What's on the agenda for policymakers.
Agenda
Deal Makers Brace for Ruling in AT&T-Time Warner Case
Disney’s offer to buy 21st Century Fox. CVS’s bid for Aetna. T-Mobile’s proposed merger with Sprint. The path for these blockbuster deals and others could be transformed in an instant on June 12, when a federal judge is expected to issue his opinion on the government’s effort to block AT&T’s merger with Time Warner. It is one of the most influential antitrust cases in decades, enthralling Hollywood, Silicon Valley and Madison Avenue. If the merger is blocked, some executives are likely to slim down their deal aspirations.
Sharpening Blades in the FCC's Regulation Weed Wacker
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai (in)famously said, “We need to fire up the weed whacker and remove those rules that are holding back investment, innovation, and job creation.” On June 1, 2018, we learned a bit about how far follow-Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly is willing to go to cut back consumer protections. In FCC Regulatory Free Arena, Commissioner O’Rielly highlights the pervasiveness of the “app economy” to argue that traditional companies regulated by the FCC should seek to be released from their regulatory obligations.
Panels include:
- Antitrust Today: Whose Rules & Which Standards?
- Privacy, Big Data, and AI: US v EU v China?
- Platforms Under Fire: What Rules Apply?
- What infrastructure will power the digital economy and how will we get there?
- Streaming Video: Meet the Pirates
Concurrent Breakout Sessions include:
- Blockchain
- Digital Inclusion and the Smart City
- Spectrum: Is Dynamic Allocation Ready to Disrupt Business Models or is it Still a Chimera?
GAO Probing FCC Claims of Denial-of-Service Attack
The Government Accountability Office is investigating the Federal Communications Commission’s claim that its commenting system suffered a distributed denial-of-service attack during a controversial debate over repealing net neutrality rules in May 2017. The alleged DDoS attack, which slowed but did not completely disable the commenting site, came after comedian John Oliver urged his viewers to submit comments opposing the net neutrality rewrite favored by the Trump administration. The timing has led some critics to suggest the massive increase in traffic to the FCC commenting site may have
The will examine the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the agency’s role in managing federal spectrum and representing U.S. interests with the global internet multistakeholder community. Additionally, the hearing will look at how NTIA is working to deliver a modern National Broadband Map capable of providing better service availability data, along with other major policy issues before NTIA.
Does It Matter If China Beats the US to Build a 5G Network?
Why exactly is it so important for the US to build 5G networks before China? The benefits of 5G are obvious, but today the US doesn't have the fastest home broadband speeds, nor the fastest or most widely available 4G networks, and often lags countries such as Finland, Japan, and South Korea in such metrics. Why would the US's economic strength erode if it's a bit late to the 5G party?
Starks, Carr Set for Senate Pairing
The Senate Commerce Committee is looking to schedule a nomination hearing for Federal Communications Commission nominee Geoffrey Starks “as soon as we can,” pending paperwork, said Chairman John Thune (R-SD). The White House sent the nomination to the Senate on June 4, and Chairman Thune said he wants to pair Starks’ nomination with that of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to a second term. Packaging Republican and Democratic nominees together typically smooths their path through the Senate. “Hopefully we’ll be able to pair them and get a vote,” Chairman Thune said.
Deletion of Items from June 2018 Open Meeting
The following items have been adopted by the Federal Communications Commission and deleted from the list of items scheduled for consideration at the June 7, 2018 Open Meeting:
The agenda is expected to include the following items:
As most people have discovered by the avalanche of compliance emails flooding their in-boxes, the long-arm of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) has now gone into effect. But because the United States always wants to lead on the world stage, there is growing talk in Washington about the need for our own privacy legislation. While the debate over the exact contours for privacy legislation is in the very early stages, if we decide to move forward, many complex questions nonetheless remain unanswered.
6:00 – 7:00: Drinks and Light Fare