Kennedy Says Commerce, Banking Negotiating Potential Online Privacy Hearing
The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing a potential privacy hearing, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told us Wednesday. The hearing, to be held potentially in late February or early March, depends on resolving overlapping jurisdictional issues with the Banking Committee, said Kennedy, a privacy-minded lawmaker who sits on Banking but not Commerce. It’s unclear what witnesses Commerce might try to gather for a possible hearing, Kennedy said. Commerce and Banking didn’t comment.
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Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told reporters Wednesday he hasn't discussed the potential for a Senate Judiciary Committee-Commerce Committee task force on privacy and content moderation on social media with Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Neither committee commented. NetChoice warned Tuesday against such a task force investigating alleged anti-conservative bias. “This task force sets a dangerous precedent that government should intervene in spaces that enable free speech online,” Vice President Carl Szabo said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is “hopeful” he and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., can introduce a long-awaited privacy bill in the next month or so, Blumenthal told reporters Tuesday. His bipartisan privacy group (see 1901240036) is “working hard,” but it’s a “complex, challenging” area and there’s never been a bill like it before, he said.
House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, repeated Wednesday that he and House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., want net neutrality legislation approached in a “bipartisan manner.” Asked at a CompTIA event if he and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., reached consensus, Latta told us, “We have to see what they want to put on the table, so we’ll see when we get to the hearing.” Latta looks forward to hearing proposals from Democrats at Thursday’s hearing (see 1902040062). Advance testimony is online (see 1902060036).
Congress, the White House and federal agencies need to incentivize industry to invest in 5G research and innovation to ensure the U.S. leads competitors like China, Latta said in prepared remarks. The federal government shouldn’t be “putting roadblocks” in front of industry with burdensome regulation, Latta said. He looks forward to working through autonomous vehicle legislation this term, after his House-passed bill failed to move in the Senate in 2018 (see 1812210049).
The FCC is focused on getting government out of way and letting industry "rip” with 5G deployment, Commissioner Brendan Carr said. China, which is building 5G cellsites 12 times faster than the U.S., recognizes deployment is an infrastructure issue, he said. The first country to 5G will have a competitive advantage for the next decade, he added.
Large tech companies are the driving forces of the American economy, Carr said. Fast, affordable broadband and the transition to 4G allowed the app economy to prosper, he said. 5G will lead the next revolution, Carr said, citing faster smartphones, autonomous vehicles and greater capacity to support IoT devices. Artificial intelligence and quantum computing are the “most exciting” technologies right now, said ex-Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, now at Akin Gump.