Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., urged the FCC Thursday to “continue to proceed with an evidence-based rulemaking” as it evaluates future use of the 12 GHz band. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told lawmakers last month the commission is going through “a complex engineering process that involves analyzing competing technical analyses” of the band (see 2208100063). “We appreciate your willingness to prioritize impartial technical and engineering analysis to answer the underlying question of whether it is possible to increase terrestrial use of this band while avoiding harmful interference to incumbent operations,” Blackburn and Lujan said in a letter to Rosenworcel. The 12 GHz “proceeding continues in the tradition of the FCC taking on complex engineering and policy challenges with objective evidence-based analysis. This will serve to reinforce the Commission as the expert agency for evaluating competing interference claims when considering shared and flexible use of spectrum.”

The National Association of State 911 Administrators “has strong and urgent concerns” about language in the House-passed Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-7624) and “potential amendments” to the unaltered Senate companion S-4117 that “will unnecessarily detract from and delay” next-generation 911 tech upgrades, the group said in an open letter to senators posted Tuesday. The House passed HR-7624 in July with language allocating up to $10 billion in proceeds from a proposed auction of spectrum on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for NG-911 implementation (see 2207280052). NASNA “supported” initial language funding NG-911 via HR-7624 that the House Communications Subcommittee advanced in June (see 2206140077) “and we still support the premise of federal assistance” for NG-911, said Executive Director Harriet Rennie-Brown in the letter. “However, we believe now is the time to voice our strong and urgent concern about” other NG-911 language in the measure that mirrors the group’s past qualms with language in the Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s America Act (HR-1848), including interoperability requirements and language on “commonly accepted standards” (see 2104080003). NASNA is “fully aware that there have been matters raised by other public safety groups and we are concerned that these other interests will unnecessarily detract from and delay NG911 implementation,” Rennie-Brown said: The existing proposed language supports the National Emergency Number Association’s i3 standard “that is already in use and is saving lives today. While we support innovation and competition, we do not support any amended language that would give preference to an alternative standard. Every state, regional, and local agency that is implementing NG911 is based on the NENA i3 standard.” The group opposes a proposed Nationwide Next Generation 911 Cybersecurity Center as “redundant and unnecessary” and is concerned by HR-7624’s language to end the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s involvement in NG-911 implementation, she said. “Leaving the joint implementation and coordination office between NHTSA and NTIA in place for the present time is not only feasible, but HR 7624 language should allow for an objective evaluation of the proper federal ‘home’ for the resources to assist the states with 911 and coordinate federal 911 activities.” NASNA believes “the overly prescriptive conditions written into” HR-7624 “for the states’ NG911 plan are redundant, unnecessary, and create burdensome requirements for the states' 911 systems,” Rennie-Brown said: “The NG911 plan requirements are best suited to the grant rulemaking process, not congressional mandates.”

House Republicans introduced legislation Wednesday targeting the Biden administration’s alleged influence over social media platforms’ content moderation practices. House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.; House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and House Oversight Committee ranking member James Comer, R-Ky., introduced the Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act HR-8752. The bill bans federal officials from using “official authority, influence, or resources -- including contracting, grantmaking, rulemaking, licensing, permitting, investigatory, or enforcement actions -- to promote the censorship of lawful speech or advocate that a third party or private entity censor speech,” they said. It carries penalties mirroring those levied against officials who engage in political activity in their official capacities, including pay reductions, debarment and civil penalties, they said.

The FTC appears to be “flouting federal law” by relying on “unpaid and unaccountable consultants and so-called 'experts' to perform core functions at the agency,” House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote in a letter to Chair Lina Khan on Thursday. He cited an inspector general report from earlier this month about the agency’s use of unpaid consultants and experts. The Aug. 1 report included a performance audit to “determine whether the FTC’s program used to hire and oversee unpaid consultants and experts is managed in accordance with federal and agency requirements.” The audit concluded that “without a deliberate control structure and stronger mitigation posture, the agency is vulnerable to a variety of risks.” The audit said the agency’s “unpaid consultant and expert program lacks a comprehensive system of controls” and the agency “identifies, recruits, and selects unpaid consultants and experts without uniformity and transparency across all agency stakeholders.” Jordan accused the FTC of disregarding the law and exposing the agency to conflicts of interest risks. The “lack of guardrails will make it easier for the Biden FTC to continue promoting a radical, far-left orthodoxy,” he said. The FTC confirmed receiving the letter but declined comment.

A whistleblower’s claims against Twitter, if substantiated, “demonstrate a pattern of willful disregard for the personal data of Twitter users and the integrity of the platform,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and House Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., wrote in a letter Thursday to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal (see 2208230068). The company denied the allegations when they first surfaced. The letter cites Russian disinformation campaigns during election cycles and Twitter’s “unique role” in distributing information. They requested responses to a series of questions regarding the platform’s approach to security deficiencies.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., should hold a floor vote on the House Commerce Committee’s bipartisan privacy legislation, some 50 public interest groups wrote the speaker Thursday. The group includes Public Knowledge, Access Now, Center for Democracy & Technology, Center for Digital Democracy, Communications Workers of America, Open MIC, Fairplay and the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The letter notes the American Data Privacy and Protection Act has “limited preemption” of state privacy laws that cover the same issues as the ADPPA: It doesn’t “preempt state civil rights laws, consumer protection laws of general applicability, or laws related to student or employee privacy, health privacy, financial privacy, social security numbers, facial recognition, electronic surveillance, encryption, or several other categories.”

A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers released a “revised and expanded” version of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (see 2208050056) Monday. Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., released the text with co-sponsors: Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.; House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I.; House Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Ken Buck, R-Colo.; Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y. The bill will help local news publishers better negotiate with Big Tech platforms “that regularly access news content without paying for its value,” Klobuchar’s office said. The News Media Alliance welcomed the latest version of the bill, calling it a “critical bill” for local news.

The FTC should investigate whether Twitter misled users about its security risks and violated a 2011 consent decree with the commission (see 2205260054), Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., wrote in separate letters Tuesday. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also sounded the alarm on reports about how Twitter, according to Markey, “systematically and repeatedly failed to take basic security measures to protect its user data and has misled investors, regulators, and the public about the strength of its security systems.” Blumenthal cited information from whistleblower Peiter Zatko, a senior cyber executive for the company 2020-22: “These troubling disclosures paint the picture of a company that has consistently and repeatedly prioritized profits over the safety of its users and its responsibility to the public, as Twitter executives appeared to ignore or hinder efforts to address threats to user security and privacy.” Zatko was fired in January for “ineffective leadership and poor performance,” a Twitter spokesperson said Tuesday. “What we’ve seen so far is a false narrative about Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context.” His “allegations and opportunistic timing appear designed to capture attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers and its shareholders.” Allegations of “widespread security failures at Twitter, willful misrepresentations by top executives to government agencies, and penetration of the company by foreign intelligence raise serious concerns,” said Durbin. Durbin said he will continue investigating and take further steps as needed. The company entered into its 2011 consent decree with the FTC and DOJ. The FTC confirmed receiving the letters but didn’t comment.

It’s “incredibly disturbing” TikTok and its third-party content moderator have reportedly used child sex abuse material when training employees, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and Teleperformance CEO Daniel Julien Thursday. Citing reporting from Forbes, the senators demanded answers about the companies reportedly using sexually explicit material involving minors in its training materials. Blumenthal and Blackburn have teamed together on child-safety issues and legislation that recently passed the Senate Commerce Committee (see 2207270057). “By using these explicit images and videos as training materials, not only has Teleperformance subjected content moderators to the most repugnant subject matter imaginable, but it has actively promoted what it ostensibly sought to remove from TikTok,” they wrote. The companies didn’t comment.

House Democrats demanded information Tuesday about law enforcement agencies buying data through data brokers and potentially circumventing statutory requirements. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., wrote to heads of DOJ, the Homeland Security Department, FBI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The House Judiciary Committee had a hearing on digital dragnets in July (see 2207190058), where there was bipartisan interest in government data collection practices. “These data sets -- collected, packaged, and sold by private companies -- have far-ranging uses from benign microtargeting, to invasive digital profiles, to real-time location tracking,” Nadler’s office wrote. The committees want full details about the “agency practice of purchasing commercial data to sidestep legal protections against unreasonable search and seizure.”