It’s likely to take a “few more weeks” before the Senate Judiciary Committee reports FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen’s judicial nomination to the Senate floor, a committee aide said Wednesday. President Donald Trump nominated Ohlhausen to be a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge. The committee held her confirmation hearing Wednesday, moving Christine Wilson one step closer to replacing Ohlhausen on the commission (see 1805020044).
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
The FAA is working “as fast as” it can to introduce a proposed rulemaking on remotely identifying unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), though there's no set deadline, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Office Director Earl Lawrence testified Tuesday. FAA’s UAS Identification and Tracking Aviation Rulemaking Committee submitted a final report in September with recommendations for setting an agency standard for identifying and tracking drones. Remote tracking of drones will have significant implications for commercial use, law enforcement and emergency response.
Facebook, Google and Twitter executives defended content moderation transparency efforts Monday, the day a coalition of digital rights advocates urged online platforms to release specific information on the scope and reasoning for content removal. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Democracy & Technology and New America’s Open Technology Institute were among groups unveiling their Santa Clara Principles. The document said platforms should report the volume of removed content, offer detailed explanations for takedowns and give opportunity for appeal.
Baseline data privacy legislation is unlikely to gain traction in the U.S. but American and international companies are likely to view EU General Data Protection Regulation compliance as a competitive advantage, GDPR experts told us. Microsoft and Accenture publicly committed to end-to-end, global GDPR compliance. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told House lawmakers his platform will comply globally with certain aspects of the GDPR, specifically on privacy controls and consent transparency (see 1804110065). “My hypothesis is companies that do not provide [GDPR compliant services] will begin to stand out in a negative way to consumers and their users,” said World Privacy Forum Executive Director Pam Dixon. “There is a possibility that companies are going to see a domino effect where they feel a lot of pressure to comply.”
With anti-sex trafficking legislation signed into law, tech groups are ready to oppose further legislative efforts that might weaken liability protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, an industry representative told us. Proponents of the recently passed bill said this is the start of a larger conversation about online platforms’ responsibilities to the public on privacy, propaganda and criminal behavior.
Republicans aren't ready to “pull the trigger” on social media privacy legislation, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told us. But Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., believes GOP lawmakers will support a bipartisan bill he recently floated with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. (see 1804240046), the Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act (S-2728). “I’m not ready to turn Facebook into a regulated utility or even agree to any regulation at this point, but I do think there’s a lot of concern,” Cornyn said. “We’re going to have to sort it out, but it’s not just Facebook.” All platforms mining for data with monetary incentives deserve attention, he said.
After confirmation Thursday of five FTC commissioners, several issues are worth watching early in their tenures concerning privacy, competition and personnel (see 1804260041), stakeholders said the next day. Topping issues, according to industry attorneys and former officials: a determination of potential 2011 consent decree violations by Facebook (see 1804050058), handling continued antitrust complaints against Google, and retention of acting Competition Bureau Director Bruce Hoffman and acting General Counsel Alden Abbott. “It’s an important and interesting time for the FTC because they’ve been shorthanded so long, so it’s really good to see a full complement of commissioners,” said Bloom Strategic Counsel founder Seth Bloom. “These next few months are going to be important to see what they’re up to and what they take up as their priorities.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chastised Facebook, Google and Twitter for refusing to testify at a Thursday hearing on social media filtering (see 1804250072). Democratic members accused Republicans of considering social media issues only when it suits their interests. The committee debated perceived platform censorship against conservatives and Christians.
Facebook won't appear Thursday at the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on social media filtering, despite an invitation from concerned committee lawmakers from both parties (see 1804200049). Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., told us he wants to better understand how Twitter decided to block a political video from House Communications Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., this fall. He voiced concern that other networks are censoring users over political differences: “Facebook is a leftist organization -- Twitter, Google. These are all [Democrat]-founded and Democrat-leaning, and it doesn’t mean that they’re absolutely unfair by any means, but they clearly have a preference.”
Copyright and data privacy legislation will be major focuses for tech sector lobbying groups in coming months, and the software industry will push for passage of a government data transparency bill, industry representatives and lobbyists told us (see 1804200060 and 1804230061). Copyright stakeholders are preparing for consideration of at least three separate bills with tech implications. Expect legislators to explore baseline privacy legislation in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica privacy controversy, though it will be a significant undertaking, observers said.