The Commerce Department and NTIA haven't changed in their opposition to the FCC's Ligado approval, Secretary Gina Raimondo told Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., in a June 22 letter released Wednesday. "NTIA will continue its efforts on behalf of the Executive Branch to oppose it," including ongoing pursuit of the reconsideration petition before the FCC, she said. NTIA "stands ready to support" DOD in an independent technical review of the Ligado order it's having done by the National Academy of Sciences, she said. Inhofe, in comments on the Senate floor, said he communicated with Raimondo as he wanted to ensure "that even with a change in administration, government departments and agencies still wanted to see the harmful order repealed." Commerce's response "shows, once again, that there is bipartisan concern about the Ligado order that is continuing into the Biden administration," he said.
House Commerce Committee Republicans released Wednesday 32 discussion drafts aimed at holding “Big Tech accountable by improving transparency and content moderation accountability, reforming” Communications Decency Act Section 230, “promoting competition, and preventing illegal and harmful activity.” Committee Republicans want “Big Tech to be transparent, uphold American values for free speech, and stop their abuse of power that is harming our children,” said ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington. The drafts include one from McMorris Rodgers and House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to amend Section 230 to “remove liability protections for companies who censor constitutionally protected speech on their platforms, require appeals processes, and transparency for content enforcement decisions.” Jordan in June previewed plans for the legislation in response to House Judiciary advancement of Big Tech competition measures he saw as a bid at pursuing “radical” antitrust policy (see 2106240071). House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, proposes amending 230 “to remove liability protections from companies that act as Bad Samaritans and knowingly promote, solicit, or facilitate illegal activity.” Former House Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., seeks to remove liability protections for actions the FTC takes against a company. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, proposes barring companies from blocking or preventing access to lawful content, along with degrading or impairing access. Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo., wants to require companies disclose how they develop their content moderation policies. Additional content moderation measures target revenge porn, child porn and doxxing. A bid by Rep. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma would require edge providers contribute to USF. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi and other committee Republicans propose the FCC explore such a requirement (see 2107210067).
The House Rules Committee is allowing floor consideration of two broadband amendments as part of an FY 2022 appropriations minibus (HR-4502) that the chamber began to consider Tuesday (see 2107260060). The panel didn’t agree Monday to allow a floor vote on an amendment from Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., to eliminate CPB funding. The broadband amendments that could get floor votes include a proposal led by Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., to expand eligibility for the Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect program by setting the threshold for unserved rural areas at 25/3 Mbps. The panel also agreed to advance a bid led by Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., to increase FCC broadband data mapping funds by $1 million. The underlying HR-4502 includes $388 million for the FCC, almost $390 million for the FTC (see 2106300028), more than $907 million for USDA rural broadband programs and $565 million for CPB in FY 2024. Votes on amendments were expected Tuesday night.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., met with President Joe Biden Tuesday on senators’ work on an infrastructure spending amid concerns talks were unravelling (see 2107260060). Sinema told reporters the meeting was “productive” and bipartisan talks are “moving forward.” It's “always hard to answer” whether those negotiations remain on track, but they appear to be, she said. “It’s very much in everyone’s interest for a bipartisan deal to be completed,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, another member of the group. He confirmed that broadband policy issues remain a sticking point in the talks.
Facebook needs to close a “loophole” allowing ex-President Donald Trump to remain a “regular presence” on the platform despite his two-year ban, advocates wrote the company Monday. Common Cause signed the letter with Center for American Progress, Free Press, National Hispanic Media Coalition and others. They criticized the platform for allowing the Team Trump page, run by Trump’s Save America political action committee, to “continue running political ads on Facebook.” They cited Facebook’s reasoning that “groups affiliated with the former president are not barred from posting on Facebook so long as they are not posting in his ‘voice.’” They asked the platform to clearly define “what content it considers to be in the voice of public figures and align its content moderation policies with campaign finance law.” The company didn’t comment.
House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., and ranking member Mike Turner, R-Ohio, filed the House version of the anti-Ligado Recognizing and Ensuring Taxpayer Access to Infrastructure Necessary (Retain) for GPS and Satellite Communications Act (S-2166) Thursday. Some lobbyists believe that portends a bid to attach it to the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. The measure would require Ligado to pay costs of GPS users whose operations are hurt by its planned L-band operations (see 2106230050). The bill protects “critical” GPS and satellite communications “networks by ensuring that any costs caused by private sector interference to their frequencies is covered by the private sector,” Cooper said. The Keep GPS Working Coalition and other opponents of Ligado’s L-band plan hailed the bill’s House filing. The Retain GPS and Satellite Communications Act “would put the burden to pay where it belongs: on Ligado,” said the Satellite Safety Alliance. Ligado didn’t comment Friday. The Senate Armed Services Committee remained mum whether the panel attached S-2166’s text or other anti-Ligado language to the version of the FY 2022 NDAA it advanced last week. An executive summary said the measure increases funding for “cutting-edge research and prototyping activities at universities, small businesses, defense labs and industry” on 5G, artificial intelligence and other “critical” technologies. The measure includes an additional $264 million for DOD cybersecurity work. It mandates “the establishment of the microelectronics research network, originally established in the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act.”
Officials from DOJ, the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Secret Service will testify at a Tuesday hearing on ransomware threats (see 2107150036). Deputy Assistant Attorney General-Criminal Division Richard Downing, FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran, Department of Homeland Security's CISA Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity Eric Goldstein and Secret Service Investigations Office Assistant Director Jeremy Sheridan will testify at 10 a.m. in 226 Dirksen.
Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters Thursday she and other senators involved in working on a bipartisan infrastructure bill are close to a deal, but the structure of its broadband title remains a sticking point. Draft broadband language would set a minimum speed below what fiber advocates seek for projects receiving money from a $40 billion pot of NTIA-administered state-level grants (see 2107210063). The overall proposal, which President Joe Biden backed last month, allocates $65 billion for broadband (see 2106240070). Other senators in the group agree a deal is close. “Most of the agreements have been reached,” said Mitt Romney, R-Utah. “There are a few things that are still being worked on,” but “I think we’ll be there Monday. If not so, then a day or two after.”
Senate legislation Thursday would require the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to act to better identify cyberattacks against critical infrastructure. Introduced by Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Gary Peters, D-Mich.; Mark Warner, D-Va.; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the DHS Industrial Control Systems Capabilities Enhancement Act would require CISA to ensure “it can better identify and mitigate threats to Industrial Control Systems.” Companion legislation introduced by House Homeland Security Committee ranking member John Katko, R-N.Y., passed the House unanimously.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr hailed House Commerce Committee advancement of the Secure Equipment Act (HR-3919). The committee also cleared seven other telecom cybersecurity measures (see 2107210064). HR-3919 and Senate companion S-1790 would ban the FCC from issuing new equipment licenses to Huawei and other companies the commission considers a national security risk. It “would help ensure that insecure gear from companies like Huawei, ZTE, and others can no longer be inserted into America’s communications infrastructure,” Carr said Thursday. “We have already determined that this gear poses an unacceptable risk to our national security” (see 2106090063) and HR-3919/S-1790 “would ensure that the FCC closes this Huawei loophole.”