There's room for Capitol Hill to enact national privacy legislation that wouldn't stifle the tech sector's ability to innovate or reduce profitability, industry experts said during a Tuesday evening Phoenix Center event. Lawmakers have been searching for a way forward on an overarching privacy bill amid the fallout over the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data breach, which drew pushes for bills ranging from the Balancing the Rights of Web Surfers Equally and Responsibly (Browser) Act (HR-2520) to a privacy bill of rights (see 1804100054, 1804130057, 1805110050 and 1806190077).
The AT&T/Time Warner verdict doesn't alter that Disney has an easier and quicker path to regulatory approval for buying Fox's nonbroadcast assets than Comcast does, Disney CEO Bob Iger said on an analyst call Wednesday after the company said it sweetened its offer for Fox's assets. Iger said Disney worked with regulatory authorities around the globe for the past six months "and made a lot of progress" toward approvals.
Congress could play a bigger role in safeguarding journalists' freedoms, while not in involving itself in the journalism business, even as the industry is struggling to find new business models, experts said on a state of the media panel Wednesday organized by Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H. Tegna CEO Dave Lougee said the business stresses hitting TV stations point to a need for more consolidation, but politics regarding Sinclair is drowning out those business realities.
FTC Chairman Joseph Simons plans to scrutinize ISPs and internet "platforms" as part of a broader agenda to update consumer protection and antitrust enforcement. "We're going to vigorously enforce our authority in this space," he told reporters Wednesday, when asked about reinstatement of FTC jurisdiction over telco and cable ISPs under FCC reclassification of broadband providers as not common carriers. Internet platforms, such as Amazon, Facebook and Google, also will draw attention due to their size, reach and potential for anticompetitive behavior, he said.
Agencies can change their minds about regulation due to leadership shifts, a dynamic that applies to broadband reclassifications, said FCC senior litigation officials at an FCBA event Tuesday evening. It's settled law that changes in administration bring changes in policy, said Jacob Lewis, associate general counsel, suggesting Chevron judicial deference applies. That agencies can change course after administration changes is nothing new, as 1984's Chevron was about a Reagan administration EPA change from the Carter administration policy, said Richard Welch, deputy associate general counsel. He noted they spoke only for themselves.
A California state senator said an Assembly committee may have violated rules when it voted for substantive changes to his net neutrality bill (SB-822). At a testy Wednesday hearing, the Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee voted 8-0 to adopt a committee amendment made public less than 24 hours earlier, with the vote occurring before any testimony. “What the committee just did was outrageous,” state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) told the Assembly committee's chairman, Miguel Santiago (D). Wiener later asked to withdraw the “mutilated” bill from the committee’s consideration, but the committee held a vote to move the amended bill forward anyway.
The Trump administration is sending the clearest signals yet that sharing is winning versus exclusive-use spectrum licenses. More will be known as decisions are made about various bands, but wireless industry lawyers said carriers may be disappointed by the administration's overall approach. NTIA held a symposium last week on the strategy (see 1806120056), including DOD and FAA officials. NTIA Administrator David Redl said for some bands, sharing may be the only option (see 1806130080). NTIA declined further comment.
The FCC July 12 agenda will tackle C-band spectrum for 5G, an NPRM on children’s TV rules as expected (see 1806180055), and false emergency alerts, but not the national TV ownership cap, said industry attorneys and Chairman Ajit Pai's blog. Though the FCC was seen last week as aiming to take on the cap in July (see 1806140055), the agency is now seen as shooting for the August commissioners’ meeting. “It’s imperative that we remain at the front of the pack,” for 5G, Pai said. The July meeting also will include proceedings on nationwide number portability, 800 MHz spectrum and handling of formal complaints, he wrote.
A Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing for FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks delivered few surprises but did confirm committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., intends to fast-track a vote to advance the nominee to the full Senate, as expected (see 1804060049, 1806120047 and 1806190045). President Donald Trump nominated Starks this month to succeed former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (see 1806010072 and 1806040067). Thune and several Democrats used the hearing to deliver partisan shots at the FCC's conduct under Chairman Ajit Pai and previous Chairman Tom Wheeler. Starks attempted to thread the needle between bipartisan outreach and partisan overtures during the hearing, which Thune told reporters he viewed as relatively "smooth." The hearing also examined Consumer Product Safety Commission nominee Peter Feldman.
Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, Conn., and other subcommittee Democrats used a Tuesday hearing on privacy implications of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica breach to expand what they perceive to be Facebook's violations of its 2011 consent decree with the FTC to include other recently-disclosed actions. Former FTC Chief Technologist Ashkan Soltani confirmed the Democrats' view, saying he believed Facebook violated the agreement. Blumenthal, Senate Consumer Protection Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and others drilled down on potential legislative solutions to address Facebook-Cambridge Analytica's privacy implications.