Upcoming policy issue

Senate Democrats believe net neutrality is a political winner as they try to reinstate regulations

One after another, 15 Democratic senators — nearly a third of their caucus — stepped to a microphone on Capitol Hill to call for tough rules to protect net neutrality. The turnout, which included Senate Democratic leader Charles E.

The Sprint and T-Mobile Merger Will Test the Department of Justice's Mettle

[Commentary] Is our government bound by the rule of law or the rule of President Trump? The Department of Justice's Antitrust Division must consider this question. Here's why. There is a two-part, simple legal standard for deciding whether the proposed combination of Sprint and T-Mobile should be allowed. Would it harm competition in such a way that consumers would suffer?

Your Favorite Websites are Rallying in a Last-Ditch Effort to Save Net Neutrality

You might be seeing a lot of red on the internet May 9. Many sites, including Etsy, Reddit, and OKCupid will adorn their pages with “red alerts” asking readers to tell their representatives to save net neutrality.

The battle lines are being drawn in T-Mobile/Sprint merger

T-Mobile appears to be rallying former regulators and legislators to its side, while some congressional Democrats and some public interest groups are formulating their arguments against the deal. Sitting in the middle are the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice, which must sign off on the transaction. It’s unclear how those agencies might act on the deal: Although most observers see the Trump administration as favorable to big businesses, the DoJ filed a lawsuit against AT&T’s attempts to purchase Time Warner.

How voters lost the freedom to access the campaign website of their choice

[Commentary] The Senate may soon be voting on net neutrality. The net neutrality debate is driven in part by the fact that Internet service providers (ISPs) have the technical ability and financial incentive to act as gatekeepers, picking winners and losers in the Internet marketplace. Perhaps an ISP will favor a particular airline reservation website or an online newspaper by blocking access to its competitors, or simply by making access to competitors’ content painfully slow.

Sprint and T-Mobile CEOs Are in Washington to Sell Their Merger. Here’s What They’ll Confront.

Here’s what three government agencies will weigh as they consider the T-Mobile/Sprint merger.

Why Republicans Can't Vote For Net Neutrality CRA

[Op-ed] There is considerable confusion about what’s really at stake in the congressional debates over net neutrality and online privacy regulation.

AT&T and cable lobby are terrified of a California net neutrality bill

Internet service providers celebrated  when the Federal Communications Commission voted to eliminate nationwide net neutrality rules that prohibit blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. But now Internet service providers in California are terrified that they could end up facing even stricter rules being considered by the California legislature.

Knowledge Gap Hinders Ability of Congress to Regulate Silicon Valley

With bipartisan agreement, members of Congress said that Silicon Valley needed to be reined in with new regulations. But time and again, when the most pressing issues have landed on Capitol Hill — like gun violence, school shootings, immigration and border control — Congress has declared five-alarm fires only to fail to follow through on major legislation. The current zest for new privacy laws is also likely to stall as lawmakers wrestle with the technical complexities and constitutional vexations sure to emerge with any legislation to control content on the internet. Beyond the typical pol

Is Facebook a 'Bug' in Our Democracy? Part 1

[Analysis] Is it time to recognize that Facebook, and ‘Big Tech’ at large, may be a bug in our democracy? The Cambridge Analytica story reveals the harmful effects of business models that rely on massive data collection. What is lost is our privacy, contributing to the declining health of our democratic discourse. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged the massive data comprise in an apologetic media tour. For many, Zuckerberg's response has been seen as a small concession that does not address the much bigger problem.

Facebook Under Fire: How Privacy Crisis Could Change Big Data Forever

The biggest risk to Facebook — and the digital-ad business overall — would be a wide-ranging privacy-protection law on the order of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act in the banking sector. That established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, designed to keep predatory lenders in check, along with a host of new regulations.

President Trump hates Amazon, not Facebook

Capitol Hill wants Facebook’s blood, but President Trump isn’t interested. Instead, the tech behemoth he wants to go after is Amazon. Trump's wealthy friends tell him Amazon is destroying their businesses. His real estate buddies tell him — and he agrees — that Amazon is killing shopping malls and brick-and-mortar retailers. President Trump also pays close attention to Amazon founder's ownership of The Washington Post, which the president views as Bezos’ political weapon.

What Would Regulating Facebook Look Like?

What would it look like if Congress gave the Federal Trade Commission better tools to address online privacy? The most recent high-profile model comes from the European Union, where General Data Protection Regulation becomes the law of the land on May 25. GDPR focuses on ensuring that people who use online services know not only exactly what data those companies will take, but how they put it to use. One danger of an overly prescribed law is that technological solutions can outpace those mandates. 

Ex-regulators say Facebook's steps won't stop federal investigations

Former Federal Trade Commission consumer protection enforcers say Facebook's response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal won't be enough to keep federal investigators at bay. "Just because they make changes moving forward doesn’t mean they can’t be investigated or sued for what they did before," said Jessica Rich, who stepped down as the head of the FTC's Consumer Protection Bureau in 2017.

Go ahead and #DeleteFacebook. But here’s the change we really need.

[Commentary] A storm dubbed #DeleteFacebook is brewing in techie communities, on Twitter and — irony alert — on Facebook. The idea is this time is different from all the other times the social network has violated our trust. There have been many calls to boycott Facebook for past indiscretions. If we want the result to be any different this time, we need to address the broader problem. Aside from a dramatic change of heart from founder Mark Zuckerberg, getting Facebook to reform what data it collects and how it uses it requires destabilizing its business.

Lawmakers Hammer FCC's Carr Over 5G Deployment Order

On March 22, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on an order to streamline environmental and historic preservation reviews for 5G facilities deployment. Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Raul Ruiz (D-CA) wrote FCC Commissioner Brandan Carr, who is spearheading the FCC proposal, to ask him to reconsider, saying the order will short-circuit safeguards for tribal lands. The proposed order would render the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) toothless when it comes to protecting "tribally-significant" sites.

Cities to FCC: Stop Scapegoating Us on 5G Deployment

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission Next Century Cities is pushing back on the FCC's efforts to exempt some wireless deployments from local historic or environmental reviews, saying they are being scapegoated unfairly as impediments to broadband deployment. Three dozen mayors and other elected officials signed the letter defending local decisionmaking in 5G small-cell deployments.

Sponsor: 

Next Century Cities and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA)

Date: 
Thu, 02/15/2018 - 21:00 to 22:00

Members from both sides of the aisle say they want to work together to increase broadband for more Americans, and that they see access to the internet as essential. Unfortunately, so far local voices have too often been missing when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Congress are debating issues like 5G development and infrastructure investments that impact all Americans.



FCC Proposes $500M Rural Broadband Funding Injection

Federal Communications Commission rural broadband funding could increase by over $500 million if the commission votes to adopt an order circulated by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The the funding would include about $180 million for the current funding year for the nation’s smaller rate-of-return (ROR) carriers who get their support through traditional legacy mechanisms and up to $360 million over the next 10 years to ROR carriers who receive support based on the FCC's Alternative-Connect America Cost Mode (A-CAM). The $500 million would come, in part, from reserves.

Rep Doyle Announces Cosponsors of Legislation to Save Net Neutrality

Rep Mike Doyle (D-PA) announced the names of the Members of Congress who have asked to cosponsor his legislation to reject the Federal Communications Commission’s order to end the Open Internet and eliminate Net Neutrality. “We’ve made good progress so far in getting Members to sign on as original cosponsors of our bill to restore Net Neutrality, and I will continue to seek additional cosponsors in the weeks ahead,” Congressman Doyle said in releasing the list of names. “There’s overwhelming public support for preserving Net Neutrality, so it’s no surprise that there’s strong support in Con

The Senate’s push to overrule the FCC on net neutrality now has 50 votes, Democrats say

Fifty senators have endorsed a legislative measure to override the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision to deregulate the broadband industry. The tally leaves supporters just one Republican vote shy of the 51 required to pass a Senate resolution of disapproval, in a legislative gambit aimed at restoring the agency's net neutrality rules. It has the support of all 49 Democratic senators as well as one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. “With full caucus support,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E.

Lifeline program changes could cut low-cost internet for thousands in Ohio

Under changes the Federal Communications Commission recently proposed, fewer people may receive subsidized broadband service under the Lifeline program. Those left out will struggle to do online tasks such as filling out a job application, or paying bills online. About 12.5 million low-income people across the country, and thousands in Ohio, could be affected.There are even health implications, since so much of today's medicine relies on patients having the ability to make appointments, refill prescriptions and view test results online.

Surveillance and Privacy Debate Reaches Pivotal Moment in Congress

A yearslong debate over National Security Agency surveillance and protections for Americans’ privacy rights will reach a climactic moment on Jan 11 as the House of Representatives takes up legislation to extend a program of warrantless spying on internet and phone networks that traces back to the Sept.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Thune: net neutrality is not an election issue

 Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-SD) says the average American is not likely to be swayed in the 2018 midterms by Senate Democrats forcing a vote on reinstating the net neutrality rules. “I think they see it as a really hot political issue [that] gets their base kind of energized.