Policymakers

Representative John Lewis (D-GA), a son of sharecroppers and an apostle of nonviolence who was bloodied at Selma and across the Jim Crow South in the historic struggle for racial equality, and who then carried a mantle of moral authority into Congress, died on July 17. He was 80. On the front lines of the bloody campaign to end Jim Crow laws, with blows to his body and a fractured skull to prove it, Lewis was a valiant stalwart of the civil rights movement and the last surviving speaker from the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. 

The Internet Infrastructure Coalition (“i2Coalition”), the leading voice for web hosting companies, data centers, domain registrars and registries, cloud infrastructure providers, managed services providers and related tech, and The Domain Name Association (“DNA”), a nonprofit global business association that represents the interests of the domain name industry, have announced their intent to merge, forming the largest Internet infrastructure advocacy group in North America.

By this Public Notice, the Federal Communications Commission announces the anticipated renewal of its Disability Advisory Committee and solicits applications for membership on the Committee, subject to renewal of the Committee’s charter. Applications for membership are due by 11:59 P.M. EST on August 13, 2020. The mission of the Committee is to make recommendations to the FCC regarding disability issues specified by the FCC.

Michael Pack, the alt-right filmmaker installed by President Donald Trump to run US foreign broadcasting operations, remains on course to dismantle the independent journalism that has been their calling card. Apparently, Voice of America sources say Pack is refusing to renew the visas of foreign-born journalists who are vital to its mission of producing news reports in 47 languages. Pack has also frozen all VOA contracts, under which some 40 percent of its staff are employed.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is angering a lot of powerful people as his chairmanship hits its fourth and potentially final year. The Pentagon, the Commerce Department and the Department of Transportation. Electric utilities, airlines and the auto industry. Public safety officials and weather forecasters. Top lawmakers of both parties, including Sen John Kennedy (R-LA) an ally of President Donald Trump’s who controls the FCC’s purse strings on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

By this Public Notice, the Federal Communications Commission announces the anticipated renewal of the Consumer Advisory Committee and solicits nominations for membership on the Committee, subject to anticipated renewal of the Committee’s charter on or before October 20, 2020. Nominations for membership are due on August 7, 2020. The Committee’s mission is to make recommendations to the FCC regarding topics of particular interest to consumers, to be specified by the FCC, and to facilitate consumers’ participation in proceedings before the FCC.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that Ashley Boizelle will serve as Acting General Counsel for the FCC. Boizelle joined the FCC in 2017 as Deputy General Counsel for Administrative Law and has served as Deputy General Counsel for Litigation since 2019. Boizelle will serve as Acting General Counsel from July 13 to September 4, 2020, while General Counsel Thomas M. Johnson, Jr., is on paternity leave. Boizelle joined the FCC from the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

If Joe Biden wins the presidency, he’s promising at least one staffing change: firing the CEO of a US-funded global media agency who’s accused of trying to turn it into a propaganda shop aligned with President Donald Trump’s ideology. Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for the former vice president’s campaign, said Biden will oust Michael Pack from his Senate-confirmed position at the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) soon after entering the White House.

Growing up as a gay kid, one of the first ways I was able to better understand myself was by going on the Internet. I was able to look up queer history that I had never been taught in school, see political debates affecting the LGBTQ+ community that I was too nervous to engage in myself, and look for examples of out and proud LGBTQ+ folks who were living their lives to the fullest. It was the only safe method of engagement I had, until I was eventually ready to come out myself.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced a staff change in the management of the FCC’s Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force. Nathan Eagan, who has been the chief of the staff of the Task Force since 2018, has moved to the Office of General Counsel. Audra Hale-Maddox will become the new chief of staff for the Task Force. Since 2012, Hale-Maddox served in the Auctions Division of the FCC’s Office of Economics and Analytics (and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau before that), specializing in auction programs focused on expanding broadband access.