Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Angus King, I-Maine, defended strong net neutrality protections and pushed for Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband. They spoke together over the weekend on WGAN’s Inside Maine program, with King interviewing Booker and posting the 13 minutes of audio on his website. Booker and King wrote a joint op-ed earlier this month on the issue (see 1412080045). “It’s not just" you and me, Booker told King, citing the more than 4 million comments the FCC has received on net neutrality. “My office has received thousands of communications.” Booker warned of “a level of unfairness” that could “squelch” businesses. “I doubt if Instagram could get going if someone charged a big entry fee,” King said. He said he and Booker are not “big regulation guys” and said these protections would not amount to that. The FCC “can fix it by simply saying, by treating it as what’s called a common carrier and moving it under Title II,” Booker said, referring to a path under what he said was a recent Supreme Court decision on the issue. The Supreme Court hasn't ruled on net neutrality but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated some net neutrality rules earlier this year and did refer to a statutory path for net neutrality rules. Booker and King said the phone companies “hate” the idea of some net neutrality rules. Booker also said he has friends who work at the major ISPs, specifically alluding to Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen by citing one former political job Cohen held but without naming him explicitly. Cohen has helped with Democratic fundraising. “These are good people,” Booker said. “They come in, as lobbyists do, and they make their case to you.” But Booker disagrees with the reasoning, he said. Booker suspects these big companies will “sue again” over net neutrality. Many congressional Republicans and ISP industry stakeholders object to Title II reclassification.
House Commerce Committee Republicans emphasized spectrum and FCC process legislation (see 1412240031) in a 110-page document outlining policy ideas for the coming Congress. “Spectrum is a finite resource that is in ever-increasing demand,” the document said. “To adequately respond to this demand, creative solutions are necessary for clearing, consolidating, and sharing spectrum. There must also be discussion of the appropriate management of spectrum, both federal and commercial, through licensing and authorizing. While there have been significant improvements in spectrum utilization, there still remains a great deal to be done in order to ensure all users are effectively and efficiently using the airwaves they’ve been assigned.” The lawmakers emphasized reallocation, efficiency and sharing of spectrum. The policy document, spanning sectors beyond telecom, “offers a blueprint for our work in the next Congress,” Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said in a statement. “Our record speaks for itself with over 50 bills signed into law.” The document points to the virtues of the bipartisan Federal Spectrum Incentive Act (HR-3674), introduced in the recent 113th Congress: “This legislation provides a path for federal users that elect to discontinue radio operations without relocating to other frequencies or that relocate operations to share with another federal user, to receive a percentage of the auction proceeds the spectrum generates.”
House Republicans may change how major legislation is scored in the 114th Congress ahead of possible big-ticket telecom items slated for consideration for coming sessions. GOP lawmakers released a draft version Tuesday of a resolution that would establish rules for the next Congress. Cost estimates for legislation deemed major would have to “incorporate macroeconomic effects,” it said: “An estimate provided by the Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 for any major legislation shall, to the extent practicable, incorporate the budgetary effects of changes in economic output, employment, capital stock, and other macroeconomic variables resulting from such legislation.” Lawmakers in the next Congress have said they want to overhaul the 1996 Telecom Act and may also seek to address net neutrality through legislation. Incoming Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., released several documents Tuesday defending macroeconomic scoring, a concept that was controversial when raised in the past. “The rule defines ‘major legislation’ as any revenue or direct-spending bill that causes a gross increase or decrease in revenues, outlays, or deficits of more than 0.25 percent of GDP in any year covered by the budget resolution,” Ryan said in one section. “The chair of the House Budget Committee and, for purely revenue legislation, the highest-ranking House member on the Joint Committee on Taxation (either chair or vice chair) can designate legislation as 'major' for purposes of this rule if a bill is likely to have a significant economic impact, but does not meet the numerical threshold.” Based on 2014 data, the threshold would have been $43 billion, likely to grow over time, Ryan said. It does not apply to appropriations bills, and in the 113th Congress, only three pieces of legislation would have been subject: the Jobs for America Act (HR-4); the Permanent Bonus Depreciation Act (HR-4718), which addressed a tax issue that the telecom and media industry heavily lobbied on; and the Tax Increase Prevention Act (HR-5771). Macroeconomic scoring will “give members of Congress a better understanding of how their decisions affect the economy,” Ryan said in a document backing such scoring.
GAO found that federal agencies adjusted digital strategies as more consumers embraced mobile devices. “The Office of Management and Budget, in response to the milestones laid out in its Digital Government Strategy, created the Digital Services Advisory Group, which -- together with the General Services Administration‘s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technology -- has provided federal agencies with guidance, resources, and tools to enhance access to government services via mobile devices,” GAO said in the 44-page report released Monday. “Five of the six agencies GAO interviewed have taken steps to improve access to their websites via mobile devices. For example, in 2012, the Department of Transportation (DOT) redesigned its main website, www.dot.gov, to provide a platform for mobile access.” It cited data from the Pew Research Center about the growing trend toward mobile services. GAO described ongoing efforts at various agencies, with some changes yet to come. GAO examined the Interior and Transportation departments, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Weather Service, Federal Maritime Commission and National Endowment for the Arts. “PDFs are difficult to download on a mobile device, in part because of the large amount of data they contain,” GAO said. “Some of these agencies are trying to reduce the number of data-intensive PDF files on their websites, but a number of these data-intensive PDFs are still present.”
The FCC’s inmate calling actions from fall 2013 are “already having positive results,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told Rep. Robert Hurt, R-Va., in a letter the agency released last week. “Lower interstate rates and increased ICS [inmate calling services] usage enable more families to connect with inmates. Unfortunately, intrastate rates have increased in many states. Moreover, ICS providers are imposing an increasing array of ancillary charges, and correctional facilities are continuing to demand site commissions -- payments to facilities that are not based on their costs to provision ICS -- representing a significant portion of ICS provider gross revenues.” He cited a second further notice that the FCC issued in October to explore these issues and its goal to overhaul ICS “comprehensively” in addition to ensuring appropriate cost recovery and transition times for correctional facilities.
House Oversight Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., sent Sony Pictures Entertainment a letter Tuesday requesting information about what he called a “devastating cyber attack.” Cummings wants to know of all data breaches Sony has had over the past year and the number of employees and former employees affected by the recent hack. He wants to know what the company has done since learning of the breach and any recommendations Sony may have for cybersecurity legislation. He wants a response by Jan. 23 and a briefing from a company official by Jan. 19. President Barack Obama called for cyber legislation after the breach (see 1412190045). Sony has made available notifications about protection services since the hack. Free State Foundation President Randolph May also addressed the hack in a Tuesday blog post, saying online piracy is a real problem. The debate over the failed Stop Online Piracy Act "should not now be invoked as a ghostly mantra in a way that is intended to impede what ought to be a collaborative search for the right answers to combat piracy of intellectual property," May said.
Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., sent letters to the CEOs of Uber and Lyft inquiring about the companies’ privacy and data security policies. The letters, released Tuesday, asked several questions about how the companies manage their data. The senators sent the letters Dec. 19, and both the letter to Uber and the letter to Lyft cite the enforcement actions that the FTC has taken in this space. Nelson is expected to be ranking member of the Commerce Committee next year.
A recent Congressional Research Service report gave an update on efforts to include radio chips in smartphones. “The business case for marketing radio/phone combinations is straightforward for the radio industry: increase radio listeners -- and advertising revenue -- by reaching potential new audiences through their cellphones,” wrote telecom policy analyst Linda Moore in the report, dated last week. “The business case for wireless carriers to include FM radio is more complex.” The report didn't outline specific steps Capitol Hill is taking or could take in this arena but did emphasize the focus on wireless reliability. “With an increasing number of people relying on mobile devices connected to the Internet as their primary source of information, the reliability of these networks has become a concern for policy makers,” CRS said. “At the federal level, for example, the FCC has undertaken a number of actions intended to improve wireless network reliability.”
The FCC may impose “even higher forfeitures in the future” than the $10 million proposed fines against TerraCom and YourTel if “appropriate,” Chairman Tom Wheeler reassured Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. Nelson will become ranking member of the Commerce Committee in the next Congress and wrote Wheeler worrying that the fines, proposed after the companies failed to protect confidential consumer information in Lifeline eligibility determination, are not sufficient deterrents (see 1410280039). “We take this concern very seriously,” Wheeler told Nelson in a letter, released last week. He explained the factors used to determine the $10 million figure and said future fines could be higher.
Congress should maintain “strong net neutrality protections” in any update of the Communications Act, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and 10 other Democratic senators said in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D. Thune has said he hopes a Communications Act rewrite will be part of the agenda when he becomes Senate Commerce chairman next month (see 1412120057). In the letter, released Friday, Reid and the letter’s other signers said they believe the FCC should “take strong action” on net neutrality but stopped short of calling for Title II reclassification. “We would forcefully oppose any reforms that would undermine the FCC’s authority” on net neutrality, the senators said. The letter’s other signers included Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who will both be on the Senate Commerce Committee in the 114th Congress.