New FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez’s acting chief of staff Deena Shetler spoke at a National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters panel with other 10th-floor aides Thursday, one of the first public appearances for Gomez’s new team. The panel, which included Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s Media Adviser David Strickland, also discussed media ownership, virtual MVPDs and advertising diversity. “We’re drinking from a firehose right now,” said Shetler, who has had the job just over a week.
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- The Affordable Connectivity Program enjoys general bipartisan support in Congress, but it's soft support, with ACP's looming lack of funds still not rising to the level of lawmakers' top priority, said Angelina Panettieri, National League of Cities legislative director-technology and communications, at NATOA’s annual conference Thursday. Several speakers urged localities to be active in weighing in on states' broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program plans, especially with advocacy on the challenge process design. "This is a zero sum game” since an inappropriately targeted BEAD subsidy means less money for areas with real needs, said Brian Roberts, policy analyst-city and county of San Francisco.
Amazon’s market power over sellers creates “artificially high prices across the web,” alleges a Tuesday antitrust class action (docket 2:23-cv-01523) in U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle. Rather than fostering a free and competitive e-commerce economy, “Amazon chose the path of quick and unfettered profits by unlawfully exercising their monopolistic powers in violation of antitrust law,” it said.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo publicly committed Wednesday to brief Senate Commerce Committee members on the DOD study on repurposing the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for commercial 5G use sent to the Commerce Department last week (see 2309280087). Panel ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and several other members raised questions about the DOD study during a hearing on implementing the 2022 Chips and Science Act.
The U.S. District Court for Eastern Michigan in Detroit should deny plaintiff Michael Dahdah’s motion for leave to amend his dismissed Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint against Rocket Mortgage as “premature,” pending the court’s resolution of Rocket’s motion to compel Dahdah’s claims to arbitration (see 2309150060), said Rocket’s opposition Monday (docket 4:22-cv-11863). Because motions to compel arbitration “raise threshold questions about whether the court is the proper forum to resolve the dispute, the resolution of such motions must precede the resolution of motions to dismiss raising merits issues,” said Rocket. The court should vacate its dismissal order and take up the motion to compel arbitration “before reaching the Rule 12(b)(6) issues,” it said. If the court were to deny the motion to compel, “it would be appropriate to take up the Rule 12(b)(6) issues at that time, including by reinstating the dismissal order and by considering whether to grant leave to amend,” said Rocket.
The FTC risks violating the First Amendment and Section 230 with its proposed rule for combating deceptive online reviews, Amazon and tech associations told the agency in comments posted Monday (see 2306300029). Consumer groups recommended the agency increase liability for online platforms not doing enough to police fake and deceptive reviews.
The EU has received assurances that Beijing will grant export licenses for shipments of gallium and germanium to European businesses despite the restrictions China placed on exports of the two metals in August (see 2307050018), European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said this week. Dombrovskis also said the bloc is looking to sanction additional Chinese firms that may be skirting restrictions against Russia and is hoping to ensure its upcoming supply chain due diligence regulations don’t impose excessive compliance burdens on EU companies.
The EU has received assurances that Beijing will grant export licenses for shipments of gallium and germanium to European businesses despite the restrictions China placed on exports of the two metals in August (see 2307050018), European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said this week. Dombrovskis also said the bloc is looking to sanction additional Chinese firms that may be skirting restrictions against Russia and is hoping to ensure its upcoming supply chain due diligence regulations don’t impose excessive compliance burdens on EU companies.
Ten members of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, led by Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., are questioning the proportion of electronics shipments that have been released under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), after importers provided CBP with clear and convincing evidence that their supply chains had no Xinjiang links.
A bipartisan group of 72 House members and 22 senators is asking the Biden administration to use the Magnitsky Act to hold Azerbaijani officials accountable for what they called "the ongoing human rights crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh."