House members and Commerce Department officials criticized alleged abuse by some employees within the Patent and Trademark Office’s telework program and its hiring practices (see 1411100040), in a joint House Judiciary and Oversight committees hearing Tuesday. The PTO employees who allegedly abused the telework program already should’ve been fired, said House Appropriations Committee member Frank Wolf, R-Va., in prepared testimony. Wolf said he’s a “huge advocate” of telework programs, but that the PTO needs stronger enforcement policies for those programs. Commerce’s 2014 investigation uncovered that a PTO “senior official intervened in the hiring process to ensure that a nonselected candidate, who was the fiancé of a close relative of the official, was ultimately selected for a position as a trademark examiner,” said Todd Zinser, Commerce inspector general, in prepared remarks. Ninety-five percent of PTO paralegals who participated in the Patent Hoteling Program had “insufficient work assigned to them over a four-year period despite a significant and growing backlog of appeals,” he said. The PTO received four “whistleblower” complaints in 2012 alleging abuse of the telework program, said Margaret Focarino, PTO commissioner for patents, in prepared testimony. “The USPTO investigated the claims, immediately took action to address issues raised during the investigation, and subsequently submitted a report to the Department of Commerce Office of the Inspector General." That report posited eight recommendations to improve the telework program, said Focarino. “We began implementing these recommendations and taking other actions even before submitting the report.”
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., rebuffed Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for attacking President Barack Obama’s net neutrality position in support of Communications Act Title II reclassification. Cruz had slammed Obama and called it “Obamacare for the Internet” last week (see 1411100033). Cruz is a member of the Communications Subcommittee, and Franken chairs the Judiciary Privacy Subcommittee. Cruz is “completely wrong and he just doesn’t understand what his issue is,” Franken said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “We’ve had net neutrality the entire history of the Internet … this is about reclassifying something so it stays the same.” Franken said pricing happens by value. “The Internet service providers have gotten bigger -- they essentially have an oligopoly and they have been talking about a fast lane,” Franken said. Several of the large ISPs recently told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that they have no interest in paid prioritization deals to create such fast lanes (see 1410290053). Cruz dug in on his net neutrality concerns Monday, posting three YouTube videos about his concerns with Internet regulation (see here, here and here). One clip featured Franken’s remarks and a Cruz rebuttal. “What happens when government starts regulating a service as a public utility?” Cruz said, delivering remarks in Austin Friday, according to the video. “It calcifies everything, it freezes it in place.” In one video, Cruz walks along a stage holding a rotary phone. “This is regulated by Title II,” he said, pointing to the old black phone model. “This is not,” he added, holding up a smartphone. “We want a whole lot more of this and a whole lot less of this.”
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., fired off a letter to the Justice Department Friday inquiring about a Wall Street Journalreport published that day that said department officials have sought to intercept consumer cellphone data. That account said that the government has used devices on airplanes to resemble cellphone towers and collect people’s cellphone information. “While such data can serve as an important tool for law enforcement to detect and deter criminal or terrorist activity, the sweeping nature of this program and the likely collection of sensitive records belonging to innocent consumers raise a number of important questions about how the Department protects the privacy of Americans, particularly those with no connection to unlawful activities,” Markey told Attorney General Eric Holder in the letter. He asked several questions, such as when the program began operating and about the authorizing court orders, requesting responses by Dec. 8.
A Senate Commerce Committee aide confirmed that the committee wasn't planning to consider Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly’s renomination at its postponed Tuesday nominations hearing. Commerce never revealed which nominees it planned to consider and called off the Tuesday hearing in a notice issued Friday (see 1411140053). The White House nominated O’Rielly for a full five-year term in October (see 1411130051), and spokespeople for Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., have declined to say whether O’Rielly was on the agenda for this initially scheduled hearing and whether the chairman plans to advance O’Rielly in the lame-duck session. Commerce Committee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., “believes that Mike O'Rielly's re-nomination should be approved before the end of the year because the Committee has already vetted him and he is more than capable to carry our his duties at the FCC,” the aide told us this weekend.
FirstNet Acting General Manager TJ Kennedy will testify Tuesday about the state of the network at the House Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee’s hearing on interoperable communications and progress since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Other witnesses include Ronald Hewitt, director of the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Emergency Communications, and Mark Grubb, communications division director of the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security. The hearing will take place at 10 a.m. in 311 Cannon. Subcommittee Chairwoman Susan Brooks, R-Ind., cited in a statement “much progress” since the 2001 attack but said “real and pressing challenges remain, as was evidenced after Hurricane Sandy” in 2012.
The House approved the Senate version of the E-Label Act (S-2583) Thursday by unanimous voice vote. It had already approved its own companion version of the legislation. The bill would let device manufacturers include a required FCC label digitally rather than on the physical device. The legislation now advances for White House signature to become law. “I am confident the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology will do a great job updating our labeling rules," said bill author Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., in a statement after House approval. TIA praised the passage. “The current FCC requirement for manufacturers to either etch or print mandatory regulatory markings on the exterior of devices unnecessarily increases costs, limits design options and ineffectively conveys important information to consumers, especially as many devices become smaller,” TIA CEO Scott Belcher said in a statement. “By updating device labeling requirements, the E-LABEL Act will enhance the ability of our manufacturers to compete while also increasing access to consumer information.” FCC commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel have also backed the measure.
The Senate Commerce Committee postponed this week’s nominations hearing. The committee declined to explain why or say when it would be rescheduled, though a committee aide told us Commerce’s hearing schedule is always subject to change. The hearing had initially been slated for Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. and may have included FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, whom the White House nominated for a full term last month, a nomination committee Republicans hope to advance before year’s end (see 1411130051).
House Judiciary Committee member Doug Collins, R-Ga., will be the next Congressional Creative Rights Caucus co-chairman, he said in a statement Thursday. Collins will replace outgoing caucus co-chairman and House IP Judiciary Subcommittee Chairman Howard Coble, R-N.C., as the caucus’s top Republican. House Judiciary Committee member Judy Chu, D-Calif., will continue as the top Democrat on the caucus. “I’ve admired Congresswoman Chu’s expertise and passion about creative rights issues since I got to Congress two years ago,” said Collins: “If we can start with raising that kind of awareness, I know our legislative goals will fall into place.” Collins is the sponsor of the Songwriter Equity Act (HR-4079) (see 1406190093) and a co-sponsor of the Respecting Senior Performers as Essential Cultural Treasures Act (HR-4772) (see 1410090092). Chu is a co-sponsor of both bills. The Copyright Alliance and SoundExchange are hosting an event at 5 p.m. Monday in Rayburn 2237 to announce Collins’ new position, said a spokeswoman.
Buzz about a forthcoming Senate vote on the USA Freedom Act (S-2685) grew late last week. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., filed for cloture in the middle of last week, setting up a potential vote this week. CEA wrote to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., asking him in a Thursday letter to vote yes on such a bill. CEA President Gary Shapiro pointed to global distrust due to revelations about U.S. government surveillance in the past year. “This distrust hurts U.S. companies competing globally for business, and could result in the loss of thousands of jobs,” Shapiro said. “Several companies, including members of CEA, have already lost contracts with foreign governments worth millions of dollars.” Another branch of CEA known as the Innovation Movement asked people to write to their representatives urging them to back the USA Freedom Act. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., wrote the bill and issued another statement Friday requesting the Senate pass the bill.
President Barack Obama's campaign arm mocked Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as it continued to seek backers in the White House's quest to pressure the FCC to reclassify broadband as a Communications Act Title II telecom service (see 1411100033). “That's something worth fighting for -- especially in the face of an absurdly well-funded opposition,” Organizing for Action Digital Director Toby Fallsgraff told supporters by email, asking people to sign the White House petition backing Obama’s plan. “The groups trying hard to end net neutrality have plenty of allies in Washington. One of them, Senator Ted Cruz, wasted no time yesterday criticizing the President's plan, calling it 'Obamacare for the internet'... which, as far as I can tell, makes sense to exactly no one.” Organizing for Action is a fundraising and campaign arm of the Democratic Party affiliated with Obama and run by Jim Messina, his 2012 campaign manager. The BarackObama.com petition, funded and run by Organizing for Action, asks people to “add your name to tell the FCC you support the President's plan to protect net neutrality.” The Fallsgraff email praises the concept of the open Internet, which it says is under threat: “But if some internet service providers get their way, that could all change forever. They want to have a say in how you use the internet, or how fast your favorite sites load.” Cruz is a member of the Communications Subcommittee and has weighed legislative action on net neutrality. In a Washington Postop-ed Thursday, Cruz called net neutrality one of the Internet’s “biggest regulatory threats” and reaffirmed his earlier Obamacare label for it: “It would put the government in charge of determining Internet pricing, terms of service and what types of products and services can be delivered, leading to fewer choices, fewer opportunities and higher prices. … If the federal government seizes the power to regulate Internet pricing and goods and services, the regulations will never end.”