The House Commerce Committee has favorably, and unanimously, reported a trio of broadband-related bills to the full House for a vote, as well as a pirate radio bill that attempts to keep ad dollars out of pockets of those broadcast brigands.
US District Court Judge Richard Leon’s decision to approve the AT&T-TimeWarner merger was a horse-and-buggy decision utterly blind to the realities of the twenty-first-century economy. His magnum opus means that one of the largest internet service providers is permitted to merge with one of the largest TV and film companies, thereby creating a powerful entity controlling the content and distribution of some of the most important programming in the market. Marrying content and carriage creates gatekeepers with every incentive to favor their own services at the expense of their competito
Apparently, the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Facebook adequately warned investors that developers and other third parties may have obtained users’ data without their permission or in violation of Facebook’s policies. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s probe of the social-media company, first reported in early July 2018, follows revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a data-analytics firm that had ties to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, got access to information on millions of Facebook users.
Recent congressional hearings and data breaches have prompted more legislators and business leaders to say the time for broad federal privacy legislation has come. Cameron Kerry presents the case for adoption of a baseline framework to protect consumer privacy in the US. Kerry explores a growing gap between existing laws and an information Big Bang that is eroding trust. He suggests that recent privacy bills have not been ambitious enough, and points to the Obama administration’s Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights as a blueprint for future legislation.
According to some of the nation’s top Wall Street analysts, wireless network operators are positioned to reap the financial benefits of a relatively quiet first half of 2018.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the August Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 2, 2018:
The Federal Communications Commission adopted an Order creating a more uniform set of procedural rules designed to improve formal complaint proceedings handled by the Enforcement Bureau. The Order streamlines and consolidates the procedural rules governing formal complaints against common carriers, formal complaints regarding pole attachments, and formal complaints concerning the accessibility of telecommunications and advanced communications services and equipment for people with disabilities.
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