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A technology consumer group is urging the new administration to halt federal guidelines that encourage cellphone and electronic device makers to design products to minimize the potential for driver distraction. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) argues that even though the guidelines are voluntary, they “could have a sweeping effect on the multibillion-dollar market for mobile devices and apps.” In December 2016, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) called for the creation of a “driver mode” for smartphones and other portable devices that drivers can use while operating their vehicle. The goal is to curb road deaths and injuries resulting from smartphone-based distractions, such as texting, phone calls and social media.

But some technology groups ripped the guidelines as a regulatory overreach and pointed out that auto and tech companies have already created driver-assist technologies and apps that help reduce distractions. “CTA shares NHTSA's concerns about the hazards of distracted driving,” the CTA said in a letter to the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). “However, we believe that the Phase 2 Guidelines takes the wrong approach to this important issue, both in substance and by impermissibly reaching beyond NHTSA's statutory authority under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act."

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.”

Two key Senate Republicans say they are open to a bipartisan legislative compromise on network neutrality, but their effort faces skepticism from both parties.

Since the election, Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chairman of a Commerce subcommittee on the internet, have said they are willing to work on a measure that keeps the core of the controversial internet rules, but also allows Congress to limit the Federal Communications Commission's powers. Some opponents think it would be easiest to undo the rules through the FCC, where Republicans have a majority. But under that approach, net neutrality could just be restored when Democrats take back the White House, some say. That uncertainty has many in the tech world hoping Congress can craft lasting rules and has Chairmen Thune and Wicker believing they have an opening.

But many Democrats are also openly skeptical of a legislative fix.

[Commentary] Few lawmakers could have envisioned how the world has changed since Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which promoted competition and lifted some regulations, allowing phone, cable TV and media companies to transform their business models to compete head to head. Just 20 million American adults had access to the Internet back then, through dial-up services like America Online, CompuServe or Prodigy.

While we have seen great progress and opportunity from broadband connectivity, we need updated telecom laws to acknowledge the dramatically shifting lines of competition, to clarify the rules of the road for internet providers and ensure that consumers and businesses continue to enjoy the benefits from our increasingly connected world. The Telecom Act was a remarkable success story but to keep our innovation economy moving, American consumers deserve a blockbuster sequel.

[Jonathan Spalter is USTelecom President & CEO]

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.”

[Commentary] As much as the Tom Wheeler Federal Communications Commission was known for its pro-consumer bias, the Ajit Pai FCC will become known for its pro-business bent. It is not that consumers will be forgotten; it is that Chairman Pai is an unabashed free-market trumpeter and proponent of limited federal government. As such, he is expected to encourage the private sector not only to pull its weight on competition, but also on consumer protection.

In opinion after opinion, Pai maintains that the key challenge for businesses — both large and small —is complying with an overweight regulatory regime. This philosophy, articulated often and eloquently by Pai, sits foursquare with the Trump doctrine and will guide Pai's actions, and most importantly, communications policy, for the foreseeable future.

[Adonis Hoffman is chairman of Business in the Public Interest and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. He served from 2013 to 2015 as chief of staff and senior legal advisor to a FCC commissioner.]

Intel Corp announced a $7 billion investment that the company projects will create 10,000 new jobs. The company will use the $7 billion to complete its Fab 42 factory in Chandler (AZ) Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said at a meeting at the White House with President Trump.

Krzanich said the decision to make the announcement with the White House was borne out of Intel’s support for Trump’s economic and trade policies. “We support the Administration’s policies to level the global playing field and make U.S. manufacturing competitive worldwide through new regulatory standards and investment policies,” Krzanich wrote in an e-mail to Intel employees. “When we disagree, we don’t walk away,” he continued. “We believe that we must be part of the conversation to voice our views on key issues such as immigration, H1B visas and other policies that are essential to innovation.” President Trump tweeted about the meeting, calling it a “great investment” in “American INNOVATION and JOBS!”

The Trump administration is more trusted than the news media among voters, according to a new Emerson College poll. The administration is considered truthful by 49 percent of registered voters and untruthful by 48 percent. But the news media is less trusted than the administration, with 53 percent calling it untruthful and just 39 percent finding it honest. The numbers split along party lines, with nearly 9 in 10 Republicans saying the Trump administration is truthful, compared with more than 3 in 4 Democrats who say the opposite. The Emerson poll found that 69 percent of Democrats think the news media is truthful while 91 percent of Republicans consider the Fourth Estate untruthful. The poll was conducted Feb 5-6 with a sample of 617 registered voters and a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.

Democratic lawmakers vowed to stand firm against any efforts by Republicans to roll back the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) network neutrality rules. “The big broadband barons and their Republican allies want to turn back the clock and make big cable and big cellphone companies the gatekeepers for internet access,” said Sen Ed Markey (D-MA). “They have a new FCC chairman in Ajit Pai who will do their bidding.” Supporters of the internet rules, which require broadband providers to treat all traffic the same, are worried net neutrality could be on the chopping block under a GOP-controlled Congress and FCC. "You’ve got Senate Democrats who understand how important this issue is,” said Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR). “If it comes down to the citizens and the people at the grassroots against the special interests, we’ve shown we can win that. I’m looking forward to that fight again,” he added, noting the millions of comments filed in support of net neutrality in 2014.