U.S. companies are generally taking the EU general data protection regulation seriously, but many will struggle to achieve compliance by the May 25 deadline, privacy experts said. There's a perception in Europe that American businesses are ahead in the rush to meet GDPR requirements, but one expert thinks European organizations are better prepared. Challenges for U.S. businesses are getting management buy-in, the absence of a strong American concept of data privacy, and the difficulties of finding all GDPR-relevant data across organizations, observers said.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, has a commitment to bring up the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) (S-1693) (see 1803020024) after consideration of a Senate banking bill and is hopeful for a vote next week, he told us Thursday. A Portman staffer said proponents will pursue the House version of the bill. After the House passed the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) (HR-1865) with more than 380 votes, the White House announced its support. “We’re looking forward to getting it done,” Portman said, calling House passage and White House support “encouraging.”
The FCC will release a second allocation from the $1.75 billion repacking reimbursement fund in four to six weeks, said an Incentive Auction Task Force public notice Thursday. Though no amount for the second allocation was given, the PN includes a revised cost estimate for the station relocation: $1.95 billion, as of Wednesday. That number is based on verified and unverified estimates, and is an increase from the $1.86 billion estimate released at the time of the $1 billion first allocation. Broadcast attorneys told us a second allocation would ease the repacking process for many broadcasters. The knowledge that more funds are on the way gives broadcasters “comfort” that expenses will be covered, said Margaret Miller, partner at Gray Miller.
The Commerce Department strongly supports Doreen Bogdan-Martin as director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (ITU-D), NTIA Administrator David Redl said Thursday. Bogdan Martin has been campaigning for the post, running one of the three ITU sectors (see 1710230052) in an upcoming ITU election. But Bogdan-Martin likely faces an uphill fight, since the ITU-D job usually goes to someone from Africa, and Americans have never had an easy time getting elected to ITU positions.
House Cybersecurity Subcommittee members hammered Department of Homeland Security officials at a hearing Wednesday for failing to fill cybersecurity vacancies. One DHS official blamed the delay partly on a pay-scale system designed in the 1940s, preventing the agency from hiring top talent.
While convenient for consumers and cost-effective for certain businesses, the rise of e-commerce creates data security and privacy concerns, and it threatens small businesses without an online footprint, the House Digital Commerce Subcommittee heard Wednesday, as expected (see 1803060041). Hel’s Kitchen Catering founder David Borris called Amazon “an existential threat” to millions of small businesses. Small firms lack resources to establish quality online platforms, he said, and sometimes spend the equivalent of 8 to 10 percent of profit to compete. Amazon responded by citing to us that more than 50 percent of Amazon unit sales come from third-party sellers; more than 2 million offer hundreds of millions of unique products through Amazon’s Marketplace; and more than 100,000 have more than $100,000 in sales through Amazon.
Better consumer education and prodding law enforcers via language in appropriations bills urging strong enforcement were suggestions Wednesday at a discussion on streaming video piracy. A coalition of studios, broadcasters, MVPDs and online providers went to DOJ with referrals about streaming piracy operations, and the agency is looking at "a variety of candidates" for criminal action, said MPAA Senior Vice President-Government and Regulatory Affairs Neil Fried. DOJ didn't comment. Fried said law enforcement funding to tackle such IP-related issues needs to be adequate, and report language in appropriations bills making such enforcement a priority also would help.
State bills on net neutrality, small cells and broadband deployment marched forward this week, but another to allow municipal broadband expansion failed. The Hawaii Senate passed a bill Tuesday reinstating net neutrality rules rescinded by the FCC in December, and both Hawaii chambers passed bills to streamline 5G deployment by pre-empting local governments. Washington state's legislature sent a rural broadband bill to the governor, but a Tennessee bill to end the ban on muni-broadband expansion died in committee.
The Senate Commerce Committee said Wednesday it plans a series of hearings next week on President Donald Trump's infrastructure legislative proposal, some of which will touch on the plan's broadband aspects. The package, released last month, proposes $50 billion in federal funding for rural infrastructure projects allocated via state block grants (see 1802120001). Senate Democrats meanwhile unveiled a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal of their own that includes $40 billion in direct funding for broadband projects.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposed order streamlining wireless infrastructure rules could be headed for a 3-2 vote at commissioners’ March 22 meeting (see 1803010047), FCC and wireless industry officials told us. Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel are expected to dissent, or partially dissent, given concerns about the order, particularly by Native American groups, the officials said. Little definitive word is likely from either office before the meeting, and both are said to be still looking more closely at the order with two weeks to go. Rosenworcel has been on travel nonstop since the order circulated, an aide said. The FCC didn’t comment.