Updating federal privacy laws needs to be a “top priority,” but the U.S. should avoid European-like regulation that could put small American companies at a competitive disadvantage, Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said Monday at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event. The U.S. needs a “strong” consumer privacy bill, she said, but she raised concerns about the impact of the EU’s general data protection regulation on startups. She will reintroduce her privacy bill (see 1809200030), which grants the FTC additional rulemaking and enforcement authorities. Large companies can hire armies of attorneys and technocrats to ensure compliance, but small businesses don’t have the same resources, she said.
The rate of the third tranche of tariffs on Chinese goods “will remain at 10 percent" indefinitely, said a prepublication Federal Register “modification” notice released Thursday by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. That prevented a hike to 25 percent at 12:01 a.m. EST Saturday. At President Donald Trump's "discretion,” the USTR “determined that it no longer is appropriate” to hike the tariffs, “in light of progress in discussions with China” on a new trade accord. That levies aren't increasing is the “good news,” emailed trade expert David Cohen with Sandler Travis. Staying at 10 percent indefinitely is "not so good news, he added. Hundreds of tech companies testified last summer against the penalties.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he signed an agreement to work with Jordan’s Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, inked at the Mobile World Congress. “The U.S. and Jordan are strong allies, including on communications,” Pai tweeted Friday. “A pleasure to ... sign a Letter of Intent formalizing the cooperative relationship between our agencies and our respective countries.”
The Senate Commerce Security Subcommittee set a Thursday hearing to probe “the security implications of China's harmful practices in the marketplace,” including “intellectual property challenges, data localization requirements, standards-setting, and cybersecurity threats.” Set to testify are: Information Technology Industry Council Executive Vice President-Policy Josh Kallmer, the Rhodium Group's Daniel Rosen, Harvard University Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs co-Director Eric Rosenbach and New America China Digital Economy Fellow Samm Sacks. The panel will begin at 10 a.m. in 562 Dirksen, the Senate Commerce Committee said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, tweeted Wednesday that the U.S. “must ensure the security of 5G equipment by limiting authoritarian regimes' access to, and control over, our networks.” President Donald Trump's recent comments about 5G and two Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers -- Huawei and ZTE -- caused confusion about his future policy moves (see 1902210057 and 1902220066).
Liberty Global plans to sell its Swiss cable ISP operation, UPC Switzerland, for $6.3 billion to Sunrise Communications Group, it said Wednesday. It said UPC's network has 1.1 million customers and passes 2.3 million homes, and the deal is expected to close by year's end.
GSMA launched "The Mobile Industry Manifesto for Europe” seeking progressive regulation there. The European Parliament holds elections this spring, GSMA said Tuesday: “Policymakers in Europe [should] modernise regulation and create the right conditions for a new era of Intelligent Connectivity.” GSMA predicted with the right policies, Europe has the potential for 5G to be 30 percent of connections by 2025.
ICANN won't lobby, "influence or impact the development of any legislation" as it provides technical information on rules and bills that affect the group's mission and articles of incorporation, blogged CEO Goran Marby Monday. "Anytime we talk about government engagement, we get questions about lobbying, or if we are seeking to influence legislation, a politician or public official on a specific issue." The nonprofit sought comment on a draft charter about such activities.
Progress with connecting low-income countries to the internet is slowing, Facebook said Monday, releasing its 2019 Inclusive Internet Index. Internet-connected households increased on average from 53.1 percent to 54.8 percent, but “the rate of growth in internet connections slowed to” 2.9 percent in 2019, vs. 7.7 percent in 2018, according to the index. About 5,000 respondents from 99 countries participated. Some 52 percent said “they are not confident about their online privacy.” Global Connectivity Policy and Planning-Head Robert Pepper urged collaboration and expertise-sharing among government, industry, academia, technologists and civil society: “No single stakeholder or group can achieve internet inclusion alone.”
The U.S. and China are "talking about" whether they will address ongoing issues involving Chinese telecom equipment makers Huawei and ZTE via a new bilateral trade agreement, President Donald Trump told reporters Friday. That comes amid confusion about the Trump administration's stance on a ban on using equipment from the two companies in U.S. networks (see 1902210057). The U.S. last month indicted Huawei officials and subsidiaries on a range of charges, including conspiracy to violate U.S. economic sanctions against Iran (see 1901280052). "We want everybody to compete and I guess it will be somewhat of a subject that we're talking about here," Trump told reporters. "We may or may not include that in this deal."
Comments are due March 1 on international submarine cable circuit capacity data for the 2015 to 2017 reporting periods that the FCC intends to share with the Department of Homeland Security and other national security agencies. The pleading cycle gives entities that shared the data, including confidentially, opportunity to oppose such disclosure, said an International Bureau public notice Tuesday in docket 19-32.