Upcoming policy issue

An exacting look at Judge Brett Kavanaugh's judicial record is crucial to understand where he stands on issues of critical importance to the American people. In one such case, United States Telecom Association. v. FCC, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals was called upon to review the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality regulations from 2015.

Google is drawing fire from the privacy community for quietly tracking the location of smartphone users -- even when they took specific steps to prevent the tech giant from doing so. Google services on Android devices and iPhones stored users’ location data even if they turned off the setting known as “Location History.”  The move could bring the company new attention from lawmakers. Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has already spoken out, saying on Twitter, "Google’s relentless obsession with following our every movement is encroaching  & creepy.

Sinclair Broadcasting has a right to establish that that they did not engage in “misrepresentations and/or lack of candor”—an assertion by the Federal Communications Commission—in matters related to its $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media. The FCC has designated the matter for an administrative hearing before an administrative law judge. That hearing must go forward. The character of the licensee is an important component in determining whether the party is a fit trustee for the public’s airwaves.

Sen. Mark Warner’s proposals to regulate social media platforms are by far the most ambitious to come from Congress.  Here, three experts discuss the pros and cons: 1) Beton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate Gigi Sohn. She is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy. 2) Daniel Crane, an antitrust law expert and the Frederick Paul Furth Sr. Professor of Law at the University of Michigan. 3) Hal Singer, an antitrust economist and senior fellow of the George Washington Institute of Public Policy.

California should reject requests by industry groups to water down the state's new privacy law, a coalition of 20 advocacy groups said in a new letter to lawmakers. "The sky is not falling, as industry suggests," said the ACLU of California, Berkeley Media Studies Group, Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge and other advocacy groups. "The law and its particulars do not pose a threat to the California economy," they write.

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing to maintain the US broadband standard at the current level of 25Mbps downstream and 3Mbps upstream. That's the speed standard the FCC uses each year to determine whether advanced telecommunications capabilities are "being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion." FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel has called on the FCC to raise it, but a new proceeding launched at the FCC this week proposes keeping the standard the same for another year.

The Department of Justice believes three national 5G wireless providers are needed to ensure robust competition, a position that provides a big boost to the proposed $26.5 billion merger of Sprint and T-Mobile. The No. 3 and No. 4 wireless carriers have said they don’t have the finances independently to quickly bankroll an expensive rollout of the next generation in wireless technology — leaving just Verizon and AT&T to offer a 5G network.

Tech companies are assessing their roles in protecting their users as officials in Washington debate whether the government should take a firmer hand in safeguarding Americans’ privacy.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai circulated for a vote by his fellow commissioners an Order to extend by 90 days the window to file challenges to the eligibility map for the upcoming Mobility Fund Phase II broadband auction. Mobility Fund Phase II will award, via a reverse auction, up to $4.53 billion to support deployment of 4G LTE mobile service where it is now lacking. The challenge process is one part of the Commission’s efforts to ensure that these limited funds are targeted to areas that lack unsubsidized 4G LTE service.

A tech industry source close to Trump administration’s push to come up with some sort of national privacy policy fills us in on the scheduling nitty-gritty. The White House is expected to issue a set of draft rules in late summer or early fall at the latest. The draft will be opened up for comment, possibly via a formal Commerce Department request for information. From there, legislation is a possibility, though not the only one on the table. If it seems like the privacy push is moving at an expedited pace, there’s a reason for that. In a word, Privacy Shield.