Harper Neidig

The reported use of encrypted messaging apps by government workers is raising questions about whether the services evade scrutiny from their superiors and the public — or are even legal. Trump administration staffers are reportedly communicating via an encrypted messaging app called Confide, the main feature of which is self-destructing messages. Top GOP operatives and aides in the administration have been using the app to communicate out of fear that they might be hacked and have their correspondence made public.

Amid the fallout of national security adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation, White House staffers are using Confide out of fear that President Trump is planning to crack down on leaks to the media. Government accountability watchdog groups are raising concerns about the use of Confide in the White House, saying it violates the Presidential Records Act. The 39-year-old law requires the president, vice president and their immediate staff members to preserve all correspondence so that official records can be archived. “The reason we have to have an archived record is so there's accountability for the actions and decisions that get made and historically we can review the activities of an administration,” said Sean Moulton, who oversees the open government program at the Project on Government Oversight.

Trump Administration staffers are reportedly communicating by using an encrypted messaging app that erases messages shortly after they have been received. The Washington Post reported that officials were using the app, called Confide, to avoid being caught talking to the media, as President Trump moves to crack down on leaks. The Post report followed a report from Axios recently that reported Confide had become a favorite app for Republican staffers. Staffers may also be concerned about being hacked after high-profile cyber attacks on Democratic groups during the election.

"We do see a spike in across the board metrics when there is a major news cycle about the vulnerability of digital communications," Jon Brod, Confide’s president, told Axios. The reports raise questions though about the possible violation of federal records keeping laws that require certain government employees to use their official email address for communications. “The whole f---ing campaign was about Hillary's emails and now Trump's team is violating the Presidential Records Act by using Confide,” tweeted former Obama staffer Tommy Vietor.

The Internet Association, a trade group representing internet giants including Facebook and Google, is launching a new online political fundraising platform. The program will allow people to ask candidates selected by the group questions and donate money to the association's political action committee to help that candidate. Users will be able to submit questions to lawmakers in livestreamed question-and-answer sessions hosted by the Internet Association. Donations made through the system will be transferred directly to the candidate, and by law will be subject to a contribution limit of $2,700 per election cycle.

“Just as our member companies have done for countless industries, the Internet Association has set out to revolutionize political fundraising,” Michael Beckerman, the group’s CEO, said in a statement. “This fundamentally internet-based approach will democratize political giving — a process traditionally characterized by exclusivity and an overall lack of transparency — and convert it to a public forum that provides everyday internet voters with the ability to participate in a meaningful way.” The new platform will allow the lobbying group to channel crowdsourced fundraising toward lawmakers supported by the internet industry. Rep Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), a member of House GOP leadership, will be the first to participate and will be answering questions submitted to the platform on Feb 15.

Ajit Pai, the new Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is quickly making his mark on the agency, shaking up its operations and rolling back Obama-era initiatives. His moves have drawn Republican praise but alarmed Democrats and consumer groups and set the stage for the fights ahead.

Gigi Sohn, a former aide to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, said Pai's moves were a severe blow to the Lifeline program and saw it as a call to action. "The way you undermine this program without doing anything too drastic would be to not let any other providers participate, which would drive the prices up," said Sohn. “He uses the process reforms as a smokescreen to try to steer people away from the fact that he is dismantling pro-consumer, pro-competitive and pro-social policies from the previous administration.”

The Senate Commerce Committee announced that it will hold the next oversight hearing for the Federal Communications Commission on March 8. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) used the announcement to praise FCC Chairman Ajit Pai for steering the commission in a more conservative direction since he took over in January. “Under Chairman Pai’s leadership, the FCC has the opportunity to chart a path away from heavy-handed intervention in competitive markets and work collaboratively with Congress to create a modern regulatory agency that better meets the needs of consumers,” Chairman Thune said. "The FCC has already taken steps towards increased transparency under Chairman Pai and I would like to see that continue. At our hearing, committee members will have a forum to ask the commissioners about issues facing the FCC that impact Americans.”

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, tore into Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai for scrubbing a commission progress report on the E-rate, a program that helps provide broadband connections to schools and libraries. “Your unilateral action last week to quash a staff report providing an analysis and progress report of the agency’s E-Rate modernization efforts shows a troubling disinterest in the facts,” Sen Nelson wrote in a letter to Chairman Pai. “The facts are these: the revitalized E-Rate program is now connecting more schools and libraries in every state with faster and better broadband. More students in more places, including in more rural areas, can now get access to the tools they need for a digital education, which is essential if our nation’s students are to compete in the 21st century economy.”

The Federal Communications Commission announced that it would unveil "significant process reform," February 2. The measure is supposed to improve the transparency of FCC rulemakings. There will not be a livestream so if you want the details on this one you're going have to bring your popcorn out to the FCC's headquarters.

Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said that a potential merger between Verizon and Charter would raise red flags for regulators. “As Ranking Member of the Antitrust Subcommittee, I have fought hard to promote competition across a broad range of industries and sectors — including media and telecom — because competition protects consumers and fosters innovation,” Sen Klobuchar said. "A potential acquisition of Charter by Verizon would raise concerns about its potential impact on consumers across our country and would merit close scrutiny by regulators and the subcommittee.”

Conservative groups are urging Congress to roll back the broadband privacy rules that were enacted by the Federal Communications Commission in 2016. In a letter to House and Senate leaders, the groups asked the lawmakers to use their Congressional Review Act authority to rescind the FCC’s Broadband Privacy Order. The letter’s signees include the telecom industry-aligned NetCompetition as well as free-market groups like Americans for Tax Reform and FreedomWorks.

“Congress is fully justified in rescinding these rules both because the Order lacks proper legal grounding and because of the need to ensure real consumer privacy across contexts of user experience,” the letter reads. The regulations were passed in October and require internet service providers to obtain permission from customers before using their browsing and app usage data. “Rescinding the Privacy Order would promote both innovation and effective, consistent privacy protections in over-the-top, application, wireless and wireline markets,” reads the letter. “It would also send a clear signal that the FCC has lost its way in interpreting the statute Congress gave it.”

Republicans are eager to turn the page at the Federal Communications Commission after eight years of policies under President Barack Obama that they say have stifled innovation and burdened the tech sector. President Trump’s appointment of Ajit Pai as FCC chairman has raised hopes that many of the rules and regulations enacted under President Obama — including the controversial network neutrality rules — will soon be on the chopping block.

Chairman Pai fought against the enactment of former-Chairman Tom Wheeler’s signature Open Internet Order, which codified net neutrality, the idea that all internet traffic should be treated equally. Republicans like Pai denounced the FCC order for reclassifying internet service providers as [telecommunications services]. The move subjected internet providers to heavier regulation, with the FCC effectively taking over regulatory jurisdiction on issues like privacy from the Federal Trade Commission.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who tried to roll back the net neutrality order through legislation, said Republicans are deliberating how to tackle net neutrality now that the party is in charge of both the executive and legislative branches. “I think getting some certainty on the net neutrality issue is something that industry would like for us to do,” Rep Blackburn said. “Everyone would like to see some certainty there, and everyone would like to see the FCC back in their correct lanes. FTC should have jurisdiction for privacy.”