Hill, The

Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) is pushing the Federal Communications Commission to consider “data caps” as it rewrites its controversial network neutrality rules.

In a letter to the FCC, Rep Eshoo, the top Democrat on the House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, shared the preliminary findings of a Government Accountability Office study about data caps, which she described as “a new threat to the free and open Internet.”

According to Rep Eshoo, the FCC should consider these data cap practices as it rewrites its net neutrality rules, which kept Internet providers from slowing or blocking access to certain websites before they were struck down by a federal court earlier in 2014.

[Commentary] The middle ground is not as safe as it might seem. The three options available to the Federal Communications Commission in the open Internet debate can broadly be characterized as light, medium and heavy regulation.

At least two of the three main provisions of the FCC's "medium" regulation proposal have the potential to be quite harmful. The first involves "transparency." Mandated price disclosure helps facilitate cartel behavior.

Second is the prohibition against "commercially unreasonable" practices. The commercially unreasonable standard, particularly in combination with the detailed disclosure requirements, risks generating a steady stream of complaints from interested parties.

[Lenard is president and senior fellow of the Technology Policy Institute]

A group of California Democrats is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to help resolve a dispute between cable companies over showing Los Angeles Dodgers games on television.

Members of the tech industry and estate lawyers are pushing Congress to tweak an e-mail privacy law to ensure that digital accounts don’t die when their users do.

With pressure building on Congress to update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Communications Act (ECPA), some are asking lawmakers to explicitly allow people to control who can access their online accounts after they die or become incapacitated.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is close but not yet ready to unveil a negotiated measure to rein in government surveillance. Despite reports that the bill could be revealed soon, people familiar with the discussions said Sen Leahy will actually release the compromise legislation imminently.

Sen Leahy has been working with the administration on a compromise. The final bill will create “clear cut guidelines of what [intelligence agencies] can and cannot do” and “let the American people know that their privacy is going to be protected,” Sen Leahy said.

Senate Democrats are gearing up to pass a short-term extension of a moratorium on Internet access taxes, according to aides and K Street officials. The Internet Tax Freedom Act expires on Nov 1, and Democratic leaders are pushing to extend the moratorium through 2014.

A bipartisan group of senators, including Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), is seeking to merge a proposal barring states from levying taxes on Internet access with a more contentious measure that would give states more power to charge sales tax on online purchases.

Aides also stressed that Senate supporters weren’t backing away from their plan to merge the Internet access measure and the online sales tax bill, and that they were setting up a push for the combined bill in the fall or after November’s election.

Mergers in the communications space are a reaction to increasing competition from online and other video providers, according to Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel.

As online video grows and Internet access increases, “we’re going to all be sovereign and capable of curating all sorts of activities using web-based functions [in] the future,” she said.

Without commenting on any specific proposed or reported mergers, Commissioner Rosenworcel said the consolidation in the telecom industry is a reaction to the increased competition traditional video companies face from online video. “I think all of the activity you’re seeing right now is a response to that change,” she said.

Advocates of “smart” cars say federal regulators must listen more closely to developers’ concerns to allow emerging technologies to hit the roadways.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has been encouraging the development of so-called "connected vehicles" that can use technology to communicate with other cars and even infrastructure like traffic lights to improve mobility for drivers. But Intelligent Car Coalition Executive Director Catherine McCullough said that the technology could be deployed more effectively if regulators listened better to industry.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is close to an agreement with Obama Administration on how to rein in government surveillance. Sen Leahy said that he is “impressed” with the Administration’s efforts to work towards a compromise.

“A whole lot of people are coming together, from the intelligence agencies, law enforcement, the administration,” he said. According to an aide to Sen Leahy, the senator and the Administration are “within inches” of an agreement on legislation. If a deal is reached, the bill could head straight to the Senate floor, the aide said.

Google, Microsoft and Amazon all beefed up their lobbying spending, new disclosure forms show. Google was one of the tech set's biggest spenders, dropping $5.03 million between April and June, a $1.21 million hike from earlier in 2014 and an increase of $1.67 million from the same period in 2013.

The spending complements a new Washington headquarters that Google opened just steps from the Capitol in recent weeks, and could be a sign of increased focus on the Beltway for the company. Microsoft, meanwhile, spent an extra $260,000 on lobbying, bringing its second quarter totals up to $2.34 million. That’s still a decrease from the $2.96 million it spent during the second quarter in 2013. Amazon cracked $1 million in quarterly spending for the first time in its history, as the company put a new focus on drone regulation and postal reform. And Twitter, which is still a relative newcomer to Washington, jumped from $50,000 during the first three months of 2014 to $90,000.