Debate during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday on the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition centered on the perceived merits and consequences of proposed delays of the transition, as expected (see 1605230059). Several committee Republicans expressed interest in seeking the delay via an extension of NTIA's current contract with ICANN to administer the IANA functions, but their interest didn't appear to be strong enough to signal actual momentum in favor of a delay, stakeholders said in interviews. The IANA transition faced other roadblocks on Capitol Hill Tuesday, including the House Appropriations Committee's retention of a rider in its proposed FY 2017 Department of Commerce budget that would extend an existing ban on NTIA's use of funds on the IANA transition. House Appropriations cleared the Commerce budget on a voice vote Tuesday with the IANA transition rider intact.
Jimm Phillips
Jimm Phillips, Associate Editor, covers telecommunications policymaking in Congress for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2012 after stints at the Washington Post and the American Independent News Network. Phillips is a Maryland native who graduated from American University. You can follow him on Twitter: @JLPhillipsDC
The Senate Commerce Committee’s hearing Tuesday on the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition is likely to bring lingering skepticism about the transition back into the spotlight despite some optimism that preparations for the transition are steadily reaching their conclusion, ICANN stakeholders said in interviews. They said they will be following the House Appropriations Committee’s markup of its FY 2017 Commerce, Justice and Science budget, which includes a proposal to retain a rider that bars NTIA from using its funding on the IANA transition. House Appropriations’ Commerce Subcommittee advanced the $56 billion budget last week (see 1605180063). The Senate Commerce hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. The House Appropriations markup begins at 10:30 a.m. in 2359 Rayburn.
The Copyright Office's study on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's Section 1201 is likely to include a strong emphasis on streamlining its triennial review process for considering exemptions to Section 1201’s ban on circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs) given universal stakeholder support for the concept during a Washington, D.C., roundtable discussion last week (see 1605190057), participants said in interviews. Stakeholders' emphasis Friday on the need for a permanent exemption for making copyrighted works accessible to people with visual disabilities and on issues involving software-embedded products make it likely that the CO will also make those issues a priority in their study, participants told us. The CO is planning to gather additional stakeholder input on Section 1201 during a similar meeting Wednesday in San Francisco.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and two other GOP senators are formally calling on NTIA to extend its current contract with ICANN to administer the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions past the contract's current Sept. 30 expiration date, saying in a letter late Thursday that they have “deep concerns” about IANA transition-related plans that ICANN submitted to NTIA in March. NTIA plans to complete its review of the IANA transition plans by mid-June (see 1603100070 and 1603110075). If ICANN enacts those plans -- a formal IANA transition plan and a related set of recommended changes to ICANN's accountability mechanisms -- without the backing of its contract with NTIA, “it will greatly endanger Internet freedom,” the senators said in the letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling. An NTIA spokeswoman said the agency has received Cruz's letter and is currently reviewing it. “The proposal will significantly increase the power of foreign governments over the Internet, expand ICANN's historical core mission by creating a gateway to content regulation, and embolden ICANN's leadership to act without any real accountability,” Cruz said in the letter. “Simply put, regardless of its intentions, the proposal as a whole does not adequately address the grave concerns expressed by Congress.” Cruz and the other two senators who signed the letter -- James Lankford, R-Okla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah -- have repeatedly questioned ICANN in recent months about its engagement with the Chinese government and now-former CEO Fadi Chehadé's involvement with the Chinese government-led World Internet Conference (see 1602040061, 1603030067 and 1604040056). Neither Congress nor NTIA has determined fully whether the IANA transition would result in the transfer of U.S. government property because the transition will involve the transfer of control of the root zone file, Cruz said in the letter. The GAO still is analyzing whether the root zone file transfer constitutes a transfer of government property. If the GAO determines the root zone file is government property, the Constitution “would require a vote in Congress to dispose of such property,” Cruz said. Concerns linger that ICANN could choose to move its headquarters from Los Angeles to a location outside the U.S. in a bid to “escape U.S. law and redraft its bylaws” once it completes the IANA transition, Cruz said in the letter. “This issue is far from resolved” since ICANN's post-transition jurisdiction isn't set to be resolved until after the transition. “The fact that this issue has been deferred to an unspecified point in the future when the U.S. would have a far lesser voice in the transition process raises questions about ICANN's intent on this matter,” he said. Cruz, a Senate Commerce Committee member, sent the letter days before the committee is set to hold a hearing on the status of the IANA transition. The Tuesday hearing is expected to focus on ICANN stakeholders' perspectives on the IANA transition, with transition skeptics reportedly pushing Senate Commerce to air their concerns during the hearing. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also a Senate Commerce member, is circulating his own planned letter to Strickling seeking a delay in the IANA transition (see 1605180063).
The Copyright Office should adopt a far less formal process for considering renewals of previously granted exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 1201’s ban on circumvention of technological protection measures, parties appeared to agree Thursday. But they were divided when describing to CO officials two distinct visions for the revised process. Sessions for the first day of the CO's roundtable in Washington, D.C., on its Section 1201 study focused on how to streamline the office's triennial review process for Section 1201 exemptions, including both the renewals issue and whether the CO should consider changes to its review process rules on evidence and procedures. The office will conclude the roundtable Friday with sessions on anti-trafficking provisions, the section's permanent exemptions and whether exemptions should be expanded to allow further allowances for third-party assistance in circumventing TPMs. The CO plans a second Section 1201 roundtable in San Francisco May 25.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies unanimously advanced its $56 billion FY 2017 budget (see 1605170018) to the full committee Wednesday after a markup. The subcommittee didn't add any amendments to the budget during its markup, but retained a rider from the Department of Commerce's two previous budgets that bars NTIA from using its funding on the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition. The proposed extension of the IANA transition rider already provoked criticism from some House Democrats. Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is planning to ask NTIA to delay the IANA transition ahead of a planned Senate Commerce Committee hearing.
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) executives and members lobbied on Capitol Hill Wednesday for a revamp of music licensing laws, particularly those that affect its 1941 consent decree with the DOJ. Justice is reviewing both its ASCAP and Broadcast Music, Inc., consent decrees. ASCAP and DOJ also recently reached a proposed settlement that would end the department's investigation into whether ASCAP violated its consent decree by signing 150 exclusive contract (see 1605120049). ASCAP believes the U.S. District Court in New York will rule by mid-June on the proposed settlement, which “makes us more optimistic that the DOJ will be able to focus on our specific request” for an update to the PRO's consent decree, said CEO Elizabeth Matthews in an interview. “They wanted to get these issues out of the way first.” The rules that ASCAP operates under “are terribly outdated and we're working with [DOJ] to get them updated,” ASCAP President Paul Williams told us. “What we want from the Hill is for them to understand that the way the consent decree is scripted is absolutely broken.” ASCAP is processing “a huge amount” of royalty requests but “the value of music has come down,” Williams said. “It needs to come back up, and one of the ways we want to do that” is to seek a revamp of rules for the Copyright Royalty Board, which ASCAP and other performing rights organizations use to settle licensing disputes, via the Songwriter Equity Act (HR-1283/S-662). The bill would amend Sections 114 and 115 of the Copyright Act to allow the CRB to consider “all relevant evidence” when determining royalty rates and would change the rate standard for mechanical royalties. BMI, NMPA, Recording Academy and several conservative groups have strongly backed HR-1283/S-662 since Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and House IP Subcommittee Vice Chairman Doug Collins, R-Ga., reintroduced the bill last year.
The Department of Commerce’s Digital Economy Board of Advisors (DEBA) will kick off its work by examining possible digital economy metrics to inform policymaking, along with how to improve U.S. workers’ skills to adapt to the growth of digitization and ways to close the “digital divide” between small and large businesses, DEBA leaders said Monday. Commerce formed DEBA in November as part of the department’s Digital Economy Agenda to encourage growth in the digital economy by promoting Internet freedom, ensuring users’ access to the Internet and promoting trust in online services. DEBA will provide recommendations to the secretary of commerce and the NTIA administrator on policy issues (see 1511240034).
Discussions at the Copyright Office’s San Francisco roundtable last week on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s Section 512 appear to largely be cementing expectations that the CO will favor nonlegislative fixes -- particularly voluntary measures -- to address problems with the statute, meeting participants said in interviews. The CO held the San Francisco session and another in New York earlier this month to collect input on the office’s study of Section 512’s notice-and-takedown process and safe harbors. The CO also plans to seek additional comments after the meetings to drill down on issues raised during the roundtables and in initial comments on the study, though it’s unclear how valuable additional comments will be, participants said. Both workshops were open to the public but seating was limited. The CO didn't webcast either roundtable.
House IP Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., committed Wednesday to strongly urging House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., to include the Fair Play Fair Pay Act (HR-1733) among his top copyright legislative priorities, telling us he wants to make sure HR-1733 is “considered as a must-include” bill. Goodlatte is expected to soon identify which parts of the House Judiciary's Copyright Act review he believes have sufficient consensus support to warrant becoming a legislative priority (see 1604260062). Issa said during a musicFIRST Coalition news conference that a copyright revamp must "tear out legacy provisions that stop creators from getting fair compensation." MusicFIRST members met with Goodlatte, Issa and 28 other House Judiciary and Senate Judiciary Committee members Wednesday to lobby in favor of HR-1733 and other music licensing issues.