A revival of a California bill that would require all web browsers and mobile operating systems to provide universal opt-out mechanisms cleared its first test in the state legislature and received bipartisan support. At a late Tuesday hearing, the California Assembly Privacy Committee voted 9-0 to advance AB-566 to the Appropriations Committee.

DOJ’s data transfer rule is scheduled to go into effect April 8, the department confirmed Wednesday.

The social security numbers of more than 400 former congressional staffers were released in March as part of the disclosure of 60,000 pages from the federal archive related to the John F. Kennedy assassination, the Electronic Privacy Information Center said Tuesday.

The Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) raised concerns Tuesday with a California bill that would require manufacturers to transmit signals about users’ ages.

As the FCC considers a tiered approach to non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellations' regulatory fees, it isn't finding consensus about where to draw the lines. That's according to comments last week in docket 24-85 as the agency solicits input on ideas raised during the FY 2024 space regulatory fee proceeding (see 2502260017).

The U.K. last week released its latest six-monthly report on Hong Kong, outlining events in the region from July 1 to Dec. 31, including certain events that the U.K. said raise human rights and business concerns. It said certain rights and freedoms in Hong Kong "continued to be negatively impacted by the broad application of" Hong Kong's national security law, the 2020 legislation that made illegal a range of dissenting and anti-government acts. The U.K. said Hong Kong authorities arrested several people during that time frame for calling for Hong Kong’s independence "and for foreign sanctions against China and Hong Kong, criticising them for 'betraying' China and 'neglecting' the interests of Hong Kong."

Bharat Ramamurti, National Economic Council deputy director during part of the Biden administration, criticized X owner Elon Musk on Friday for “amplifying” a “deeply misleading clip” of New York Times' Ezra Klein blaming Democrats for NTIA’s evaluation process for state-level applicants to the $42.5 billion BEAD program. Congress mandated the BEAD process in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. GOP lawmakers and the Trump administration are determining how to revamp BEAD after consistently criticizing how the Biden-era NTIA administered the program. Senate Commerce Committee Democrats raised concerns about GOP BEAD plans during a Thursday confirmation hearing for NTIA nominee Arielle Roth (see 2503270065).

France's competition authority Monday fined Apple 150 million euros ($162 million) for abusing its dominant position in the market for mobile app distribution in iOS and iPadOS devices.

National advertising trade groups opposed a California location privacy bill (AB-1355) this week. The bill would prohibit covered entities from using an individual’s location information unless the individual has opted in and it’s necessary to provide goods or services requested by that person.

Trent McCotter, the lawyer for Consumers’ Research, faced tough questions during lengthy oral arguments Wednesday at the U.S. Supreme Court on the group’s challenge of the USF contribution factor and the USF in general. Sarah Harris, acting U.S. solicitor general, vigorously defended the USF on behalf of the government. Paul Clement of Clement & Murphy, a high-profile conservative appellate lawyer, represented industry defenders of the USF.