November 2019

House Commerce Committee Approves Handful of Broadband Bills

The House Commerce Committee approved a handful of bipartisan broadband and tech-related bills on a variety of topics, from broadband mapping and network security to freeing up spectrum. “Bills being favorably reported for a vote in the full House were: 

A Small Number, A Big Difference

The last Federal Communications Commission meeting of 2019, on December 12, features more than one item that could receive top billing in an ordinary month. The FCC will consider:

Trump campaign, spending furiously to counter impeachment inquiry, assails Facebook over potential changes to political ad rules

The Trump campaign lashed out at Facebook after company executives said they were considering changes to rules around political ads that could affect the campaign’s ability to target its supporters on the platform. The outcry came as Trump’s reelection team has undertaken a massive spending blitz on Facebook aimed at countering the House’s impeachment inquiry. Trump’s page alone promoted more than $830,000 worth of ads in the seven days ending on Nov 17, according to Facebook’s ad archive.

Cities and states take up the battle for an open internet

States and local governments may be able to mandate their own network neutrality rules. Governors in six states – HI, MT, NJ, NY, RI, and VT – have already signed executive orders enforcing net neutrality by prohibiting state agencies from doing business with internet service providers that limit customers’ online access. Four states have passed their own laws requiring internet companies to treat all online content equally: CA, OR, WA, and VT.