Adam Bender

California's privacy agency should try to counter inequity and manipulation, said academics at California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) informational sessions this week (see 2203290062). The CPPA board held the second day Wednesday of a virtual hearing to gather background information for an upcoming rulemaking to implement the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), which is the sequel to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Across the country, the Maryland House Economic Affairs Committee weighed a bill Wednesday to set up a privacy study group to make recommendations for comprehensive legislation next year.

Consumers face common barriers to exercising their right to opt out of selling data under the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Kim at a California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) virtual meeting Tuesday. It was the first day of informational sessions on the upcoming California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) rulemaking. “Sometimes businesses are not clear with regard to their representations that they do not sell personal information, when in fact they do,” said Kim, who works for California DOJ, the department that enforces CCPA. CCPA doesn’t require verification to opt out of sale, but “oftentimes, businesses may require some type of verification,” said the deputy AG: Businesses may ask some questions to identify consumers, but “we often see abuses in this area.” Because CCPA requires businesses only to disclose the category of third parties with whom they shared or sold personal information, consumers seeking to opt out frequently don’t know who got their information, she said. “There’s no way to go down the stream and ensure that people that the first-party business sold information to also honors the consumer’s right under the CCPA.” A consumer can try by going through California DOJ’s data broker registry, but with more than 450 brokers registered, it can be difficult to opt out for every business that might have the individual’s personal data, said Kim. CPPA Chairperson Jennifer Urban said this week’s informational sessions are meant to provide background information potentially relevant to the agency’s CPRA rulemaking. CPPA will hold partially virtual pre-rulemaking stakeholder sessions in about a month, but exact dates aren’t set because CPPA hasn’t confirmed an in-person location, she said.

Disregard big ISPs’ objections to fixing monthly rates for broadband plans funded by the California Public Utilities Commission’s $2 billion last-mile federal funding account, said consumer groups in reply comments Monday in docket R.20-09-001. Phone and cable companies last week opposed ideas in a proposed decision, up for vote at the CPUC's April 7 meeting, to freeze prices for FFA-funded plans for 10 years and to require recipients to offer $40 monthly plans with 50 Mbps symmetrical speeds for the lifetime of the infrastructure (see 2203230051). “Providers’ arguments engage in a great deal of handwringing about the risk that they will not be able to afford to deploy broadband infrastructure because set prices would not allow them to respond to future market and financial conditions,” replied Center for Accessible Technology: But no such objections were raised by governments, nonprofits or cooperatives seeking grants. “It appears that incumbents’ primary concern about the low-cost option is that it might cut into their profits,” the consumer group added. Discarding the 10-year price freeze “could harm consumers as it opens the door to hiking prices … and making broadband service unaffordable,” said the CPUC’s independent Public Advocates Office. U.S. Treasury Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds rules “do not preclude states from adopting any specific pricing commitment,” and capping a required low-price plan at $40 monthly isn’t rate regulation, commented The Utility Reform Network.

An upcoming sequel audit of the District of Columbia’s 911 center will be a “deeper dive than we do with most of our audits,” reflecting “the incredible importance of the issues,” D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson said in a Friday interview. Patterson raised questions about the return of Karima Holmes to lead the Office of Unified Communications (OUC). Advocates for D.C. 911 improvements said they want results.

Rejecting cable industry and Republican objections, the California Assembly Communications Committee advanced a bill Wednesday requiring high-definition public, educational and government (PEG) access channels. Alliance for Community Media President Mike Wassenaar expects the issue to pop up across the country, especially where local governments are subject to state franchise agreements, he said in an interview.

Big ISPs warned the California Public Utilities Commission that proposed price and speed requirements could discourage participation in a $2 billion last-mile federal funding account (FFA) required by the state’s $6 billion broadband law. Consumer and local government groups debated how best to prioritize funds in other comments posted Tuesday and Wednesday on a proposed decision (PD) up for vote at the commission’s April 7 meeting (see 2203020062).

Democrats questioned why Georgia should pass a social media law before courts decide the fate of enjoined similar laws in Florida and Texas. The House Judiciary Committee mulled SB-393 at a partially virtual House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday. The Senate passed the bill to treat social media platforms as common carriers in a 33-21 vote earlier this month (see 2203090044). Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D) said she doesn’t want Georgia to join state litigation. Rep. Matthew Wilson (D) agreed. "If this bill passes, it will be immediately enjoined and litigated. Why should Georgians have to pay the litigation costs?" Rep. Mike Wilensky (D) fears the bill would make it difficult for websites to stop harassment and antisemitic speech, he said. Sponsor Sen. Greg Dolezal (R) said the bill aims to “eliminate viewpoint-based censorship” but wouldn’t stop websites from removing obscenities or harassment. Chairman Chuck Efstration (R) asked if social platforms are truly monopoly common carriers since people can use other platforms that might not restrict what they say. Dolezal said other platforms exist, but they don't have the same scale or ubiquity as Twitter or Facebook. NetChoice Policy Counsel Chris Marchese urged legislators to wait for appeals court rulings this summer on Texas and Florida laws. Georgia’s bill is most like the Texas law; Florida’s law is before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which also covers Georgia, he said. SB-393 is more unconstitutional than the Texas law because, by exempting ISPs, the bill that would classify social websites as common carriers would protect “actual common carriers,” Marchese said. Rep. James Burchett (R) rejected claims that social media aren’t big enough to cause concern. If more than 90% of Americans are on Facebook, the platform seems to be taking on the role of the town square, he said. The Judiciary panel will have another hearing on SB-393, said Efstration. In other states, a South Carolina social media bill (S-551) is scheduled for hearing Thursday in the Senate Labor, Commerce and Industry committee. Alaska and Tennessee had hearings on similar bills Tuesday (see 2203220042).

Proposed challenge process changes don’t seem like enough to fix problems with the Nebraska Public Service Commission’s broadband grant program, Commissioner Crystal Rhoades said at a partially virtual hearing Tuesday. The PSC awarded about $18 million in grants last year under the $40 million Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program, with Rhoades dissenting (see 2201040050).

Two Tennessee Republicans raised concerns with a social media bill, as most others in their party supported it at a Tuesday hearing. Voting by voice, the House Commerce Committee cleared HB-2369 to require the Tennessee Public Utility Commission to regulate social media as common carriers (see 2203170025). "It's a bit of a stretch ... to see the commonality between a common carrier as we normally define it and what we're talking about here,” said Rep. Patsy Hazlewood (R). Facebook and Google might be publicly traded companies, “but they are still private companies, and if my memory serves me right, we have said many times before that we can’t be telling private companies what they can do and what they can’t do,” said Rep. Eddie Mannis (R). HB-2369 goes next to the Finance Committee. Also at the hearing, House Commerce members supported the proposed confirmation of Clay Good to the Tennessee PUC. The Senate supported Good and another PUC nominee, Michael Ellis, on 30-0 votes Monday after that chamber’s Commerce panel cleared them last week (see 2203150073).

The Arizona Corporation Commission should cancel state USF, cable and wireless companies said in comments Friday on a March 4 notice of inquiry on possibly sweeping changes. The ACC had asked about expanding Arizona USF support to broadband -- or eliminating the fund altogether (see 2203070031). Wireline companies disagreed with ending AUSF, with Lumen favoring making it a broadband fund.