John McKinnon

Once Again, Court Overturns FCC Changes in Media-Ownership Rules

The Third US Circuit Court of Appeals threw out changes to broadcast media ownership rules approved by the Federal Communications Commission in 2017, saying the agency should have looked more closely at potential impacts on minority ownership. The court  said it agreed with public-interest groups that “the Commission did not adequately consider the effect its sweeping rule changes will have on ownership of broadcast media by women and racial minorities.” The court will vacate and remand “the bulk of” the FCC’s actions over the last three years for further consideration by the agency.

US Antitrust Enforcers Signal Discord Over Probes of Big Tech

Bad blood between the the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department's antitrust division -- entities investigating the giants of the tech industry -- has grown more intense with the delivery of a letter from one agency to the other that might be considered the equivalent of a brushback pitch. Both agencies assert authority to investigate whether US companies are violating antitrust law by squeezing out competition.

States to Launch Google, Facebook Antitrust Probes

State attorneys general are formally launching separate antitrust probes into Facebook and Alphabet’s Google unit starting the week of Sept 9, putting added pressure on tech giants already under federal scrutiny. New York Attorney General Letitia James said that her office was organizing a bipartisan, multi-state probe into social media company Facebook. “We will use every investigative tool at our disposal to determine whether Facebook’s actions may have endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumers’ choices, or increased the price of advertising,” she said.

FTC Antitrust Probe of Facebook Scrutinizes Its Acquisitions

Apparently, the Federal Trade Commission is examining Facebook’s acquisitions as part of its antitrust investigation into the social-media giant—to determine if they were part of a campaign to snap up potential rivals before they could become a threat. Facebook disclosed the FTC’s antitrust investigation in its earnings announcement recently, but provided few details.

Facebook Worries Emails Could Show Zuckerberg Knew of Questionable Privacy Practices

Apparently, Facebook uncovered emails that appear to connect Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to potentially problematic privacy practices at the company. Within the company, the unearthing of the emails in the process of responding to a continuing federal privacy investigation has raised concerns that they would be harmful to Facebook—at least from a public-relations standpoint—if they were to become public. The potential impact of the internal emails has been a factor in the tech giant’s desire to reach a speedy settlement of the investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.

States Add to Scrutiny on Google, Facebook, Other Big Tech

State attorneys general are preparing for their own investigations into big tech platforms including Google and Facebook, based on concerns that largely mirror those driving probes by the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and Congress. Several state attorneys general and aides said a core group of AGs has been discussing how to address antitrust-related concerns around big tech companies for some months.

FTC Gets Jurisdiction for Possible Facebook Antitrust Probe

The Federal Trade Commission will lead any antitrust investigation into Facebook under an arrangement that gives the Justice Department chief oversight of Alphabet's Google, as the US government gears up for scrutiny of the country’s major tech companies over competition concerns. The Justice Department and FTC now have established that each is responsible for antitrust issues for two of the Big Four tech companies: the Justice Department has authority over Google and Apple, while the FTC has oversight of Facebook and Amazon.

NTIA Director David Redl Resigns

David Redl, assistant secretary for communications and information in the Commerce Department, abruptly resigned, days after criticizing US 5G policy in a speech. Redl, who headed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, had clashed with Trump administration colleagues over a range of issues related to 5G rollout, including federal policy for allocating airwaves. The conflicts within the Administration occasionally had played out on Capitol Hill in recent weeks.

Looming Facebook Fine Points to a Tougher Cop on the Tech Beat

The Federal Trade Commission’s coming resolution of its yearlong investigation of alleged privacy lapses at Facebook looms as a defining moment for US policy on consumer data, one with lasting ramifications for companies that collect it. A large penalty could serve as an important warning shot, particularly for tech firms that are already operating under FTC consent decrees from past missteps.

Americans Hate Social Media but Can’t Give It Up, WSJ/NBC News Poll Finds

Americans have a paradoxical attachment to the social-media platforms that have transformed communication, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds, saying they regard services such as Facebook to be divisive and a threat to privacy but continue to use them daily. Across age groups and political ideologies, adults in the survey said they held a negative view of the effects of social media—even though 70% use such services at least once a day.

Partisan Rift Threatens Federal Data-Privacy Law

In 2018, Congress set the stage to pass a sweeping consumer data-privacy law in 2019, but prospects for legislation are dimming amid sharpening divides among lawmakers over how far the federal government should go in reining in Big Tech. Silicon Valley and its Republican allies are pushing for a national standard that would override state regulations—including California’s landmark 2018 law, which broadens the definition of personal information and gives consumers the right to prevent their data from being sold.

President Trump Preparing Plan to Boost AI, 5G Technology

President Donald Trump is preparing an ambitious plan to ramp up the government’s role in speeding next-generation technologies such as 5G wireless and artificial intelligence, two key areas of competition with China. Administration officials say the president is preparing to issue a series of executive orders aimed at boosting the US strength in advanced technology.

Facebook, Twitter Turn to Right-Leaning Groups to Help Referee Political Speech

The world’s biggest social-media companies, under fire for failing to police content on their sites, have invited an array of outside groups to help them figure out who should be banned and what’s considered unacceptable. That solution is creating a new set of problems—public fights, complaints and legal battles. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have made a concerted push to seek out input from hundreds of groups, a growing number of which lean to the right. The companies have become receptive to behind-the-scenes lobbying as well.

Postal Service Review Proposes Sweeping Changes Likely to Hit Amazon

A Treasury-led task force is proposing that the US Postal Service charge more for certain package deliveries, going after Amazon and other online retailers that President  Donald Trump has said benefit at the post office’s expense. The task force’s report recommends:

Department of Justice Sues Over California Net-Neutrality Law

The Justice Department responded almost immediately to Gov Jerry Brown (D-CA) signing net neutrality legislation with a lawsuit seeking to overturn the law. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that the federal government, not the states, should oversee the internet, and California had “enacted an extreme and illegal state law attempting to frustrate federal policy.” In response to the Justice Department suit, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said, “While the Trump Administration continues to ignore the millions of Americans who voiced strong support for net-neutrality rules, Calif

Google CEO Sundar Pichai to Meet With Top GOP Lawmakers on Sept 28

Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai plans to appear at a private meeting of top GOP lawmakers on Sept 28 and again at a public hearing later in 2018, responding to new scrutiny of the company’s work with China, its market power and alleged bias against conservatives in its search results.  “Google has a lot of questions to answer about reports of bias in its search results, violations of user privacy, anticompetitive behavior and business dealings with repressive regimes like China,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is organizing Sept 28’s meeting.

Google Workers Discussed Tweaking Search Function to Counter Travel Ban

Days after the Trump administration instituted a controversial Muslim travel ban in January 2017, Google employees discussed ways they might be able to tweak the company’s search-related functions to show users how to contribute to pro-immigration organizations and contact lawmakers and government agencies, according to internal company emails.

How Amazon Became One of Washington’s Most Powerful Players

When Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com Inc more than two decades ago, he sought to keep the online bookstore away from the government’s reach. He has said he looked into placing its headquarters on an Indian reservation as a tax-saving strategy. That was then. Today, Amazon, whose revenues in 2017 topped $177 billion, has become deeply entwined with the federal government. Bezos has built one of the largest lobbying operations in Washington, bigger than those of powerhouses such as Exxon Mobile and Walmart.

US, Tech Firms Warn Against ICANN’s Privacy Tightening

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), the global body that oversees internet domain names, is preparing a significant tightening of its privacy standards in response to new European Union policies. The US government and some major American tech businesses warn the move, which is expected to be adopted within the next couple of months, will threaten their ability to track down bad actors on the internet. Investigators have long used the online tracking information to determine where malevolent activity on the internet originates.

Mobile-Wireless Market Might Be Our Post Net-Neutrality World

With the rules governing internet services set to be rolled back this week, service providers and their detractors are envisioning new models that could translate into a wider range of fees—both lower and higher. The current rules, expected to be all but eliminated by the Federal Communications Commission, require that internet service providers treat all traffic on their networks equally, a concept known as net neutrality.

Trump Takeaway on Tech: Enforcement Over Regulation

Over just two days this week, the Trump administration has both sued AT&T to block its planned takeover of Time Warner and proposed allowing internet-service providers—like AT&T—to form closer alliances with content companies, like Time Warner. The two government moves seem to go in opposite directions, on the one hand restricting a major telecommunications merger and on the other giving internet providers broad new powers to shape their customers’ online experiences.

FCC to Outline Plan to Roll Back Net-Neutrality Rules

Federal regulators are expected to unveil their plans for reversing Obama-era rules that require internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally, a move that could fundamentally reshape the internet economy and consumers’ online experience. The changes, expected to be adopted at the Federal Communications Commission meeting in mid-December, would open the door to a wide range of new opportunities for internet providers, such as forming alliances with content firms to serve up their webpages or video at higher speeds and quality than those without such deals.  Such “paid prioriti

Google’s Dominance in Washington Faces a Reckoning

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, made a big bet on Hillary Clinton winning the 2016 presidential election. Employees donated $1.6 million to her campaign, about 80% more than the amount given by workers at any other corporation, and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt helped set up companies to analyze political data for the campaign. Schmidt even wore a badge labeled “STAFF” at Mrs. Clinton’s election-night bash. His support of the losing side didn’t go unnoticed among the victors.

FCC Clears CenturyLink-Level 3 Combination

CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications' proposed merger cleared its last government hurdle nearly a year after the two telecommunications companies announced their combination. The Federal Communications Commission approved the deal after similar nods by state regulators and the Department of Justice earlier in 2017. Worth $25 billion when it was announced in 2016, the deal’s close was delayed for weeks as regulators took their time to review its competitive effects.