David McCabe

Facebook hired the former top aide to a lawmaker investigating how Russians may have used its platform to subvert the 2016 election to lobby on its behalf in Oct. Facebook is bolstering its forces in Washington amid unprecedented investigations into the power of its platform and a new bill that would create new disclosure requirements for online political ads. Facebook hired Luke Albee to lobby on, among other issues, "election integrity," per the form.

House Communications Subcommittee Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced a bill that would apply privacy rules to internet service providers like AT&T and Comcast and web companies such as Google and Facebook. The bill would require the companies to get their users' permission before sharing their sensitive information, including web-browsing history, with advertisers.

Chairman Blackburn's proposal differs from the FCC's rules (which she voted to overturn) in two important ways: 1) The legislation would also apply to web companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Snap — known as "edge providers" — which were not subject to the FCC's rules. 2) The Federal Trade Commission (as opposed to the FCC) would be the enforcer of the rules. They would require internet providers and the web firms to make users opt-in to the sharing of "sensitive information" such as the content of communications, "precise" location data and web-browsing and app-usage history, with some exceptions.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has been lining up the conservative base to support him in the looming network neutrality fight. "The ask was, 'We would like for you to get engaged, it's up to you to decide what to say, but here's our view,'" according to a source who was in the room during Chairman Pai's meeting with conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Tax Reform and FreedomWorks. If Chairman Pai can can gin up the support of vocal conservatives to defend him — liberal-leaning advocates have been able to mobilize millions of consumers to file comments and arrange headline-grabbing protests during these battles — he'll have more momentum to push his proposal over the finish line.

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, the lone Democrat on the Federal Communications Commission, is skeptical of the idea floated by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to replace the agency's sweeping 2015 network neutrality rules with voluntary commitments from internet service providers not to block, throttle or prioritize web traffic. Commissioner Clyburn said she's worried in theory that a voluntary regime would give major Internet service providers like AT&T, Verizon, Charter and Comcast too much power. "You've heard me say this dozens of times, about the internet and broadband being one of the greatest equalizers of our time, and what it enables. And something that important, for a handful of entities saying this is how it's going to be done, I'm a little bit uncomfortable [with] that. I haven't seen anything, but just the promise of that makes me feel a little uncomfortable."

Here's a look at some of the possible the contenders for the third Republican seat for Commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission:

Roslyn Layton: an American Enterprise Institute scholar. She served on President Donald Trump's FCC transition team, and was opposed to many of the signature rules adopted under former Chairman Tom Wheeler, including network neutrality, broadband privacy and opening up the set-top box market.

Ben Moncrief: a lobbyist for C Spire, a wireless company based in MS. Moncrief would potentially be good news for smaller companies like C Spire and could be a tough break for the big dogs like AT&T and Verizon. That makes him a tough sell for some Republicans who are close to the large telecommunication companies.

Michelle Connolly: served as the FCC's top economist under its last Republican chairman, Kevin Martin. Her tenure overlapped with Ajit Pai's time as a staffer in the general counsel's office. It's pretty clear why big telcos would approve of Connolly: She referred to the FCC's net neutrality rules as "net neutering," per a Breitbart report at the time, and is listed as a policy fellow for the American Conservative Union's foundation. She would also be the first economist to be on the dais since Harold Furchtgott-Roth during the Clinton administration.

Indiana State Sen Brandt Hershman: He's seen as an ally of Vice President Mike Pence and has been considered a leading candidate for some time, though some sources say he may not longer be the frontrunner. Hershman's biggest resume line when it comes to tech policy is that he was instrumental in the passage of a bill deregulating the telecom sector in Indiana. He also supported AT&T while the FCC was reviewing its purchase of DirecTV.

The bottom line: No matter who President Trump picks, it won't change the commission's deregulatory trajectory that puts it on a collision course with Silicon Valley — particularly when it comes to net neutrality rules.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) has made himself into an indispensable player in debates over the future of technology policy and its ripple effects around the economy.

His education on technology issues began when he unexpectedly became the committee’s ranking member after then-Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) left the Senate to become the head of the conservative Heritage Foundation. When he became chairman in 2014, Thune said in a speech at the conservative American Enterprise Institute that lawmakers should work to free up government-owned spectrum — the invisible frequencies that carry signals to mobile devices — for private use. Chairman Thune released a bill to carry through that pledge, though it did not make it out of Congress. He’s found bipartisan ground on a bill to reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission, which would give Congress another chance to weigh in on the goings-on at the agency. That bill, however, also failed to make it through Congress. “He knows the facts, he knows the background, he knows where the policy challenges are and he knows what needs to be done,” said Andy Halataei, senior vice president for government affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council. “And I think the other thing that gives us confidence is the way he conducts the debate is that it’s usually pretty open, transparent, it’s pretty thoughtful and it lends itself to a bipartisan result.” Even some who disagree with Thune sing his praises.

Facebook rolled out a ballot guide aimed at preparing people for the voting booth, the company’s latest effort at civic engagement. The feature allows users to scroll through and get more information about the candidates and ballot issues they’ll see when they go to vote. What users see on the guide is what they'll see on their ballot, according to Facebook. “We’re interested in offering people a space that’s separate from News Feed where they can prepare for that they’re going to do in the ballot box,” said Jeremy Galen, a product marketing manager with the company.

A user can scroll through to see all the candidates for a given office and choose to see their position on the issue, assuming the candidate has uploaded that information to their Facebook page. They can also see other users who have endorsed the candidate. The website serves information on the presidential race first, followed by down-ballot races and ballot questions. The order in which candidates are presented on the page is randomized. The information comes from the Center for Technology and Civic Life, a nonprofit group. Users can favorite a candidate they plan to support, an action they can either keep to themselves or share with friends. That data will be discarded 60 days after Election Day, the company said, and will not be used for any advertising purposes.

Presidential politics are casting a shadow over the biggest media acquisition of 2016. The outcome of the White House race could help determine the fate of the proposed $85 billion sale of Time Warner to telecommunications behemoth AT&T, an unusual situation for a massive sale. “It’s such an interesting thing about this deal, is the fact that it was announced when it was announced,” said Craig Aaron, president of Free Press, which argues the deal would be bad for consumers. “I think this would be a highly controversial deal whenever it happened, but the fact that it’s happening two weeks out from the election and will be decided by … appointees who nobody knows who they are yet, makes this a much more political fight than maybe it would have been if it had happened at another time.” Neither of the presidential hopefuls has spoken kindly of the proposal.

AT&T’s chief executive said that he couldn't "prejudge" whether the issue of so-called zero-rating, or providing customers with free data when they view certain content, would hold up the company’s acquisition of Time Warner. Randall Stephenson said that he “can’t prejudge any of this” when asked whether the use of zero-rating could be a problem in getting the deal approved by regulators. “I really don’t know — just going to have to get into the process, put the data out with regulators, and begin that effort, and the sausage will come out the way the sausage comes out,” he said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call.

Zero-rating programs have become controversial in recent years. They allow a carrier to provide free data usage to customers when they’re using a certain application or viewing specific content. The most prominent of these programs is T-Mobile’s Binge On, which allows customers to stream video from major services without it counting against their monthly allotment of data. But other companies, including AT&T, have tested offerings where companies can “sponsor” data usage. Some have speculated that zero-rating could become an issue as regulators consider whether to approve AT&T’s purchase of content giant Time Warner.

Government requests for Google user data rose slightly in the first half of 2016. Google said that it received 44,943 requests from government entities worldwide in the first six months of the year, up from 40,677 in the previous six month period. The requests affected 76,713 accounts — a decrease from the previous six months. The company said it had provided the authorities with some data in 64 percent of cases. That was the same rate as in the prior six months. For the first time, the company said, it had received requests from officials in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Belarus, El Salvador, Fiji and the Cayman Islands.