Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., wouldn't give specifics about bipartisan legislation aimed at promoting the development and adoption of autonomous vehicles after a Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee hearing. "We've been working on this for quite some time," he told us. "We’ve been talking to stakeholders from the industry, from safety groups and everyone in between. It will be comprehensive and it will released shortly," hopefully before Congress leaves for the summer, he said.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., wouldn't give specifics about bipartisan legislation aimed at promoting the development and adoption of autonomous vehicles after a Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee hearing. "We've been working on this for quite some time," he told us. "We’ve been talking to stakeholders from the industry, from safety groups and everyone in between. It will be comprehensive and it will released shortly," hopefully before Congress leaves for the summer, he said.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., wouldn't give specifics about bipartisan legislation aimed at promoting the development and adoption of autonomous vehicles after a Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee hearing. "We've been working on this for quite some time," he told us. "We’ve been talking to stakeholders from the industry, from safety groups and everyone in between. It will be comprehensive and it will released shortly," hopefully before Congress leaves for the summer, he said.

Duty deferral provisions within NAFTA should be left out of any updated deal, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments to the U.S. trade representative (here). Under NAFTA, some products processed in the U.S. "require a special deferral entry to be filed with duty payment to CBP" when exported to Canada or Mexico, the group said. "This special entry and duty payment would not apply if the same shipment were exported to any other country outside of NAFTA" and therefore "hinder U.S. exports to Mexico and Canada," the group said. The NCBFAA comments were in response to a USTR request for public input on how it should update NAFTA.

The Trump administration, which targeted the State Department for cuts, nevertheless is likely to name a U.S. coordinator for international communications (CIC) and information policy, former government officials said. The coordinator, who carries the title of ambassador, has roles including helping select the next ambassador to the Wireless Radiocommunications Conference in Geneva in 2019. Questions remain since the administration is looking at reorganizing State. Secretary Rex Tillerson appeared before Senate appropriators Tuesday.

The Trump administration, which targeted the State Department for cuts, nevertheless is likely to name a U.S. coordinator for international communications (CIC) and information policy, former government officials said. The coordinator, who carries the title of ambassador, has roles including helping select the next ambassador to the Wireless Radiocommunications Conference in Geneva in 2019. Questions remain since the administration is looking at reorganizing State. Secretary Rex Tillerson appeared before Senate appropriators Tuesday.

Federal judges shot down key parts of an FCC order that limited inmate calling service charges without regulating ICS provider "site commission" payments to correctional authorities. A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated caps on intrastate ICS rates, use of industry-averaged cost data in setting rate caps, and exclusion of site commissions from industry costs. It remanded rate caps, ancillary fees and site-commission costs for further agency consideration. Judges Harry Edwards and Laurence Silberman approved the ruling and Cornelia Pillard largely dissented in Global Tel*Link v. FCC, No. 15-1461 (see 1706130012).

A lawsuit against Twitter for allegedly allowing ISIS to use its network for extremist ideology, leading to deaths of two American contractors, threatens the company's and internet users' free speech rights and is prohibited by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), said two civil liberties groups, a tech think tank and major industry organization in amicus filings to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Center for Democracy and Technology, Internet Association (in Pacer) and the Copia Institute (in Pacer) filed briefs in Tamara Fields v. Twitter. The families of two U.S. government contractors killed in a 2015 ISIS attack in Jordan sued Twitter last year in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California for "knowingly" permitting ISIS to use the company's platform "for spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds and attracting new recruits," they said in an amended complaint (in Pacer). "Without Twitter, the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible," they said, adding the number of the group's Twitter accounts have grown at an "astonishing rate" since 2010. They accused Twitter of not doing anything to prevent ISIS from using its platform and of giving the group "material support" by allowing members to sign up for accounts. In a November decision (in Pacer), District Judge William Orrick said he dismissed an initial complaint because it was barred by CDA and then the amended complaint because "no amount of careful pleading can change the fact that, in substance, plaintiffs aim to hold Twitter liable as a publisher or speaker of ISIS’s hateful rhetoric, and that such liability is barred by the CDA."

A lawsuit against Twitter for allegedly allowing ISIS to use its network for extremist ideology, leading to deaths of two American contractors, threatens the company's and internet users' free speech rights and is prohibited by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), said two civil liberties groups, a tech think tank and major industry organization in amicus filings to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Center for Democracy and Technology, Internet Association (in Pacer) and the Copia Institute (in Pacer) filed briefs in Tamara Fields v. Twitter. The families of two U.S. government contractors killed in a 2015 ISIS attack in Jordan sued Twitter last year in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California for "knowingly" permitting ISIS to use the company's platform "for spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds and attracting new recruits," they said in an amended complaint (in Pacer). "Without Twitter, the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible," they said, adding the number of the group's Twitter accounts have grown at an "astonishing rate" since 2010. They accused Twitter of not doing anything to prevent ISIS from using its platform and of giving the group "material support" by allowing members to sign up for accounts. In a November decision (in Pacer), District Judge William Orrick said he dismissed an initial complaint because it was barred by CDA and then the amended complaint because "no amount of careful pleading can change the fact that, in substance, plaintiffs aim to hold Twitter liable as a publisher or speaker of ISIS’s hateful rhetoric, and that such liability is barred by the CDA."

The FCC Technological Advisory Council met for the first time Thursday under Chairman Ajit Pai, with a new focus on types of issues Pai has emphasized, including cutting regulation and broadband deployment. TAC was a favorite of then-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who chaired the group before he was a commissioner. Pai, meanwhile, is visiting Plains states (see 1706080041). Although some complained afterward of a possible tilt toward deregulation under the TAC, others defended its tack under Pai.