Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., urged the FCC Tuesday to “adopt strong rules” as part of its implementation of the Safe Connections Act “to protect the privacy of domestic violence survivors and to ensure their access to critical phone and broadband services.” Comments are due April 12, replies May 12, in docket 22-238 on FCC implementation of the statute to improve access to communications services for survivors of domestic violence (see 2303130007). The FCC should “ensure the process is made easy for survivors of domestic violence to access the privacy, safety, and financial protection provided in the bill,” Blumenthal said in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “I agree with survivor advocacy and direct service organizations that the Commission should adopt rules that lower barriers to access Lifeline and the Affordable Connectivity Program. Setting the standard of survivor identification to be self-attestation, rather than requiring a third-party to ‘vouch’ abuse and financial difficulties, can enhance survivor agency and access to low-cost phone service programs.” Blumenthal also supports “strengthening the FCC’s privacy rules to protect domestic violence survivors that are accessing support resources, such as shelters and assistance hotlines.”

The House Communications Subcommittee will host a hearing on “Big Tech censorship” March 28, House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and House Communications Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta, R-Ohio, announced Tuesday. They cited in a joint statement the Biden administration's “colluding” with platforms to control online speech. The hearing will include testimony from “several people who’ve been silenced by Big Tech,” they said.

President Joe Biden formally sent his nomination of Fara Damelin to be FCC inspector general to the Senate Tuesday, the White House said. Biden announced his pick of Damelin, currently Housing and Urban Development Department Office of Inspector General chief of staff, Monday (see 2303200077). The Senate hasn’t approved a permanent IG nominee since Congress made it a confirmable position as part of the 2018 Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services Act. Acting IG Sharon Diskin took over that role in January after the death of the incumbent, David Hunt (see 2301260026).

President Joe Biden intends to nominate current Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General Chief of Staff Fara Damelin to be FCC inspector general, the White House said Monday. Acting IG Sharon Diskin took over that role in January after the death of the incumbent, David Hunt (see 2301260026). The Senate hasn’t approved a permanent IG nominee since Congress made it a confirmable position as part of the 2018 Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services Act. Biden withdrew the most recent previous nominee, now-Anduril Industries Senior Legal Director Chase Johnson, when he took office in early 2021 (see 2102050064). Damelin as HHS OIG chief of staff “leads a cross functional team in executing” the IG’s “priorities and strategic initiatives, developing OIG-wide oversight products, and implementing diversity, employee engagement, and professional development programs,” the White House said. She was previously AmeriCorps deputy IG and worked as an investigative attorney for the National Science Foundation OIG.

House Innovation Subcommittee ranking member Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., applauded the FTC Thursday for launching an inquiry into the proliferation of deceptive advertising on eight social media platforms (see 2303160038). She welcomed the investigation of “platforms who have profited from ads for scams like counterfeit goods, crypto fraud, and fake healthcare products.” NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo accused the agency of “tunnel vision,” calling the investigation “another fishing expedition by an out-of-control agency.” After “efforts by the FTC to get the names of reporters that spoke ill of the Biden administration, all Americans should worry about these types of unchecked, investigative powers,” he said. The companies targeted with FTC orders -- TikTok, Twitter, Meta, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, Snap and Pinterest -- didn’t comment Friday.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency should reevaluate security risks of Chinese-built drones operating in support of U.S. law enforcement, wrote Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., in a bipartisan letter Thursday with Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and 14 other senators. The letter cites threats from drones built by Shenzhen DJI Innovation Technology, a company they said has “deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party.” Shenzhen provided drones to “operators of critical infrastructure and state and local law enforcement” in the U.S., they said: “The use of its drones in such sensitive contexts may present an unacceptable security vulnerability.” They recommended CISA examine the issue and publish findings in its National Cyber Awareness System. CISA didn't comment.

NTCA and 15 other groups urged heads of the House and Senate Agriculture committees Tuesday to include language in the 2023 farm bill that codifies “a minimum service level commitment of 100 Mbps symmetrical broadband service” for recipients of ReConnect program money, “the level specified” in the program’s “oversubscribed third round.” The “overwhelming demand for ReConnect funding even as applicants have been expected to perform at high levels proves that setting a high standard for network and service capabilities does not deter applicants whatsoever, but rather demonstrates a surplus of interest by providers willing and able to deliver better broadband in rural America that will rival what is available to urban users,” NTCA and the other groups said in a letter to Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., House Agriculture Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and their ranking members. Using “a lesser standard would represent an inefficient step backwards, flying in the face of the substantial demand demonstrated in the most recent round of ReConnect and failing the rural communities that need broadband capable of keeping pace with user demand for decades to come. Policies that encourage sustainable networks that meet the needs of consumers now and into the future will be most efficient in responding to consumer demand over the lives of those networks, particularly when compared to short-term solutions that are likely to be quickly outpaced by technological evolution and consumer demands and require substantial re-investment relatively soon thereafter.”

President Joe Biden is seeking a small appropriations increase for the FCC and a much larger one for the FTC in its FY 2024 budget request, those agencies said Monday. The Biden administration unveiled broad outlines of its FY24 appropriations request last week. Biden proposes giving the FCC more than $410.7 million for FY24, including almost $12.7 million for its independent Office of Inspector General. That’s a 5% increase from the amount Congress approved for the FCC in December as part of the FY 2023 omnibus appropriations package (see 2212230049) and what the White House sought that year. The administration proposes giving the FTC $590 million, a 37% increase from FY23 and more than 20% more than Biden proposed last year (see 2203280069). The FCC noted its budget proposal calls for Congress to extend the commission’s now-lapsed spectrum auction authority “for ten years through 2033.” The mandate expired Thursday amid a Senate-side impasse over a set of dueling legislative proposals to extend the authority. Those negotiations are to continue this week (see 2303100084).

The FTC’s “harassment” of Twitter after Elon Musk’s buy of the platform raises concerns about agency conduct, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote FTC Chair Lina Khan Friday. They cited a report from the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government, a newly created panel under House Republican leadership. Democrats unduly influenced the agency after the Musk purchase, the lawmakers wrote: This included pressure from seven Senate Democrats urging the agency to investigate “any breach of Twitter's consent decree or violation of our consumer protection laws.” They were referring to two data breaches at Twitter in 2009, which resulted in a 2011 consent decree. Twitter was hacked in July 2020 (see 2007160074), and the company’s data privacy practices came under scrutiny again in September (see 2209200075). The subcommittee report “revealed how FTC harassed Twitter in wake of Mr. Musk's acquisition, demanding among other things the identities of the journalists with whom it was engaging and all communications relating to Mr. Musk,” the letter said. The agency confirmed receiving the letter but declined comment.

Senate Democrats reintroduced legislation Thursday to impose a duty of care on social media platforms to ensure data is handled securely. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, led 19 Democrats in reintroducing the Data Care Act. The bill would subject platforms to FTC and state enforcement, granting the FTC rulemaking authority to implement the new law. It establishes duties of care, loyalty and confidentiality, meaning platforms would have to take “reasonable” steps to protect user data. Those duties extend to third parties like data brokers. Violation of those duties could mean FTC fines and/or civil enforcement action from state attorneys general.