matter. Attendees and political leaders talked about the implications that facial recognition and its accompanying legislation could have for both the near and far future.

See You At AppCon 2021!

As always, AppCon was an amazingly insightful event! The candid discussions that Marc gets to have at these conferences are something he looks forward to every year. They’re the reasons why Marc always makes the trek out to D.C. from Los Angeles!

As much fun as AppCon 2020 was, we hope that the world beats COVID-19 by next year’s event so that things return to normal and we can hold AppCon 2021 in-person. Until then, stay safe, and stay informed!

AppCon 2020 has been underway for the past few weeks. While this year’s conference is completely digital, that hasn’t stopped the many mobile app developers and tech innovators in attendance from opening up meaningful dialogues with political leaders about the impact of emerging technologies on the future of the United States.

So much has happened in such a short amount of time that we thought a blog post covering some of the best highlights of this year’s event so far was warranted. With that said, let’s dive right in!

Week 1: The Future of the U.S. Depends on Internet Access

Besides being an essential utility that sustains the growth of the $1.7 trillion app economy as well as several small businesses in a variety of sectors, widespread internet access also supports hundreds of millions of Americans. With it, they’re able to access healthcare services, educational opportunities, and much more.

Unfortunately, more than 20 million U.S. citizens still lack access to an adequate broadband connection. And unless this is addressed soon, this digital divide will only grow larger with the introduction of new technologies. AppCon ’20 attendees got to speak with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Michael O’Rielly about this very topic.

Commissioner O’Rielly expressed intent in ensuring that broadband exists everywhere in the U.S. and placed special emphasis on getting underserved Americans connected. He stressed the importance of high bandwidth and low latency, and he also noted that how we achieve broadband access for all is less important than actually accomplishing it.

AppCon attendees also spoke with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who was focused on making more spectrum available for use. Whether it’s not having a device to connect with healthcare professionals, being unable to rely on high-speed internet, or not having access to a private space for care, Carr was well-aware of the pain points of Americans across the country. He reassured AppCon attendees that more funding was coming for connected care.

FCC Legal Advisor Umair Javed and Travis Litman, Chief of Staff and Senior Legal Advisor for the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, focused their meetings with AppCon attendees on the digital divide’s effect on education. COVID-19 has pulled back the curtain on just how necessary internet access and devices such as smartphones and laptops are for remote learning. During the meeting, Javed indicated that low power applications carried some potential for closing this gap.

Last but not least, AppCon attendees also got to meet with Evan Swarztrauber, a Policy Advisor of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Swarztrauber noted that an increase in rural healthcare budget was sorely needed, and so was an improvement in broadband access for these regions. With COVID-19 forcing aspects of society such as education and healthcare to go remote, folks out in the country will fall behind unless they have fast internet.

Week 2: Telehealth Must Remain Accessible, Even After COVID-19

Telehealth and connected tools have proven invaluable in the U.S. healthcare system’s response to COVID-19. It’s obvious that these technological paradigms are a necessity for all Americans, but unfortunately, some politicians don’t see it that way. Much of AppCon ’20’s Week 2 revolved around attendees meeting with congressional leaders to ensure that digital health remains a cornerstone in our country’s medical system.

Currently, the U.S. has an annual healthcare spend of $3 trillion, with $1 trillion going through Medicare and Medicaid. The country is short by about 30,000 physicians, and this shortage is estimated to grow to 90,000 by 2030. By that same year, 70 million Americans will be over 65, and 80% of them will be dealing with at least one chronic condition.

These statistics make it painfully obvious that telehealth capabilities should become a permanent fixture in the U.S. medical system. But before COVID-19, this technology was wrestling with rules written in the 1990s. Clearly, things have come a long way since then. Unfortunately, the temporary waiver that allows Medicare to cover telehealth is slated to end by November unless fast, meaningful action is taken.

AppCon attendees had the chance to speak with staff from the U.S. Commerce Department. Though 40% of Medicare patients don’t have adequate broadband access at home right now, the department members emphasized that telehealth transformation is definitely beneficial to Medicare. But we must keep the growth and convenience of this technology going without exacerbating health inequities. They also discussed that innovators and legislators must keep what works and let go of anything fraud-laden or inefficient.

To achieve this, the U.S. Commerce Department staff stressed that we need an honest, balanced approach to data management. We should prioritize the most useful data that provides the most positive impact for the fewest taxpayer dollars. We should also focus on delivering services and outcomes, not billing for simply noticing a malady and not treating it.

AppCon attendees also got to speak with Dr. Donald Rucker, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). Rucker wants one of the main goals for Congress to be freeing up patients to have agency over their healthcare. And to do this, we must examine the mechanism behind data gathering and usage.

Digital health tools and wearables such as the Apple Watch should strive to put patients back in charge of their information. Rucker believes that patients and the American public have already paid for this data, so they should be in charge of it, not third parties.

Rucker went on to discuss a variety of topics with AppCon attendees, including interoperability, how difficult EMR integration is, HIPAA compliance, and the need to address the incomplete pictures of patient data that physicians have to deal with. He even mentioned that healthcare providers sometimes struggle to access their own data.

Stay Tuned for Our Coverage of Weeks 3 & 4!

While digital this year, AppCon 2020 has done an amazing job of bringing together mobile innovators from Los Angeles, New York City, and everywhere in between! But the party’s not over yet. Stay tuned for our coverage of weeks 3 and 4, where AppCon attendees will get the chance to discuss privacy, encryption, antitrust, and standard-essential patents (SEPs).

For the past few years, AppCon, the App Economy Conference, has taken over Washington, D.C. in late April. The annual event serves as an unparalleled opportunity for mobile app developers and other tech innovators to open a meaningful dialogue with political leaders about the future of emerging technologies and their impact on society.

This candid discussion is something that Marc Fischer, our CEO and Co-Founder, looks forward to every year. He usually makes the trek out to D.C. from Los Angeles just to attend this event. In the past, Marc has gotten the chance to talk with FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly and Director Ajit Pai about 5G’s future in rural areas, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) about data privacy, and Congressman Ted Lieu about how education and innovation go hand-in-hand.

Due to COVID-19, AppCon 2020 has pivoted from its original arrangement — it has gone virtual! Thanks to this new digital format, the event is now spread over the course of four weeks so that attendees have a sufficient amount of time to discuss each important topic. Let’s take a look at the relevant issues that this year’s AppCon is tackling.

Why the App Economy Is Essential

Every year, AppCon is held by ACT | The App Association, an international organization that represents more than 5,000 small- and medium-sized tech companies across the mobile app economy. By connecting the tech industry’s top leaders with preeminent policymakers, ACT strives to drive smart innovation and regulation. Members of ACT include pioneers at the forefront of revolutionizing entertainment, improving productivity, enabling healthier lifestyles, and accelerating learning.

The app economy is probably bigger than you think; it’s a $1.7 trillion ecosystem that employs 5.9 million Americans. And this isn’t just in Silicon Valley; more than 83% of U.S. app companies are located outside of San Francisco. There are currently more than 2 million mobile apps available on major platforms like the App Store and Google Play. And with 3.4 billion app users around the world, it should come as no surprise that consumers spent more than $120 billion in app stores in 2019 — almost twice the amount they did in 2016.

Keeping the app economy strong and healthy is one of ACT’s biggest priorities, which is why the organization is extremely focused on building a workforce that’s educated and properly prepared for the 21st century. Despite a median annual salary exceeding $88,000, more than half a million computing jobs are unfilled in the United States. Only 65,000 U.S. college graduates earn a computer science degree each year, but this isn’t enough.

Computing and information technology occupations are projected to grow 12% by 2028, with software development jobs anticipated to grow by 21%. To address this substantial growth, ACT is urging Congress to pass the CHANCE in TECH Act, a legislation that would allow employers to streamline their apprenticeship processes and focus on developing and training job candidates correctly. ACT is also requesting that Congress appropriate at least $250 million to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) Master Teacher Corps (MTC) program so that educators can receive advanced training to teach computer science correctly.

Week 1: All About Broadband

It’s no secret that widespread internet access is an essential utility to sustain the continued growth of the app economy and numerous businesses. Besides this, hundreds of millions of Americans depend on the internet to access educational opportunities, healthcare services, and participate in the global economy in general. But more than 20 million U.S. citizens currently lack access to broadband connections, making the digital divide a colossal chasm.

In Week 1, AppCon will focus on facilitating discussions around how improved access to broadband in rural and urban communities can close this immense digital divide. Political and tech leaders will examine the benefits that come with using television white spaces (TVWS), broadband mapping, and of course, the deployment of 5G.

Week 2: More Connected Healthcare

The COVID-19 pandemic has pulled back the curtain on telehealth. Today, the advantages of connected health tools are readily apparent to patients, doctors, and lawmakers — and they’re simply too big to ignore. Week 2 of AppCon will hone in on everyday digital health examples from the COVID-19 crisis, including the recent results from temporarily lifting telehealth restrictions in the U.S.

AppCon’s attendees will also discuss aspects of healthcare policy including payment for digital health tools, removing reimbursement restrictions for them, interoperability, the WEAR IT Act, and the now obvious necessity of better access to telehealth services for all Americans. If you’re a healthcare app developer, you won’t want to miss this week!

Week 3: Prioritizing Privacy and Encryption

ACT’s member companies alone handle millions of terabytes of data every day. That means that each of these organizations is on the frontline of protecting sensitive user information and ensuring that it’s being used appropriately. Each ACT member knows that proper data security is imperative. That’s why AppCon ’20 Week 3 is dedicated to this vital topic.

Political leaders and ACT members will discuss current issues regarding privacy legislation and the need for ubiquitous end-to-end encryption. AppCon attendees will also tackle one of the most timely issues of the last few months: Facial recognition. By now, you’ve probably heard stories about how law enforcement has been using this technology during the protests across America. Week 3 of AppCon ’20 intends to get to the bottom of this topic and discuss its implications for the near and far future.

Week 4: Platforms and SEPs

What do online platforms, competition, and standard-essential patents (SEPs) mean for the app ecosystem’s future? There are a ton of moving parts that go into this topic, and they’ve only helped fuel various debates in recent months.

AppCon 2020 will close out its final week with a focus on discussion about platform regulations, including antitrust and Wi-Fi standards regulations, IoT device chips, Bluetooth, and much more.

Has this blog post got you excited about the weeks to come for AppCon 2020? For more info, click here!

Wireless technology has transformed how we interact with the world around us. But what does the future with 5G look like? It can be hard to fathom. Luckily, ACT | The App Association aims to elucidate this with a special public webinar featuring FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. And Marc Fischer, Dogtown Media’s very own Co-Founder and CEO, has been invited to join in on the conversation!

Scheduled to be held this Thursday, May 28th, at 1 PM ET, “A Conversation with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr on Commission Priorities for 5G and the New 5G Upgrade Order” is an event you won’t want to miss. In this virtual seminar, we’ll get the chance to learn more about the FCC’s views and priorities for 5G.

Valued at $1.7 trillion and employing almost 6 million Americans, the mobile app economy has grown to be an invaluable pillar of the tech industry. And the current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how valuable this sector really is; remote work, distance learning, and telemedicine have all experienced a rapid increase in usage during this pandemic.

For the webinar, Commissioner Brendan Carr will be representing the FCC. He’s committed to rapidly advancing 5G in order to enable more innovation in mobile app development. Carr has supported various FCC policy changes to promote the development of 5G networks.

Most recently, he announced a new 5G Upgrade Order. This multi-year endeavor would simplify and expedite equipment upgrades for existing cellular towers. Scheduled for a June vote by Congress, the 5G Upgrade Order will be a central discussion point of ACT’s event.

ACT | The App Association is a Washington, D.C.-based public policy organization that represents more than 5,000 app companies and information technology firms leading the mobile economy. While we’re located on the other side of the continent in Los Angeles, ACT has been a dear friend throughout the years. Its advocation for an environment that drives smart innovation and regulation in the tech industry has been invaluable.

The live event will begin with a conversation between Carr and ACT President Morgan Reed. Following this, a live panel discussion featuring Carr, Marc, Andrew Savitz of Canned Spinach, and Vishal Singh of Quantified Ag will take place. It will delve into the 5G Upgrade Order and examine potential use cases that the new generation of wireless connectivity will enable.

“A Conversation with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr on Commission Priorities for 5G and the New 5G Upgrade Order” has an all-star panel lined up and a number of hot topics to touch upon. If you want to see the future of mobile technology, don’t miss this event! For more information, visit here.

Politics can be truly divisive. But for topics like healthcare, data privacy, and education, we can all agree that smart reforms and regulations are sorely needed. Fortunately, progress is being made.

From April 28th to the 30th, AppCon 2019 gathered America’s top mobile app developers and preeminent politicians together in Washington, D.C. to discuss the most pressing issues facing technology and society in the near future.

Marc Fischer, our Co-Founder and CEO, was in attendance as a representative of California. He had the opportunity to talk tech with numerous political leaders at Capitol Hill. In this post, we’ve gathered some of Marc’s most memorable highlights from the event.

A Need for More Connected Healthcare

Each year, AppCon is hosted by ACT, the App Association. ACT is one of the leading public policy organizations in Washington, D.C. and represents technology companies, startups, and innovators across the country. By opening a dialogue with the country’s premier political leaders, ACT aims to protect and foster the tech industry by opening up opportunities for smarter regulations.

Healthcare is a topic near and dear to ACT’s heart. The organization started the Connected Health Initiative (CHI), a coalition of healthcare industry stakeholders, in order to spur improvement of patient engagement and outcomes through technology. So it should come as no surprise that some of the biggest obstacles in healthcare today took center-stage in many of Marc’s meetings.

Thanks to technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), great leaps are being made in remote patient monitoring (RPM). Smart assistants like Alexa, home robotics systems, and wearable technologies are all bringing unprecedented value to point of care thanks to AI and IoT.

But some issues are still impeding progress in RPM. Marc and other AppCon attendees had the chance to discuss RPM reimbursement standards with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It can be challenging for physicians to receive proper remuneration for time spent on telehealth consultations. This certainly needs to change.

Another hot topic was loosening restrictions on which medical professionals can review patient data. By opening this up to caregivers, nurses, and other people besides doctors, all stakeholders involved can gain a more holistic perspective on a patient’s health.

Marc also had the opportunity to meet with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to discuss digital transformation in the healthcare system. It’s well known that there are some huge inefficiencies present when it comes to data exchange of electronic health records (EHR). To fix this, ACT’s members and the ONC are working together to pilot new projects that can help accelerate data portability and innovation in health IT.

Both RPM and data portability would go a long way towards helping those with chronic health conditions. Currently, 130 million Americans suffer from chronic health conditions. This ends up costing the U.S. economy more than $2.5 trillion per year. With Representatives Joseph Kennedy III (D-MA 4th District), Danny Davis (IL 7th District), Judy Chu (D-CA 27th District), and Senator Amy Klovuchar, Marc discussed potential telehealth solutions to lower costs and boost quality of care for RPM.

Among these possible solutions is the Wearable Equipment Adoption and Reinforcement and Investment in Technology (WEAR IT) Act. This would allow people to apply their HSAs or FSAs to cover part of the cost (up to $250) of consumer-facing medical wearables and other devices that have healthcare attributes. For example, you could apply this $250 towards the purchase of a new Apple Watch. Essentially, this new legislation would benefit patients with chronic illnesses immensely by making it easier for them to attain devices that could improve their quality of life.

Preparing for 5G

As we’ve covered in previous posts, 5G is fast approaching. But there are still some hiccups to work out. Marc met with FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly to discuss the standardization of this new wireless paradigm and what exactly constitutes 5G.

Recently, major telecom companies have been in a race to roll out 5G to their customers. And some have taken shortcuts. Most notable among them is A&T; the company released a platform called 5G Evolution (5GE) which isn’t actually 5G; it’s more of a foundation for when the real thing arrives.

But ensuring 5G arrives in metropolitan areas like New York City or San Francisco is not enough. Commissioner Michael O’Rielly and Marc also talked about the need for the FCC to take more of a leading role in ensuring 5G is faster to roll out to rural areas which were overlooked during the rollout of 4G.

This is crucial for many reasons. Not only will 5G open up opportunities for innovation in IoT, AI, and connected vehicles, but it will also bring possibilities for improvement in RPM and telehealth — both of which are sorely needed in rural areas.

Doubling Down on Data Privacy

Marc also had the chance to speak with representatives from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) at the White House about data privacy. Preserving the integrity of our personal information is becoming more important than ever before. But doing this can often conflict with other endeavors.

As part of the AI Executive Order, the Trump administration issued executive mandates to open up data in an effort to accelerate AI innovation in America. Much of Marc’s conversation with the OSTP revolved around balancing out this order with updated standards for user privacy, data management, and the right to confidentiality.

Updating these cyber policies to ensure that both individuals and organizations are protected from internal and external espionage is a must. And the first step towards doing this is to have more government support in investigating acts of espionage or data leakages.

Large enterprise organizations need to be held accountable for leaking private customer information and not sharing this information until much later. A prime example of this is the Equifax hack; the company knew they had been hacked for four months before they went public with this information.

Progress Is Being Made

After four years of meeting with political leaders on Capitol Hill, ACT’s members are finally starting to see the fruits of their labor. RPM statutes have been written into law so that doctors can be properly reimbursed for their telehealth work. $250 million in federal funds have been released to support STEM education. And the government is beginning to better understand its role in the rollout of 5G.

We’re excited by the opportunities to innovate in the American economy with new technologies like AI, machine learning, and 5G. By driving the next wave of innovation, US tech leaders can help cement America’s leadership position in the world by creating jobs, boosting productivity, and increasing wages.

And from what Marc gathered at AppCon ’19, it looks like we’re right on track to do this. By collaborating together, the tech and political leaders of the United States can make a brighter future for us all.

You don’t have to be a mobile app developer, programmer, or any other type of techie to be well-versed about the net neutrality debacle by now. This fiasco has hijacked its fair share of headlines over the past few years due to the tangle of deception and purposeful obfuscation it has spun.

If you thought the complications were over, well, we’ve got some bad news for you: Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has recently stated it’s fact that Russia meddled in the net neutrality process. And just to make things a little more convoluted, the FCC itself has claimed this isn’t true.

Conflicting Accounts

As you may recall, around this time last year, the FCC voted to repeal Obama-era net neutrality rules. This result flew in the face of all public interest (and logic) involved in the matter. Leading up to this infamous vote, there was plenty of suspicious behavior occurring—enough to keep a conspiracy theorist busy for years.

Chief among them was a substantial number of fake comments (apparently from the public) supporting net neutrality’s demise. Considering that killing net neutrality seemed to only benefit multi-billion dollar telecom companies, these comments seemed far-fetched from the start.

So, what was really going on? The story changes, depending on who you ask. Last week, Pai published a memorandum to the FCC’s website in which he essentially claimed a “half-million comments” were “submitted from Russian e-mail addresses.”

Trying to Uncover the Truth

This claim is a stark contrast to the FCC’s take on the situation according to a court filing it made just a few weeks ago in a case brought against it by the New York Times. In the document, it becomes readily apparent that the commission is completely unconvinced that there was any interference in its comment system from Russian entities.

Journalists have been working to uncover what really transpired. Both the New York Times and Buzzfeed filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to see the IP addresses and server logs associated with the public comments made on the FCC’s site. And both were rejected by the FCC. Fortunately, these aren’t the only attempts to get to the bottom of things.

In August 2017, Emprata, an advanced data analytics consulting firm, released a study of the email accounts associated with the comments left by the public. This research was commissioned by a telecom industry group that actually favored Pai’s attempt to dismantle net neutrality.

It found that 23 percent of the comments (roughly 7.75 million) in opposition to Pai were linked to the fake email account creation site FakeMailGenerator.com. But it also discovered approximately half a million comments were indeed of Russian origin. This comprises about a quarter of the estimated 1.72 million comments that came from foreign domains.

Down the Rabbit Hole

It’s still not clear whether these half-million Russian comments were from actual Russian citizens. But it’s more likely that they were made by bots. The Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan American fact tank based in Washington, D.C., found that only 6 percent of comments from a group of more than 21.7 million actually contained a unique message. This would mean 94 percent were auto-generated.

Amid the reports of potential automated messages, bot usage, and Russian meddling, Pai announced to lawmakers that he would be requesting funding to revamp the Electronic Comment Filing System used by the FCC in order to “minimize the potential for abusive behavior.” Strangely enough, by this point, Pai had already received a mountain of criticism for refusing to cooperate with state law enforcement investigations regarding the matter.

This ambiguity and lack of clarity on the matter is what eventually attracted so many journalists to pay more attention to it. And after far too many months of futile back-and-forth between the New York Times and the FCC, the publication accused the commission of failing to give a proper response to their legitimate request for a list of IP addresses linked to the comments.

Here’s an excerpt from the Times’ complaint, filed in September:

“The request at issue in this litigation involves records that will shed light on the extent to which Russian nationals and agents of the Russian government have interfered with the agency notice-and-comment process about a topic of extensive public interest: the government’s decision to abandon ‘net neutrality.’ Release of these records will help broaden the public’s understanding of the scope of Russian interference in the American democratic system.”

Dressed in the usual legalese used to evade such statements, the FCC responded by essentially questioning whether such a record would even help shed any light on the extent of Russia’s involvement.

Where Does This Leave America?

With the FCC’s recent rejection of the Times’ record request, Pai also took the opportunity to include a convoluted nine-paragraph statement which essentially amounts to some mudslinging on his colleague, Jessica Rosenworcel, the FCC’s only Democratic commissioner. Basically, he calls her out for selective use of data, saying that she emphasizes the half-million Russian comments but ignores the eight million comments from FakeMailGenerator.com.

Which is funny (and sad), because this type of selective use of information is what many critics accuse Pai and the FCC of. In fact, many question whether the FCC even did any “actual analysis” at all; this wouldn’t be the first time they’ve claimed to do so, only to fail to produce any evidence of such work.

While the battle for net neutrality may have “officially” ended last December, it’s clear that this war for Internet freedom is still being waged. And the results will affect everyone, from innovators in San Francisco to regular citizens in New York. What do you make of these recent developments?

There’s Still Work To Do

In case you haven’t heard about the threat to our Internet freedoms in the past year and a half, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) repealed net neutrality in December 2017.

This led to many citizens voicing concerns that their opinions weren’t being heard. After all, no one wants to swap the right to browse the Internet freely for unnecessary, expensive speed upgrades and Internet website bundles similar to the bundles available for purchase in cable TV subscriptions.

Under a repealed net neutrality Internet, we’d be paying for fast lanes. If you don’t fork over the cash, your Internet speeds are subject to throttling and content is subject to blocking. A perfect example of why this is inane occurred a few months ago, when California firefighters had their data throttled by Verizon during the state’s largest wildfire ever, the Mendocino Complex Fire. The issue wasn’t resolved until the fire department upgraded their data plan.

Unfortunately, things may still be up in the air. As soon as the news reached Capitol Hill that Governor Brown signed the new law into effect, the Justice Department sent a note to expect a lawsuit. The federal government wants to stop California from blocking federal regulations, but it’s not entirely clear whether they have rule over specific state-sanctioned laws too.

Setting the Standard

Experts have frequently noted that California’s new law has the strongest net neutrality regulations in the whole country. The new law gives the attorney general the main responsibility of making sure there are no potential lawbreakers.

Compared to the original federal law, California added quite a few extra regulations into its bill. First, it restricts zero-rated data plans (deals that allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to provide free calls, texts, or content in exchange for using a specific app or website). Because ISPs could restrict content from some companies but not others, it wouldn’t be fair to consumers.

Unlike the bipartisan divide when Congress discussed rolling back the federal repeal of net neutrality, both parties overwhelmingly supported the bill.

As a result of California’s strongly-worded bill, advocacy groups and tech activists say other states will surely follow the example California set. Indeed, more than 25 states have considered legislating net neutrality protections when the federal decision to repeal was made.

Whose Domain Is It, Anyways?

Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke out against California’s newest law as soon as it passed. He says, “Under the Constitution, states do not regulate interstate commerce — the federal government does. Once again, the California legislature has enacted an extreme and illegal state law attempting to frustrate federal policy.”

Ajit Pai, the face of the FCC council that ultimately repealed net neutrality federally, also had some thoughts on California’s new law. He brought up a federal appellate court ruling that found “state regulation of information services is preempted by federal law.”

Additionally, Pai commented, “I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Department of Justice to ensure the Internet remains ‘unfettered by federal or state regulation,’ as federal law requires, and the domain of engineers, entrepreneurs, and technologists, not lawyers and bureaucrats.”

Telecom lobbyists are even predicting that this lawsuit could end up in the national Supreme Court.

Fighting Words

But Miguel Santiago, an Assemblyman representing Los Angeles who co-authored the new California legislation, disagrees. He says the new law directly relates to the First Amendment right of “free speech”. Specifically, he says, “The fight for social change and progressive values is directly tied to a free and open Internet. This measure ensures that we, in California, will maintain a free and open Internet that doesn’t discriminate or price users or content differently.”

The California Senator who initiated the legislation, Scott Wiener, said he thinks California can defend the new law in court well.

This lawsuit reminds Senator Wiener of another time when the federal government sued California. Wiener outlines that “we’ve been down this road before: when [President] Trump and Sessions sued California and claimed we lacked the power to protect immigrants. California fought Trump and Sessions on their immigration lawsuit. California won — and California will fight this lawsuit as well.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra helped lead a lawsuit against the FCC over the net neutrality repeal. But he says California needs more budget to enact the regulations, and, “while the Trump Administration continues to ignore the millions of Americans who voiced strong support for net neutrality rules, California—home to countless start-ups, tech giants and nearly 40 million consumers—will not allow a handful of power brokers to dictate sources for information or the speed at which websites load.”

It Won’t End Until The FCC Caves

The new California law will take effect on January 1st, 2019, and California Senator Kevin de León isn’t backing down against the federal government. As Senator de León aptly puts it, “The bottom line is this. The Internet is vital to our democracy because it is part of our daily lives.”

We’ve been watching California’s progress on the new bill from our Los Angeles-based mobile app development studio, and we couldn’t be prouder of our state government! We’re ready to support them and every state looking to reinstate net neutrality. But we know this endeavor will need all the help it can get.

Do you trust your ISP to have your best interests at heart? If you didn’t emphatically answer “YES!” with 100% certainty, you need to join us in the fight for Internet freedom and the right to privacy.

Show the FCC, the federal government, and big telecom companies that we won’t stop fighting for what’s right, no matter how much lobbying power or budget they may have.

Follow EFF (the Electronic Frontier Foundation) to fight against the ISP monopolies, corporate giants, and the FCC. EFF is in Washington D.C., following a Circuit Court case closely that will affect the federal lawsuit against California. Donate to the EFF today so they can continue fighting for our human right of fair access to a free and open Internet.

Anthony Bowden, the Santa Clara County Fire Chief, expressed his disappointment in Verizon in an official statement: “This throttling has had a significant impact on our ability to provide emergency services. Verizon imposed these limitations despite being informed that throttling was actively impeding County Fire’s ability to provide crisis-response and essential emergency services.”

Hiking Rates Up When It Matters Most

Bowden’s statement was added to the pile of evidence in a lawsuit filed by 22 state attorneys general, Washington D.C., Santa Clara County, Santa Clara County’s Central Fire Protection District, and California’s Public Utilities Commission. The lawsuit, brought against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is aimed at keeping net neutrality alive.

Verizon throttled the fire department’s data connection until the department approved a more than 100% increase in their bill; it raised the plan’s price from $37.99/month to $99.99/month.

One particular fire vehicle demands more data than others because it serves as a command and control base during emergencies: the OES 5262. It’s used in “tracking, organizing, and prioritizing routing of resources from around the state and country to the sites where they are most needed,” according to Bowden.

Endangering Innocent People

This time, the OES 5262 was deployed to California’s largest wildfire ever, the Mendocino Complex Fire, with its Verizon SIM card for Internet connectivity. However, alleges Bowden, “In the midst of our response, [we] discovered the data connection for OES 5262 was being throttled by Verizon, and data rates had been reduced to 1/200, or less, than the previous speeds. These reduced speeds severely interfered with the OES 5262’s ability to function effectively.”

Thereafter, developers at Santa Clara County Fire Department got in touch with Verizon, who “confirmed the throttling, but rather than restoring us to an essential data transfer speed, they indicated that County Fire would have to switch to a new data plan at more than twice the cost, and they would only remove throttling after we contacted the Department that handles billing and switched to the new data plan,” says Bowden.

Setting a Standard

This wasn’t the first time Verizon throttled the fire department’s data connection, with emails showing problems starting back in December. When asked to comment, Verizon said, “Regardless of the plan emergency responders choose, we have a practice to remove data speed restrictions when contacted in emergency situations. … In this situation, we should have lifted the speed restriction when our customer reached out to us. This was a customer support mistake.”

And, the company added, this “situation has nothing to do with net neutrality or the current proceeding in court.” But Santa Clara County disagrees, saying, “Verizon’s throttling has everything to do with net neutrality.”

Net neutrality has been a hot topic of debate across the nation for more than a year now. We’re proud to say that California was one of the first states to start its own bill in April after net neutrality was repealed in December. We strongly advocated for support of the California net neutrality bill, and we continue to push hard for reinstatement of net neutrality.

Net Neutrality Matters

Simply put, net neutrality protects internet freedom. Without it, internet service providers aren’t required to give every website equal treatment. Under the current law, companies like Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast can slow your connection to certain sites if you haven’t paid for the right package. And, in this particular scenario, the results can be disastrous and potentially life-threatening.

It’s important for everyone who uses the internet, regardless of political affiliation, to champion for reinstating net neutrality. While California’s bill is one of the most comprehensive and serves as a great template for other states, we need to advocate for net neutrality as a nation.

Freedom isn’t free, but not fighting for what’s right could cost much more — especially in cases like these. What do you think of the actions Verizon took in this crisis? Let us know in the comments!

Last year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reported that the comments section of its website was hacked. Recently, the agency confirmed what many had already suspected — the hack never actually happened.

Smoke and Mirrors

Back in May 2017, the idea of the FCC repealing net neutrality was starting to become more of a real threat. Comedian and talk show host John Oliver encouraged his audience to leave comments on the agency’s site urging them not to.

Ready to take a stance against repealing net neutrality, visitors flocked to the site — and discovered that it was down. This wasn’t that out of the ordinary. After all, websites go down all the time. And in this case, most people assumed it was simply due to too much traffic.

But this was not so, said the FCC. Instead, the agency claimed to be the victim of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, an assault in which a hacker (or group of hackers) overwhelms a site by bombarding it with too much data at once.

Thanks, Obama

Recently, the FCC has backtracked on this hacking claim. A recent statement from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai instead places the blame elsewhere (surprise, surprise). Pai says the only reason the FCC thought it was hacked was because someone from the Obama administration said so!

This deflection of blame isn’t unusual for the FCC or Pai. For the last year, they’ve dodged any questioning about the hacking, refused to release any information about it, and never updated the public about the investigation.

This “beating around the bush” finally backfired when the Office of Inspector General (OIG) prepared to release a report on its findings of the incident. The report still hasn’t been published, but let me save you some trouble: the OIG concluded the hack never happened.

Pai’s Statement

In an effort to beat the report to the punchline, Pai released a statement in which he basically blames everyone else for assuming the incident was a hack at all:

“With respect to the report’s findings, I am deeply disappointed that the FCC’s former Chief Information Officer (CIO), who was hired by the prior Administration and is no longer with the Commission, provided inaccurate information about this incident to me, my office, Congress, and the American people. This is completely unacceptable.”

Pai left no stone unturned in his finger-pointing:

“I’m also disappointed that some working under the former CIO apparently either disagreed with the information that he was presenting or had questions about it, yet didn’t feel comfortable communicating their concerns to me or my office.”

Who’s Held Accountable?

So far, there’s no indication that the agency will face any consequences from this deliberate diversion. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is looking into the incident.

Pai did admit that the hacking investigation has made it clear the FCC desperately needs to update its comment system. And apparently, now, it has the funds to do exactly that.

It shouldn’t have to be said that this sort of blame game is completely unacceptable. Whether you’re a politician in Washington or a mobile app developer in San Francisco, the FCC’s behavior affects everyone as we’ve seen from the recent net neutrality repeal.

What do you make of this debacle? Let us know in the comments!

MedTech and mHealth development have demonstrated their merit through many avenues already. But to expand these innovations from the tech hubs, like San Francisco, where they’re created, to the rural U.S. heartland, where they’re needed, the most requires an effort from all.

Together with ACT | The App Association’s Connected Health Initiative (CHI), Dogtown Media is proud to support the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) announcement to establish the “Connected Care Pilot Program.” It has immense potential to vastly improve how low-income and rural Americans can access and utilize telehealth solutions.

A Great Step Towards Better Connected Care

In an op-ed released last week, Commissioner Brendan Carr announced the FCC’s intentions to create the new $100 million telehealth program. “We’re seeing a trend in telehealth towards connected care everywhere,” Carr explains. “The FCC has long supported the deployment of broadband to healthcare facilities, but advances in technology mean that high-tech, life-saving services are no longer limited to the confines of connected, brick-and-mortar facilities.”

This program could drastically improve healthcare for not only rural Americans but veterans as well. Carr understands both the benefits this initiative could bring and the necessity for the FCC to promote it: “Given the significant cost savings and improved patient outcomes associated with connected care, we should align public policy in support of this movement in telehealth. At the FCC, we can play a constructive role by helping to support the connectivity and deployments needed to ensure that all communities get a fair shot at benefiting from new telehealth technologies.”

A Partnership Focused on Telehealth Progress

A long-time supporter of telehealth innovation, ACT’s CHI has been working with Commissioner Carr on ways the FCC could foster progress in this field. CHI plans to host a public event with Carr’s office in August to iron out more details of the new initiative.

“This $100 million program is a boon for the millions of Americans living without reliable access to healthcare and the American businesses driving effective, innovative telehealth solutions,” says CHI Executive Director Morgan Reed. “…without access to broadband, the personalized care, expedited diagnoses, lowered healthcare costs, and countless cost-saving, life-saving benefits of telehealth would be utterly impossible.”

Reed explains that this move helps eHealth and mHealth developers help patients better: “This pilot program could create more opportunities for our nation’s leading telehealth innovators… to increase healthcare access and improve treatment outcomes. We are excited for the new opportunities that will stem from additional resources and support for broadband-enabled telehealth solutions, and we thank the FCC for their dedication to this vital issue.”

The Benefits Are Apparent Already

Connected care has already resulted in substantial cost savings, especially for chronic disease management, which constitutes over 85% of U.S. direct health care spending. For example, the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) remote monitoring program costs about $1,600 per patient — a steep decline from the usual $13,000 needed per patient for their home-based primary services.

Another study found that remote monitoring helped reduce all-cause mortalities by 20% and days of inpatient care by 25%. But these statistics are just the tip of the iceberg. To see more, check out the FCC’s announcement here.

We’d like to thank ACT’s CHI and the FCC for fostering growth and innovation in telehealth. We’re sure the results from the “Connected Care Pilot Program” will be nothing less than profound, and we’re proud to support and be part of this movement forward in medicine.