State Democrats are pressing forward with net neutrality revivals with hope that last year’s Mozilla decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit alleviated lawmaker concerns that killed bills in previous sessions. The D.C. Circuit cleared a “path to be able to set our own net neutrality rules,” said Connecticut Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D). He and other legislators and stakeholders spoke in recent interviews.
Expanded residential telehealth use could support patients and healthcare providers during the U.S. outbreak of COVID-19, providing pre-diagnosis triage and keeping contagious patients away from doctors' offices waiting rooms, stakeholders said in interviews last week. Some said more reliable, affordable and ubiquitous connectivity is needed.
Confirmation of Nevada’s first positive case of COVID-19 Thursday in Clark County (see 2003050069) and a second confirmation Friday in the Reno area didn’t deter major Las Vegas trade show organizers, including NAB, from insisting their events would go on as planned. PBS went a different route, announcing the cancellation of its TechCon summit at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas that would have immediately preceded the NAB Show.
TCL developed the first rollable, extendable smartphone concept, it announced Thursday. The 9mm rollable AMOLED display uses internal motors to extend a 6.75-inch screen to a 7.8-inch display with a button press. When the phone isn’t in use, a motor-driven sliding panel conceals the flexible display, said the company. The announcement was part of a peek into the electronics company’s design efforts with flexible displays that it expected to show at MWC 2020 in Barcelona last month, before coronavirus concerns forced organizers to cancel (see 2002120065).
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced long-anticipated legislation Thursday (see 2002070052) that would alter Section 230, exposing online platforms to civil liability for violating child sexual abuse material-related laws. The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act (Earn It Act) was introduced with Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. Additional sponsors are Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; Doug Jones, D-Ala.; Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; Bob Casey, D-Pa., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross downplayed any disagreement within the Trump administration on how much it wants to restrict Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei via U.S. trade rules. His Thursday exchange with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., came during a Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on the Commerce Department’s FY 2021 budget request. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., questioned the agency's broadband coverage data collection.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai could propose an order on the 6 GHz band for the April 23 meeting, industry and FCC officials said. That would move one of his biggest pieces of unfinished business, providing spectrum for unlicensed use comparable to the mid-band allocated for licensed use in the C band. Pai was expected to propose an item in March. Staff needed more time, we were told Thursday.
Coronavirus concerns are forcing the cancellation of more industry summits and prompting the FCC to ban nonessential travel and participation in large gatherings (see 2003040061). America's Communications Association Thursday also announced the cancellation of its March summit.
The record shows new supply chain rules designed to protect U.S. networks are both “legally unsound and factually unjustified,” Huawei replied to the FCC. Commissioners approved rules 5-0 in November barring equipment from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE in networks funded by the USF, and sought comment on whether to expand the prohibition (see 1911220033). In initial comments last month, industry groups raised concerns (see 2002040047), and replies appeared in docket 18-89 through Wednesday. Last week, the Senate passed the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998).
Senate Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced legislation Wednesday that would ban the use of TikTok by all federal employees on government devices. “Do we really want Beijing having the geolocation data of all federal employees, having their keystrokes?” he asked reporters after a subcommittee hearing.