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Reps Erik Paulsen (R-MN) and Suzan DelBene (D-WA) launched the Digital Trade Caucus, which aims to protect cross-border digital trade from government protectionism. “Trade has gone digital and protectionist policies don’t work in an internet-age,” said Rep DelBene. “We need continued American leadership in the digital economy and for that to happen our laws need to be up to date with the way the world works."

President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a new technology council to help advise the government on streamlining its IT operations. The American Technology Council will be run by Chris Liddell, an assistant to the president and former CFO of Microsoft. The council will meet with Silicon Valley leaders sometime in June to discuss ideas on modernizing government operations. The council is part of Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner’s White House Office of Innovation, which was established in March to try to streamline government operations.

[Commentary] Here are 4 ways the internet will change if Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai gets his way on net neutrality: 1) More free data plans, 2) Internet fast lanes, 3) Smaller internet service providers and internet startups could be in for a tough time, and 4) Shifting broadband regulation to the Federal Trade Commission.

Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn blasted FCC Chairman Ajit Pai for launching an attack on network neutrality.

Commissioner Clyburn said the plan will result in a regulatory oversight vacuum over internet service providers. “They’re willing to dismantle a carefully struck balance that has served us well, and grant the wishes of a handful of broadband providers that soon will have the right to police themselves when it comes to consumer rights,” she said. “The FCC must never take a backseat while the nation’s broadband providers are calling all the shots.”

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai will travel to Capitol Hill on April 28 to brief House members in the wake of his announcement that the FCC will be launching a campaign to dismantle net neutrality. Chairman Pai will hold a bipartisan briefing for the House Commerce Committee.

A group of more than 800 tech startups is urging Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai not to go forward with his plan to dismantle network neutrality. The coalition — led by tech groups Y Combinator, Techstars and Engine — said it is “deeply concerned” about the reports that Chairman Pai is planning to repeal the FCC’s net neutrality rules, which prohibit internet service providers from favoring or discriminating against web traffic to certain sites.

“Without net neutrality, the incumbents who provide access to the Internet would be able to pick winners or losers in the market,” the letter reads. “They could impede traffic from our services in order to favor their own services or established competitors. Or they could impose new tolls on us, inhibiting consumer choice.”

[Commentary] Here are the core six terms with double meanings that torment net neutrality consensus: Internet, net neutrality, free, open, competition, and economics.

Internet: Internet service providers see themselves as an integral part of the Internet...[h]owever, proponents of net neutrality...want to define ISPs as Title II telephone utilities, and the physical hardware part of the Internet as the public switched telephone network, to effectively redefine the Internet on their terms as “the edge” made up of only “edge,” software or virtual providers.
Net Neutrality: The snowballing definition now has many net neutrality proponents seeing net neutrality as the same as 1934 monopoly telephone utility law which regulated telecommunications as a common carrier.
Free: Increasingly proponents of Title II net neutrality define “free” as no-cost or a price of zero. However, opponents define “free” as shorthand for individual freedom, since most people pay for Internet access most of the time.
Open: Proponents define open as the strongest possible utility regulation, and non-proprietary, like open-source software that confers no property rights. Opponents see an open market as a deregulated market.
Competition: Proponents and the previous Federal Communications Commission, defined broadband competition as government-managed competition where the government determines some prices, terms and conditions of ISPs to advantage edge providers. In contrast, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai defines broadband competition as market-driven competition between facilities-based providers of broadband Internet access, and where consumers pick winners and losers.
Economics: Many of the most ardent net neutrality supporters consider the Internet like a public common, ie online resources that do not require payment of permission to use. In contrast to most other people, including Chairman Pai and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, believe in the market organizing principle of the economics of scarcity, where pricing must ultimately reflect total costs, not cherry-picked marginal costs, and supply and demand.

[Scott Cleland is president of Precursor LLC and the chairman of NetCompetition]

House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) suggested that Americans ignore information they see from the “liberal media.” In a brief speech on the House floor, Chairman Smith cited recent Gallup polling that found 55 percent of Americans think news reports are “often inaccurate.” The same poll also shows that 62 percent of Americans think the media favors a particular political party, an increase largely fueled by Republicans.

“Commonsense, reasonable Americans would do well to discount the liberal media since they don’t provide fair and objective information,” Chairman Smith said. He suggested that President Trump’s approval rating, which currently hovers around 40 percent, is historically low because of negative media coverage. He cited a report from the conservative Media Research Center that concluded coverage of President Trump by the three major broadcast networks — ABC, CBS and NBC — was 88 percent negative. “Is it any wonder that half of Americans disapprove of the job President Trump is doing? The real wonder is that it’s not greater given what the public hears and reads every day,” Chairman Smith said.

A panel of journalists voted April 25 to table a request from Breitbart News for permanent congressional press passes, apparently. The Standing Committee of Correspondents, made up up five reporters from traditional media outlets, also put off a vote to extend the right-leaning site's temporary passes, which expire on May 31. The panel reportedly expressed concerns about “more than one troubling aspect” in the information Breitbart provided. It had previously questioned the news outlet's connections to conservative donors and organizations. “The whole thing suggest to me that they’re just not ready for a credential” one panel member said, according to Politico's Hadas Gold.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will soon have a committee to advise the agency on promoting diversity in the communications industry, Chairman Ajit Pai announced April 24. “Every American should have the opportunity to participate in the communications marketplace, no matter their race, gender, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation,” Chairman Pai said. “This Committee will be charged with providing recommendations to the FCC on empowering all Americans,” Pai added. “For example, the Committee could help the FCC promote diversity in the communications industry by assisting in the establishment of an incubator program and could identify ways to combat digital redlining," the concern that minority or poorer communities are covered by worse telecommunication infrastructure.

The agency will solicit suggestions from the public on who should sit on the panel, which will be called the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. The FCC has implemented similar initiatives in the past, but they appear to have fizzled out. The agency’s Advisory Committee for Diversity in the Digital Age, for instance, has not had a meeting since 2013.