Sen Ed Markey (D-MA)

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent a letter to Facebook demanding information about new evidence that the company knowingly manipulated children into spending their parents’ money without permission while playing games on Facebook. Recent findings uncovered by The Center for Investigative Reporting show that Facebook personnel had direct knowledge that children were spending large sums of their parents’ money on in-app purchases without parental knowledge or permission. Specific design features and default settings fostered this practice.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA), author of the Children’s Television Act, led eight of this colleagues in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to maintain essential elements of the “Kid Vid” rules, which ensure access to children’s education programming on over-the-air broadcast television, in accordance with the Children’s Television Act. In the letter, the Sens highlight the need to preserve existing rules requiring broadcasters to air three hours of regularly scheduled educational children’s programming a week on their primary stations.

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent letters to AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile after a recent study revealed the companies were slowing down certain services on their networks. “All online traffic should be treated equally, and internet service providers should not discriminate against particular content or applications for competitive advantage purposes or otherwise,” write the Sens in their letters. The Senators ask for responses to questions that include:

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA), Tom Udall (D-NM), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called on the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into new evidence of manipulative marketing practices in apps directed at children. A new study recently published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics reveals numerous instances of children’s games using advertising techniques that appear to constitute unfair and deceptive practices under Section V of the FTC Act.

Following reports that the New York State Attorney General has issued subpoenas in its investigation into millions of fraudulent comments submitted to the Federal Communications Commission, Sens Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Ed Markey (D-MA), wrote the FCC Inspector General to urge him to open an investigation into the agency’s handling of potential fraud in the net neutrality rule-making process.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) led ten of his colleagues in expressing concerns about the Federal Communication Commission proposal to alter the terms of governing agreements between Local Franchising Authorities (LFA) and cable operators. Currently, towns and cities across the country are permitted to require as part of cable franchise agreements that cable operators meet demonstrated community needs by setting aside channels for public, educational, or governmental (PEG) stations.

Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA-18) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission demanding an explanation for reports that Verizon throttled the Santa Clara County Fire Department’s ‘unlimited’ data plan during the Mendocino Complex Fire. In their letter, the lawmakers ask what steps the FCC is taking to address such critical threats to public safety in the wake its decision to repeal strong net neutrality rules.

Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission commissioners expressing concern that Facebook violated a 2011 consent decree with the Commission.

When Chairmen Thune and Upton released their draft net neutrality bill in 2015, I called it a legislative wolf in sheep’s clothing, offering select few safeguards while taking away the FCC’s future authority over broadband. Congresswoman Blackburn’s bill is even worse. This legislation doesn’t just rip authority away from the FCC to protect consumers, it goes further to undermine the very spirit of net neutrality by allowing broadband providers to establish internet fast and slow lanes.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) and 15 other Sens announced their plan to introduce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would undo Dec 14's action by the Federal Communications Commission and restore the 2015 net neutrality rules.