While broadcasters argue the retransmission consent market is working and doesn't need FCC intervention (see 1603150045 and 1603290050), an official said the agency feels otherwise. During a Practising Law Institute event Tuesday, Media Bureau Deputy Chief Michelle Carey said retrans negotiations are increasingly contentious and complex. Now the agency is looking at the filings in docket 15-149 and having a series of ex parte meetings as it tries to determine next steps, she said

The No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act (HR-2666) would prevent broadband rate regulation “directly through tariffing or indirectly through enforcement actions,” Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said during a Tuesday session to set up a Friday House vote on the partisan measure. Sessions co-sponsors the bill. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., withdrew the amendment he filed to HR-2666 to set up a vote on whether Congress should condemn Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband and say that the FCC lacks authority under Telecom Act Section 706 for net neutrality rules.

Some of the seven telecom bills the House Communications Subcommittee will consider at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday contain problems and should be opposed, some of the nine witnesses plan to tell lawmakers, according to written testimony. CTIA will object to the House Republican bill to cap the Lifeline program at $1.5 billion, while the American Civil Liberties Union will question the privacy protections of another bill.

The No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act (HR-2666) would prevent broadband rate regulation “directly through tariffing or indirectly through enforcement actions,” Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said during a Tuesday session to set up a Friday House vote on the partisan measure. Sessions co-sponsors the bill. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., withdrew the amendment he filed to HR-2666 to set up a vote on whether Congress should condemn Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband and say that the FCC lacks authority under Telecom Act Section 706 for net neutrality rules.

A possible multilateral deal with U.S. allies, promotion of upgraded standards in other countries, and Trans-Pacific Partnership rules for state-owned enterprises are among the measures that will help the U.S. crack down on overcapacity and dumping of steel products that has strangled U.S. production, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on April 12 during a hearing on global steel overcapacity and dumping. During the hearing at the International Trade Commission, hosted by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department, industry and government officials discussed possible steps that can be taken to address steel industry issues, including safeguard duties and enhanced antidumping duty enforcement.

The FCC proposal to impose stricter privacy rules on ISPs would create an uneven playing field, favoring edge providers like Google and Amazon, doesn't use an economic approach and needlessly would impose heavy security requirements to protect customer information that is essentially public, panelists at a Technology Policy Institute discussion said Monday. But Lisa Hone, FCC associate Wireline Bureau chief, said the FCC NPRM is still just a proposal. The commission expects "vigorous comment," she said. "From a staff perspective, we’re interested in hearing what works and what doesn’t work for customers and ISPs."

DOJ said in a filing it will continue trying to force Apple to help the government open a locked iPhone seized in a New York drug investigation. "The government's application is not moot and the government continues to require Apple's assistance in accessing the data that it is authorized to search by warrant," U.S. Attorney Robert Capers wrote (in Pacer) Friday to Magistrate Judge Margo Brodie in New York's Eastern District. About a month ago, the government resubmitted its application after a decision by Magistrate Judge James Orenstein, who ruled in favor of Apple in February, denying the U.S. government's motion to force the company to help it break into the iPhone in the drug case. Orenstein said the "government's interpretation of the breadth of authority the [All Writs Act] confers on courts of limited jurisdiction thus raises serious doubts about how such a statute could withstand constitutional scrutiny under the separation-of-powers doctrine" (see 1603010013).

The FCC proposal to impose stricter privacy rules on ISPs would create an uneven playing field, favoring edge providers like Google and Amazon, doesn't use an economic approach and needlessly would impose heavy security requirements to protect customer information that is essentially public, panelists at a Technology Policy Institute discussion said Monday. But Lisa Hone, FCC associate Wireline Bureau chief, said the FCC NPRM is still just a proposal. The commission expects "vigorous comment," she said. "From a staff perspective, we’re interested in hearing what works and what doesn’t work for customers and ISPs."

DOJ said in a filing it will continue trying to force Apple to help the government open a locked iPhone seized in a New York drug investigation. "The government's application is not moot and the government continues to require Apple's assistance in accessing the data that it is authorized to search by warrant," U.S. Attorney Robert Capers wrote (in Pacer) Friday to Magistrate Judge Margo Brodie in New York's Eastern District. About a month ago, the government resubmitted its application after a decision by Magistrate Judge James Orenstein, who ruled in favor of Apple in February, denying the U.S. government's motion to force the company to help it break into the iPhone in the drug case. Orenstein said the "government's interpretation of the breadth of authority the [All Writs Act] confers on courts of limited jurisdiction thus raises serious doubts about how such a statute could withstand constitutional scrutiny under the separation-of-powers doctrine" (see 1603010013).

DOJ said in a filing it will continue trying to force Apple to help the government open a locked iPhone seized in a New York drug investigation. "The government's application is not moot and the government continues to require Apple's assistance in accessing the data that it is authorized to search by warrant," U.S. Attorney Robert Capers wrote (in Pacer) Friday to Magistrate Judge Margo Brodie in New York's Eastern District. About a month ago, the government resubmitted its application after a decision by Magistrate Judge James Orenstein, who ruled in favor of Apple in February, denying the U.S. government's motion to force the company to help it break into the iPhone in the drug case. Orenstein said the "government's interpretation of the breadth of authority the [All Writs Act] confers on courts of limited jurisdiction thus raises serious doubts about how such a statute could withstand constitutional scrutiny under the separation-of-powers doctrine" (see 1603010013).