Amid talk of federal regulation of social media platforms' editorial privileges, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly called it "First Amendment gibberish" to argue such regulation is pro-free speech. He spoke to the Media Institute Wednesday, also seeking less regulation of other industries and to get localities out of cable franchising. The social media regulatory step would curtail free speech through government action, he said in prepared and actual remarks.
House Antitrust Subcommittee Democrats presented evidence Wednesday of anticompetitive behavior by Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, during a hearing with their CEOs. Republicans hammered executives with claims of anti-conservative bias. All four executives appeared virtually.
Utility regulators must address diversity and social justice, said leaders of a NARUC diversity initiative in interviews this week. Amid a national reckoning after the May 25 death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, NARUC President Brandon Presley last week said he asked Supplier Workforce and Diversity Subcommittee Chair Sadzi Oliva and Consumers and Public Interest Committee Chair Maida Coleman to lead an effort that will include “intentional actions” (see 2007220053).
Disagreements continued as the FCC took replies on a Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band, approved 5-0 in April (see 2004230059). Wi-Fi proponents lined up against groups like NAB and APCO, concerned about protecting existing spectrum use (see 2006300042). Replies were due Monday in docket 18-295 on proposals to permit very low-power devices to operate across 6 GHz, increase the power at which low-power indoor (LPI) access points may operate and other changes. NAB and electric utilities went to court (see 2007270067).
A North American Numbering Council working group report on use of IP local routing numbers for nationwide number portability (NNP) drew fire Tuesday, with the FCC advisory group unable to get unanimous support for it and the focus on IPLRN coming under criticism. Others argued that IPLRN focus is what the FCC wanted in its charge letter to the working group. The FCC didn't comment. NANC also adopted a working group report on interoperable video calling.
California lawmakers tinkered with rival bills on state broadband funding. Eyes are on the clock after the Assembly Communications Committee postponed Tuesday's hearing on SB-1130 to raise the standard to 25 Mbps symmetrical. The delay was due to an unrelated row over the relative volume of bills in the legislature, and it's the second time the committee delayed the hearing. A $100 billion state stimulus bill unveiled Monday included broadband for distance learning.
Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Thom Tillis, R-N.C., wants any Digital Millennium Copyright Act revamp to codify existing DMCA fair use exceptions and add potential new such categories. Tillis has been working on potential update language with an eye to releasing a draft in December (see 2006090063). Ranking member Chris Coons, D-Del., is doubtful about the legislative path forward this Congress given limited legislative days (see 2006230068).
The consent decrees that govern music rights are out of date and artists should be able to enjoy the free market, said Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim in the opening address Tuesday of DOJ’s teleconferenced two-day workshop (see 2007240067). Consent decrees “don’t conduct music, but the market for music is conducted by consent decrees,” said Delrahim. The pacts need to be justified by either the current landscape or a future one, and shouldn’t be kept to serve the status quo, he said.
The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee’s Spectrum Strategy Governance Subcommittee looked at potential major changes to federal oversight of spectrum (see 2004220059) but didn’t reach conclusions. Among possibilities was putting all spectrum decisions under the FCC or NTIA and creating a new “unity” agency. A final report is to be presented at CSMAC's meeting Thursday.
CTA’s decision to scratch CES 2021 as a physical event gives the association five months and nine days to craft an online experience that outdoes that of most virtual trade shows run during the pandemic, officials said. “Moving to an all-digital format for CES is simply the right thing to do,” said CEO Gary Shapiro by video. “Our exhibitors partners and thought leaders will now have the time to plan, to think, to create compelling ways to engage digital audiences from around the world.”