Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., rejected committee Republicans’ suggestions that the panel follow up its second confirmation hearing with Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn with a sequel appearance by FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya (see 2202080080). His confirmation hearing was in November (see 2111170059). All 14 committee Republicans voted against Bedoya in December amid concerns about the nominee's Twitter activity linking the Trump administration to white supremacy (see 2112010043). “No, we’re not having another hearing” on Bedoya just to discuss his “social media posts,” Cantwell told reporters Wednesday after Sohn’s second hearing (see 2202090070). “We had this hearing because in between” Sohn’s December hearing and now, the nominee agreed to temporarily recuse herself from some FCC proceedings involving retransmission consent and broadcast copyright matters (see 2201270073) “and members had questions about that recusal letter.”
Leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations committees said Wednesday they reached a bipartisan agreement on a framework for an omnibus FY 2022 appropriations package, which they hope will allow the subcommittees to finalize the legislation in the coming weeks. The Senate is expected to follow the House soon in passing a continuing resolution (HR-6617) to extend existing federal funding levels through March 11 in a bid to allow more time for work on the package to finish. The House voted 272-162 Tuesday for HR-6617, which would avert a government shutdown that would otherwise begin when an existing CR expires Feb. 18. House and Senate Appropriations agree on proposed FY 2022 funding for the FCC and FTC but diverge on how much to give NTIA (see 2110180069). Both committees want to give the FCC $387.5 million, and $384 million to FTC. House Appropriations proposed giving NTIA $89.5 billion (see 2107160053), while Senate Appropriations seeks $80.6 million.
The Senate unanimously confirmed two nominees for the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Monday. Sharon Bradford Franklin will be chair, and Beth Williams will be board member (see 2202030079). Franklin will fill the remainder of a term expiring in 2024, and Williams’ term expires in 2026.
Strategic investment in emerging technologies like AI and machine learning will help agencies combat human trafficking, said House Science Committee leaders during a hearing Tuesday. Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, urged more federal coordination on research and technology development, which could lead to evidence-based, victim-centered, anti-trafficking strategies. The committee can help target investments to help address research gaps and advance technologies to help law enforcement, industry and nonprofit research, said ranking member Frank Lucas, R-Okla., seeking strategic investment in emerging technologies like AI to transform agencies. AI can perform large-scale data analysis to detect suspicious financial trends and use face-scanning to match victim identities, he said. More should be done to address technologies associated with cyber-enabled trafficking, said Johnson. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday will consider legislation on human trafficking (see 2202040052).
Pass the Earn It Act, more than 250 groups representing child exploitation and sex trafficking victims wrote Judiciary Committee leaders. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, National Children’s Alliance, National District Attorneys Association, U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking, Rights4Girls and Equality Now signed the Feb. 2 letter. S-3398 is scheduled for a Senate Judiciary Committee vote Thursday (see 2202030079). The bill doesn’t “undermine privacy initiatives or free speech or human rights,” despite Big Tech’s claims, the groups wrote. “Victims will finally have access to justice because EARN IT will allow them to use federal civil and state criminal and civil law to seek redress for harm suffered,” New America’s Open Technology Institute wrote in opposition to the bill. It incentivizes “providers to over-censor and suppress online speech, and [would] create encryption backdoors for law enforcement, undermining everyone’s cybersecurity,” OTI said.
Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-Chair Rep. Doris Matsui of California and seven other House Commerce Committee Democrats urged President Joe Biden Friday to quickly nominate a U.S. chief technology officer “to support the development and execution of the Administration’s spectrum” policy. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy began searching for a CTO in December but has been “having a hard time clearing” a “list of potential” contenders for the role, said a communications sector lobbyist who follows Democratic talks. OSTP didn’t comment. “With the backing of the White House, a CTO can be a powerful force in ensuring the administration speaks with one voice on spectrum matters,” the Democrats wrote Biden. The U.S. is “on track for a successful rollout of 5G” in the C band, but “the significant dispute over its use demonstrates the ongoing need for meaningful coordination across the Federal government. To ensure agencies have the requisite resources to fulfill their mandates and to maintain U.S. leadership in next generation communications networks, it is imperative that the Federal government have a unified approach to spectrum policy.” House Transportation Committee members during a Thursday hearing (see 2202030081) cited breakdowns in federal interagency spectrum coordination as a primary cause of the C-band aviation safety fracas that preceded delays last month in AT&T's and Verizon's rollout of commercial 5G use on the frequency. The House Commerce members want Biden to “take action to bolster” NTIA’s “statutory role as manager of the federal government’s use of spectrum.” They noted former President Barack Obama’s 2013 spectrum sharing memo (see 1306170038) required all federal agencies to coordinate with NTIA before filing comments on spectrum policy matters to ensure a unified federal voice. “With Alan Davidson’s confirmation as NTIA Administrator, we believe there is an urgent need to revisit this memorandum and consider targeted ways to expand its scope to provide the agency with the Administration-backed authority it needs to fulfill its mandate,” the lawmakers said.
Right-to-repair advocates hailed the introduction Wednesday of House legislation to remove or ease most Digital Millennium Copyright Act restrictions against self-repair. The Freedom of Repair Act, sponsored by Reps. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., and Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., “would permanently fix an important aspect of copyright law, making almost all electronic repairs legal by default,” blogged Elizabeth Chamberlain, iFixit director-sustainability. The DMCA “made it illegal to circumvent technological protection measures for any purpose, repair included,” she said Wednesday. The “limited exemptions” advocates have won from the Copyright Office over the years “don’t allow people to share the tools or software necessary” to do their own repairs, she said. The Jones-Spartz bill “would simplify all of this” by clarifying that “working around digital locks when fixing things isn’t a copyright violation,” Chamberlain said. “Making tools and software for those repairs would become legal. All products with embedded electronics are included, with the exception of medical devices. (We’re not thrilled about this exception.)” Enacting the legislation would be “a major victory for the right to repair,” said Public Knowledge Policy Counsel Kathleen Burke. “The DMCA was never intended to prevent consumers from repairing things they own.”
House Republican opposition to Democratic chips legislation is warranted because the majority didn’t follow “regular order,” lead Senate sponsor Todd Young, R-Ind., told reporters Thursday (see 2202010083). America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) doesn’t reflect Republican ideas or input, said Young. Hopefully, conference will deliver something more “reflective” of what passed in the Senate, he added: A “number” of House Republicans are open to supporting what comes out of conference.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel "was invited" to testify at a planned Thursday House Transportation Aviation Subcommittee hearing on the aviation safety implications of commercial wireless operations in the C band (see 2202010073) "and would have attended except for a prior commitment," a spokesperson emailed. She instead "is set to meet with" Transportation Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Aviation Chairman Rick Larsen, D-Wash., "before the hearing." The panel includes two wireless sector officials: CTIA President Meredith Baker and former FCC Technological Advisory Committee Chairman Dennis Roberson. FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson and six aviation industry executives are scheduled to appear.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., reintroduced the Earn It Act Monday, as expected (see 2105180041). The bill removes “blanket immunity” under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for violations of law on online child sexual abuse material. The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed the bill in 2020 (see 2007020050). Asked about committee consideration for the reintroduced bill, Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told us Tuesday: "Soon." Tech platforms would no longer have immunity from federal civil, state criminal and state civil child sexual abuse material laws. The bill establishes a national commission headed by leaders of DOJ, the FTC, DHS and other congressionally appointed members. The commission would establish voluntary best practices. Reps. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., and Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, are introducing companion legislation. The bill would restore victims’ privacy, said the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. CEO Dawn Hawkins said tech companies don’t currently have “incentive to prevent or eliminate CSAM.” Section 230 isn’t a barrier to federal prosecution of companies that fail to combat illegal material, said Computer & Communications Industry Association President Matt Schruers: “Enforcing existing criminal statutes in known cases would prevent more crime than placing a federal committee in control of how Internet services police content.” The bill, as originally written and reintroduced, “threatens encryption, privacy, and the Constitution,” said NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo: It gives a “get-out-of-jail-free” card to those “credibly accused of child exploitation,” and its sponsors haven’t addressed “serious Fourth Amendment problems that would give criminal defendants yet another means to challenge their CSAM convictions.”