Lauren Frayer

President Donald Trump will meet with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on the afternoon of March 6, according to the White House schedule. It appears to be the first time the two will meet since President Trump elevated then-Commissioner Pai to the chairmanship in January. The White House did not immediately respond when asked what the two would discuss at the meeting. Chairman Pai is set to appear before the Senate Commerce Committee on March 8 for an oversight hearing.

[Commentary] No citizen should be denied the news and information needed to participate in our democracy. Our freedoms of speech and expression are inextricably linked to freedom of the press and an uninhibited, competitive, and vibrant marketplace of ideas. But freedom of the press is in jeopardy from a president who repeatedly calls our media “the enemy of the American people,” and by others in government who are failing in their duty to protect our liberties.

The new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, has been an eloquent spokesman for freedom of the press. I’m confident he agrees that we should not foreclose any points of view unless they pose a threat of violence. Just last year, he said, “I think it's dangerous, frankly, that we don't see more often people espousing the First Amendment view that we should have a robust marketplace of ideas where everybody should be willing and able to participate.” No one person – not even the president – should have a monopoly on our national discourse. Pai also once said, “In my view, anyone who has the privilege of serving at the FCC—any preacher with a pulpit, if you will—has the duty to speak out whenever Americans’ First Amendment rights are at stake.”

Chairman Pai, we need to hear from you now.

[Michael Copps served on the Federal Communications Commission from 2001–11, and as acting chairman for a period in 2009. He is a special adviser for Common Cause.]

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission decided to put on hold a portion of its historic privacy rule approved just a few months ago – the part dealing with data security. Congress is considering whether to use the Congressional Review Act to eliminate the FCC broadband privacy rules in their entirety – a move that would also prevent the FCC from issuing similar rules in the future. The rationale offered for all this action is that the rule is not consistent with how the Federal Trade Commission protects consumer privacy and data security – and that Internet service providers (your cable and wireless companies) are, therefore, being subjected to different requirements than other companies and platforms on the Internet (the “edge providers”). In the words of Acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, “The federal government shouldn’t favor one set of companies over another."

But here’s the thing: The Federal Trade Commission does not have jurisdiction over the security and privacy practices of broadband, cable and wireless carriers.

The new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is heading before Congress for the first time since taking over the agency.

Republican Chairman Ajit Pai will testify on March 8 before the Senate Commerce Committee, joined by FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael O'Reilly. While GOP lawmakers are likely to praise Chairman Pai, Democrats will look to put the FCC's new boss on the hot seat. Sure to get attention are Pai's moves to chip away at the Obama administration's landmark net neutrality rules. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) has been one of his most vocal critics and can be expected to hit Chairman Pai with tough questions.

Democrats are also likely to voice their concerns about the makeup of the FCC. The FCC currently has two vacancies for commissioner and its unclear when President Trump will nominate another Republican and Democrat to fill those slots

Wiretaps on Americans in foreign intelligence investigations are not easy to get. And if you’re a candidate for president, it’s even harder.

That’s the experience of current and former senior US officials who expressed disbelief at President Trump’s accusation — leveled without any evidence — that President Barack Obama had the candidate wiretapped at Trump Tower before the November election. Senior officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because such matters are classified, said that there had been no wiretap on President Trump.

There are many types of costs that an agency can put on regulatees, but lacking solid information on most burdens due to the absence of cost-benefit analyses in prior items, I want to at least highlight one category of costs that the agency is required to track: paperwork burdens.

The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requires the Federal Communications Commission to seek Office of Management and Budget approval before asking entities to fill out forms, maintain records, or disclose information to others. The intent was to require agencies to carefully consider the need for additional information before collecting it, thereby minimizing burdens. Once approved, the cost estimates are posted online and searchable by agency. Even I was a bit surprised to see the extent of the FCC’s information collection efforts, which seem disproportionately costly. According to OMB, as of the end of February, the FCC has 423 active collections demanding 457,355,706 responses each year requiring a total of 73,200,049 hours to complete at a total cost of $798,204,803. In short hand, that's 73 million hours and $800 million annually just to fill out FCC paperwork, and there is a decent chance that these figures are lowballed. That is well above the cost figures of several other major agencies. While I strongly believe in data driven decision making and the need to ensure accountability, I have to question how much of the existing information collection is truly justified.

The Federal Communications Commission issued an emergency temporary waiver to Jewish Community Centers and telecommunications carriers that serve them to allow these entities and law enforcement agencies to access the caller-ID information of threatening and harassing callers. FCC rules generally require phone companies to respect a calling party’s request to have its caller-ID information blocked from the party receiving the call. A waiver of this rule may help the community centers and law enforcement identify abusive and potentially dangerous callers.

Earlier this week, Sen Charles Schumer (D-NY) requested such a waiver, indicating that there have been 69 such incidents involving 54 JCCs in 27 different states since the beginning of 2017. The Commission has issued such waivers in the past, but rarely. In 2016, the Commission provided a limited waiver to a school in New York State. The action comes in the form of an order from the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. In addition, the Commission has issued a public notice soliciting comment on whether a permanent waiver would be
appropriate.

A Breitbart new editor called the publication he recently joined “the most innovative and exciting source of journalism in America”, calling out mainstream media bias and inaccuracy while accepting no similar responsibility for the misleading and at times incendiary work for which his organization is criticized. “The real threat to public confidence in the media is all these demonstrably false stories that our colleagues have produced,” Breitbart economics editor John Carney told a packed audience at Columbia Journalism School. “I don’t think you’re reading a lot of false news in Breitbart.”

Carney asked his fellow panelists, “Do you think you have enough people who understand and sympathize with Trump’s worldview in your news organizations or do you think you are predominantly staffed by people who view Trump’s point of view as not just wrong but probably also evil?” To which, New York Times Washington Bureau Chief Elisabeth Bumiller responded, “Do you have enough people in your organization who disagree with Trump’s point of view?”

Uber has for years engaged in a worldwide program to deceive the authorities in markets where its low-cost ride-hailing service was being resisted by law enforcement or, in some instances, had been outright banned. The program, involving a tool called Greyball, uses data collected from the Uber app and other techniques to identify and circumvent officials. Uber used these methods to evade the authorities in cities such as Boston, Paris and Las Vegas, and in countries like Australia, China, Italy and South Korea. Greyball was part of a broader program called VTOS, short for “violation of terms of service,” which Uber created to root out people it thought were using or targeting its service improperly. The VTOS program, including the Greyball tool, began as early as 2014 and remains in use, predominantly outside the United States. Greyball was approved by Uber’s legal team.

[Commentary] President Trump's attacks on the mainstream news media have not only energized them, but have prompted them to work together to plot a common strategy to preserve and expand their First Amendment rights and protections. National and local broadcasters should support this effort, providing money and speaking out.