Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee are asking social media video streaming sites to archive atrocities related to the Hamas attack on Israel.

In letters to X (formerly Twitter), Meta, TikTok and Google, the senators, led by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), asked for information on their content moderation policies.

“While steps should be taken to curb attempts by Hamas to weaponize social media for its own ends, it is indisputable that social media platforms have already played a critical role in exposing the international community to the genocidal atrocities committed against Israel,” they wrote.

And while it might be the platforms’ policy to remove such violent and graphic videos, the senators said they should be archived “to aid in prosecuting war crimes, intelligence gathering, media reporting, and the historical record.”

The senators also asked the platforms how they are complying with sanctions that require the blocking of property or interests of Hamas.

In addition to Cruz, signing on to the letter were Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).

There is movement in the Senate on a bill that would allow online news content providers — including broadcast and print news websites — to bargain collectively for payment from Big Tech platforms. And that has prompted computer companies to continue to fight back, labeling the potential bargainers as cartels out to push unwanted speech with the aid of an interventionist government.

The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday (June 15) will mark up, and potentially pass out of committee, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA). That vote drew a letter of protest from the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA).

“The JCPA mandates that private companies must carry speech in direct violation of the First Amendment,” CCIA president Matt Schruers said. “This bill will also hinder the fight against misinformation by forcing digital services to publish and pay producers of dangerous content. Congress should not be interfering in the marketplace of ideas by taxing links and creating cartels.”

Also Read: GOP Backs Big-Tech Targeted News Media Antitrust Exemption

The bill would give “news content creators” — print, broadcast or digital — an antitrust safe harbor to negotiate collectively with digital platforms like Facebook and Google for carriage of their original content.

Specifically, the bill would grant publishers immunity from federal and state antitrust laws for several years while they bargain collectively with digital platforms.

News content creators are defined as ones with 1) a dedicated professional editorial staff that creates and distributes original news and related content concerning local, national, or international matters of public interest on at least a weekly basis; 2) are marketed via subscriptions, advertising or sponsorship. They include operations that provide original news and related content, at least 25% of which is current news and related content, or broadcast original news and related content per a Federal Communications Commission license.

Also Read: News Outlets Promote Value of Local Content

The coordination among bidders has to be “directly related to and reasonably necessary for negotiations with an online content distributor” and [cannot] involve any person that is not a news content creator or online content distributor.

The National Association of Broadcasters has said the bill is necessary to stem a drain of billions of dollars in potential revenues to Big Tech. It says local broadcasters “lose almost an estimated $2 billion annually by providing their content to these platforms,” adding: “Because of the size and power of Big Tech, their policies are almost always ‘take-it-or-leave-it.’ There is little power to negotiate because broadcasters would lose access to hundreds of millions of consumers if they declined to publish their content on these platforms.” 

The Senate has passed a bill that would give some low-power TV stations the ability to apply for Class A status and its additional interference protections. It must still pass the House to become law.

Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced the Low Power Protection Act (LPPA) in 2021.

LPTVs haven’t been able to apply to the Federal Communications Commission for such status since 1999.

“Years ago, Congress enacted a law which allowed certain low-power television stations to apply for and receive enhanced rights to their spectrum licenses, giving them certainty to invest in their stations and grow their audiences in mainly small and rural markets,” Blunt said when the bill was first introduced.

The bill gives the FCC 90 days to open the new application window, something chair Jessica Rosenworcel long ago pledged to work with Blunt on setting up.

“The primary benefits of Class A are to protect broadcast coverage area, encourage investment and secure small business financing which is not available to most LPTV facilities,” the LPTV Broadcasters Association said back in 2021, when it enthusiastically endorsed the bill.

But the reconstituted LPTV Broadcasters Association does not echo that sentiment.

The bill limits the LPTVs that can apply to those that meet a certain threshold of locally produced programming and other criteria in order to earn the primary status of a Class A when it comes to interference protections.

The LPTV Broadcasters Association said that requirement means that there are 27 states where no LPTV qualifies to apply, and said the House should amend it to open up Class A protections for all, “not just a chosen few.” ▪️

With time running out in the lame-duck session of Congress, there is still no scheduled vote on advancing Gigi Sohn's nomination to the Federal Communications Commission.

At deadline, her appointment was not listed among the 104 pending nominations on the Senate’s executive calendar, with the last action noted as “failed to report her favorably” out of committee, according to congress.gov.

President Joe Biden submitted the nomination October 28, 2021.

Sohn’s nomination was stalled in the Senate Commerce Committee on a tie vote in March, where it has remained without getting the full discharge vote that would allow the entire Senate to vote on filling the fifth seat on the FCC.

Without that vote, the Democrats don’t have a majority and can’t tackle big-ticket issues like network neutrality rules, broadcast regulation or changes to the FCC’s Universal Service Fund, which do not have bipartisan support.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) controls the calendar and supports Sohn, but would not schedule a vote unless he was sure he had enough support to get her across the finish line in what has been an almost-two-year effort to seat a fifth Democrat.

Republicans have not been willing to vote for her, and the general wisdom is that Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) and now-independent Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have not been locks for a yes vote.

Manchin’s reluctance has been attributed to the fact that Sohn has been painted by her opponents as critical of rural broadband buildout — despite support from rural broadband backers who have said that “there is no doubt that Sohn is dedicated to ensuring that everyone in rural America is connected.” Sinema's reluctance is attributed to an effort by net neutrality backers to call out the senator for her reluctance to get on board with the Save the Internet Act back in 2021.

Sinema might have needed some extra persuading after progressive Democrats hammered her — including paying for a billboard in her home state branding her “corrupt” — during the net neutrality debate for not voting to repeal the 2017 FCC decision to eliminate the net neutrality rules. Those were rules that Sohn stumped for as an adviser to Obama-era FCC chairman Tom Wheeler.

If Manchin and Sinema are holdouts, and that remains into the new Congress, even with the Democrats picking up one seat, that would not be enough to get her the needed 51 votes, even with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a tie-breaking vote, as she did when it was necessary to seat a fifth Federal Trade Commissioner after a similar political split.

Last month, a group of unions called on Congress to hold the lame duck session vote. ▪️

Senate Democrats are massing along a new front in the war with Big Tech and Elon Musk is in the line of fire.

A powerful group of senators led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate potential consumer-protection laws by Twitter, which Musk has just bought.

“We write regarding Twitter’s serious, willful disregard for the safety and security of its users, and encourage the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate any breach of Twitter’s consent decree or other violations of our consumer protection laws,” they wrote in a letter to FTC chair Lina Khan.

Also: Groups Turn Up Heat on Twitter Advertisers

Khan herself has been a big critic of Big Tech, so they are in some sense preaching to the choir.

Musk has only been running the company for a few weeks, but the senators say his actions have “undermined the integrity and safety of the platform,” including by announcing new features “despite clear warnings those changes would be abused for fraud, scams, and dangerous impersonation.” Most notably was Musk's rollout — since rolled back — of Twitter Blue and the ability for users to buy blue verification check marks that allowed them to impersonate others.

Also: Twitter Chief Elon Musk Slams ‘Media Elite’

One of those already impersonated, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), has already called on Musk to answer a raft of questions about how he is operating the company.

Markey was among those calling Thursday (November 17) for the FTC investigation.

Back in May, Twitter agreed to pay $150 million to settle allegations it had violated a 2011 consent decree by using its users’ email addresses and phone numbers for marketing purposes after promising not to. ▪️

Various unions, communications and otherwise, are pushing Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) to take whatever action necessary to use the lame-duck session of Congress to advance to a vote on the long-stalled nomination of Gigi Sohn for the vacant FCC seat.

”Our unions represent millions of workers in telecommunications, tech, and media as well as most sectors of the U.S. workforce,” a group of eight unions wrote to the senators this week, according to a copy of the letter supplied to Multichannel News. “We write to strongly support Gigi Sohn for the role of Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and urge swift action on her nomination.” 

Sohn would give Democrats the majority they earned when Joe Biden was elected president more than two years ago, allowing the FCC to tackle issues like network neutrality and broadband subsidy reform that the current political tie has prevented.

Also: Sen. Cantwell Targeted Over Second Sohn Hearing

“The FCC needs a fully seated commission in order to make critical decisions during a period of increased federal investment in broadband networks and digital equity initiatives,” the unions said.

Currently, Sohn's nomination remains stuck in the Senate Commerce Committee, so it would need a vote by the full Senate to discharge it from the panel, which tied in its vote to discharge the nomination. A tie means the nomination has not been recommended to the full Senate for a vote. Once it is discharged, Schumer would then have to schedule a separate vote on the actual nomination in the full Senate.

While Democrats have the technical majority in the 50-50 Senate due to Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote, Schumer has not advanced the Sohn nomination, likely because not all 50 Democrats were on board.

There was talk that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) might have needed persuading after progressive Democrats hammered her — including paying for a billboard in her home state branding her “corrupt”  — during the net neutrality debate for not voting to repeal the 2017 FCC decision to eliminate the net neutrality rules. Those were rules that Sohn stumped for as an adviser to then-FCC chairman Tom Wheeler.

Joining in the union letter were the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers (AFT); American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); Communications Workers of America (CWA); International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW); National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), representing FCC employees; Service Employees International Union (SEIU); and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW). ■

Two Senate bills that would protect children’s data and, hopefully, their mental and physical well-being, passed out of committee Wednesday (July 27), which means they have been favorably reported to the full chamber for a vote.

S. 3663, the Kids Online Safety Act, passed unanimously. It would attempt to protect children's online mental health, including addressing issues like body image, eating disorders, substance abuse, and suicide.

The Children and Teens’ Only Privacy and Protection Act — or COPPA 2.0, as author Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) dubs it, updates the senator's 1998 COPPA law — passed by voice vote, but with some no votes, including those of Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the co-author of the Kids Online Safety Act, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).

Both Blackburn and Lee had problems with the extent of the Federal Trade Commission’s rulemaking authority under the bill. But Blackburn said she expected by the time it got to a floor vote, she could get to a “yes,” which Lee also suggested would be the case. Blackburn said she didn't say she would oppose the rulemaking authority, but said it needed to be tightened up and made more focused and specific.

Blackburn wanted to make sure the FTC “stayed in their lane,” she said.

Markey, who was also a sponsor of the Kids Online Protection Act, said the bills would stop a historic attempt to engage in predatory behavior and sends the message to Big Tech that “enough is enough.”

Markey said he would work with all members on the legislation as it moves to the floor.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), co-sponsor of the Kids Online Safety Act, said that they would work with both Lee and Blackburn on their concerns and also felt confident they could come to a meeting of the minds.

Blumenthal said he planned to move both bills on the floor. And while he said he was sure Big Tech was not just going to sit back and would instead employ their armies of lobbyists and lawyers to derail the process. He said, instead, he hoped they would join with Congress and help as they had on other issues. 

But regardless, the kind of doggedness Markey had displayed on the issue over decades would inspire lawmakers to pursue the bills like “a dog with a bone, not going away, not surrendering no matter the obstacles,” Blumenthal said.

“The Kids Online Safety Act will hold social media companies accountable and establish a duty of care for protecting children online," said Parents Television & Media Council President Tim Winter. "The Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act expands privacy protections to teens and for children under age 13. We support both bipartisan bills and urge Congress to pass them swiftly. The youngest generations must not be the guinea pigs for technology’s harmful impact.” ▪️

According to multiple reports, David McCormick, who ran against Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania's Republican Senate primary, has conceded the race even though a mandatory recount is still underway, saying there was no way he could make up the difference.

The recount was necessitated by Oz's razor-thin margin of fewer than 1,000 votes out of almost 1.5 million cast.

Oz was host of the long-running Sony Pictures Television syndicated talk show Dr. Oz before walking away to take a shot at a Senate seat.

Former President Donald Trump had stumped for Oz in the race, the outcome of which in the general election could determine whether Republicans gain control of the Senate.

Oz will go up against Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the fall.

Fetterman was also in the news Friday (June 3) after revealing he had ignored some warning signs before his recent stroke. Fetterman said he was not yet ready to hit the campaign trail but was "getting closer" and vowed to return. ■

The Republican Senate primary race in Pennsylvania is still too close to call, with TV doctor Mehmet Oz with a slight lead at 402,629 votes to David McCormick‘s 401,133 votes. Kathy Barnette trailed with 315,027 votes. All tallies are according to the state election results as of Wednesday morning (May 18).

In 2009, Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions launched a syndicated talk show featuring Oz after he had made frequent appearances on her own show. Oz stepped away from the Sony Pictures Television series in 2021 when he decided to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Pat Toomey, who is retiring.

Oz is no stranger to Congress, having testified on the Hill back in 2014 about bogus weight-loss claims after the FTC filed suit against Pure Green Coffee for marketing dietary supplements online as a quick way to lose weight without diet or exercise. The coffee had been promoted on The Dr. Oz Show. 

At the time, Oz said he wanted to be part of the solution. He conceded that his flowery language — using terms like “magic” and “miracle” had made the Federal Trade Commission’s job harder, but that he had toned it down, though not his passion for some of the products he promoted.

Former President Donald Trump had stumped for Oz in the race, the outcome of which in the general election could determine whether Republicans gain control of the Senate. The winner will go on to face Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the fall general election.

The primary race has also been viewed as a key test of the strength of a Trump endorsement. ■

Fans in the association sphere called on the Senate to confirm Democratic nominee Gigi Sohn to fill the fifth seat on the Federal Communications Commission, which has been vacant for well over a year.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the associations — comprising the Consumer Technology Association, the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), Chamber of Progress, CompTIA, the Internet Infrastructure Coalition, INCOMPAS and NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association — acknowledged the Senate had a lot on its plate with “pressing national issues.” Nonetheless, they urged senators to end debate over Sohn’s nomination — a discharge vote is akin to a cloture vote, allowing for a final vote on a bill or nomination.

While the trade groups back Sohn, they also suggested ending debate was about just having a functioning — as in fully staffed — FCC “to advance regulatory items critical to our ability to help promote a strong economy and maintain our nation’s competitiveness.”

Also: Sohn Nomination Backed by Ex-FCC Homeland Security Bureau Chiefs

They also evoked some of the pressing issues the Senate is dealing with, like what to do about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its censorship of coverage critical of the war. “The absence of a fifth commissioner hamstrings the agency when U.S. leadership on technology policy is most needed,” they said. “As authoritarian regimes around the world move to supplant U.S. leadership and restrict access to an open and free internet, we must ensure the U.S. government is well-positioned to thoroughly consider and advance policies that promote democratic values.“

The Senate has yet to vote to discharge Sohn’s nomination from the Senate Commerce Committee after a tie vote out of the panel. The tie vote means Sohn was not favorably reported, so a Senate vote is required to discharge the nomination from committee before it can move to a final vote.

Republicans have been pushing back hard on Sohn's nomination, citing her criticism of Fox News Channel and past stands on intellectual property and net neutrality. But some Sohn fans see other forces at work, including a general Republican effort to slow roll key nominees until the midterm elections and broadband companies trying to delay the return of net neutrality rules under Title II of the Communications Act. 

The Senate last week voted to discharge Federal Trade Commission nominee Alvaro Bedoya after his vote in committee was also tied, but that Bedoya vote required Vice President Kamala Harris to weigh in since the discharge vote was also tied 50-50. The Senate has yet to take a final confirmation vote on Bedoya.

Sohn’s discharge vote, if and when it happens, might also need a nod from the VP.

Like Bedoya, Sohn represents the Democratic majority the Biden administration needs to move on politically divided issues such as media ownership regulations and restoring net neutrality rules. ▪️

The Senate Antitrust Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing next week titled “Breaking the News — Journalism, Competition and the Effects of Market Power on a Free Press.”

The February 2 hearing is likely to include some focus on a proposed Senate bill, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), which would grant publishers immunity from federal and state antitrust laws for a 48-month period while they bargain collectively with digital platforms.

Media outlets argue that Big Tech has been using their content without sufficiently compensating them for their investment in original, independent journalism, and sought the antitrust carveout to be able to present a more united negotiating front.

Also: GOP Backs Big Tech-Targeted News Media Antitrust Exemption

Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) — Klobuchar is chairwoman of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee and a lead sponsor of the bill — are political opposites in the chamber  They have said the JCPA would simply give “news content creators“ — print, broadcast or digital — an antitrust a safe harbor to negotiate collectively with digital platforms like Facebook and Google for carriage of their original content.

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), the House antitrust subcommittee chairman who has backed a House version of the bill, has argued that if the balance of power remains as it is, Big Tech’s dominance of digital advertising could be an “extinction-level event” for local media.

Similar bills have tried, and failed, to provide a safe harbor, but the new pandemic-driven normal, with edge providers seen increasingly as gatekeepers rather than as tenders of the virtuous internet garden, could improve the bill’s prospects.

News content creators are defined as outlets with a dedicated professional editorial staff that create and distribute original news and related content concerning local, national or international matters of public interest on at least a weekly basis, and are marketed via subscriptions, advertising or sponsorship. They include operations that provide original news and related content, at least 25% of which is current news and related content, or broadcast original news and related content via an FCC license.

As introduced, the bill would apply to content distributors with at least 1 billion active users per month on all their websites worldwide, so the bill is clearly aimed at the biggest platforms. ■ 

The head of the National Urban League is calling on the Senate Commerce Committee to favorably report Democrat Gigi Sohn’s Federal Communications Commission nomination to the full Senate and to work actively for a vote in that body.

According to a copy of the letter, which was addressed to committee chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and ranking member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), National Urban League president Marc Morial said Sohn would bring decades of experience to the task of closing the digital divide, which has only widened during COVID-19.

The League has called on the FCC to tackle the divide through “broadband buildout, an affordable broadband and devices benefit, digital education, improved utilization of the internet for critical government services and increased opportunities for communities of color to benefit from the economic prosperity of this digital age.”

Morial said Sohn has demonstrated a commitment to equity that will benefit communities of color and consumers in general. “[S]he has expressed interest in boosting media diversity and ownership, including through expansion of the broadcast incubator program beyond radio and via a reevaluation of the FCC’s minority ownership rules as part of its 2022 Quadrennial Review,” he told the legislators.

The FCC is currently short one commissioner, the Democratic seat for which Sohn has been nominated and which would give chair Jessica Rosenworcel the majority she needs to tackle partisan issues such as net neutrality rules and potential broadcast reregulation. 

“At a time when the United States has committed $65 billion to expanding affordable broadband access and programs, including the Affordable Connectivity Program, we need a full and active commission that is committed to ensuring that this funding is implemented equitably and with informed guidance from a broad range of stakeholders,” Morial said, adding, "The National Urban League sincerely urges you to advance Sohn’s nomination quickly through the Senate."

Cantwell has signaled she wants to firm up a date for a vote on Sohn by the end of this week.

At press time no vote had been scheduled. The committee’s website listed receipt of Sohn’s nomination on January 4 as the last action taken on the matter. Her nomination had to be resubmitted because the committee took no action on it before the end of last year.

The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold a markup this week on a bill to promote competition in an app market dominated by Apple and Google.

The January 20 markup, where a bill is amended and voted on (or sometimes not), will be on the Open App Markets Act.

The bipartisan bill was introduced back in August 2021 by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), joined by pretty much their polar political opposite, Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).

“This step toward Judiciary Committee consideration shows strong bipartisan support for our Open App Markets Act—to stop Apple and Google from crushing competitors and undercutting consumers,” said Sen. Blumenthal. “Breaking the ironclad grip of these two behemoths on the multi-billion dollar app market is long overdue. This measure has solid momentum.”

“The Senate Judiciary committee’s markup of the Open App Markets Act will bring us one step closer to holding big tech companies like Apple and Google accountable,” said Blackburn. She said the act will allow consumers access to apps not "rubber stamped" by those giant.

Also: Apple Reaches Settlment with App Developers

The explicit goal of the bill is to "reduce gatekeeper power in the app economy, increase choice, improve quality, and reduce costs for consumers."

The bill, which reads like an app net neutrality rule for edge providers, would prevent a covered company from restricting the use of alternative in-app payments systems; or from favoring their own terms of distribution, pricing or conditions of sale; or penalize developers for using different pricing terms or conditions via another in-app payment system.

The bill prevents a Google or Apple from using info derived from a third-party app to compete with that app.

In general, reads the bill, "a Covered Company shall not provide unequal treatment of apps in an app store through unreasonably referencing or ranking the apps of the covered company or any of its business partners over those of other apps."

"Unreasonable referencing" includes algorithms that prioritize apps owned by the covered company or its partners but does not include "clearly disclosed" ads.

Violations will be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission since they will be considered unfair methods of competition, which the FTC has section 5 authority to police. In addition, any state attorney general can also bring a civil action based on a violation of the act and there is also a private right of action so that any developer can also sue, and get treble damages if the win. ■

The ranking member on the powerful Senate Commerce Committee wants the relationship between new FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel and new NTIA head Alan Davidson to start out on the right foot.

In a letter to both, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), called on the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration to work together to better coordinate spectrum policy.

The FCC and NTIA, under the Trump administration, were sometimes at odds over spectrum issues and how the government spectrum that the NTIA oversees could be shared or freed up for commercial 5G use while still protecting important government uses like radar and GPS.

Also: House Subcommittee to NTIA, FCC: Get on Same Page

Those tensions have resurfaced lately over Federal Aviation Administration concerns with interference to aviation safety systems in adjacent spectrum bands from new wireless users of C-band spectrum won at auction.

Rosenworcel, for her part, has already pledged to Congress to work cooperatively with NTIA.

In his letter, Wicker said, “In light of recent disputes over spectrum allocations, it is more important than ever that the FCC and NTIA work together to promote spectrum policy that best serves the dual goals of furthering commercial innovation and enabling the mission-critical operations of federal agencies.”

The FCC and the NTIA have a memorandum of understanding on how they will coordinate spectrum issues. Wicker said that 2003 arrangement needs updating since “it does not appropriately account for the dramatic changes in technology in the past 20 years.”

Wicker has a rooting interest in that update. He introduced a bill last year, the Improving Spectrum Coordination Act of 2021, that would require periodic updates of the MOU. ■

The Connected Commerce Council (3C), which represents thousands of small businesses with a digital footprint — from juice bars and breweries to consignment shops and tattoo parlors — is pushing back on a Big Tech bill being marked up in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday (January 13).

“Millions of small businesses across the country have embraced digital tools and services provided by American technology companies and say they plan to continue using these tools and services that helped them get through the pandemic," said 3C executive director Rob Retzlaff. “Beltway insiders like Senators [Amy] Klobuchar and [Chuck] Grassley aren’t paying enough attention and seem to not understand how these companies provide affordable, scalable, and secure benefits that small businesses like to use to find success.”

The bill, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, was introduced back in October by Klobuchar (D-Minn.), chair of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee and a self-described leading antitrust reformer, and Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member. It‘s one of many proposed bills to rein in Big Tech, and not the only one backed by Klobuchar.

The bill prevents an online platform from: 1) preventing a business from interoperating with another platform; 2) requiring a business to buy a dominant platform‘s wares to get preferred placement; 3) “misusing” a business‘s data to compete against it; and 4) from biasing search in their favor.

The bill only applies to larger platforms — like Amazon and Google — defined as “at least 50,000,000 U.S.-based monthly active users on the online platform; or has at least 100,000 U.S.-based monthly active business users on the online platform; or is a critical trading partner, defined as a person with the ability to impede access of a business user to its customers and users or to a tool or service it needs to serve those users or customers.” ■

The Senate Judiciary Committee has moved its scheduled markup of a tough new online antitrust bill from Thursday (Jan. 13) to Jan. 27.

The bill, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, was introduced back in October by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), chair of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee and a self-described leading antitrust reformer, and Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member. It‘s one of many proposed bills to rein in Big Tech, and not the only one backed by Klobuchar.

Also: CCIA Study Asserts Edge Regs Could Be $300 Billion Economic Hit

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act would do the following:

CCIA members include Amazon and Google, both of which are clearly in the bill‘s sights. 

“Gerrymandering regulations around a handful of leading businesses will skew competition and leave consumers worse off,” he said, adding: “By hamstringing successful U.S. tech companies without even imposing corresponding obligations on foreign rivals, this shortsighted legislation will put the data and security of U.S. users at risk.”

Consumer Technology Association president Gary Shapiro has said the bill would do irreparable harm to U.S. companies, including by putting them at a disadvantage to China and other nations. “The bill allocates vast new powers to the FTC, allowing the commission to ignore the consumer-welfare standard, while imposing massive fines with minimal due process,” Shapiro said.

The bill allows civil penalties of up to 15% of U.S. revenue for the duration of the violation and authorizes a court to penalize a CEO or corporate officer an amount equal to their compensation for the 12 months preceding or following a complaint. ■

Veteran fair-use advocate and former top Federal Communications Commission counselor Gigi Sohn has collected endorsements for the agency‘s open Democratic seat from various groups and legislators. But a single senator can block a full Senate vote on her confirmation and a single senator is still signaling that is what he will do if Sohn‘s nomination is favorably reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Last month, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), ranking member of the Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee, asked President Joe Biden to withdraw Sohn‘s nomination, saying he had many concerns, but copyright was chief among them. He threatened to put a hold on the nomination, which any senator can do.

Also: Gigi Sohn‘s FCC Nomination Could Face Hold Threats

Sohn has already had her nomination hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee, where she appeared to assuage some Republican concerns about her progressive views and tweets critical of Fox News Channel. But while others who shared the nomination hearing dais with her have gotten their committee votes, Sohn has not. The President had to resubmit Sohn's nomination after the Senate did not act on it last year.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chair of the committee, wants to hold that hearing soon. A Cantwell spokesperson said the senator expected a vote on Sohn's nomination will happen by the end of the month.

But asked whether Tillis would follow through on his hold if the committee approves Sohn, a top Tillis staffer signaled he was ready to back up his threat. “[H]e will put a hold on her nomination when it reaches the floor,” the spokesperson said.

In recent days, Consumer Technology Association president Gary Shapiro, the CEO of NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association, Shirley Bloomfield, and three former heads of the FCC's Homeland Security Bureau have publicly endorsed Sohn. ■

Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn could be running into more Republican and industry headwinds in the Biden administration's effort to get a Democratic majority on the agency.

Acting chair Jessica Rosenworcel's nomination for a new five-year hitch — and her designation as chair — was approved Dec. 1 by the Senate Commerce Committee, where she used to be a top staffer, and is expected to get full Senate confirmation soon.

But despite a relative lack of contentiousness in Sohn's confirmation hearing and despite Republicans concerned about her past advocacy for fair use carve-outs for copyrighted material and her criticism of Fox News Channel, there are reports that a hold could be put on her nomination by one of those concerned Republicans.

A definite potential source of the hold is Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), ranking member on the Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Tillis asked President Joe Biden to withdraw Sohn's nomination, saying he had many concerns but copyright was chief among them. On Monday (Dec. 6), his office confirmed he would do whatever he could to stop the nomination, including placing a hold.

While Tillis has expressed concerns about Sohn's views on fair use exemptions from copyright, he is also not a fan of restoring net neutrality regulations, something Sohn has supported and still does and the issue one source said would more likely drive a hold. Tillis’s office had not returned a request for comment at press time on whether, and if so why, he was planning a hold.

Another possible hold source is Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), arguably her toughest opponent at the nomination hearing, particularly over the issue of her past tweets critical of Fox News. “You have clearly indicated your bias against more conservative news sources,” he said.

The hold could have backers among both internet service providers and broadcasters, ISPs over that net neutrality stand and broadcasters over signals she’s sent that she could support restoring some broadcast regulation, a group one source characterized as “the coalition of the freaking out.” 

Democrats will need a majority to push through either of those initiatives. Broadcasters have also cited Sohn's directorship at Locast, the TV-station streaming service that shuttered after a court concluded it did not have a copyright exemption. Tillis brought that up in his letter to Biden seeking the withdrawal.

There doesn’t seem to be the same “freaking out coalition” raising Tillis’s copyright concerns. And Sohn has some fans — or at least "non-opponents" — in the copyright community given her ability to come to the table, as was the case with the copyright alert system when she headed fair-use advocate Public Knowledge, as well as the compromise net neutrality rules under former FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, that were not based in classifying broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act.

But Sohn stumped for Title II-based rules under Genachowski’s FCC successor, Tom Wheeler, and Title II has regained popularity under the new administration and with congressional leadership, a momentum that could be powering opposition to Sohn.

Any senator can put on hold on a nominee for any or no reason — the hold prevents a measure from coming to the floor — and does not have to identify themselves. It then would take 60 votes to proceed with a vote on her nomination, similar to invoking cloture to end a filibuster.

Sohn's nomination won't get a committee vote, absent the hold, until at least mid-month.

Senators had until Monday (Dec. 6) at noon to submit written questions and Sohn gets a week to respond.

If Sohn does secure the FCC nomination, she would be its first openly gay commissioner, a point Biden made in her nomination. ■

Technology website Gizmodo.com said it will publish the Facebook internal documents leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former product manager for the company.

The site, which said it is the first news outlet to commit to publishing the internal research and other documents said it got them from a member of Congress — they were leaked to members of the Senate Commerce Committee.

It describes the documents as “stacks of documents containing thousands of confidential memos, chat logs and a veritable library of hidden research.”

Also: Sen. Markey: Facebook‘s Harmful Ad Practices Continue

“We believe there’s a strong public need in making as many of the documents public as possible, as quickly as possible,” Gizmodo said. “To that end, we’ve partnered with a small group of independent monitors, who are joining us to establish guidelines for an accountable review of the documents prior to publication.” 

Those monitors are from New York University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Columbia University, Marquette University and the American Civil Liberties Union, among other organizations.

Also: Haugen Hearing Branded Big Tech's Big Tobacco Moment

The documents will be released in batches, with the first batch coming “as soon as possible,” Gizmodo said. The first tranche of documents will likely be primarily ones that require the least amount of vetting by its experts, given its goal of “minimiz[ing] any costs to individuals’ privacy or the furtherance of other harms while ensuring the responsible disclosure of the greatest amount of information in the public interest,” the site said.

The leak and Haugen’s testimony have led to more calls for regulating Big Tech and an investigation by state attorneys general. ■

The Senate Commerce Committee vetted the renomination of acting Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel for a new, five-year term Wednesday (Nov. 17) and nary was heard a discouraging word.

If confirmed, President Joe Biden has signaled he will designate her permanent chairman, the first woman to hold that post. (Mignon Clyburn was the first woman to be acting chair.)

Rosenworcel‘s warm reception was not a big surprise, as she was overwhelmingly approved for two previous FCC nominations and is a former top Hill staffer (senior counsel to the committee that was vetting her) with fans on both sides of the aisle.

Also: FCC’s Rosenworcel Pledges to Re-Examine Video Programming Marketplace

While she shared the witness table with a couple of other nominees, she drew most of the questioning.

That doesn’t mean Republicans are welcoming potential returns of media regulation or net neutrality rules, both of which Rosenworcel has supported in the past and could achieve if a third Democrat — Gigi Sohn has been nominated — is installed to form a Democratic majority. It means that given that the Democrats won the right to pick a chair, she is a known and respected quantity who is arguably more moderate than other chairs Biden could have picked.

As per COVID-19, the hearing was a mix of masked and unmasked senators in the room, as well as remote questioners. A video screen was set up in front of the witness table so they could see who was questioning them remotely.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chair of the committee, present and masked, said that while the Biden administration’s $65 billion investment in broadband is a start, there needs to be better broadband mapping “before we can get anything really done.”

She said the pandemic had deepened the digital divide and Rosenworcel will be a leading figure in getting broadband to all Americans.

Also: Sen. Markey Will Introduce Bill to Reclassify Broadband Under Title II

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), ranking member of the committee, present and unmasked, congratulated “our old friend” Jessica Rosenworcel, pointing to her time as a professional staffer at the committee and her two previous confirmations for FCC terms. He said he was also concerned about getting accurate coverage maps so the billions in government broadband funds would not be used to overbuild existing service. He said spectrum policy, rural subsidies and internet regulation were all issues that needed talking about.

Asked about the Biden administration's $65 billion investment in broadband, Rosenworcel said that bill is a chance for generational change if Commerce and FCC and others are operating off the same data set.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who formally introduced Rosenworcel (who hails from Connecticut), said he was delighted and honored to introduce her as the first female chair of the FCC. He called Rosenworcel an energetic and effective champion of consumers and privacy and net neutrality. He said she had an extraordinary ability to frame complex issues in ways people can understand, like coining the term “homework gap.” He called her appointment a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for implementing the $65 billion in broadband subsidies.

Rosenworcel, who appeared unmasked and in person (though distanced) told the committee it was clear that modern communications needed to reach everyone. She said the FCC was up to the task.

Actually, while the FCC is handing out billions of dollars for telehealth, low-income resident access, schools and libraries, the Biden infrastructure plan‘s tens of billions are actually being overseen by the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, though it will need better broadband maps, with the FCC‘s help, to make sure that money is going to the right places. Rosenworcel conceded at the hearing that the FCC “doesn‘t have a driving role” in handing out all of those funds.

Rosenworcel said that if confirmed and designated as chair, her guiding principles would be public safety; competition, which she said was the most effective way to foster innovation; and an “absolutely fierce commitment” to consumer protection. She also pointed to the pressing need for universal fast, affordable and reliable broadband, which are the connections needed for entertainment, telehealth, education; for breaking down barriers; and for “a fair shot” at success in the economy.

To achieve that, she said there would need to be greater coordination among government agencies, renewed vigilance over safe and secure networks, and ensuring tech leadership. She pledged to lead that charge while listening to Congress, business, and most importantly, the American people.

Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) said his only frustration with the Rosenworcel nomination was that it was done in March, something he said the strong bipartisan vote she was about to get in the committee and the Senate would demonstrate. That was seconded by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).

Among the highlights:

• Rosenworcel said she supported legislation to give tax breaks to media outlets to support local journalism, as well as supporting legislation restoring the minority tax certificate that gives tax breaks to companies who sell media outlets to minorities and women.

• Pressed by Wicker on when the FCC would actually produce better broadband maps, Rosenworcel pointed out that the agency had come out in August with better wireless service mapping. As to wired broadband, she pointed out that while she has long known that the FCC did not have the requisite computing power, under her predecessors — both Republican and Democrat — she did not herself have the power to address that deficit. 

Rosenworcel said she did know that, and although the FCC last week took an important step by picking a key “broadband serviceable location fabric” technology provider, due to the government contracting process all of the losing applicants were challenging that decision, which would delay matters. She said the best time to produce better broadband maps would have been five years ago, with the second best time being now. ■

The Senate drew praise from cable ISPs and other telecom players Tuesday for its passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which includes about $65 billion for deploying and subsidizing broadband to help close the digital divide.

The vote was 69 to 30, including 19 Republicans led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

“The bipartisan infrastructure legislation demonstrates that policymakers can find common ground on issues that are important for America’s future, including the need to get all Americans connected to robust and reliable broadband service," said Michael Powell, president of NCTA-The Internet & Television Association. "Most importantly, the broadband provisions directly address the two critical challenges we face in reaching our national goal of universal connectivity for all Americans – first, a focused effort to prioritize and build internet infrastructure in areas without service, and second, a stronger government program to help low-income Americans subscribe to and use this critical service. Our industry looks forward to being a productive partner in the effort to close existing digital gaps and to continuing our ongoing investment in networks that will speed our country on the path to 10 gigabit speeds. This legislation is the result of significant compromises and we would like to thank the bipartisan group of Senators who worked diligently to develop this important legislation and urge the House to swiftly pass this package.”

“We applaud the U.S. Senate for providing in the bipartisan infrastructure package $65 billion to expand access to critical broadband capabilities," said ACA Connects President Matthew Polka. "This historic investment would help all Americans stay close to their families, friends, and neighbors and engage in telework, telehealth, remote learning and other activities so fundamental to 21st Century society. This bill has the potential to connect many millions of unserved locations across the country and some 30 million households that have access to broadband but don't currently subscribe," he said, adding. "ACA Connects looks forward to Congress continuing to move forward on this important legislation, and we hope that the House of Representatives prioritizes broadband accessibility as it considers the important infrastructure challenges our nation faces.”

"Among the historic investments included in the bill is more than $48 billion in funding for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to fund state and local investments to help reach 100% access to affordable, high-speed broadband service," said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. "This is among the most significant government investment in broadband access and infrastructure in American history, and is a critical component of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda."

INCOMPAS, which represents competitive carriers and some Big Tech edge providers, also sounded pleased.

"Today the United States Senate moved one step closer to our transformative 'internet for all' goal that has the potential to bring faster speeds, lower prices and more competition to every family and small business across America," said INCOMPAS president Chip Pickering.

“While there is still much work to be done, the bipartisan commitment toward improving broadband access, deployment and affordability is significant," he said.

The bill includes money for both deployment to end users and for middle mile networks.

“I commend the Senate for passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill," said Steven K. Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association. "[I]t is an important step in ensuring all Americans have access to the latest broadband services. The legislation includes several broadband provisions important to CCA members, and we look forward to our continued work with Congress to help close the digital divide.”

"It should be said: This $65 billion infusion for broadband that cleared the Senate is a generational (and hopefully transformational) investment in network deployment, affordability, cybersecurity and digital equity," said USTelecom president Jonathan Spalter. "It’s far from perfect, but it represents progress on our shared universal connectivity goals."

On the "far from perfect side," Spalter pointed out that the came together quickly without a lot of debate, hearings or vetting, so "the inevitable unintended consequences are going to matter, maybe more than usual."

One question is how the FCC and NTIA exercise their discretion to define what is the reliable broadband the bill funds.

“Digital infrastructure is critical to strengthening the U.S. economy, connecting U.S. communities, and driving U.S. global leadership,” said Jason Oxman, president of tech group ITI. “We applaud the U.S. Senate’s passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which includes transformative investments to renew U.S. infrastructure and prioritize digital needs, including resources to close the digital divide and bolster cybersecurity. We urge the U.S. House of Representatives to move expeditiously to advance this important measure.”

“Connect Americans Now applauds senators, on both sides of the aisle, who rightly recognized that broadband deployment, adoption and digital skills are critical infrastructure necessary to safeguard the American Dream in every community,” said CAN executive director Richard Cullen. “This bipartisan down payment on tackling the broadband gap will help ensure more Americans, living in both urban and rural areas, can acquire a quality education, access virtual health care tools and participate in the full promise of the 21st century digital economy.”

He also had some concerns, specifically that there is more that needs done if the digital divide is actually to be closed.

“This is an historic investment in broadband and one that will help put affordable, reliable connections in reach for Americans across the country," said Kathryn de Wit, project director of the broadband access initiative at The Pew Charitable Trusts. "Importantly, the infrastructure bill acknowledges the crucial role that states play in expanding broadband access. It also includes funds for broadband adoption and affordability, reflecting findings from Pew and others that achieving universal broadband access—and ensuring communities benefit from those connections when they’re available—will take more than building broadband networks.”

“CTA applauds the Senate for developing a bipartisan framework – and collaborating with the White House – to pass meaningful infrastructure legislation that would advance economic growth and innovation in the U.S. Efforts to update our digital infrastructure, which we need now more than ever, are key to realizing the future of game-changing innovations like 5G and self-driving vehicles," said Consumer Technology Association President Gary Shapiro. 

 “Though CTA does not seek or support government funding for our industry or membership, CTA commends the Senate and the administration for following our recommendation and funding some of these important investments in our national infrastructure from unused COVID-19 funds.” 

The Open Technology Institute applauded the bill's inclusion of a broadband truth-in-billing "nutrition" label, which OTI had pushed for.

“We are pleased to see price transparency in the bill, including the broadband nutrition label that OTI first proposed in 2009," said Joshua Stager, deputy director for broadband and competition policy. "Internet pricing is far too opaque, rife with hidden fees and confusing terms. A truth-in-billing label will help consumers comparison shop, hold their providers accountable, and better understand what they’re paying for."

"In a historic first for federal broadband funding, this agreement also recognizes the importance of ensuring that companies who receive these funds adhere to high labor standards," said the Communications Workers of America. "The proposed legislation, which creates a new state broadband grant fund to expand high-speed internet service, prioritizes broadband projects from entities that have a demonstrated record of and plans to be in compliance with Federal labor and employment laws."

“Today the U.S. Senate took a major step forward toward ensuring that fiber broadband is available to every American, said Gary Bolton, president of FBA-Fiber Broadband Association. "The Fiber Broadband Association is encouraged by the bipartisan Senate support in recognizing that broadband is as much a part of the country’s critical infrastructure as roads and bridges. Indeed, broadband is the bridge to global competitiveness and economic prosperity in the 21st Century. This Administration and this Congress have the opportunity to make a historical investment in our country’s fiber broadband future that will benefit generations to come. The forward-looking standards for network deployment included in this legislation will help ensure digital equity and enable every community to leverage the economic and societal benefits that only fiber can deliver."

Vice President Kamala Harris, who was put in charge of closing the digital divide, said the bill ensures that "our nation won't have to go to a fast food parking lot to get high-speed Internet." 

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who helped negotiate the compromise bill, said the bill turns years of talk about fixing infrastructure "turns that talk into reality."

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan COVID-19 relief bill that passed the Senate Saturday night (March 6) also had some rescue funding for public broadcasting.

The bill included $175 million in emergency assistance to public TV and radio stations.

Also Read: GOP Bill Would Apply C-Band Proceeds to Digital Divide

Patrick Butler, president of America's Public Television Stations, said the money was welcome and definitely needed given the pandemic-related strain on resources.

“We’ve conveyed COVID-related information to millions of viewers from Governors, State health and education officials, and other authorities through our role as the 'C-SPAN' of many State governments and in our capacity as the trusted voice of community leadership across the country," he said. "And we’ve provided countless public safety communications to keep our citizens informed of health and safety alerts and other critical matters."

He said that was being done mostly with unbudgeted funds while collectively stations were losing "hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from State governments and private sources due to the severe economic downturn."

He said the money would help public broadcasters provide remote learning to students without internet access, both over-the-air and via datacasting.

"We are grateful for the broad bipartisan support for this emergency funding for public media among both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate," he said.

The Senate has voted 84-15 to confirm Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo as President Joe Biden's new Secretary of Commerce.

Commerce incorporates the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, which is the White House's chief policy advisory arm and oversees government spectrum use. Over the past couple of years it as been in a bit of a battle with the FCC over sharing government spectrum or freeing up spectrum too close, at least for NTIA's comfort, to GPS spectrum. 

Commerce is also charged, along with the FCC, with keeping an eye on the network tech supply chain to make sure that foreign tech that poses a risk to U.S. networks, like that of some Chinese telecoms, does not compromise national security.

Also Read: Senate Commerce Approves Raimondo Nomination

Prior to becoming governor, Raimondo helped found venture capital firm Point Judith Capital and, before that, was the state's general treasurer. Raimondo is a graduate of Harvard, has masters and doctoral degrees from Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and has a law degree from Yale.

Raimondo had gotten praise from some industry quarters for being ahead of the tech curve. 

During a virtual meeting with small business leaders last month, Raimondo talked about the importance of access to broadband, something Joe Biden did as Vice President when one of his issues was giving small businesses the opportunities to scale up that broadband provides.

Also Read: President Biden's Commerce Pick Draws Industry Reaction

At her nomination hearing, Raimondo was asked about the tension between the FCC and NTIA over spectrum and whether she supported freeing up more government spectrum, She said that she wanted America to "win and lead" the race to 5G and that that included finding additional government spectrum. She said there needed to be a national spectrum strategy, a point on which she is in agreement with acting FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who complained about the lack of such a strategy under FCC chairman Ajit Pai (he disputed that).

“Secretary Raimondo is well equipped to oversee a broad range of our industry’s policy priorities, including trade, copyright, telecommunications and technology," said Charles Rivkin, chairman of the Motion Picture Association. " As President Biden’s chief advisor on intellectual property matters, we are confident she recognizes copyright’s value as an economic engine that supports 5.7 million jobs across all 50 states and adds $1.5 trillion to the economy annually. Additionally, as the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration represents U.S. interests before the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), we look forward to the Department’s continued support for robust enforcement against those who use the internet for unlawful purposes, such as violations of intellectual property."

Also Read: Commerce Expands Huawei Restrictions

“Congratulations to Governor Raimondo on her confirmation to lead the Commerce Department," said USTelecom President Jonathan Spalter. "This is a department with a critical role in our connected digital future – from cybersecurity to 5G and spectrum management to broadband deployment, accessibility and equity. This work is more important than ever, and USTelecom members are committed to working with Secretary Raimondo to support and grow our digital economy, increase broadband opportunity and finally achieve our universal connectivity goals.”

“The technology industry congratulates Secretary Raimondo on her confirmation," said Jason Oxman, president of tech trade association ITI. "Now, more than ever, it is critical that the U.S. demonstrates a meaningful commitment to digital policies that drive U.S. economic competitiveness and improve Americans’ lives, such as broadband, industry standards, supply chain security, and trade. We look forward to working with Secretary Raimondo and her team to advance these measures and the goals that enable American companies to lead the world in innovation and technology.” 

“We congratulate Governor Raimondo on her confirmation by the Senate as Commerce Secretary," said CTIA President Meredith Attwell Baker. "Throughout her distinguished career of civil service, she has been a champion for innovation and economic growth. She was an early leader on 5G, one of the first to recognize the ability next-generation networks have to expand connectivity and create jobs in communities across the country. We look forward to working with the Secretary to build our 5G economy and help close the digital divide.”

At press time early Wednesday (Jan. 6) it looked as though Democrats were going to win both  Georgia Senate race run-offs and reclaim control of that body.

If Democrats have their way, and holding majorities in the House and Senate and their team in the White House they should, the careening of net neutrality rules between the courts and FCC could stop, but with legislation that establishes broadband access as a Title II service subject to mandatory access, and a return of prohibitions on blocking and throttling, and paid prioritization.

It could also mean legislative action on a host of a host of communications issues from broadband spending to heightened scrutiny of mergers, as well as a Democratic majority on the FCC sooner rather than later. If Republicans had held--or manage to hold since one of the two races was too close to call but with with Democrat Jon Ossoff leading by about 16,000 votes--the Senate could have held up confirmation of a third Democratic FCC commissioner.

Also Read: FBN Tackles Senate Run-Off

with Democrats in control, that could happen within weeks rather than months.

One issue that isn’t going away is the debate over what to do about Section 230, the communications law that has allowed social media to flourish without the threat of civil suits over third party content on their sites.

The concerns about the size and power of Big Tech is bipartisan. There will likely be some changes to Sec. 230.

Biden has been a critic of that broad  immunity, as have congressional Democrats. But while Republicans were using the issue as a cudgel on Silicon Valley giants they say were systematically censoring conservative speech, Democrats say that charge is bogus and was, at least in part, a way to try and pressure Twitter and Facebook not to flag the President’s tweets before the election. Democrats now in control of Congress are focused on curtailing hate speech and election meddling via changes to Section 230.

With Democrats holding both gavels, privacy legislation could finally see the light of day after lots of bipartisan talk and no action. But former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell has suggested that, while politically popular, it could still be hard to legislate. In an all Democratic town it becomes an intramural fight, he says, pointing to the large California delegation that would want something at least as strong as the state’s privacy law. “It is difficult even with the most apolitical policymakers. But there is the popular sentiment that something amiss in the tech world.” 

And with Democratic chairs of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committees, look for more and tougher oversight of media mergers.

But having control over the levers of power puts pressure on Democrats to get things done, with no one else to point to if it doesn't happen.

"If Democrats control the Senate they have no excuse: restore net neutrality, ban facial recognition, protect Section 230, end Big Tech data harvesting, and defend online human rights," said Fight for the Future.

Fox Business Network is joining Fox News in providing special coverage of the Georgia Senate run-off election Tuesday night (Jan. 5).

Also Read: Fox News to Blanket Run-off

The outcome will determine control of the Senate and whether the Democrats control all the levers with which to execute on President-elect Joe Biden's agenda.

FBN coverage will begin at 6-7 p.m. with an extended version of Lou Dobbs Tonight, then continue at 7 p.m. with a prime time special, FOX Business Presents Battle for America: Senate Showdown, anchored by SVP and managing editor of business news Neil Cavuto.

The special will feature a rotating panel of analysts/experts including Dobbs, Charles Payne, Elizabeth MacDonald, Lisa "Kennedy" Montgomery and Gerry Baker.

A pair of powerful Democrats will be getting together with civil society groups Monday afternoon to urge the Senate not to approve the nomination of Nathan Simington to succeed Republican FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly, according to one of those groups.

Simington, whose Senate vote could come as early as Tuesday (Dec. 8) is with the National Telecommunications & Information Association (NTIA), President Trump's chief communications policy advisory arm, and worked on NTIA's petition asking the FCC to regulate social media, as Trump had mandated that NTIA do.

Related: Sen. McConnell Moving on Simington Confirmation

According to Fight for the Future, which calls Simington "dangerously unqualified," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) will join with that group as well as  Access Now, Free Press, Media Justice, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, and United Church of Christ’s Office of Communication in a press conference expressing their opposition.

Related: Carr Urges Simington Nomination to Stall Democratic FCC

"Simington’s confirmation would likely deadlock the Commission indefinitely, blocking the agency's ability to help Americans access the internet during the pandemic or restore net neutrality. This confirmation would also violate the Senate’s tradition of moving Commissioners in bipartisan pairs," said Fight for the Future.

The SenateCommerce Committee plans to vote Wednesday on the nomination of Nathan Simington for the Republican FCC seat being vacated by Michael O'Rielly at year's end, according to a group opposed to his confirmation. If Simington is confirmed by the full Senate, still an open question, the FCC will be at 2-2 when chairman Ajit Pai leaves Jan. 20, putting pressure on the Biden Administration to nominate, vet, and confirm a third Democrat so they have a majority.

One veteran FCC watcher and former top official said they thought Simington would make it on to the commission, but a group opposed to what they see as a Trump Administration attempt to retaliate against Twitter and other social media sites was hoping for a different outcome.

Related: Report Says Simington Reach Out to Fox News on Sec. 230 Petition

"[I]n an unprecedented and deeply cynical move, the Senate has scheduled a confirmation vote this week on Nathan Simington, Trump’s nominee to join the commission," said Even Greer, executive director of Fight for the Future. "Simington’s involvement with Trump’s silly and blatantly unconstitutional executive order targeting Section 230 is alarming," she said.

Simington ones on the National Telecommunications & Information Administration team that drafted a petition to the FCC to regulate social media using their Sec. 230 immunity from liability over the moderation of third party content, though Simington said his role was limited.

"The Senate should reject Simington’s nomination and let the FCC get back to work," said Greer. "If they don’t, they’re not 'owning the libs' or 'sticking it to the Biden admin,' they’re just hurting working families, small businesses, and our children’s future.”

It looks as though control of the Senate won't be determined until at least Jan. 5, even though Congress is scheduled to gavel in Jan. 3, leaving the question about just who would be doing the gaveling.

Currently, the election results have the Republicans at 50 seats and Democrats plus independents that caucus with the Democrats (Sens. Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont) at 48, with two run-off elections in Georgia still to be held. If Dems win both, it would be a 50-50 tie, in which case Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris would be the tie-breaker in party-line votes.

The plan had been to hold one of those Senate run-offs Dec. 1 and the other Jan. 5, but Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, said that Dec. 1 was just too short a time frame, so both would be held Jan. 5. He said it had the added advantage of saving taxpayers millions of dollars.

If Democrats could control the Senate, Congress would likely legislate the Title I, common carrier, definition of Internet access and put the brakes on media ownership deregulation.

Raffensperger also said that because the margin of victory for Joe Biden in the presidential race was so small--about 14,000 votes--that there would be a hand recount of "lawfully cast legal ballots" in all counties before the election is certified (at this point scheduled for Nov. 20). He said the goal was to build trust in the election and that it would be an audit, recount and re-canvas rolled into one, which he conceded would be a heavy lift.

Raffensberger also conceded that President Trump's campaign could ask for its own recount after the certification recount, but that would be a scan rather than a hand recount.

The Senate Commerce Committee has lined up a quartet of former Federal Trade Commissioners, including three former chairs, to talk about federal privacy legislation.

Related: FTC's Simons Says Facebook Settlement Was Best Outcome Given Limited Authority

The FTC has principal authority over online privacy enforcement, but that is confined to conduct that is anticompetitive or violates expressed policies on protecting data.

The hearing, aptly titled "Revisiting the Need for Federal Data Privacy Legislation," will be held Sept.23 at 10 a.m.

Related: Senate Dems Propose Privacy Principles

Witnesses will be former commissioner Julie Brill and former chairs William Kovacic and Jon Leibowitz, and former acting chair Maureen Ohlhausen.

There is bipartisan Hill support, as well as industry support, for some form of privacy legislation. But what form that takes continues to divide legislators along party lines. 

The Senate Judiciary Antitrust Committee weighed into the online advertising market Tuesday (Sept. 15) with an emphasis on the 600 pound gorilla in that space and whether it has exerted its power over anticompetitively, as critics have alleged. The tenor of the hearing was telegraphed in its clever title, which posed its indictment in the form of a question: "Stacking the tech: Has Google harmed competition in online advertising?"

The answer, Committee Chairman Mike Lee (R-Utah) said, "matters."

Don Harrison, president of global partnerships and corporate development, for Google was on the hot seat, but showed up to take the punishment as one of the key witnesses.

Related: Big Tech Faces Hearing Buzz Saw

Lee worked with ranking member Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on setting up the bipartisan hearing.

Lee said the issue is whether Google is a monopolist whose conduct in the online ad market has harmed competition and consumers. But he also said more broadly the hearing was about the larger public debate about antitrust policy. He said markets, like governments, don't keep themselves free and that liberty is only secure when power is diffused. He warned against "fetishizing" freedom to the exclusion of that security.

But on the other side of the spectrum, he argued as strongly against transforming antitrust laws into a panacea cure for labor, income and racial disparities, based on the myopic view that big is bad. He said there would be scores of unintended consequences of repurposing antitrust into a social reform tool.

Lee said he was for vigorous enforcement of antitrust laws, which serve to diffuse power.

He said that in contrast to the Democrat-controlled House's Big Tech hearings, he was not out to turn the hearing into a spectacle to attack or condescend to or talk over witnesses. He said the hearing was about the state of competition in digital markets, specifically the complicated online ad market, which has facilitated an explosion of content.

Lee said the issue was that the online ad growth and expansion was primarily on one platform, Google. He said what has also expanded are complaints that Google has conflicts of interest and has rigged online ad tech to favor its own interests and protect market share. Less said whether that was true or not matters. He said if the marketplace has been manipulated, everyone loses.

Klobuchar said they were not holding the hearing because Google was successful or because it was big. She said it was because even big and successful and innovative companies are subject to antitrust laws. "The law can't be blinded by Google's innovation and past successes if the company, in its zeal for financial success, crosses the line into anticompetitive behavior."

Klobuchar pointed out that while the pandemic has led to smaller companies closing their doors, the largest tech firms continue to thrive. "We have to start looking at whether the laws match that situation, even if the original intent of Big Tech when they were still small tech was to be innovative. At one point have you crossed the line into squelching competition," she said.

She pointed out that Google controls the services on both sides of the ad tech "stack," the publishing and advertising side, taking by some estimates up to 70% of the ad dollar for its services, "depriving publishers [news and other content producers] of that revenue."

When he had the floor, Harrison billed the company as building tools to help businesses of all sizes grow, including small firms. He said ad tech--helping with the ad buy and sell side on other websites and mobile apps--was only a small fraction of its revenue and that the majority of that was shared with publishers.

Harrison argued that the ad tech space was crowded and competitive and it competed with a host of other large companies, including Oracle, Comcast, Facebook, AT&T and Verizon.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) is convening an oversight hearing on the Federal Trade Commission.

The Aug. 5 hearing will feature all five commissioners, which includes chairman Joe Simons.

Among the issues likely to come up are the FTC's role in regulating the edge in terms of social media content, privacy and transparency, and antitrust oversight of Big Tech.

With the FCC's reclassification of ISPs as information services, the FTC has primary regulatory responsibility over internet access. If the FCC does follow the President's lead to come up with a framework for potentially regulating web content, the FTC would also be the primary enforcer under its unfair and deceptive practices authority.

It divides up antitrust reviews of mergers, so will definitely have a role if the antitrust laws are changed to better capture Big Tech mergers.

That issue was on display Wednesday (July 29) in a House Antitrust Subcommittee hearing with the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.

Between a series of votes and with conversations among both in-person and via-broadband witnesses and legislators, the Senate Commerce Committee vetted the current state of spectrum policy and broadband availability at a hearing Thursday (July 23). 

Among the issues of the day was broadband connectivity funding and how to get more of it ASAP. 

There was general agreement that rural deployment was a problem and a priority, particularly during a pandemic; that the data on where broadband is and isn't--thus where the money needs to be put, or not--is flawed and needs fixing; and that sharing as well as clearing spectrum was important. 

The hearing came as the FCC launched its first mid-band spectrum auction--the CBRS band--something that was mentioned more than once during the proceedings. 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said that distance learning, job searches and more are hampered by the lack of connectivity. He said the FCC's Lifeline low-income subsidy program must get more money during the pandemic. 

There was general agreement among the witnesses that more money for broadband was needed, including one suggestion that edge providers should have to contribute to broadband subsidies. 

Related: Navajo President Says They Are at Bottom of Digital Chasm

Tom Power, SVP and general counsel of CTIA, advocated for Sen. Ed Markey's bill providing $4 billion for the Universal Service Fund E Rate subsidy for schools and libraries.  

Mark Gibson, director of business development for CommScope, did not have a figure, but said more money could and should be put into broadband connectivity. 

Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Project at New America's Open Technology Institute, said that OTI supports getting more than $8 billion, essentially a Lifeline supplement, for broadband during the pandemic. 

Rosyln Layton, visiting researcher from Aalborg University, said what the Lifeline program needed was major reform but, as to more money, she said that content providers whose video constitutes 80% of network traffic and clearly benefit from broadband network buildouts should have to kick in funds for broadband subsidies. 

Related: Groups Petition Congress for Billions in Broadband Bucks During Pandemic

Blumenthal said he hoped his Republican colleagues in their soon-to-be-announced COVID-19 aid package proposal would include the necessary funds for broadband, whether E Rate or Lifeline. And while he said there may be a need to reform Lifeline, right now the focus needed to be funding the connectivity that closes the homework gap and digital divide.  

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has agreed that those government affairs should not include use of a popular app. 

The committee voted unanimously Wednesday (July 22) to banish TikTok from government devices, according to the bill's co-sponsor, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). 

The legislation now moves to the Senate floor. 

A House version has already been approved as an amendment to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act. 

Calling the company "a major security risk" that has "no place on government devices," Hawley teamed with fellow Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida back in March to introduce the self-evidently titled "No TikTok on Government Devices Act." 

Related: Hawley Slams No-Shows Tik Tok, Apple 

Under bipartisan pressure from Congress, the State Department, DHS and the TSA have all banned their employees from using the Chinese-backed short-form mobile video app on government devices, and even advised them to have their children uninstall it from their personal devices, Hawley pointed out last week. The bill would make it a blanket ban over all government agencies.  

The nomination of Republican FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly for a new, five-year, term on the FCC has been favorably reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee and now moves to the full Senate for a vote.  

That came by voice vote Wednesday (July 22), but with ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) voting no, even though, procedural, she was the one to propose that it be reported favorably. Also asked to be recorded as "no" on the O'Rielly nomination were Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). 

Related: O'Rielly Nomination Vote Scheduled 

In explaining her no vote, Cantwell pointed out that in 2018, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel concluded that O'Rielly had violated the Hatch Act with political comments made at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) conference.*

O'Rielly was issued a warning letter that a repeat of such statements could incur more than a warning. O'Rielly countered that he disagreed that an offhand remark was a violation, but said he took the warning seriously.

Cantwell also said that O'Rielly "had recently injected, I believe, politics into part of the spectrum issue," which she said she found "disturbing." She did not elaborate. 

In contrast, Committee chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he looked forward to advancing O'Rielly's nomination. He said he appreciated O'Rielly's commitment to the speedy deployment of broadband, particularly given the pandemic and the greater reliance on connectivity, as well as his commitment to insuring it was targeted to areas that need it most.  

Like his fellow Republicans, O'Rielly wants the FCC to focus on the unserved first, rather than overbuilding existing service. 

O'Rielly's term expired at the end of June 2019, but commissioners can continue to serve until the close of the next Congress. The new term would date from July 1, 2019.  

O'Rielly, who has been on the FCC since 2013, is a conservative former Hill staffer who generally favors deregulation, including of ISPs, and lifting media ownership rules given the rise of competition from cable and broadband and satellite, and was instrumental in loosening KidVid regs on TV stations.    

He has also pushed for the FCC to collect better data on broadband availability before handing out billions for 5G buildouts. 

“Charter congratulates Commissioner Mike O’Rielly on his confirmation by the Senate Commerce Committee for another term at the Federal Communications Commission," said the company in a statement. "During his time at the FCC, Commissioner O’Rielly has demonstrated a strong commitment to creating a regulatory environment that encourages broadband buildout and has consistently promoted balanced spectrum policies that drive American innovation forward. As people across the country have become increasingly reliant on connectivity in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Commissioner O’Rielly has pushed to significantly expand broadband to those who still lack access. We look forward seeing Commissioner O’Rielly’s re-nomination confirmed by the full Senate.”

* Asked at a CPAC panel session how to avoid the regulatory issue ping-pong of changing administrations, O'Rielly said: "I think what we can do is make sure as conservatives that we elect good people to both the House, the Senate, and make sure that President Trump gets reelected." O'Rielly told the special counsel he was not advocating for the President's election but meant to relay the point that "the only way to retain that current outcome was to maintain the current leaders in government. In other words, retaining the current Administration is the only sure way to prevent regulatory ping-ponging.”

The Senate Commerce Committee's Communications Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing on "The State of U.S. Spectrum Policy."

The hearing will be July 23 at 10 a.m. and look at "the Federal Communications Commission’s and National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s role in spectrum management and policymaking." 

While that may sound dry, the two agencies have been feuding over freeing up government spectrum bands for 5G, including in the FCC's Ligado decision and the opening up of the 5.9 GHz and 24 GHz bands.

Related: EI's Layton Says Agencies Need to Show FCC Some Respect 

Witnesses for the hearing will be Tom Power, SVP and general counsel, CTIA—The Wireless Association; Mr. Mark Gibson, director of business development, CommScope; Dr. Roslyn Layton, visiting researcher, Aalborg University; and Michael Calabrese, director, Wireless Future Project, Open Technology Institute at New America. 

FCC watchers should mark their calendars for June 24. 

That is when the Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled an FCC oversight hearing featuring all five commissioners, according to the committee. It will be the first such oversight hearing since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Look for issues like Sec. 230, broadband mapping, the C-band spectrum auction, and the Ligado decision, among others, to be on the docket. 

Many of those were on the agenda at this week's Senate Commerce Committee nomination hearing for Republican FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly.

FCC watchers should mark their calendars for June 24. 

That is when the Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled an FCC oversight hearing featuring all five commissioners, according to the committee. It will be the first such oversight hearing since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Look for issues like Sec. 230, broadband mapping, the C-band spectrum auction, and the Ligado decision, among others, to be on the docket. 

Many of those were on the agenda at this week's Senate Commerce Committee nomination hearing for Republican FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly. 

Educators told the Senate Wednesday (June 10) that access to technology is key to reopening schools in the new normal of COVID-19 and they could use some help in the form of government dollars. 

They made that point at a hearing in the Senate Health Education Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee hearing, COVID-19: Going Back to School Safely." Going back to school also means having the connectivity and equipment for not going back to school if the pandemic flares up, and for a hybrid mix of remote and in-person learning even if it is just navigating the new normal until there is a vaccine and treatment and more is known about the virus' transmission. 

John King, former Education Secretary under President Barack Obama, said that before COVID-19, 79% of households had broadband versus only 66% of black households and 61% of Hispanic households. He said that lack of equitable access is not only a distance learning issue and an obstacle to hybrid remote/in person education, but "an emergency preparedness issue in the event of further widespread closures." 

Related: Senate Dems introduce $4 Billion E-Rate Bill 

He said to make sure home broadband access for students is even possible, the Congress needs to add at least $4 billion to the FCC's E-rate subsidy program--there is already legislation introduced to that effect--for WiFi hot spots and devices. He told the committee that Congress "should also encourage districts to implement multilingual digital learning platforms to be fully inclusive, and encourage private companies to enable home broadband access for the students in the communities they serve during the pandemic at no cost." He also said there needed to be professional development for educators so they can "teach, assess, and connect with their students remotely."

After surveying parents, schools and communities, Matthew Blomsted, the Nebraska Department of Education commissioner of education, said that number one on the list of five back-to-school priorities was to "enhance technology infrastructure (broadband, devices, platforms, data privacy) for students and families."  

He told the committee he was concerned that the state lacks "the technology infrastructure to provide remote learning for sustained periods of time as well as make the investments in the appropriate resources and supports. He added that without more federal money for K-12 education in the next COVID-19 aid bill, "it may be difficult for states that are already strapped for funding in several sectors to meet the critical needs to keep schools open." 

If the state is to keep its promise of a high quality education to its million students, said Dr. Penny Schwinn, commissioner of education for the Tennessee Department of Education, "we must address the digital divide for teachers and students."

She said that means access to devices as well as broadband and professional development. She said the state's governor has talked about not having broadband on his farm. "That reality is all too true for students and their teachers," she said, particularly of the state;s rural and most vulnerable populations from a health perspective.   

"This is no longer a 'nice to have,'" she said, "for many it is a necessity for a free and appropriate public education." 

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the subcommittee, pointed to the disparity in distance learning funding and efficacy between poorer and minority communities and asked King what lessons about distance learning have been learned in the past few months and how states should plan for distance learning to come.  

King said that access to devices remain a challenge, including where there might be a device in the home, but a number of kids. "Or parents may need the device, too," Murray added. 

He said bandwidth also remains a challenge, not only in rural communities but urban ones. He said there were also cases where cable companies won't allow access to services with an unpaid balance (though most ISPs have pledged not to pull the plug for nonpayment during the pandemic). 

He said tackling the digital divide is essential, but so is tackling professional development over the summer, saying at most schools there will be some need for hybrid learning.  

The Senate Thursday (June 4) approved the nomination of conservative filmmaker documentary Michael Pack as head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) with the title CEO of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

The vote was 53 to 38. 

The President had threatened back in April to adjourn both House and Senate--they were holding pro-forma, gavel-in, gavel out" while members sheltered in place--and make that and other recess appointments, using a COVID-19 press conferences to complain about inaction on his nominees and pointing to Pack as an example--he had nominated him in 2018. 

Related: Trump Seeks to Cut International Media Funding

The New York Times reported that the nomination holdup included an investigation by D.C. into the funding relationship between Pack's nonprofit and for-profit film group. 

USAGM oversees government-funded independent news outlets providing info to countries where press freedom is problematic. Those outlets include the iconic Voice of America, which Trump attacked during the press conference, saying what was coming out of VOA was "disgusting."  

In pushing for funding cuts for international broadcasting, the White House said that it has concluded that "information statecraft and public diplomacy programs by the U.S. Government have been tepid, fragmented, and not fully effective in countering the exploitation of information by U.S. rivals." The Administration has said it doesn't want to continue to fund projects whose effectiveness is unknown and whose efforts are not coordinated across government agencies.

VOA and the other outlets used to be overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, but the President moved to a CEO-led model. 

Pack is President of film and TV production company Manifold Productions where he has written and directed documentaries (God and the Inner City, The Fall of Newt Gingrich, Campus Culture Wars: Five Stories about Political Correctness), principally for PBS. He served as SVP of TV programming for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2003-2006 and in 2002-2005 served on the National Council on the Humanities. 

Pack is no stranger to VOA, having served as director of WORLDNET, which is now VOA-TV.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has introduced a Senate bill that would allow TV stations that are part of a larger broadcast group to qualify, individually, for COVID-19 small business "forgivable" loans.

The Local News and Emergency Information Act of 2020, mirrors language in the House HEROES Act, but Republicans have signaled the omnibus Democrat-backed aid bill would be DOA in that body, but there is support from both sides of the aisle for the broadcast aid bill.

Currently, TV stations that are part of a larger group don't qualify for small business COVID-19 aid in the CARES Act. The bill would allow them to do so, but the money could only be spent on the needs of a specific physical location, which means it could not be claimed by the broadcast group owner for other purposes.

The National Association of Broadcasters has been pushing Congress to add broadcasters to the small business category, so it applauded the new bill.

“Advertising losses have devastated the local media business in recent weeks at a time when credible, lifesaving local news and information is needed most," said NAB president Gordon Smith. "Broadcasters look forward to working with Congress to ensure that this legislative language is included in future Coronavirus economic relief efforts to help preserve local media and local journalism.”

Also backing the bill are Sens. John Boozman (R-Ark.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

The Senate has voted to reauthorize the USA Freedom Act, which restricts indiscriminate bulk collection of data by the NSA, part of an effort to rein in government mass surveillance programs adopted in the wake of 9/11.  

But the bill has been changed from the House version that passed in March, so will need to be re-voted there. 

One change that was not made was an amendment that would have prevented internet search info from being fair game for government perusal. 

The USA Freedom Act was first adopted in 2015 to end the bulk data collection under the USA Patriot Act. The USA Freedom Act must be periodically renewed by Congress or some provisions expire.  

The NSA got authority to conduct bulk metadata surveillance under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, one of the tools created by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, when an inability to link cellphone calls between terrorists was cited as an intelligence failure that needed correcting.  

The bill did not end bulk collection, but narrowed what could be collected, added some transparency about how it was done, left the information in the hands of phone companies rather than on government servers, provided some liability protection for companies that let the government inspect the metadata, and provided for at least the possibility of challenging the FISA court on a decision to allow surveillance.  

The Computer & Communications Industry Association praised Senate tweaks to the House version. “CCIA welcomes the Senate’s bipartisan adoption of reforms to support the representation of Americans’ rights in proceedings before the FISA Court," said CCIA president Matt Schruers. 

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) voted against the bill. “Congress has a duty to safeguard Americans’ privacy, but the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act fails to adequately limit the types of information that the government can collect about Americans, and it fails to adequately limit how long the government can keep the information it collects about us,” said Markey. “I am unwilling to grant any president surveillance tools that pose such a high risk to Americans’ civil liberties.”

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has introduced a Senate bill that would allow TV stations that are part of a larger broadcast group to qualify, individually, for COVID-19 small business "forgivable" loans.

The Local News and Emergency Information Act of 2020, mirrors language in the House HEROES Act, but Republicans have signaled the omnibus Democrat-backed aid bill would be DOA in that body, but there is support from both sides of the aisle for the broadcast aid bill.

Currently, TV stations that are part of a larger group don't qualify for small business COVID-19 aid in the CARES Act. The bill would allow them to do so, but the money could only be spent on the needs of a specific physical location, which means it could not be claimed by the broadcast group owner for other purposes.

The National Association of Broadcasters has been pushing Congress to add broadcasters to the small business category, so it applauded the new bill.

“Advertising losses have devastated the local media business in recent weeks at a time when credible, lifesaving local news and information is needed most," said NAB president Gordon Smith. "Broadcasters look forward to working with Congress to ensure that this legislative language is included in future Coronavirus economic relief efforts to help preserve local media and local journalism.”

Also backing the bill are Sens. John Boozman (R-Ark.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

The FCC is pushing back hard on Republicans and Democrats and military brass who were sharply critical of the commission at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday (May 6).

The hearing featured only Department of Defense witnesses arguing the FCC had recklessly and hastily approved a "bait and switch" plan by Ligado to launch a terrestrial broadband service that would, by definition interfere with critical GPS systems like missile guidance and aircraft positioning.

"Given all of the untrue statements being made at the hearing, it is difficult to know where to begin," said a spokesman for FCC chairman Ajit Pai.

"For example, the repeated claim that federal agencies unanimously oppose our order is blatantly false, as our decision has been endorsed by the Secretary of State and Attorney General."

Related: FCC Approves Ligado Terrestrial Broadband Service

One Republican at the hearing did ask the witnesses about the support for the program by Attorney General Bill Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whether their position had changed and why they would have supported the Ligado decision if it were such a threat. There was no response.

"Moreover," said the spokesman, "the Department of Defense (and every executive branch agency that is part of the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee) was given our draft decision last autumn, so the assertion that they were blindsided by it this April is preposterous. More importantly, nothing said today changes the basic facts that the metric used by the Department of Defense to measure harmful interference does not, in fact, measure harmful interference and that the testing on which they are relying took place at dramatically higher power levels than the FCC approved.

"The bottom line here is that the FCC made a unanimous, bipartisan decision based on sound engineering principles" the spokesman said. "We stand by that decision 100% and will not be dissuaded by baseless fearmongering." 

As promised, Senate Republicans have introduced a data privacy bill targeted at cell phone data collection in the age of pandemic--when user data, including location, could be key to contract tracing to help combat the COVID-19 virus. But there were no Democrats identified as supporting the bill, which was not an encouraging sign of the bill's prospects beyond the Republican-controlled Senate, at least in its current form. A draft was circulated last month. 

The only apparent difference in the summaries of the bill's key points was the addition of "device" information to the data being protected.

COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act would provide more transparency, choice and control over users' personal health, device, geolocation, and proximity data, all key to contact tracing, as well as hold businesses "accountable" to consumers if they use that data to fight the virus, according to the backers, though at least one advocacy group sees it much differently. 

There have been bipartisan concerns that contact-tracing technology employed by companies including Apple and Google could wind up producing a surveillance state or put consumer data at risk for misuse or follow-on use by third parties. 

Related: Sen. Markey Pushes Back on White House Pandemic Database 

Introducing the bill were top Republicans on key committees: Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee; John Thune (R-S.D.) chairman of the Communications Subcommittee; Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), chairman of the Transportation and Safety Subcommittee; Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), chairman of the Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection Subcommittee; and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). 

Related: Senators Seek Google Assurances on COVID-19-Related Aggregation 

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, many tech companies are using data to track the spread and help keep Americans healthy,” said Fischer. “I helped introduce this legislation which will allow companies to continue innovating while providing Americans with more transparency and safeguards for how their personal data are managed.” 

The bill would: 

• "Require companies under the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission to obtain affirmative express consent from individuals to collect, process, or transfer their personal health, device, geolocation, or proximity information for the purposes of tracking the spread of COVID-19. The "device" category is an addition from the draft summary of the bill.
• "Direct companies to disclose to consumers at the point of collection how their data will be handled, to whom it will be transferred, and how long it will be retained.
• "Establish clear definitions about what constitutes aggregate and de-identified data to ensure companies adopt certain technical and legal safeguards to protect consumer data from being re-identified. 
• "Require companies to allow individuals to opt out of the collection, processing, or transfer of their personal health, geolocation, or proximity information. 
• "Direct companies to provide transparency reports to the public describing their data collection activities related to COVID-19. 
• "Establish data minimization and data security requirements for any personally identifiable information collected by a covered entity. 
• "Require companies to delete or de-identify all personally identifiable information when it is no longer being used for the COVID-19 public health emergency. 
• "Require companies to delete or de-identify all personally identifiable information when it is no longer being used for the COVID-19 public health emergency. 
• "Authorize state attorneys general to enforce the Act." 

“This is an anti-privacy bill, not a privacy bill," said Fight for the Future Executive Director Evan Greer. "Congress has been dragging its feet for years on enacting meaningful federal data privacy legislation. This bill guts the FCC’s strong privacy limits on mobile carriers, while utterly failing to give the FTC the ability to respond to abuses." 

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing May 13 on “The State of Broadband Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic." 

The hearing will look at FCC efforts to expand broadband while keeping low-income residents connected despite difficulty in paying or inability to pay. 

Related: COVID-19 Crisis Hits TV Industry

It will also look at CARES Act broadband funding, which included $200 million for an FCC telehealth program, and legislative proposals for using funds in further COVID-19 aid bills to close the rural digital divide. 

Witnesses include Steven Berry, CEO of the Competitive Carriers Association, Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA-the Rural Broadband Association, and Jonathan Spalter, CEO of USTelecom. 

Notably absent from the list at press time was anyone from NCTA-the Internet & Television Association or ACA Connects, whose members include cable ISPs committed to the FCC's connectivity pledge and who have gone beyond that pledge to keep a shelter-in-place populace communicating.

Asked why neither was on the guest list, a spokesperson for the Committee would only say: "US Telecom represents wired broadband providers. As does NTCA."

Senate Democrats plan to double down, literally, on a planned House investment in distance education given what looks like a longer break from physical school during the pandemic. 

Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) plan to introduce a companion bill to the Emergency Educational Connections Act, introduced in the House, but with one change: They are increasing the House's $2 billion appropriation for ensuring K-12 students have access to home internet connectivity and devices during the pandemic to $4 billion. 

Related: COVID-19 Crisis Hits TV Industry

The money would come from the FCC's E-Rate schools and libraries subsidy--under a program that Markey was a driving force behind.  

The senators said that was because the House bill anticipated they need only through the end of this academic year, while in the interim more educators "have come to realize the crisis will last far longer."   

That announcement came the same day the federal government planned to lift stay-at-home guidelines (April 30) and the governor of California was signaling its schools might reopen in July, with social distancing. 

“The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated our existing ‘homework gap’ and spurred a growing ‘learning gap’ that will have a lasting impact on America’s children,” the senators said in a joint statement. “Given the magnitude of this pandemic and its effects on teaching, we must increase our investment beyond $2 billion to $4 billion. Our students come first, and we cannot allow any of them to fall behind as a result of this crisis. We are proud to enjoy the support of more than 50 organizations that focus every day on educating and protecting our nation’s youth.”

The Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that the intelligence communities' 2017 assessment that Russia engaged in an unprecedented campaign to interfere in the 2016 presidential election to help eventual Donald Trump and hurt eventual loser Hillary Clinton was supported by the intelligence.

"The Committee found the ICA presents a coherent and well-constructed intelligence basis for the case of unprecedented Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election," was the top-line conclusion. 

That came in a just-released “Review of the Intelligence Community Assessment,” the fourth (of five) installment in the committee's investigation into the intelligence community assessment (ICA). 

President Trump has repeatedly criticized the ICA as a political witch hunt. But the committee, which is chaired by Republican Richard Burr (N.C.), said its investigation affirmed "that analysts were under no political pressure to reach specific conclusions." 

"The ICA reflects strong tradecraft, sound analytical reasoning, and proper justification of disagreement in the one analytical line where it occurred," said Burr. “The Committee found no reason to dispute the Intelligence Community’s conclusions." 

“The ICA summarizing intelligence concerning the 2016 election represented the kind of unbiased and professional work we expect and require from the Intelligence Community," said vice chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.). "The ICA correctly found the Russians interfered in our 2016 election to hurt Secretary Clinton and help the candidacy of Donald Trump," he said, adding: "There is certainly no reason to doubt that the Russians’ success in 2016 is leading them to try again in 2020, and we must not be caught unprepared.”  

The Committee will put off until the final installment discussion of the Steele dossier that included salacious allegations about President Trump, but pointed out that the dossier, though appended to the ICA, was not used to support any of its analytical judgments. 

The Committee review does conclude that the ICA would have benefited from a deeper dive into the role of Russian propaganda, RT's coverage of the Wikileaks' release of information from the DNC for example. 

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a "paper" hearing April 9 on "Enlisting Big Data in the Fight Against Coronavirus."  

The hearing will look at "recent uses of aggregate and anonymized consumer data to identify potential hotspots of coronavirus transmission and to help accelerate the development of treatments." It will also examine privacy right protections and what the government plans to do with the COVID-19-related data at the end of the pandemic.  

What's a paper hearing? 

Appropriately, the committee has come up with a process for holding hearings in the age of social distancing and stay-at-home mandates.  

The witnesses will submit written testimony, as they usually do, and the chairman and ranking member will submit opening statements, as they usually do. Those will be posted online at the beginning of the paper hearing and committee members can send questions of those witnesses by the close of the day.  

Witnesses will have 96 business hours, or about two weeks, turnaround for their answers. Then both questions and answers will be posted on the committee's website.  

Senate Democrats said the Republican-proposed coronavirus stimulus package lacks funding for sufficient home internet connectivity for students and there needs to be funding in the next version. 

Specifically they want at least $2 billion in e-rate funds for schools and libraries. Markey is the author of the legislation that established the e-rate. 

“Children without connectivity are at risk of not only being unable to complete their homework during this pandemic, but being unable to continue their overall education,” they wrote to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Ohio). “Congress must address this issue by providing additional financial support for home internet access in the next emergency relief package so that no child falls behind in their education.”

Related: Sen. Rand Paul Tests Positive for Coronavirus 

They said the pandemic has shined a light on the homework gap. "Without Congressional action, this existing inequity will only be exacerbated by the high number of schools that are suspending in-person classes and have transitioned to remote learning over the internet to protect the health of students, faculty, and staff," they said. 

Lead signatories on the letter were Sens. Ed Markey (Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), and Michael Bennet (Colo.). 

The Senate is currently working on a coronavirus bill with an estimated $2 billion in stimulus funds. 

The Senate has unanimously passed the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (DATA) Act. It has already passed the House so now heads to the President's desk. 

The bill requires the FCC to issue new rules "to require the collection and dissemination of granular broadband availability data and to establish a process to verify the accuracy of such data, and more."  

Related: Broadband Mapping Bill Passes House

The bill essentially puts Congress' impetus behind an effort already underway at the FCC. The commission voted earlier this year to come up with a more granular broadband data collection process that could be crowd-vetted.    

“We welcome Congress’ action in passing legislation that will improve our national broadband maps and enable policymakers to better target scarce resources to areas that currently lack broadband service," said NCTA-The Internet & Television Association in a statement. "In particular, we commend Congress’ ratification of the FCC’s decision to use ‘shapefile’ data that will better reflect provider service areas and will result in more accurate broadband maps. We urge the President to sign this legislation and to advance our shared interest in identifying unserved areas and connecting more homes to powerful, high-speed internet service.” 

“The House and now the Senate have both decisively acted to transform the country’s outdated broadband maps to get a clearer picture of who has – and who still lacks – access to broadband, the 21st century’s indispensable resource," said USTelecom president Jonathan Spalter. "Under the leadership of Senators Wicker, Peters, Thune and Klobuchar, Congress has adopted a data-driven plan to modernize the national broadband coverage maps with the express purpose of increasing deployment in rural America. 

“CCA has made this issue a priority, and I commend the Senate for passing the bipartisan Broadband DATA Act," said Competitive Carriers Association president Steven K. Berry...."As it becomes law, this will have a positive impact on every household in rural America. Improving the broadband coverage maps based on more reliable data is absolutely essential to identifying areas still in need of critical mobile broadband services to help target support, and this legislation is a tremendous step in the right direction of achieving this important goal. I thank Congress for its attention to this incredibly important issue and for sending this bill to the President’s desk for signature.”

“Access to high speed internet is vital in today’s interconnected world, yet 19 million Americans – including one-fourth of the rural population – still cannot access standard broadband services," said Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), ranking member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee and Bob Latta (R-Miss.), ranking member of the Communications Subcommittee. "To expand broadband to communities that need it, we must know exactly where those communities are. The bipartisan Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act will do just that, by improving mapping capabilities so we collect more accurate data, boost connectivity, and make sure our limited resources are used most effectively. We thank our Senate colleagues for moving swiftly to pass this important bill that takes steps to improve connectivity for all Americans, regardless of zip code, and look forward to President Trump signing it into law."