Ali Breland

Here are 5 looming fights for the Federal Communications Commission in President-elect Donald Trump's first year:
1. Network Neutrality: The fate of the agency's net neutrality rules will be the FCC's biggest fight of the year.
2. Set-top cable boxes: The FCC's lone, remaining Democratic commissioner, Mignon Clyburn, supports FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's set-top proposal. But its unclear how much of a fight Clyburn can put up.
3. Broadband privacy: Chairman Wheeler's new privacy rules for broadband providers were another high-profile item from his tenure. It's unclear, though, if the FCC's Republican Commissioners would agree to scale them back. Internet companies and consumer groups, though, are likely to keep up pressure for the rules.
4. AT&T-Time Warner merger: The Justice Department will be looking into the proposed deal, but its unclear yet if the FCC will take up its own review.
5. Business data services: Chairman Wheeler also hoped to pass a major reform of the market for so-called special access deals, but dropped those plans after Trump's victory.

Tech trade groups penned a letter to US regulators warning against a European Union copyright proposal. “The Commission’s Proposal on copyright in the Digital Single Market risks undermining trans-Atlantic commerce and internet openness,” the groups wrote in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and US Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman. The letter's signatories included the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), Consumer Technology Association (CTA), Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) and the Internet Association (IA) — groups that represent a number of major tech companies such as Google parent Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook.

At issue is an EU measure that would require internet companies to create content filtering software to detect copyright material. But the tech groups say the proposal breaks from established international standards and wrongly put liability for copyright violations on internet companies instead of those who actually publish copyrighted material on their platforms. The letter argues that the content filters are expensive to maintain, citing the $60 million YouTube has reportedly spent on the technology.

SoftBank will invest $1 billion in One Web, a broadband access company based in Arlington (VA), as part of a pledge to President-elect Donald Trump to invest $50 billion in American companies.

“Earlier this month I met with President-Elect Trump and shared my commitment to investing and creating jobs in the U.S. This is the first step in that commitment,” the Japanese tech giant’s CEO, Masayoshi Son, said. President-elect Trump announced after meeting with Son earlier this month that SoftBank would invest $50 billion in U.S. businesses and create 50,000 new jobs domestically. The president-elect said Son made the pledge as a direct result of his presidential election victory.

Outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler and Sen Ron Johnson (R-WI) traded barbs Dec 15 in the wake of Chairman Wheeler’s announcement that he would step down. During the last FCC open meeting of 2016, Chairman Wheeler said he had made clear his intentions to depart from the agency after the Obama administration ends. “This is in keeping with the commitments I have made since March that I would cooperate with the new administration to ensure a smooth transition,” he said. Chairman Wheeler, a Democrat, said Senate Republicans ignored his offer to step down in exchange for the reconfirmation of FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, also a Democrat. And he particularly singled out Sen Johnson, saying the senator made it “pretty clear” that he wanted to create a 2-1 GOP majority in the FCC. Sen Johnson disputed Chairman Wheeler's words.

Facebook is rolling out new features to combat fake news on its platform, including flagging disputed stories, following a wave of criticism at the social media giant. The new tools include a streamlined reporting process to identify fake news, flagging those stories, improved sharing analytics and steps to tackle spammers. The changes were introduced by Facebook vice president of product management Adam Mosseri. “We believe in giving people a voice and that we cannot become arbiters of truth ourselves, so we're approaching this problem carefully,” Mosseri wrote. “We've focused our efforts on the worst of the worst, on the clear hoaxes spread by spammers for their own gain, and on engaging both our community and third party organizations." Under the changes, users will now have an option to report news stories they believe are fake by checking a box.

A coalition of tech entrepreneurs and investors called for a “safeguarding of civil liberties”, ahead of a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump.

In the letter, startup founders, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists say civil liberties are “inextricably linked with our global competitiveness and success.” Citing “recent incidents of harassment in diverse communities that could lead to a brain drain of much needed talent,” the business leaders pledged to “protect people from the erosion of their civil liberties;” to “refuse to contribute skills or platforms to any effort that infringes on civil liberties by any government agency;” and to “accept a responsibility to partner with communities where the effects of rapidly changing technologies have hurt all Americans.” The letter -- signed by the leaders of Shift, Comfy, HelloVote, Willpower Labs, Kiva and The Westly Group, among others -- argues that preservation of such liberties is essential for the advancement of American business. Top officials from major tech organizations such as Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Tesla are expected to attend the tech meeting with the president-elect at Trump Tower in New York. Jobs will likely be the focal point of the conversation.

Lawmakers and experts voiced concerns Nov 30 about America’s future as a leader in artificial intelligence technology. Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) cautioned during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee hearing that the US could lose its spot as a leader in developing AI technology. “Today, the United States is the preeminent leader in developing artificial intelligence. But that could soon change,” warned Sen Cruz. “Ceding leadership in developing artificial intelligence to China, Russia and other foreign governments will not only place the United States at a technological disadvantage, but it could also have implications for national security,” he said in opening remarks. Experts on a panel expressed similar sentiments. “I do think it’s important that we grow our AI workforce quickly,” said Andrew Moore, dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.

More than a dozen tech groups extended an olive branch to President-elect Donald Trump, penning a joint letter to the President-elect congratulating him on his win and offering recommendations for working with the tech sector. “We stand ready to help your Administration tap into 21st century innovation to achieve prosperity for the nation,” read the letter from a coalition of 17 tech trade groups. The letter was signed by leaders from trade associations including the Information Technology Industry Council and Internet Association, which represent companies such as Google, Facebook and Intel.

“We recognize a critical early step in achieving your goals of moving the country forward in a productive way will be identifying the right people for critical positions,” the trade association leaders wrote. “We would welcome the opportunity to meet with your leadership team to discuss our policy and personnel ideas in greater depth.” Their recommendations included support for investing technology infrastructure and tax and regulatory reform to spur job growth.

President-elect Donald Trump is tapping another critic of network neutrality to help with the transition at the Federal Communications Commission. The Trump transition team announced that Roslyn Layton will join the FCC landing team. Layton will work alongside Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison.

Layton, like her two colleagues, has served as a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think tank. The three are all critics of the agency's controversial net neutrality rules. “The FCC's recent actions and the White House's intervention is inconsistent with a stable, evidence-based regulatory approach,” Layton wrote about net neutrality in a 2015 op-ed cowritten with Jamison. Layton went on to say that the FCC should focus on other matters. “The situation distracts the FCC from its mission-critical responsibilities, such as the upcoming incentive auction to get more spectrum in the marketplace and meet consumers’ increasing demand for wireless technologies.”

The Internet Archive, a nonprofit that saves copies of old web pages, is creating a backup of its database in Canada, in response to the election of Donald Trump. “On November 9th in America, we woke up to a new administration promising radical change,” the organization wrote. “It was a firm reminder that institutions like ours, built for the long-term, need to design for change.”

The Internet Archive is responsible for services like the Wayback Machine, a tool that allows users to access cached versions of websites long after they are pulled from the Internet, and Open Library, which offers free access to millions of e-books. The move will cost millions, according to the Internet Archive, which is soliciting donations. In their post, the Internet Archive justified its decision to backup its data in Canada, claiming that Trump could threaten an open Internet. “For us, it means keeping our cultural materials safe, private and perpetually accessible. It means preparing for a Web that may face greater restrictions.”