House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., remains hopeful House leadership will allow floor time for the Judiciary Committee’s antitrust legislation before the end of the year, he told us last week. A Democratic aide said Monday that caucus negotiations are ongoing.
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
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., seeks bipartisan recommendations for updating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, she told us last week. Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said they’re trying to reach bipartisan consensus.
A unanimous FTC agreed to a Republican proposal to delay voting on whether to issue orders to large retailers and consumer-goods suppliers to study anti-competitive effects of supply chain disruptions (see 2111100084). Despite Chair Lina Khan’s desire to “expeditiously” begin research, the commission, which recently lost its Democratic majority, agreed 4-0 to table the vote until Wednesday, after a motion from Commissioner Christine Wilson.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will place a hold on Alvaro Bedoya’s FTC nomination, Cruz told us Wednesday, citing the nominee's Twitter activity linking the Trump administration to white supremacy. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is also “contemplating" a hold over a Bedoya retweet describing Trump supporters as white supremacists.
Privacy laws in Virginia and Colorado show it’s possible to establish an effective legal framework without a private right of action, House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., told an FCBA event Tuesday. She urged Congress to pass a “forward-thinking, pro-innovation,” national privacy standard.
The FBI’s decision to withhold the decryption key associated with the Kaseya cyberattack was made with a long-term plan of addressing Russian threats, despite the millions that businesses lost because of the decision, FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran told the House Oversight Subcommittee Tuesday (see 2109210055). National Cyber Director Chris Inglis and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Executive Director Brandon Wales backed the decision.
Florida’s social media law violates the First Amendment despite the state’s common-carrier arguments, groups argued Monday in supporting the tech industry’s lawsuit (see 2109220064) in case 21-12355 in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. SB-7072 makes it unlawful for sites to deplatform political candidates and requires sites be transparent about policing, unless the site owns a Florida theme park. Groups filing in support of the Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice included tech and telecom interests, consumer advocates, publishers and media representatives. Filers included CTA, Engine, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, Chamber of Progress, TechNet, American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Democracy & Technology, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Cato Institute, TechFreedom and Authors Guild. The law is “a direct threat to healthy and safe online communities by restricting and penalizing online providers’ efforts to exercise their First Amendment rights to moderate content on their private platforms,” CTA argued with 10 other groups, including ITIF, TechNet and the Progressive Policy Institute. The law would open the door to “direct content regulation,” in service of government policing bias, “on the platforms that millions of Americans now use to get their news,” publisher and news associations wrote. The First Amendment “protects the exercise of editorial discretion, including by speakers that host others’ speech,” said CDT. Slapping the label “common carrier” on something doesn’t make it a reality, said TechFreedom: “Even if it did, common carriers retain their First Amendment rights, and they have much broader discretion to refuse service than SB 7072 allows for.”
Congress has more momentum for passing mandatory cyber reporting requirements than ever, but the two chambers face an uphill climb in reconciling specifics, experts told us.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told us he and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., will meet soon to discuss potential updates to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. “We’re scheduled to put our heads together soon about that issue,” Wicker said last week. “I will reserve comment until after that. It may have to be after the break.”
State attorneys general are examining the impact of social media algorithms like those that keep young users hooked to apps like Facebook, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller (D) told a National Association of Attorneys General event Monday. “We’re looking at it,” he said. “We’re trying to get up to speed on how algorithms are used, how they’re misused, either intentionally or unintentionally, and get into that concept and secure as much reform that we can.” It’s an issue getting increasing bipartisan attention on Capitol Hill (see 2110280067).