Ali Breland

Democratic Sens are planning to take a first step the week of May 7 toward forcing a vote to restore the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality regulations. Democrats have been gathering signatures under the Congressional Review Act to force a vote to overturn the decision by the FCC to repeal the net neutrality rules. Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) tweeted that Democrats will file the petition to force the vote on May 9. The vote could take place as soon as the week after.

Alliances between Silicon Valley powerhouses and their cousins in Seattle (WA) are constantly forming and breaking apart, with big names often coming down on the opposite side of policy and legislative debates. The result is that the “tech lobby” is far from monolithic, with big names in the industry often at odds with one another.

A group of Democratic Sens slammed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai over his proposal to cut down on a program that helps make broadband and phone service more affordable for low-income households. The Sens' letter targets a proposal introduced by Chairman Pai in November that would significantly curb the scope of benefits from the Lifeline program, which roughly 6.5 million people in poor communities rely on to get access to high-speed internet. Eight million people are eligible for the subsidy program.

A coalition of 37 state attorneys general are urging Facebook to provide more answers on how Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained the data of 50 million Facebook users. “These revelations raise many serious questions concerning Facebook’s policies and practices, and the processes in place to ensure they are followed,” the bipartisan group of attorneys general wrote.  “We need to know that users can trust Facebook. With the information we have now, our trust has been broken.”

Six technology companies including Kickstarter, Foursquare and Etsy have launched a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission in an effort to preserve network neutrality rules. The companies, which also include Shutterstock, Expa and Automattic, filed their petition with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The suit is being filed on behalf of the companies that are part of the Coalition for Internet Openness, which is an organization committed to preserving the openness, speed and accessibility of the internet for all Americans.

Twenty-two Democratic state attorneys general launched a lawsuit aimed at preserving network neutrality on Feb 20, the same day the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published its rule striking the regulations in the Federal Register. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is leading the suit along with other state attorneys generals, had previously filed a lawsuit, but they are refiling their case now that the order is eligible for legal challenge, following its official publication.

Apparently, the Federal Communications Commission is slated to publish on Feb 22 its order scrapping network neutrality rules. The official publication of the measure in the Federal Register will start the clock on the 60-day window that Congress has to pass a resolution reversing the FCC’s order to get rid of net neutrality rules. The order’s publication will open the door for state attorneys general and advocacy groups to launch lawsuits aimed at preserving the rules.

Lawmakers are concerned that advances in video manipulation technology could set off a new era of fake news. Now legislators say they want to start working on fixes to the problem before it’s too late. 

British lawmakers grilled Silicon Valley social media giants over the presence of “fake news” and Russian influence on their platforms in Washington (DC).  The British parliament members asked Twitter, Facebook and YouTube representatives pointed questions during a special US hearing over how hoax content disseminated from their websites may have swayed the 2016 British "Brexit" referendum on leaving the European Union.   The tech representatives downplayed those concerns, citing internal data they said found that accounts linked to Russians did not heavily use their platforms in the same w

Facebook, Twitter and Google outlined their efforts to keep state-sponsored groups from manipulating their platforms and interfering in the US political process. Here are six interesting revelations: