Jun 5, 2018
Clayton Banks: 5G Comes to Harlem (Ep. 140)
Bio
Clayton Banks (@embertime) is the Co-Founder and CEO of Silicon Harlem. The mission of Silicon Harlem is to transform Harlem and other urban markets into Innovation and Technology Hubs. Under his leadership, Silicon Harlem has partnered with the Department of Education for New York City to establish an after school STEM based startup accelerator, collaborate with the NYC Mayor’s office to assess wireless broadband in upper Manhattan, and coordinate a virtual startup incubator for tech based entrepreneurs. Banks has established and produces the only comprehensive technology conference in Harlem, the Silicon Harlem tech conference is focused on next generation internet and its impact on urban markets economic development.
Prior to Silicon Harlem, Banks has been a pioneer in the cable and communications industry for over two decades. He set the vision for Ember Media, a development group that builds digital solutions and interactive applications for top brands and non-profit organizations, across multiple platforms. Known as a pragmatic visionary, Banks has developed and deployed leading edge technology and applications for network cloud, gaming consoles, social media, augmented reality, interactive TV, tablets, mobile apps and over 400 interactive properties. Banks has implemented multi-platform strategies for MTV, ESPN, Budweiser, Essence Music Festival, Urban Latino, Prudential, New York Institute of Technology, United Technologies, National Urban League, Denny’s, Scholastic, and other top brands. He has produced multimedia and broadband content for Discovery Networks, HBO, Pepsi, Bloomberg TV, Showtime Networks, Bermuda Tourism, British Tourist Authority, Monaco Tourism, and countless other companies and organizations around the world. Banks has worked with former President of the United States Bill Clinton to publish a first-of-its-kind interactive college guide series called “The Key”, that targets underserved communities and features Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions. The Key was featured on CNN, NY1, Univision, and several other media outlets around the country.
Banks served as Vice President of Affiliate Relations for Comedy Central. While at Comedy Central, he was part of the launch of South Park, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and the Upright Citizens Brigade. Banks established the New York and Chicago Affiliate Relations offices, recruited, hired, and managed a senior affiliate relations team.
Prior to Comedy Central, Banks served as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing to launch Sega Channel. Sega Channel was the first interactive cable service available to US subscribers. In his capacity at Sega Channel, Banks collaborated with all aspects of the product including technical infrastructure, product content, and distribution. Banks negotiated affiliation agreements for distribution of the service with the top cable companies in the US. Including Comcast, Cablevision Systems, Time Warner, and Charter Communications. Sega Channel has been credited by many media experts for moving the cable industry toward interactivity.
Prior to Sega Channel, Banks served as Regional Director at Showtime Networks, where he was responsible for launching The Movie Channel in New York City and overseeing overall growth of Showtime Networks among assigned multiple system operators.
Banks currently serves on the Commission on Public Information and Communication for the city of New York, appointed by and representing the 5 Borough Presidents. He serves as a Board of Director for the Armory Track and Field Foundation, a Board member for the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and is an active participant in the Principal for a Day program in New York City. He has published several white papers on the interactive experience and participates as a moderator and speaker at several industry events. Banks served as the President of the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) from 1996-1998 and was instrumental in working with the FCC to include Minority owned business incentives in the 1996 Telecommunications Act. As NAMIC’s President he championed programs to increase the number of minorities in senior management in the Cable and network television business.
Banks has received many awards for outstanding creative and corporate awards including an I.D. Magazine Award, a Davey Award, Promax, @dtech award, Creativity Award, Astrid Award, Ten Awards, the Communicator Award, a Boli Award, the Harlem Business Alliance Business Person of the Year, inducted as a History Maker in the United States Library of Congress, the recipient of the Trailblazer award from Rainbow Push and most recently received a proclamation from New York City as a Technology Leader.
Banks attended California State University at Fullerton, where he received degrees in Business Administration and Communications. Banks also completed a Cable Industry sponsored Executive Management program at Harvard Business School.
Resources
A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey
News Roundup
Trump nominates Geoffrey Starks to fill Democratic FCC Seat
President Trump has nominated Geoffrey Starks to fill the Democratic seat at the FCC seat that Mignon Clyburn left vacant when she stepped down from the Commission at the end of her term last month. The distinguished Harvard and Yale Law School grad is currently an Assistant Chief in the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau. Previously, he worked at the Department of Justice where he helped successfully secure a hate crimes conviction for a former D.C. neighborhood advisory commissioner for DuPont Circle—Robert Dwyer. Dwyer was convicted for, in the wee-hours of the night back in 2014, going over to 17th and Corcoran NW where homeless people sleep and proceeding to toss their belongings into the street, yell racial slurs, and spray one of the homeless men with cleaning solution. Previously, Starks worked at the law firm of Williams & Connolly and as an aide to state senators in Illinois including Barack Obama.
Facebook under fire again
Facebook is under fire again by both Republicans and Democrats after the New York Times ran a story Sunday night saying the company shared user data with device makers. The article alleges that Facebook entered into data-sharing agreements with companies like Apple, Amazon, Blackberry and Samsung without users’ consent, reinforcing accusations that began to arise last month, during the ongoing Cambridge Analytica debacle, that Facebook violated a 2011 Federal Trade Commission consent decree to protect user data.
Keith Ellison calls for FTC investigation of Google
In a letter on Friday, Keith Ellison, vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, followed up on a call he made back in October for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google parent company Alphabet’s market dominance. He says the FTC should undertake a similar investigation to the one recently conducted by the European Union which resulted in a record $2.7 billion fine against the tech giant for unfairly highlighting its own search results.
Facebook and Twitter address political ad transparency
Facebook and Twitter have announced measures to address ad transparency. Facebook will now include a “paid for” label atop political ads, and also keep an archive of political ad data for seven years—the length of a congressional election cycle. Twitter will ban foreign-based advertisers from placing political ads on its platform -- it will also clearly identify and include disclaimers on political ads, as well as require political advertisers to use photos in the advertiser profiles as well as provide contact information. The two companies follow efforts by Google to improve its political ad transparency. The Internet Association is urging the Federal Election Commission to keep political ad regulations flexible.
Homeland detected surveillance activity near “sensitive facilities”
The Department of Homeland security reported suspicious surveillance activity near what it termed as “sensitive facilities”. In a letter to Senator Ron Wyden, Senior Homeland Security Official Chris Krebs wrote that the Department detected an “anomalous” use of Stingray devices—a device that law enforcement officers use to mimic cell towers in order to obtain device data. The problem is that Homeland doesn’t know or isn’t disclosing where the suspicious activity is coming from.
Apple reports sharp increase in national security requests
Reporting on national security requests it received in the second half of 2017, Apple reported that it received 20% more such requests than it did in the first half of that year. The company reports that it received 16,249 requests regarding 8,249 accounts between July 1 and December 31 of 2017.
Google nixes plans to work with Pentagon
Finally ,After receiving pressure from thousands of employees, some of which resigned, Google has announced that it will no longer seek government contracting funding to support the Pentagon in its quest to use Artificial Intelligence for drone warfare. The current contract is set to expire in 2019 and Google won’t seek to renew it, according to Gizmodo.