Washington Crams Before Spring Break

[Commentary] With a two-week Spring Recess looming, Washington communications policymakers were busy this week. Here’s some highlights. 1) On March 26, the Federal Trade Commission released Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers, a report setting forth best practices for businesses to protect the privacy of American consumers and give them greater control over the collection and use of their personal data. 2) While the FTC was asking Congress to work on privacy protections, the House was passing legislation that would require the Federal Communications Commission to do more study and require more public input before releasing regulations, and weaken the FCC's ability to dictate the terms of mergers between communications mergers. 3) The Investigative Reporting Workshop recently analyzed FCC and Census Bureau data to create a map that shows subscribership rates and demographic information at the Census tract level. The findings illustrate a Digital Divide rooted in the gap between the rich and the poor. 4) On March 27, the NTIA announced its finding that 95 megahertz (MHz) of prime spectrum could be repurposed for wireless broadband use.