June 2016

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) sent a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, asking a series of questions about NTIA's proposal to transfer key Internet domain name functions to the global multi-stakeholder community.

The wrote, "We are writing to express concerns regarding this proposal and NTIA's conclusions. As we have stated previously, it is unfortunate that this proposal to eliminate the United States historical stewardship role over key Internet management functions has been undertaken not because of technical considerations but for political ones." The lawmakers asked if the administration is opposed to having Congress hold a vote on the issue, and questioned why it has continued to work to finalize the transition despite Congress repeatedly blocking funds to finish the hand off.
They also questioned the transition proposal itself. They noted portions of the proposal on human rights and free speech might not be finished before the transition. They also questioned whether the proposal leaves an opening for other countries to gain control over the system.

Airbnb filed a lawsuit against its home city of San Francisco (CA) on in an attempt to block new regulation that it said would violate federal protections for Internet companies. The short-term property rental company slammed the city’s new ordinance, which would require Airbnb and similar firms such as VRBO and HomeAway to make sure that hosts register with the city or face a fine. Airbnb challenged the regulation in its complaint and also filed to have a preliminary injunction placed on the ordinance, which will take effect later in June.

In its filing in the US District Court in San Francisco, Airbnb said the city’s regulation violates the Communications Decency Act of 1996, the Stored Communications Act and the company's 1st Amendment rights. “It is a content-based restriction on advertising rental listings, which is speech,” the company said. “These provisions squarely violate the CDA, which prohibits ‘treat[ing]’ websites who host or distribute third-party content, like the Hosting Platforms at issue here, ‘as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider,’ and immunizes them from liability under any ‘inconsistent’ state or local law.”

The American Cable Association says it agrees with New Charter that the combined Charter-Time Warner Cable deal is in the public interest, so long as the Federal Communications Commission cans the broadband buildout condition. ACA had sought FCC reconsideration of the deal based on its imposition of the condition, which requires Charter to provide high-speed broadband—at least 60 Mbps—to at least a million locations already served by at least 25 Mbps, an expansion of service that will come at the expense of smaller operators, ACA says. Charter had said that if the FCC does get rid of that condition, it should still find the rest of the merger in the public interest. ACA says that is fine with them—it is only challenging the overbuild condition.

"The Commission has already found that the transfers are in the public interest, even when combined with an unlawful overbuild condition that exacerbates putative merger harms and injures consumers," said ACA in reply comments filed with the FCC. "If that is correct, it necessarily follows that the transfers will also be in the public interest when that unlawful, inefficient, and welfare-damaging overbuild condition is removed. The Commission should grant ACA’s petition for reconsideration and strike the overbuild condition."

The Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act (S 421) would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make a number of procedural changes in its rulemaking process and to incorporate additional opportunities for public comment on agency proposals. On the basis of information from the FCC, CBO estimates that implementing S 421 would cost $10 million over the 2017-2021 period to hire five additional staff and to upgrade its information technology. Such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. However, under current law, the FCC is authorized to collect fees sufficient to offset the cost of its regulatory activities each year. Therefore, CBO estimates that the net cost to implement S 421 would be negligible, assuming annual appropriation actions consistent with the agency’s authorities.

Enacting S 421 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting S 421 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027. S 421 contains no intergovernmental mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. If the FCC increases annual fee collections to offset the costs of implementing its additional regulatory activities, the bill would increase the cost of an existing mandate on commercial entities required to pay those fees. Based on information from the FCC, CBO estimates that the incremental cost of the mandate would be small—about $10 million over the next five years—and would fall well below the annual threshold established in UMRA for private-sector mandates ($154 million in 2016, adjusted annually for inflation).