FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said “the evidence in the Internet marketplace does not justify dramatic regulatory change solely for the purpose of assuaging fears that have not materialized.” Those remarks came at a discussion Thursday on the net neutrality Title II debate. All panelists at the event opposed Title II regulation. The commission could take “targeted action” when “concrete misfortunes arise,” Pai said at an Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA) discussion. “But otherwise we should recognize net neutrality and the Title II debate for what it is -- a great distraction."

Open source code for app developers released Wednesday aims to give users easy-to-read, just-in-time notifications on data collection and data use, said Application Developers Alliance Vice President-Law Policy and Government Affairs Tim Sparapani in an interview. “It literally boils the ocean down to what we think is truly critical information for consumers,” he said. “Like looking at an ingredient list.”

The FTC’s role in big data is as an educator, researcher and advocate for notice and consent, said two FTC commissioners at separate events Wednesday. While Republican Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen stressed the FTC’s ability to “help promote a government industry and consumer culture that embraces open data and innovative data analysis,” Democratic Commissioner Julie Brill said “we need to think hard about how we can apply some of the principles about notice and choice” to the mobile space that’s driving big data collection. Ohlhausen spoke at an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Center for Data Innovation event. Brill was at an event organized by The Hill.

Basing net neutrality regulations on Title II authority would cause “World War III” and years of litigation, predicted Latham Watkins attorney Matthew Brill, who represented NCTA on a panel Wednesday. Brill predicted, though, the FCC will eventually adopt an approach under Section 706, along the lines of its rulemaking notice. Speaking at a National Regulatory Research Institute Web seminar, Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld and Evan Engstrom, policy director for Engine Advocacy, which represents startups, countered that Title II would offer more protections against discrimination by ISPs.

The FCC was poised to release an order Wednesday giving Grain Management and other designated entities (DEs) relief they had sought to clarify that they can more readily participate as DEs in the upcoming AWS-3 auction and in other auctions as well. The order has been approved by a 3-2 vote over the objections of Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly, FCC officials said.

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) will turn its attention to Executive Order 12333, which authorizes much of the U.S. intelligence agencies’ surveillance activities, the board said at a Wednesday meeting. Privacy and civil liberties advocates have been asking PCLOB to review the order, arguing it has less oversight and grants broader surveillance authorities than Section 215 of the Patriot Act and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) -- the subjects of PCLOB’s first two reports.

The FCC ramped up pressure on ISPs Wednesday to make certain they are providing customers with accurate information about their services. The agency released an enforcement advisory along with accompanying statements from Chairman Tom Wheeler and acting Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc.

The LPTV and Translator Act discussion draft faced heavy scrutiny ahead of its first congressional airing. The House Communications Subcommittee plans a hearing on the draft and two other bills at 10:15 a.m. Thursday in 2322 Rayburn. Several critics warned against advancing such a bill ahead of a high-profile FCC spectrum auction. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, authored the draft in conjunction with Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore.

The maturation of the tech sector and ongoing data security concerns continued to drive increased tech lobbying spending in Q2, as Google matched its highest quarterly lobbying total and Amazon surpassed $1 million in quarterly lobbying expenditures for the first time, according to lobbying disclosure forms. The forms revealed tech companies and trade groups are pushing for changes to government surveillance programs, email privacy standards, Internet privacy expectations, cross-border data flows and the patent system.

Ten years after the 9/11 Commission released its landmark 2004 report on the causes and implications of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York and Washington, members of the group released an update Tuesday identifying cybersecurity as a key new focus. Most of the members of the panel reconvened Tuesday in Washington for a conference sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center.