Bipartisan legislation that would require manufacturers to inform consumers about cameras or microphones on internet-connected devices got a bipartisan nod during a House Consumer Protection Subcommittee legislative hearing Thursday. Introduced by Reps. John Curtis, R-Utah, and Seth Moulton, D-Mass., the Informing Consumers About Smart Devices Act (HR-3938) would authorize the FTC to punish violators. House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and House Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., both spoke in support of the bill. “No one should be surprised to learn if their electronic device has the ability to record them,” said Pallone. The bill would help Congress hold Big Tech accountable, a priority for Republicans, said Bilirakis.

Google should stop collecting and saving location data in order to prevent “extremist prosecutors” from using the data to identify individuals obtaining abortions, Democrats wrote the company Tuesday. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and more than 40 Senate and House members signed the letter. Google’s data retention practices might “allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care,” they wrote. Google didn’t comment.

Bipartisan antitrust legislation introduced Thursday would likely force Google and Meta to sell parts of their businesses and would result in fewer consumer choices (see 2205190054), the Software & Information Industry Association said Friday. The Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act “continues a trend seen in other recently proposed legislation, where legislators seek to use the blunt instrument of antitrust law to punish a handful of large corporations, focusing only on a company’s size, not its conduct,” said President Jeff Joseph. “If there are issues that need to be addressed, this is the wrong way to do it.”

The FTC should be on the watch for data brokers selling location data that would allow buyers to see sensitive information about abortion services, Democrats wrote the agency Friday. Citing the Supreme Court’s leaked draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Sens. Mark Warner, Virginia; Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota; and Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin, raised concerns about reports of data brokers exploiting private data. “Recent reports highlight data brokers selling location data that allows the buyer to see how many people visit a certain location and when, including how many people are seeking care at reproductive health clinics such as Planned Parenthood,” they wrote. The agency confirmed it received the letter.

Bipartisan legislation introduced Wednesday seeks to promote digital advertising competition by eliminating conflicts of interest that allowed dominant platforms to manipulate ad auctions. Introduced by Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and ranking member Mike Lee, R-Utah, with Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act bans “large digital advertising companies from owning more than one part of the digital ad ecosystem if they process more than $20 billion in digital ad transactions” per year. Companies that process more than $5 billion in digital ad transactions would have specific obligations for ensuring auctions are fair and in the best interest of consumers. The bill “is among the more aggressive and narrowly tailored among various bills aimed at the tech industry,” said the Computer & Communications Industry Association. “Structural interventions in the marketplace are a blunt instrument and would be a bad precedent to set for antitrust regulation,” said President Matt Schruers. “This bill seeks to amend the Clayton Act and chip away at the consumer welfare standard, both of which have helped the U.S. become a leader in tech innovation.”

The House Communications Subcommittee plans a May 24 hearing on wireless legislation, including the newly filed Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783) to renew the FCC’s auction authority for 18 months to March 31, 2024, the House Commerce Committee said Tuesday. The FCC's current auction authority expires Sept. 30. The hearing will discuss "the urgent need to reauthorize the FCC’s spectrum auction authority, as well as requiring mobile service providers to protect survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and other related crimes from abusers with whom they share mobile service contracts,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa. “We’ll also review bills to strengthen the FCC’s Lifeline program and improve federal spectrum testing and management.” Other bills House Communications will examine are the Ensuring Phone and Internet Access for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Recipients Act (HR-4275), the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act (HR-4990), the Simplifying Management, Reallocation and Transfer of Spectrum Act (HR-5486) and Safe Connections Act (HR-7132). The hearing will begin at 11 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

There’s “so much more we can do, and so much more we have to do,” to thwart the spread of violent content on social media, especially the livestreamed video of the mass killings over the weekend at a Buffalo supermarket, Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, told an Axios webinar Tuesday. “This pathetic human who did this crime was inspired by other similar attacks that he’d seen online,” said Katko. “We’ve got to get more sophisticated algorithms and more sophisticated vehicles in technology to prevent these individuals from spreading this filth online. To wear a camera and livestream killing people is something that we’ve got to do everything we can, using every technology at our disposal, to try and prevent. We’re going to endeavor to do that going forward.”

U.S. agencies remain on high alert for Russian cyberthreats, despite no major attacks on the U.S. homeland during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Department of Homeland Security and OMB officials told the House Cybersecurity Subcommittee during a hearing Tuesday. Federal chief information officers have been convening meetings since November on protective measures, and they remain in an “elevated state,” said Christopher DeRusha, deputy national cyber director-federal cybersecurity, Office of the National Cyber Director. It was a “paramount concern” well before the Russian invasion, said Eric Goldstein, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's executive assistant director-cybersecurity: The U.S. hasn’t seen any “damaging attacks,” but agencies remain in a posture of “heightened risk” and are focused on sharing information as quickly as possible.

The Supreme Court shouldn’t allow Texas’ social media law to be enforced, former Rep. Chris Cox, R-Calif., wrote the high court Tuesday in case 21A720 (see 2205160030). The Supreme Court should preserve the status quo and vacate the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ order allowing the state’s social media law to be enforced, argued Cox, who co-wrote Communications Decency Act Section 230 with then-Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. By requiring all viewpoints to be treated the same, Texas’ new law would “expose platforms to liability for moderating such loathsome content as racist diatribes, Nazi screeds, holocaust-denial misinformation, and foreign government propaganda,” Cox wrote in support of NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association. The associations filed an emergency application for immediate administrative relief with the high court.

Democrats “are failing to deliver” on campaign promises made during the 2018 and 2020 elections that they would “restore net neutrality” if voters gave the party majorities in Congress and the FCC, said Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer in a Monday Fast Company opinion piece. President Joe Biden “waited months to announce his FCC nominees” (see 2110260076) and “the Democratic controlled Senate has slow-walked their confirmation process, caving repeatedly to delay tactics pushed by big media and cable companies.” The FCC remains in a 2-2 tie and FCC nominee Gigi Sohn’s confirmation process faces a potential long-term stall because a handful of Senate Democrats remain undecided (see 2205050050). “The goal of the industry is clear: They want to pick their regulator” and “as of right now, it looks like Democrats might let them,” Greer said. “There have been some real hurdles with tight margins and Senators absent due to the ongoing” COVID-19 pandemic, but “that inaction and lack of leadership has put the Biden administration’s stated goals,” including “restoring” net neutrality with a legal basis in Communications Act Title II, “expanding equitable broadband access, and ensuring oversight of” ISPs during the pandemic “in peril.” Republicans “have largely championed the telecom industry’s interests in” Washington, D.C., in recent years, but “top Democrats remain cozy with the industry’s top brass,” Greer said.