Sidley promotions, effective Jan. 1, include, to partners Emily Zipperstein, who works on mergers and acquisitions and digital media and commercial transactions; Lauren Grau, who advises on intellectual property in connection with M&A and other deals, with clients in telecom, information technology, software, media and consumer products; Rachelle Soderstrom, who works on technology and IP including in takeovers; and Benjamin Mundel, who represents telecom and other firms at trial and arbitration; while Marc Korman, who represents broadcasters, wireless operators and others on FCC and related communications law issues, moves up to counsel.
Providers, local governments and advocates welcomed FCC-proposed rules for the $14.2 billion affordable connectivity program, in comments posted Thursday in docket 21-450. Some raised concerns about potential implementation challenges as the agency shifts from the $3.1 billion emergency broadband benefit program and urged the commission to allow flexibility for EBB providers and enrolled households during the transition.
The tech industry should create a regulatory body to set best practices for protecting children, and Communications Decency Act Section 230 immunity should be earned through adhering to those protections, Instagram Head Adam Mosseri told the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee at a Wednesday hearing.
The House voted 363-70 Tuesday to pass a compromise conference version of the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act using S-1605 as a legislative vehicle. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., raised concerns before the vote about Capitol Hill leaders’ decision to jettison cyber incident response language from the conference NDAA (see 2112070067). The compromise measure jettisons some telecom language (see 2109240067) from the earlier House-passed NDAA (HR-4350), including the text of the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services Act (HR-2351) and Promoting U.S. Wireless Leadership Act (HR-3003). It retains House-passed language directing DOD to brief the National Security Council on “potential harmful interference” to GPS posed by Ligado’s planned L-band operations and an authorization for each secretary of a military department to establish a pilot program to evaluate the feasibility of deploying telecom infrastructure to expedite 5G on military installations (see 2109020074). The revised NDAA now heads to the Senate, which earlier grappled with how to reach a deal on its own list of telecom and tech amendments.
The FCC Wireline Bureau waived more emergency broadband benefit program rules as the commission transitions to the affordable connectivity program, in an order Wednesday in docket 21-450 (see 2111260015). The bureau waived the requirement that ISP offerings and standard rates be offered "in the same manner and terms" as offerings available Dec. 1, 2020, until final ACP rules are enacted, and the requirement that providers submit to Universal Service Administrative Co. that they were a broadband provider then, in each state where it planned to participate. The bureau released additional guidelines for the EBB-to-ACP move, including that the national Lifeline accountability database will close at 6 p.m. EST Dec. 30 "for administrative purposes" ahead of ACP's Dec. 31 launch.
The tech industry should create a regulatory body to set best practices for protecting children, and Communications Decency Act Section 230 immunity should be earned through adhering to those protections, Instagram Head Adam Mosseri told the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee at a Wednesday hearing. That regulatory body should gather input from civil society and regulators about universal protections, including age verification, age-appropriate design and parental controls, Mosseri said. TikTok Public Policy Head Michael Beckerman backed standardized age verification in November (see 2111090076).
The Senate’s Tuesday reconfirmation of FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to another term (see 2112070029) provides more certainty for upcoming policy moves, but it isn’t likely to mean any major changes in how the agency functions because it will remain in a 2-2 tie for now, lawmakers and experts told us. Democrats are relieved Senate action forestalled the possibility the FCC would shift to a 2-1 GOP majority in January but believe the ongoing stalemate underscores the need to confirm Democratic commission nominee Gigi Sohn, whose path forward remains uncertain (see 2112010043). Republicans see the ongoing stalemate as an opportunity for Rosenworcel to continue seeking bipartisan consensus.
CTA representatives didn’t respond to questions about how they think the Biden administration’s tightened restrictions on overseas travelers to the U.S. designed to thwart the spread of COVID-19's omicron variant might affect international participation at CES 2022. The U.S. will require all inbound international travelers to test negative for COVID-19 within one day of departure globally, “regardless of nationality or vaccination status,” said the White House Thursday. The previous requirement was for a negative test result within three days of departure for the U.S. “This tighter testing timeline provides an added degree of public health protection,” as scientists continue to assess the omicron variant, it said. CTA executives at recent media briefings emphasized international CES 2022 participation, especially after the U.S. reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers Nov. 8, about two weeks before South African epidemiologists discovered the emergence of the new variant. “Tens of thousands” were registered for CES 2022, “30% of them international,” Karen Chupka, CTA executive vice president-CES, told a Nov. 18 media briefing. Most of the international registrants were from Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan and South Korea, she said. The show’s Eureka Park pavilion of tech startups will have representation from “nearly every region of the world,” said CTA President Gary Shapiro at the same briefing. The pavilion will feature 100 startups from the Netherlands, and the Italian delegation will be up 40% from the 2020 show, he said then.
The Commerce Department is seeking nominations for a new Industrial Advisory Committee on microelectronics research development, manufacturing and policy, the agency said this week. The committee, to be composed equally of representatives from the semiconductor industry, federal laboratories and academic institutions, will advise the administration on how best to maintain U.S. leadership in microelectronics manufacturing and support the semiconductor sector. The agency will accept committee nominations on an ongoing basis “and will be considered as and when vacancies arise.”
China and Senegal signed a memorandum of understanding on e-commerce cooperation during the 8th Ministerial Conference on the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation, China's Ministry of Commerce said in a Dec. 1 news release, according to an unofficial translation. The memorandum establishes that both parties will bolster their policy communication, back business cooperation, promote the import and export of high-quality specialty products through e-commerce and encourage the exchange of new and emerging technologies, the ministry said. China and Senegal set up a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2016, and this memorandum builds on the deepening ties between the nations, the release said.