Report on past event

The Senate Commerce Committee voted to advance two of President Joe Biden's nominees:

The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a legislative hearing on four bills:

The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing to consider the nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel, to continue as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (Rosenworcel also serves as chair of the FCC), and Alvaro Bedoya, to be a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. 

On October 5 and 7, The Marconi Society's Decade of Digital Inclusion featured a virtual track called Creating a Secure Network for Everyone with two thought-provoking panels that brought together business, academic, and nonprofit perspectives on digital equity and security on the internet. Digital safety, security, and trust impact everyone from online veterans to the newly and not-yet connected.

While few dispute the existence of the digital divide, the true character of the divide is often masked by high-level information and false assumptions about exactly where the digital divide lives and the daily and systemic economic problems it creates. The Marconi Society's September 28 panel offered rich insights into the digital divide itself and some of the potential solutions for bridging it. Here are the top five takeaways:

Major reform of the international tax system finalized at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will ensure that Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) will be subject to a minimum 15 percent tax rate from 2023. The landmark deal, agreed by 136 countries and jurisdictions representing more than 90 percent of global GDP, will also reallocate more than USD 125 billion of profits from around 100 of the world’s largest and most profitable MNEs to countries worldwide, ensuring that these firms pay a fair share of tax wherever they operate and generate profits.

Telehealth can't succeed without expanding access to affordable broadband internet, witnesses told the Senate Commerce Committee on Oct 7. But extending the regulatory flexibilities around this access granted under the public health emergency, which are slated to expire when the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, is also critical, they said, stressing that the benefits of telemedicine can't be understated.

Jonathan Kanter, who has represented Big Tech rivals like Yelp and News Corp, skated through his nomination hearing for leader of the Justice Department's antitrust division without incident as both Democrats and Republicans lauded his tougher stance on regulating digital behemoths. It’s no surprise Democrats are backing President Biden's pick, a favorite among progressives and anti-monopoly advocates.

On October 4, 2021, the National Lifeline Association (NaLA) met with the Office of Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Rosenworcel to discuss the Lifeline Program and the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) Program. The discussion focused on the Lifeline minimum service standards (MSS), getting the Lifeline program ready for the end of the EBB and certain Lifeline and EBB process improvements that should be made by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).

The Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security convened a hearing to hear from former Facebook employee Frances Haugen. Recent Wall Street Journal investigations have revealed troubling insights regarding how Instagram affects teenagers, how it handles children onto the platform, and other consumer protection matters related to Facebook. In prepared testimony, Haugen said: