December 2016

Writing network neutrality legislation and broadly updating the Communications Act will be major priorities in the next Congress, top Republican and Democratic congressional aides said Dec 2. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) is “very interested” in working with Democrats to create legislation that would authorize the Federal Communications Commission to enforce looser net neutrality standards, David Quinalty, the committee's policy director, said at a Washington (DC) panel discussion with other Capitol Hill staffers. The FCC, meanwhile, is widely expected to roll back its existing net neutrality rules, passed on a party-line vote in 2015, during the next administration.

Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL) and House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) are open to working with their GOP counterparts on net neutrality legislation, aides for those panels said. Ranking Member Pallone would just have to be sure that any bill provides a “good deal for consumers,” David Goldman, the House committee Democrats' chief counsel, said.

Federal Communications Commission member Ajit Pai has spent much of the past three years being the FCC's Commissioner No, but he could soon find himself with a new role at the agency. As the most senior Republican, tradition makes Commissioner Pai the top choice to be acting chairman once the Trump administration gets underway - a position that would put him in charge of getting FCC proposals across the finish line instead of (often harshly) criticizing them. It could also be a test of Pai's word, as he has repeatedly demanded more bipartisanship at the agency and called for the text of proposals to be released before they get voted on -- two issues he would have control over as the agency's top dog.

[Commentary] There are an estimated 1.5 trillion objects around the world that could one day connect to the Internet, everything from simple housewares to automobiles. In the so-called Internet of Things, each of them will be capable of sending and receiving data just as our laptops, smartphones, tablets and TVs do today. But if Internet-connected wearables or smart home devices didn’t make your holiday shopping list this year, it may be because of growing concerns about how careless the makers seem to be with the data their devices collect.

If IoT manufacturers and programmers don’t collectively get their act together, they may find themselves forced to work with a one-size-fits-none set of rules passed and enforced at the leisurely pace of governments. That will surely slow already sluggish consumer adoption, and raise even more anxiety among potential IoT users.

[Larry Downes is a project director at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy]

Retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) urged the media to double their efforts as power changes hands in Washington during what may be his last press conference on Capitol Hill.

"Right now your work is more important than ever," Minority Leader Reid said, acknowledging that he may not address them again as Democratic leader. Referring to the proliferation of fake news stories that Democrats felt played a role in tipping the presidential election to Donald Trump, Minority Leader Reid said: "You have an extremely difficult responsibility now, and it’s more important than ever." “Taking tough questions from journalists is part of the job and I wish you all the very best, recognizing your burden at this stage of America is extremely heavy, and I wish you the very best in doing what you can to help our great country,” he said.