Policymakers

Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission nominees will remain stalled in the Senate for weeks, further jeopardizing progressives’ ambitious technology and telecommunications agendas. Floor votes to confirm FCC nominee Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] and FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya may not happen until at least March 2022 due to GOP opposition and the absence of Sen Ben Ray Luján (D-NM).

The US Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has appointed 29 outside experts to serve on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC), which provides advice on a range of policy and technical issues related to wireless technology and the use of spectrum.

Opposition to President Joe Biden’s pick for the Federal Communications Commission is rooted in a desire to deny Democrats a majority of agency seats, said nominee Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] in prepared testimony for a Senate committee hearing February 9. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a second confirmation hearing for Sohn, who was initially nominated in late 2021, at the request of Sen Roger Wicker (R-MS).

As we move past the first anniversary of the Biden administration taking office, it’s a good moment to start defining the Biden Tech Doctrine based on what we’ve seen so far. There’s a dynamic in some sibling relationships—a big brother who squabbles with his younger siblings at home but is the first to defend them when someone picks on them at school.

President Joe Biden’s Federal Communications Commission nominee, Gigi Sohn, will face questions from a Senate panel once again on Feb 9 amid ongoing delays to her confirmation. Progressive tech advocates are growing increasingly frustrated by the delays, casting blame on the White House and Senate Democratic leadership for stalling and catering to Republicans who they say are raising disingenuous concerns. Sohn appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee in December for a hearing on her nomination.

Brandy Reitter has begun her newly appointed role as Executive Director of the Colorado Broadband Office (CBO). Reitter is taking the helm amid historic funding opportunities that have the potential to bring reliable broadband to every community across the state. Reitter will drive the state’s broadband strategy to provide equal access for all Coloradans. Among her many leadership responsibilities, Reitter will direct substantial federal and state funding expenditures by working with industry, communities and agencies to ensure the greatest impact for digital literacy and inclusion.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the formation of a cross-agency task force that will focus on creating rules and policies to combat digital discrimination and to promote equal access to broadband across the country, regardless of zip code, income level, ethnicity, race, religion, or national origin.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is proud to share the news that Benton Senior Counselor Andrew Jay Schwartzman has been awarded the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School Law Alumni Society’s highest honor, the James Wilson Award, “for a lifetime of public service.” In a February 3 virtual ceremony, Penn Law Dean Theodore Ruger said that Schwartzman—a member of Penn’s 1968 undergraduate class and the law school class of 1971—“is known as the dean of public interest commu

Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA), along with seven colleagues, sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to support the development and execution of the Biden Administration’s spectrum policy by bolstering the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and quickly nominating a Chief Technology Officer (CTO). “To ensure agencies have the requisite resources to fulfill their mandates and to maintain US leadership in next-generation communications networks, it is imperative that the Federal government have a unified approach to spectrum policy,” said the letter.

The Federal Communications Commission announced that Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel will serve as Chair of the relaunched and revitalized Cybersecurity Forum for Independent and Executive Branch Regulators, a federal interagency group that shares information and expertise to enhance the cybersecurity of America’s critical infrastructure. Initially launched in 2014, the Forum has been mostly inactive for the past several years.