Ben Brody

Amid the usual checks for close Senate races, tech is giving to spread crypto, help out VC, and bring more tech talent to politics. GMI PAC has been one of the biggest recipients of Silicon Valley's largesse in the leadup to the midterm election.

Alan Davidson, the administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) who is overseeing the disbursement of the $42 billion Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, said the "starting gun" of the program will go off May 16 when states can officially start declaring they want the money.

Deer Isle (ME) is one of many places in the US where it can be a pain to get good internet access. At least, that’s what residents, visitors, the town manager and the state — all the folks who actually try to use a connection — say. Spectrum tells another story. In recent months, the internet provider has cited Federal Communications Commission maps to insist that it covers almost all of the island and that the area doesn’t need federal money that might help a rival build out more capacity and access.

Scale matters, SpaceX’s lawyer Pratik Shah argued to a panel of three federal appeals court judges — but only the comparatively small-scale plans for upcoming satellite launches, not the gargantuan scale of Elon Musk’s ambitions in the sky and the coming frenzy of launches from some of the most powerful companies on the ground. Shah assured the court the issue wasn’t 4,400 or so satellites originally on the license the Federal Communications Commission granted to SpaceX.

In the era of email, lawmakers may dash off a couple letters a week to other parts of the government. Often, the missives are little more than press releases on congressional letterhead; the occasional smart letter, however, can work as an obscure policy lever by convincing agencies they have political cover to take on more controversial enforcement, interpret statutes more broadly and even dust off powers they've long abandoned, all without Congress taking a single vote.

Longtime Google critic Jonathan Kanter is quickly becoming the preferred choice of tech skeptics on both sides of the aisle to lead the Justice Department's antitrust division and its case against Google. The preference for Kanter over his potential rival, Obama administration alumnus Jonathan Sallet, is the latest instance of progressive and conservative tech critics finding common ground over their anger at dominant tech companies, even as they struggle to find solutions they can agree on, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions happening on Capitol Hill. "Kanter would

Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple defended their business practices in responses to detailed questions by House Antitrust Subcommittee lawmakers. The four companies received the questions from Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI) in Sept. Separately, the whole committee issued requests for extensive records on the firms’ business practices, acquisitions, executive communications and other issues. The companies also are in the process of responding to those requests.

A team of Federal Trade Commission investigators has begun interviewing small businesses that sell products on Amazon to determine whether the e-commerce giant is using its market power to hurt competition. Several attorneys and at least one economist have been conducting interviews that typically last about 90 minutes and cover a range of topics, according to three merchants.

Apparently, the  Federal Trade Commission opened an investigation into Facebook for possible antitrust violations, an early-stage probe that is examining competition in its oldest business -- social media. The agency has already contacted third parties that could aid in the investigation as it tries to understand competitive dynamics. Though the company has made many acquisitions and expanded into new businesses, including messaging, virtual reality and e-commerce, the FTC’s probe is focused on its most long-standing offering -- social networking.

Washington officials once dazzled by the swashbuckling entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley are now openly questioning the freedom they’ve bestowed on Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Emboldened by a president who’s openly contemptuous of the companies -- despite his own reliance on Twitter -- and intelligence reports linking popular online sites to election interference, lawmakers from both parties grilled top tech executives this week about whether, and how, Washington should rein them in.