Policymakers

The Mozilla Foundation launched a new Tech Policy Fellowship.

The program is designed to give individuals with deep expertise in government and Internet policy the support and structure they need to continue their Internet health work. The fellows, who hail from around the globe, will spend the next year working independently on a range of tech policy issues. They will collaborate closely with Mozilla’s policy and advocacy teams, as well as the broader Mozilla network and other key organizations in tech policy. Each fellow will bring their expertise to important topics currently at issue in the United States and around the world.

Fellows include: Gigi Sohn, Alan Davidson, Linet Kwamboka, Amina Fazlullah, Camille Fischer, Caroline Holland, Terah Lyons, Marilia Monteiro, Jason Schultz, and Cori Zarek.

President Donald Trump could soon fill the two open slots at the Federal Communications Commission, by tapping Brendan Carr, currently the general counsel to current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, and Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat who previously served at the agency.

At the moment, those two seasoned telecommunication policy experts are seen as the front-runners to fill the remaining seats at the five-member FCC, apparently, though President Trump has not yet formally nominated anyone. If elevated to commissioner, Carr could become a major, new legal ally to his soon-to-be-former boss. Apparently, Chairman Pai may have actually recommended Carr, who joined Pai’s staff in 2014, for the open Republican job at the FCC. Politically, though, Carr could face criticism from some Democrats and left-leaning consumer groups because of his business background. Before arriving at the FCC as an attorney in 2012, he worked as a lawyer at the DC law firm Wiley Rein and represented telecommunication companies like AT&T, Verizon and two of their main trade associations, USTelecom and the wireless-focused lobbying group, CTIA. Similar ties to the telecom industry previously haunted Pai, who represented Verizon at a DC law firm before he joined the commission.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai paid a visit to three Northwest Iowa towns to address the issue of broadband Internet access -- or lack thereof -- in rural areas. He stopped in Iowa as a part of his tour from Milwaukee (WI) to Casper (WY) exploring rural areas' access to broadband Internet. He visited Spencer, Laurens and Sioux City (IA) before heading to South Dakota. In Sioux City, Chairman Pai met with Western Iowa Telecom as well as the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce in order to assess the issues of broadband access in Siouxland. "There's a big and growing divide, a 'digital divide,' in this country between those who have high-quality internet access and those who don't," Chairman Pai said. "Disproportionately, rural Americans find themselves on the wrong side of that divide."

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking nominations for membership on, and a Chairperson for, the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (the Committee). The FCC intends to establish the Committee for a period of two (2) years, with an expected starting date in the fall of 2017.

The Committee’s mission will be to provide recommendations to the FCC on how to empower disadvantaged communities and accelerate the entry of small businesses, including those owned by women and minorities, into the media, digital news and information, and audio and video programming industries, including as owners, suppliers, and employees. It will also provide recommendations to the Commission on how to ensure that disadvantaged communities are not denied the wide range of opportunities made possible by next-generation networks. This Committee is intended to provide an effective means for stakeholders with interests in these areas to exchange ideas and develop recommendations to the Commission on media ownership and procurement opportunities, empowering communities in order to spur educational, economic, and civic development, and consumer access to digital technologies. The Committee’s work is intended to enhance the Commission’s ability to carry out its statutory responsibility to promote policies favoring diversity of media voices, localism, vigorous economic competition, technological advancement, and promotion of the public interest, convenience, and necessity.

Nominations for membership to the Committee should be submitted to the FCC no later than 11:59 PM EST, Wednesday, June 28, 2017.

US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has named US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Associate Solicitor Joseph Matal to perform the functions and duties of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO. The position is effective June 7, 2017 and follows the resignation of Michelle K. Lee.

Matal will serve in this role during the nomination and confirmation process for a new director. As an Associate Solicitor in the USPTO’s Office of Solicitor, Matal has briefed and argued appeals of patent and trademark decisions before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the US District Court, and assisted in the development of legal positions taken by the US Solicitor General in patent and copyright cases before the US Supreme Court. Matal recently served as acting Chief of Staff for the agency, and has advised the director on legislative matters. Matal previously served as the General Counsel of the Judiciary Committee for former Sen Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and as a Judiciary Committee Counsel to former Sen Jon Kyl (R-AZ). In that role, he was the principal staff drafter and negotiator of legislation that became the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, the first comprehensive patent law overhaul since 1952. Matal has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, and a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is opening the door to summoning James Comey to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee after the former FBI director declined an invitation. "Under our rules on our committee, if Sen [Dianne] Feinstein [D-CA] would agree to subpoena I would," said Chairman Grassley. Comey is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 7, making his first public comments since he was fired by President Donald Trump in May. Sen Richard Burr (R-NC), the chairman of the intelligence panel questioning the ousted FBI chief, said that he anticipated June 7's hearing will be the only time Comey appears before Congress. But members of the Judiciary Committee are continuing to demand that Comey also come before their panel, which has oversight of the FBI.

Apparently, President Donald Trump’s top communications staff, and much of his senior White House team, did not know the president was going to make the official announcement for nominating James Comey’s successor early on June 7 via a single tweet. Several observers noted that President Trump’s Christopher Wray announcement did not arrive with any fact sheet or official press release, as would be expected with news of this weight. And it’s just the latest instance of President Trump’s senior staffers, particularly his communications and press shop, being cut out of the loop, undermined, and frazzled by their unpredictable boss and his compulsive tweeting habit.

Broadband provider Frontier Communications recently laid off the West Virginia state Senate president after a vote the company didn't like—and yes, you read that correctly. West Virginia does not have a full-time legislature, and state lawmakers can supplement their part-time government salaries ($20,000 a year, according to BallotPedia) with jobs in the private sector. West Virginia Senate President Mitch Carmichael (R-Jackson County) was also a sales manager for Frontier. But after six years with the company, Frontier terminated his employment on May 26. The dismissal came just weeks after Carmichael voted for a broadband infrastructure bill that was designed to bring faster speeds, lower prices, and more competition to Internet customers. It was described as a layoff in local press reports, but Carmichael said in multiple interviews that he believes the Senate vote led to his newfound unemployment.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the agency has chosen Sanford Williams to serve as director of the FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities, continuing the work he has been doing as acting director. Williams has worked in various roles at the Federal Communications Commission since 1999. Williams also worked as an attorney for Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice, and taught at Augusta State University in Augusta, Georgia. Williams attended Cornell University where he earned an undergraduate degree in operations research & industrial engineering and a Master’s in Business Administration from the Johnson School of Management. He earned his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law where he was a member of the Virginia Law Review.

President Donald Trump said that he had selected the former federal prosecutor Christopher Wray, now a Washington (DC)-based criminal defense lawyer who recently represented Gov Chris Christie (R-NJ) in the so-called Bridgegate scandal, to be his new FBI director. The president revealed his decision in a morning tweet. His announcement came a day before the former FBI director James B. Comey was to testify about President Trump’s attempts to get him to end the bureau’s investigation into his former national security adviser’s contacts with Russia.

Wray is a safe, mainstream pick from a president who at one point was considering politicians for a job that has historically been kept outside of politics. Wray, a former assistant attorney general overseeing the criminal division under President George W. Bush, is likely to allay the fears of FBI agents who worried that President Trump would try to weaken or politicize the FBI. Wray, two administration officials said, is a hybrid pick for President Trump: He is a seasoned criminal lawyer who bonded with Christie when both were young attorneys in the Justice Department, and a highly regarded criminal defense lawyer who represented Christie in the aftermath of the scandal over traffic jams that rocked his governorship.