Google’s decision to limit political advertising microtargeting is a better approach than Facebook’s decision not to fact-check political ads, Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in interviews last month. Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; and John Kennedy, R-La.; said Google’s updated policy is a mistake.
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 Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is “OK” with permanently reauthorizing USA Patriot Act Section 215, except one provision: the call detail records program (see 1911120042), he told us. President Donald Trump signed a short-term funding bill through Dec. 20 on Nov. 21, extending the law through March 15, three months after the original December expiration.
Led by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, Wash., Senate Democrats Tuesday unveiled federal privacy legislation. It has a provision Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., regards as a nonstarter (see 1911250058).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker doesn’t think Democrats will insist on including a private right of action in bipartisan privacy legislation, he told reporters last week. The Mississippi Republican noted California’s privacy law limits private right of action. “I don’t think Democrats will insist on that in a final bill,” he said. “I don’t expect this Congress to move to the left of the California initiative.”
New York should pass a state privacy law to set proper standards and push federal legislators to take action, Senate Democrats told a hearing. Industry opposed including a private right of action. Consumer advocates applauded the provision.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will establish safety standards for autonomous vehicles (AV) when the technology is “proven,” acting Administrator James Owens told Congress Wednesday. Industry is making significant adjustments to the technology, and the agency doesn’t want to stymie innovation, he said during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing.
Ranking Democrats on four Senate committees are exploring privacy legislation, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told us Tuesday, the day after the group introduced related principles (see 1911180054). “We will likely move forward with [a bill], but we’re talking to Republicans about it, too,” the Senate Banking Committee ranking member said.
The FTC's probing major platforms other than Facebook, which is under antitrust investigation, Chairman Joe Simons said Monday. He expects the Competition Bureau’s Technology Enforcement Division, which is “burning the candle at both ends,” will be successful, he said at an American Bar Association antitrust event.
Facebook supports industry setting content moderation standards, said Public Policy Manager Lori Moylan Friday. Speaking at a George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School event, she said companies should collaboratively define terms like manipulated media and deepfake.
It’s worth Congress considering a merger moratorium, House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., told reporters after raising concerns about Google buying Fitbit at a hearing Wednesday (see 1911080062). Cicilline said FTC Chairman Joe Simons and DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim were more supportive of the idea during testimony than he anticipated. A lot can be done short of a moratorium, Delrahim said, but it’s possible to explore burdens of proof for companies that control large market shares.