Lobbying

A Dig Once Law Could Have Save the US $126 Billion in Broadband Deployment Costs

Telecom experts have long pushed for a “dig once” law that would mandate the installation of fiber conduit during roadway construction and upgrades. A new study by BroadbandNow states that passing “dig once” legislation could have saved the US $126 billion in broadband deployment costs. Dig once legislation has been routinely proposed since 1996 by a rotating crop of lawmakers, but the legislation rarely goes anywhere.

Facebook, Amazon set lobbying records

Facebook and Amazon both set quarterly records for federal lobbying over the last three months, leading a pack of large tech companies that are increasingly under siege in Washington. Each company spent a little more than $4 million on lobbying in the second quarter, the first time either firm has spent that much on their influence operations in the capital. Google, which has also seen its fortunes change in Washington, spent just $2.9 million in the second quarter — the least it’s spent on lobbying since 2011.

Sponsor: 

Blandin Foundation

Date: 
Tue, 10/08/2019 - 14:00 to Thu, 10/10/2019 - 22:00

Broadband access today is as varied as communities across Minnesota. Some enjoy a gig, others are working hard for any service, and the rest are somewhere in between. This conference is for all communities, regardless of where they are on the spectrum – because we’ve learned that having broadband isn’t enough. It takes inspiration, encouragement and guidance to reap the full benefits. We’ll be talking about how to make the most of what you’ve got and/or get more.

This year’s conference will shine a light on local broadband heroes as well as look at several aspects of broadband:



Senator Warren, Rep Jayapal Investigate Reports that FCC Advisory Council is Dominated by Industry Insiders

Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, requesting more information about reports that the FCC's Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) may be inappropriately dominated by industry insiders.

Like Politics, All Broadband Policy Is Local

Even though community broadband has proven itself incredibly valuable and viable, broadband is taking a beating in some areas of the country thanks to what has become a siege against municipal broadband by the large telecommunication incumbents, including AT&T, Comcast, and others.

Google Axes Lobbyists Amid Growing Government Scrutiny

Google has fired about a half-dozen of its largest lobbying firms as part of a major overhaul of its global government affairs and policy operations amid the prospect of greater government scrutiny of its businesses. In the past few months, the company has shaken up its roster of lobbying firms, restructured its Washington policy team, and lost two senior officials who helped build its influence operation into one of the largest in the nation’s capital. The firms Google has dumped make up about half of the company’s more than $20 million annual lobbying bill.

Industry Influence on an FCC Advisory Panel

After high-tech phone network outages hit major US cities in 1991, the Federal Communications Commission chartered an advisory group to help the agency troubleshoot emerging technology issues. Yet instead of helping solve problems, this industry-dominated group has at times been a barrier to strengthening the security of America’s communications. 

Full Lobbying Ahead on 5G

Amid public sparring in Trumpworld about how best to advance next-generation wireless technology, the issue has been a field day for federal lobbyists. Some 50 tech and telecom firms lobbied on 5G issues in the first stretch of 2019, more than double the number over the same period in 2018. The Chamber of Commerce and Qualcomm were the top-spending 5G advocates during the first quarter.

Trump 5G Fighter Heads to Fox

The White House is losing a champion of the free-market approach to 5G to the new Fox Corporation’s Washington office. Gail Slater, a special assistant to the president on tech, telecom, and cybersecurity, will leave her role in the administration and join Fox as a senior vice president of policy and strategy. Slater was on the front lines in a fight between administration officials and Trump allies over the future of 5G networks.

Columbus, Mississippi, Network Quashed Courtesy of Big Cable and Telecom Lobby

Local communities in the state of Mississippi have the legal authority to develop publicly owned Internet networks and offer broadband, or any other utility, to the general public. When it comes to bonding in order to financing deployment for broadband infrastructure, however, the law isn’t as cut and dry. In order to stay on the right side of the law, the community of Columbus (MS) decided to obtain permission from the state legislature to issue bonds for a $2.75 million expansion of their existing fiber optic network.

Tech Lobbying By the Numbers

The deadline for first quarter lobbying disclosures came and went on April 22. Internet firms have posted record-high figures in recent years and that was true again for some firms. Amazon, for instance, spent its largest sum ever in a single quarter at $3.89 million.

Free Speech Puts U.S. on ‘a Collision Course’ With Global Limits on Big Tech

When Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook called for regulating harmful internet content in an op-ed, Republicans in Washington expressed outrage that he was calling on the government to regulate speech. Within hours, the company’s top lobbyists started spreading another message to conservatives: Don’t take his suggestion too seriously. The operatives said Zuckerberg was not encouraging new limits on speech in the United States.

Big Tech's shifting lobbying army

The fast-evolving internet ecosystem is changing how tech companies form alliances to lobby policy-makers in Washington. Lines are blurring or becoming more stark among different tech, media, and telecommunication companies. Telecom companies are producing content, while platform companies are exploring new services like internet connections. That means sectors are no longer staying in their lanes, and regulatory scrutiny is shifting. Comcast and AT&T, both telecom powers, are now the owners of members of the Motion Picture Association of America.

FCC “consumer advisory” panel includes ALEC, big foe of municipal broadband

A committee that advises the Federal Communications Commission on consumer-related matters now includes a representative of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which lobbies against municipal broadband, net neutrality, and other consumer protection measures. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced his Consumer Advisory Committee's new makeup on April 10. One new member is Jonathon Hauenschild, director of ALEC's Task Force on Communications and Technology.

Big Tech Lobbying Gutted an Illinois Bill That Would Ban Recording You Without Consent

An Ilinois bill that sought to empower average people to file lawsuits against tech companies for recording them without their knowledge via microphone-enabled devices was defanged this week after lobbying from trade associations representing Silicon Valley giants. On April 10, the Illinois State Senate passed the Keep Internet Devices Safe Act, a bill that would ban manufacturers of devices that can record audio from doing so remotely without disclosing it to the customer.

How Google Influences the Conversation in Washington

Google, a shrewd Washington player, has shifted into overdrive and adapted its approach as calls to regulate Big Tech have grown louder. A person familiar with Google’s strategy for influencing public debate says the company generally doesn’t seek to change experts’ thinking but, rather, to underwrite their time and encourage them to be more vocal on issues important to Google. Google may pre-vet op-eds and ask that certain statements be made stronger or weaker, which seems small but ends up having a big impact, the person said.

Former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn to Lead New INCOMPAS Initiative

INCOMPAS CEO Chip Pickering announced that former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn would be leading a new campaign on behalf of the trade association to focus on boosting technology innovation and inclusion in America’s heartland. 

Show Chairman Wicker the Money

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) is slated to participate in a fundraiser hosted by the telecommunications industry on Feb. 26 — the evening before the panel holds the hearing on privacy issues that are a point of contention between telecom and internet companies. The political action committees for AT&T and US Telecom are listed as hosts. Entry starts at $1,500 for individual guests, $2,500 to attend as a sponsor and $5,000 to co-host.

Sprint Withdraws From INCOMPAS

Sprint is withdrawing from tech and telecom trade group Incompas, of which Sprint is a founding member after Incompas publicly came out against the company’s proposed merger with T-Mobile. “Given this fundamental shift toward protecting incumbents from a new competitive threat, Sprint can no longer be a member of this organization,” said Sprint’s Charles McKee, who also resigned from Incompas’ board of directors as part of the move.

Inside the lobbying war over California’s landmark privacy law

A landmark law adopted in California in 2018 to rein in the data-collection practices of Facebook, Google and other tech giants has touched off a lobbying blitz that could water it down, potentially undermining new protections that might apply to Internet users across the country. The fight between regulation-wary businesses and privacy watchdogs centers on CA's first-in-the-nation online privacy rules, known as the California Consumer Privacy Act.

T-Mobile gains a powerful ally hiring a former FCC commissioner to ‘advise’ on its Sprint merger

At a time of dysfunction in Washington, there’s at least one thing in this town that still runs like butter: The revolving door. Barely eight months after stepping down from the Federal Communications Commission, Mignon Clyburn has announced T-Mobile is paying her for advice on the company’s $26 billion merger with Sprint. The former commissioner won’t be lobbying for the deal, nor will she be visiting her old colleagues at the FCC.

Data Broker That Sold Phone Locations Used by Bounty Hunters Lobbied FCC to Scrap User Consent

Earlier in Jan it was reported how T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint were selling cell phone users’ location data that ultimately ended up in the hands of bounty hunters and people unauthorized to handle it. That data trickled down from the telecommunications giants through a complex network of middlemen and data brokers. One of those third parties was Zumigo, a company that gets location data access directly from the telecom companies and then sells it for a profit.

How the "big tech" colossus is splitting

For several years it has made sense, in some quarters, to lump together the tech giants — chiefly Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon, sometimes also including Netflix or Microsoft. But talking about "big tech" is beginning to offer diminishing returns. Many of these companies banded together in 2012 for lobbying purposes as the Internet Association, and they have long shared a set of common regulatory interests in managing their platforms and services with little government oversight. But as privacy regulation of some kind looks more inevitable, their interests are more likely to diverge.

Net Neutrality Fight Made Allies of Wireless Industry, Conservative Dark Money Organizations

A pair of telecommunications industry trade organizations gave more than $3 million to nonprofit organizations that helped secure the repeal of network neutrality policies in 2017, according to tax returns reviewed by MapLight.