Jacqueline Thomsen

The Supreme Court said that it would hear a case alleging that Comcast discriminated against an African-American owned media company in declining to take up its channels. The justices said in an unsigned order that the court will consider whether the network needs to prove that Comcast meant to act in a discriminatory way in the case. Byron Allen, the owner of the Entertainment Studios Network (ESN), alleged that Comcast violated the Civil Rights Act of 1866 in rejecting to carry his channels.

President Donald Trump revealed he had met with Google CEO Sundar Pichai to discuss the company's work in China and allegations of anti-conservative bias. The president said on Twitter that the unscheduled meeting went "very well" following months of Republican attacks against Silicon Valley over how social media companies handle conservative speech. "Just met with @SundarPichai, President of @Google, who is obviously doing quite well. He stated strongly that he is totally committed to the U.S. Military, not the Chinese Military," President Trump wrote.

The Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2019, a bipartisan, bicameral bill introduced March 11, would require the government to make sure that any devices it purchases meet minimum security requirements.

GOP lawmakers on the House Commerce Committee are urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to improve a platform listing common cyber vulnerabilities. Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rep Gregg Harper (R-MS), and Rep Rob Latta (R-OH), wrote a letter to Homeland Security Sec Kirstjen Nielsen suggesting that the program is granted a line item in the DHS budget instead of receiving uneven funding through contracts.

The Federal Communications Commission has shut down conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s flagship radio station, the pirate radio station, Liberty Radio. Liberty was hit with a $15,000 fine and at least temporarily pulled from the airwaves. A lawsuit filed in federal court in Austin (TX) alleged that Liberty Radio had functioned without a license since at least 2013, and had been transmitting from a tower at an Austin apartment complex. Liberty Radio stopped airing on the radio in December, but still streams online.

A court struck down far-right figure Charles C. Johnson’s lawsuit against Twitter which banned him in 2015 after he sent a tweet asking for help to “take out” high-profile Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson. The California Superior Court in Fresno granted Twitter’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, finding that it was a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) action.