Politico

A New Chapter for the Interactive Advertising Bureau

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), a massive trade group that represents companies on all sides of the digital ads ecosystem, is about to get a whole lot more involved in tech policy discussions on Capitol Hill. IAB has tapped Lartease Tiffith, an Amazon public policy executive and former aide to Vice President Kamala Harris, to lead its policy shop. And Tiffith plans to make the group’s presence known.

President Biden’s big bill is dead. What tech provisions might live on?

Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) stunned the White House and sent many in Washington (DC) scrambling by crushing Democrats’ chances of passing the House version of President Joe Biden’s massive social spending bill, the Build Back Better (BBB) Act. Now Senate Democrats are scheming about what elements might survive if they can assemble a more Manchin-friendly bill, including a number of tech provisions.

Care to confirm?

While the logjam of Biden administration nominees is slowly loosening, Democrats say that it’s not happening equitably. Progressive activists and party officials are accusing Republicans of disproportionately delaying women and nominees of color in their quest for confirmation to the executive branch. Jeff Hauser, the executive director of the Revolving Door Project, said, "There are some very slow nominations.

EU justice chief Didier Reynders meets with US officials to pitch new consumer safety dialogue

European Union justice chief Didier Reynders is making the rounds in Washington (DC), meeting with top Biden officials to discuss ways to improve consumer protections online. He’s sitting down with Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director (and recently departed FTC commissioner) Rohit Chopra and Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric. Reynders wants to work with the US consumer protection agency leaders to better protect consumer finance and product safety online.

Internet Association to shut down at the end of 2021

On December 15, the Internet Association (IA)'s Board of Directors announced that they have decided to close the organization at the end of 2021. "Our industry has undergone tremendous growth and change since the Internet Association was formed almost 10 years ago," says the organization's statement. "IA has made great progress on its mission to foster innovation, promote economic growth, and empower people through a free and open internet.

FTC Chair Lina Khan defends rules allowing 'zombie votes' by departing commissioners

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan is defending rules allowing so-called zombie votes, by which votes from FTC commissioners who leave the agency can count towards the commission’s current proceedings, even after said commissioners depart. The practice came to light recently after reporting by Politico revealed that as many as 20 votes from former Democratic Commissioner Rohit Chopra remained active, even after he left to become head of Biden’s Consumer Financial Protection Bu

FTC takes on privacy and civil rights violations

The Federal Trade Commission may soon initiate a rulemaking that would allow the agency to take punitive action against tech companies for abuses of customers’ privacy and civil rights. The FTC made the announcement in a regulatory filing as part of its statement of regulatory priorities, The tweak would be meant to “curb lax security practices, limit privacy abuses, and ensure that algorithmic decision-making does not result in unlawful discrimination,” the agency said. This

Elon Musk spurns subsidies after SpaceX sought them out

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made a stir when he recently said that the US should “get rid of all” federal subsidies.

FCC nominee Gigi Sohn will not receive a confirmation vote on December 15

The Senate Commerce Committee will not be voting next week on Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society]’s nomination because some committee members asked for more time to meet with her. That’s another ominous sign for her nomination, in the wake of fierce GOP criticism. And it seems to ensure that her possible confirmation — which is required to secure a Democratic majority at the FCC — won’t happen until 2022.

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel's success was a long time coming

Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel was reconfirmed December 7 by a 68-31 vote to another five-year term at the agency, but that success didn’t come from out of the blue. She’s been working the phones for a while now. Immediately after President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Rosenworcel began making calls. She spoke to key Democrats like Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA). She also reached across the aisle to Republicans like Sen Roger Wicker (R-MS), who voted to confirm her.

Trail of tweets haunts President Biden’s FCC and FTC nominees

Republican senators are alleging that the Twitter histories of Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] and Federal Trade Commission nominee Alvaro Bedoya, which include jabs at Fox News and

Chamber of Commerce’s fight with FTC heats up

The Federal Trade Commission has hit back against the US Chamber of Commerce, denying 35 of the 37 public records requests filed by the lobbying group about the FTC’s voting rules, policy statements and plans to fine businesses who break the law. The Chamber had come out swinging before Thanksgiving, accusing the agency of “going rogue” with its actions.

President Biden’s FCC and FTC picks make final pitch to Senate

Ahead of the December 1 vote in the Senate Commerce Committee, Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who’s been re-nominated to another term as commissioner, and Federal Trade Commission nominee Alvaro Bedoya answered questions from lawmakers on topics ranging from broadband and spectrum use to social media use and antitrust. Rosenworcel told senators point-blank that she had no plans to regulate broadband rates — a concern prompted after she previously seemed open to the option as a way to increase broadband access.

Telecommunications nominees spell out priorities on broadband, spectrum

Broadband and spectrum issues are top of mind for Gigi Sohn and Alan Davidson, President Joe Biden’s picks for the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications Information Administration, respectively. Ahead of their confirmation hearings before the Senate Commerce Committee on Dec 1 (where there’s expected to be plenty of fireworks), they shared with lawmakers what they view are the top challenges facing their agencies:

The FCC’s shoddy maps could upend Biden’s broadband gold rush

Washington is finally tackling one of the biggest obstacles to closing the nation’s digital divide: identifying the broadband dead zones where millions of Americans lack fast internet service. But that’s coming too late for the broadband gold rush of 2021. States and cities are already allocating more than $10 billion in federal pandemic relief to get broadband into underserved communities — the biggest government investment ever toward increasing internet connectivity.

FCC watchdog warns against broadband subsidy fraud

Some broadband providers are falsely claiming their customers have children who attend high-poverty schools in order to qualify them for an FCC broadband affordability subsidy, the agency’s Office of Inspector General warned in a November 22 memo.

Sen Cantwell talks timeline of Senate confirmation hearings for Gigi Sohn and Alan Davidson

Not included in the November 17 Senate confirmation hearing were Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society], President Biden’s pick for the open Federal Communications Commission seat, and Alan Davidson, the nominee to helm the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Sen Maria Cantwell (D-WA) has stated their confirmation hearing will likely take place the week the Senate returns from its Thanksgiving break, with December 1 a prime contender.

Senate heads into tech and telecom sprint

Senators' year-end to-do list includes key Federal Communications Commission nominations and more funding for broadband and antitrust efforts. All eyes are on the Democrats’ social spending package, which includes money for broadband and antitrust enforcement and gives the Federal Trade Commission a long-sought fining authority. White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese projected confidence that the House would pass the package this week. Even if that happens, it will still need Senate approval, which will likely be pushed to December.