Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D-NY) proposed advancing statewide net neutrality protections. As part of this proposal, the Governor will introduce legislation to prevent the blocking, throttling and paid prioritization of online content — practices that undermine a free and open internet. The legislation will also prohibit so-called "zero-rating" practices, which penalize consumers for accessing content or applications that are not preferred by their internet provider. The legislation will also codify into law Governor Cuomo's 2018 Executive Order mandating that state government entities may not enter into contracts with internet service providers unless they follow net neutrality principles. The proposed legislation will empower the State Department of Public Service to hold mobile and fixed internet providers accountable to these nation-leading consumer protections and ensure transparency in this industry. The bill will require internet service providers to disclose their network management practices to the public. Service providers will also be required to annually certify their compliance with New York's net neutrality rules. The Department of Public Service will be empowered to investigate and fine providers who violate these provisions. End users of these services would be authorized to hold companies to account through the judicial system as well, as the legislation would allow for a private right of action against any company violating net neutrality provisions.

As the $26 billion blockbuster merger between T-Mobile and Sprint teetered this summer, Makan Delrahim, the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, labored to rescue it behind the scenes, according to text messages revealed in a lawsuit to block the deal. Delrahim connected company executives with the Federal Communications Commission and members of Congress. And he gave executives insight into the thinking of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who would also have to approve the merger. He is “open and willing” to discussions about the deal, Delrahim said in one text message in June, a month before regulators blessed the transaction. The text messages show that he played a crucial role in bringing together top executives of T-Mobile, Sprint and another company, Dish, for negotiations. The Justice Department has said it would not have approved the merger without the emergence of another competitor like Dish.

Almost 20% of Americans are still on 3G networks – even as many of these networks face decommissioning next year, according to Opensignal. Only 4.1% of the approximately 30 million Americans who still use 3G do not have a 4G-capable device. This is “unsurprising,” according to Opensignal, because most carriers have sold nothing but 4G-capable phones for years as a way to accelerate the move of subscribers away from older networks. In all, 83% of users still served by 3G have 4G-capable devices but do not have a 4G plan. This was apparent because this percentage of 3G users with 4G-capable devices who visited areas with available 4G networks didn’t use them. This indicates that these subscribers don’t have 4G rate plans and thus no option to use the network. Some operators don’t advertise 3G-only plans but allow subscribers to keep them until they upgrade.

Over the past eighteen months, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) have helped shape both the interest and scope of privacy legislation on Capitol Hill. Some of these reasons are legal or practical: a federal privacy law could help the US meet GDPR adequacy requirements for international data transfers, and either supplement or preempt state privacy laws such as the CCPA. Other reasons are moral- or principle-based: the GDPR and CCPA have both helped heighten public awareness of online data collection and processing, and federal privacy legislation could help establish US leadership on privacy.

In addition, the GDPR and CCPA each set benchmarks against which Congress can compare and consider privacy provisions. For example, many federal bills echo the GDPR and CCPA by including rights for individuals to access, modify, delete, and export data. Some also go above these requirements; Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) recently released bill proposals that place stricter limitations on algorithmic decision-making, biometric data, and data minimization, beyond what the CCPA currently provides. How Europe and California regulate data privacy has enormous implications for the US; it is no small matter that EU countries are collectively the largest US trading partner and that CA makes up approximately 14 percent of US GDP. Accordingly, both the GDPR and CCPA offer guidelines and lessons as Congress considers how to promote the consumer benefits of data use (e.g., low-costs, convenience, innovation, and customization) while also create parameters for businesses to minimize privacy risks.

The Senate passed the Television Viewer Protection Act (TVPA) and the Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019, two bills that orginated in the House. The compromise bills make the retransmission good faith negotiation mandate for broadcasters and pay-TV providers permanent and sunsets the every-five-year renewal of the satellite distant signal compulsory license, which was most recently renewed in 2014 as STELAR, the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act. Some satellite customers could lose access to TV station signals when the current law sunsets Dec. 31, but it is unclear how many. 

When Amazon confirmed it was planning to launch 3,236 broadband internet-beaming satellites into low-Earth orbit, much of the media reported it as if it were a done deal—the latest, inevitable step in the corporation’s quest to conquer commerce, the cloud, and beyond. Amazon officials said the massive satellite constellation, called Project Kuiper, would one day provide low-latency, high-speed broadband to tens of millions of underserved people around the world, no doubt also connecting them to the wide world of Amazon offerings. But before Project Kuiper can launch, it must receive approval from the Federal Communications Commission to operate within a certain frequency spectrum. In an application filed this July, Amazon requested a special waiver to FCC rules that would grant it the necessary permission. The problem, though, is that the FCC already handed out licenses to that spectrum years ago to nine other satellite internet companies in a different, more complicated process. Those companies—including SpaceX and OneWeb—are now lobbying the FCC to deny Amazon’s waiver request, according to FCC records. If successful, they could significantly reduce Project Kuiper’s viability in an already oversaturated market.