Cristiano Lima

During Senate Commerce’s field hearing in South Dakota on 5G wireless technology, Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken raised what he called “the wet blanket” of the coming wide-scale deployment: “I feel we also need to address ... what health impacts micro millimeter waves have because it’s so new,” TenHaken told Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-SD). “I’m going to get asked this 20 times yet this evening about the health ramifications of 5G ...

The Senate confirmed the nominations of three members, including a new chairman, to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board — which has stood as a one-person show for roughly two years. Now the five-seat body, which monitors the government’s national security efforts, will get a needed boost with the additions of Jane Nitze and Edward Felten as board members and Adam Klein as chairman. The confirmations come at a critical time, with the review of the European Union-US Privacy Shield data sharing agreement fast approaching. 

While Democratic candidates and left-leaning groups are hoping the push to restore net neutrality nationwide will help drive their supporters to the polls come November, Republican leaders say they are skeptical the issue will play a decisive role in the midterm elections. While studies commissioned by pro-net neutrality groups like Mozilla and the Internet Freedom Business Alliance suggest voters are watching the issue, top GOP officials aren’t convinced. 

What could Judge Brett Kavanaugh's addition to the Supreme Court mean for the tech sector? 

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) plugged his STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act, S. 3157, which would override local rules and limit fees for installing 5G infrastructure. But despite Chairman Thune talking it up, local officials seem to have succeeded at beating back the legislation through steady opposition — although they failed to stop the Federal Communications Commission's vote approving a similar regulatory measure. Opponents of the bill may have run out the clock. No hearing is scheduled, and there's scant time before this current session of Congress ends.

Department of Justice Antitrust Chief Makan Delrahim, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joe Simons and European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager sat down for a meeting in Washington, a moment captured in photo proof posted to Vestager's Twitter feed.

Consumer privacy advocates are less than thrilled that Senate Commerce Committee leaders declined to invite them to an upcoming hearing on data privacy. 28 privacy groups wrote to Commerce Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-SD) and Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL) that they "do not understand why the Committee has chosen to exclude the voice of consumers." They called on the senators to invite them or hold additional hearings with them.

Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) signed into law a state funding bill that will grant Attorney General Xavier Becerra $700,000 and five new staffers to help craft and implement the state’s sweeping new privacy law. AG Becerra has reportedly told Gov. Brown he expects to issue final rules under the law by June 2019, in advance of the measure taking effect on Jan. 1, 2020. The newly-minted funding law will help bolster the state’s effort to install what’s been touted as the strongest state-level online privacy safeguards in the country.

The debate over the right approach to privacy took center stage during the Federal Trade Commission’s inaugural hearing on competition. David Vladeck and Howard Beales, both former directors of the agency’s consumer protection bureau, clashed over whether the FTC requires a bigger stick when it comes to privacy enforcement. Vladeck argued the agency needs the power to impose civil penalties from the get-go. “I think that a civil penalty, for example, against Google or Facebook initially would have had a deterrent value,” Vladeck said. “Facebook is currently under investigation again.

The Justice Department has received “an increased level of interest from state attorneys general” for its Sept. 25 meeting on “tech companies, competition, and free exchange of ideas.” The DOJ said it invited a bipartisan group of 24 state AGs to the meeting, which comes amid an avalanche of conservative allegations of tech company bias (which the companies firmly deny). According to a Justice Department official, that group includes Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson (R), California’s Xavier Becerra (D), Washington’s Bob Ferguson (D) and Texas’ Ken Paxton (R).