What's on the agenda for policymakers.
Agenda
House Commerce Takes on Paid Prioritization, an Essential Tenet to the Open Internet
[Commentary] On April 17, the House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing on paid prioritization -- an issue that is central to the net neutrality debate. While most internet service providers (ISPs) have claimed that they have no plans to block or degrade traffic once the Federal Communications Commission's 2017 net neutrality repeal Order goes into effect (exactly when that will be remains TBD), commitments (or lack thereof) not to engage in paid prioritization have remained a moving target.
Senators propose legislation to protect the privacy of users’ online data after Facebook hearing
Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Kennedy (R-LA) will introduce legislation to protect the privacy of users’ online data. Though a bill has not been drafted yet, the legislation would, among other things, give users recourse options if their data is breached, and the right to opt out of data tracking and collection.
The proposed legislation will:
Lawmakers want Facebook's help providing rural broadband
Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Capitol Hill to talk about data privacy. But several lawmakers from rural parts of the country used the opportunity to ask the Facebook CEO to help bring high-speed internet access to their rural constituents. Facebook has rolled out several initiatives to bring low-cost and free broadband to hard to reach areas of the world, such as India and Africa. Now US lawmakers say they'd like to talk to Zuckerberg about focusing those efforts closer to home.
FTC Pick Pledges to Monitor Tech Giants
Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, the last of President Donald Trump’s nominees for the Federal Trade Commission, said if selected she would keep a close eye on whether major tech companies are using anti-competitive or deceptive tactics amid growing concerns that they dominate their markets.
Facebook hearings didn't move the needle on regulation
After more than 10 hours of grilling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Congress is no closer to regulating the platform's privacy practices than it was when the hearings started. It's clear that lawmakers haven't coalesced around a regulatory end-goal, even though the threat remains.
Zuckerberg Faces Hostile Congress as Calls for Regulation Mount
After two days and more than 10 hours of questioning of Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, there was widespread consensus among lawmakers that social media technology — and its potential for abuse — had far outpaced Washington and that Congress should step in to close the gap. But the agreement largely ended there.
A discussion about the prioritization of data online, how and why prioritization is used today, and its potential use in the future. The hearing will adress sven questions:
9:00 a.m. Welcome and Overview
- Justin Cain, Deputy Chief, Operations and Emergency Management Division, PSHSB
9:15 a.m. Opening Remarks
- FCC Chairman Ajit Pai
9:30 a.m. Roundtable 1: Federal Information Requirements
Moderator: Jeff Goldthorp, Associate Bureau Chief, PSHSB
Participants
Mark Zuckerberg Testifies on Facebook Before Skeptical Lawmakers
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's appearance before Congress turned into something of a pointed gripe session, with both Democratic and Republican senators attacking Facebook for failing to protect users’ data and stop Russian election interference, and raising questions about whether Facebook should be more heavily regulated. Of specific interest were the revelations that sensitive data of as many as 87 million Facebook users were harvested without explicit permission by a political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, which was connected to the Trump campaign.
White House Wants Regulators to Keep Hands Off Tech Industry
The White House’s top tech adviser redoubled the Trump administration’s commitment to deregulate the tech sector and scorned countries that seek to restrict the information flowing across their borders. Michael Kratsios, the deputy U.S. chief technology officer within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, outlined the administration’s strategy for spurring the growth of emerging technologies. The plan echoes the president’s overall laissez-faire approach to economic policy while calling for stronger intellectual property protections on technologies developed in the US.