The Senate has confirmed Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Rohit Chopra to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. With Chopra leaving and President Biden’s replacement pick, Alvaro Bedoya, in limbo, FTC Chair Lina Khan will no longer have a Democratic majority.
Wireless competition is getting better and worse in the US. T-Mobile’s energetic rural push will bring stronger competition to hundreds of small markets and will keep affordable prepaid services within reach of many rural residents. Yet while T-Mobile’s rural push is largely from scratch, it is partly derived by cannibalizing Sprint. AT&T is also making a major network push in rural areas, which centers around its FirstNet effort. FirstNet uses low 700 MHz spectrum, so its signal travels far. The carrier is building out more than 1,000 purpose-built FirstNet sites.
Great Plains Communications purchased Kearney (NE) based USA Communications and expanded its fiber network into areas of Nebraska and Colorado. Great Plains now has a fiber network touching 13 states and spanning more than 13,500 miles. USA Communications has been in business since 1995 and provides fiber connectivity to business and residential customers in parts of both Nebraska and Colorado; Great Plains said it plans to initially focus on expanding USA Communications’ fiber network to more homes and businesses in Kearney, Grand Island and other Nebraska communities.
This hearing is the second in a series examining the growing urgency to protect consumer privacy and safeguard our data, as well as the need to ensure the Federal Trade Commission is equipped with the authorities and resources to fight digital harms and hold bad actors accountable for increasing privacy violations, data breaches, internet scams, ransomware assaults and other harmful data abuses.
Recent Wall Street Journal investigations have revealed troubling insights regarding how Instagram affects teenagers, how it handles children onto the platform, and other consumer protection matters related to Facebook. The hearing will provide an opportunity for a Facebook whistleblower to discuss their perspective and experience with the Subcommittee, including how to update children’s privacy regulations and other laws to protect consumers online.
Sens Edward Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep Kathy Castor (D-FL) reintroduced the Kids Internet Design and Safety (KIDS) Act (S.2918) to stop online practices such as manipulative marketing, amplification of harmful content, and damaging design features, which threaten young people online.
There's a gap right now between what 5G phones can do and what US 5G networks can do. Both Verizon and AT&T absolutely flatlined on performance between 2020 and 2021, and despite 5G being around for over two years, carriers are letting us down. There are a number of answers for why this is happening; we're still reeling from former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai's mistakes. Pai didn’t prioritize making mid-band spectrum available for 5G, and that set us back by at least a year.
South Korean Internet service provider SK Broadband (SK) has sued Netflix to pay for costs from increased network traffic and maintenance work because of a surge of viewers.
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