House GOP lawmakers want to place additional limits on China’s access to U.S. networks via amendments to the Armed Services Committee-cleared FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-4350). House Armed Services advanced HR-4350 earlier this month with language that would improve DOD implementation of its October 2020 spectrum strategy and the department’s adjustment of its systems before the FCC’s planned auction of spectrum on the 3.45-3.55 GHz band (see 2108250075). Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., wants to attach language to HR-4350 from the Defending America’s 5G Future Act, which would codify the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's placement of Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei to its export entity blacklist. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., proposes barring exports of telecom equipment “that would serve the primary purpose of assisting, or be specifically configured to assist, the People’s Republic of China in acquiring the capability to carry out censorship, surveillance, or any other similar or related activity.” Other tech and telecom-focused amendments include one from Rep. Van Taylor, R-Texas, to create a White House-led Technology Competitiveness Council aimed at keeping the U.S. competitive on tech issues. Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., wants to attach her American Freedom and Internet Access Act (HR-5123), which would require the Air Force to implement Operation Starfall, which would give other countries wireless access via balloons and satellites. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., wants the State Department to report to Congress on the “national security implications” of open radio access networks. Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, wants to bar DOD from spending money with tech companies DOJ or the FTC determines have an “unlawful monopoly.” Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., seeks to prohibit federal agencies from requiring or supporting tech companies’ efforts to add backdoors or other security vulnerabilities to their products and services. The House Rules Committee will meet Monday at noon to consider which proposed HR-4350 amendments will get floor votes.
Facebook should abandon plans to develop an Instagram for kids, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., wrote Wednesday with Reps. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., and Lori Trahan, D-Mass. Their letter follows reports about internal documents showing the company knew about a “connection between Instagram and mental health problems among young users,” the lawmakers said. The internal research shows the app contributes to body image and mental health problems, they said: The Wall Street Journal article “focuses on a limited set of findings and casts them in a negative light,” Instagram said. The company stands by the research, which helps inform the company’s work to address these issues, it said.
The House Oversight Subcommittee postponed Tuesday’s hearing on social media data practices. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor Kevin Leicht, New York University Cybersecurity's Laura Edelson and Northeastern University professor Alan Mislove were listed as witnesses. Facebook’s labeling of COVID-19 misinformation “has been somewhat effective” at curbing the sharing of suspect posts, Leicht says in prepared testimony. But because of algorithms and the way Facebook limits access to researchers, they can’t say whether the reduction is due to algorithmic decisions or changes in user behavior, he says. He notes Twitter does “relatively little labeling,” which seems contrary to the company’s stated practices. He suggests researchers, who meet strict confidentiality protocols, should have access to social media data.
The FCC is listening to consumers as it develops broadband maps, acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a letter to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in a letter posted Friday. The commission is "working on a procurement to augment" its speed test app to "incorporate new capabilities" that allow consumers to challenge and crowdsource broadband availability data to the commission, Rosenworcel said.
House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Chairwoman Diana DeGette (D) and the other six members of Colorado’s House delegation urged the FCC Thursday to move forward with rules requiring carriers to allow customers to text to the 988 suicide prevention hotline (see 2108130058). “Young people and other at-risk populations are often most comfortable communicating via text,” the lawmakers said in a letter to acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “By allowing a text-to-988 option in addition to voice call, the Commission can lower the bar to entry and improve access to crisis counseling and mental health services.”
The House Education Committee proposes to more than $41 million for the Bureau of Indian Education to pay for “digital infrastructure to improve access to high-speed broadband sufficient for digital learning and related” BIE “digital infrastructure activities or programs” in its portion of the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package, it said Wednesday. The committee said it will begin marking up the measure at noon EDT Thursday. The House and Senate Commerce committees are grappling with what money to propose including for telecom priorities in reconciliation. Senate Commerce eyed up to $45 billion for broadband and next-generation 911 (see 2109020072). House Commerce is expected to mark up its reconciliation portion beginning Monday.
Senate Communications Subommittee Democratic Staff Director John Branscome is retiring, a panel spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. Branscome’s “over 20 years of Federal service with the FCC, and then supporting” Senate Commerce Democratic leaders “evidences his devotion to public service and his contributions to national communications policy,” said Chair Maria Cantwell of Washington in a statement. Now-NASA Administrator Bill Nelson as Commerce ranking member in 2018 backed Branscome for the Democratic FCC seat now held by Geoffrey Starks (see 1802070047).
The White House urged Congress to include $78 million for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration to implement tech upgrades to 988 suicide prevention hotline call centers, in an expected short-term continuing resolution to fund the federal government past Sept. 30. A trio of Democratic senators and some state legislators in July criticized wireless industry lobbying to keep a lower lid on 988-related customer surcharges (see 2107230050). Absent the federal funding, 988 call centers “would be unable to support the significant increases in call, text, and chat volume that is expected” as carriers begin working to comply with a proposed July 16, 2022, deadline to allow texting to the hotline (see 2108130058), the White House Office of Management and Budget said Tuesday in its proposal for funding additional to the CR. Acting OMB Director Shalanda Young cited the proposed additional 988 money in a blog post as among its recommendations to Congress on “how to avoid severe disruptions to public services that could inadvertently arise from extending the previous year’s appropriations legislation without modifications.” The money is needed to ensure the suicide hotline “has the capacity to meet the additional need stemming from the establishment of” 988 as the number “that connects people directly” to call centers, Young said.
The House should pass the Judiciary Committee’s antitrust legislative package, nearly 60 advocates wrote House leaders Thursday (see 2106240071). Public Citizen, the Center for Digital Democracy, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Open Markets Institute and Public Knowledge signed. “Monopoly power lowers wages, reduces innovation and entrepreneurship, exacerbates income and regional inequality, undermines the free press, and perpetuates toxic systems of racial, gender, and class dominance,” they wrote. “Big Tech monopolies are at the center of many of these problems.”
The House Armed Services Committee voted 57-2 Thursday to advance the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-4350) with an anti-Ligado amendment from Strategic Forces Subcommittee ranking member Mike Turner, R-Ohio. It directs DOD to brief the National Security Council on “potential harmful interference” to GPS posed by Ligado’s planned L-band operations. The amendment, part of an en bloc package, was the only one that targeted the company. House Armed Services cleared an en bloc package with an amendment from Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., that would authorize each secretary of a military department to establish a pilot program to evaluate the feasibility of deploying telecom infrastructure to expedite 5G on military installations. Rep. Trent Kelly, R-Miss., withdrew an amendment to expand semiconductor production incentives established in the FY 2021 NDAA. House Armed Services earlier approved other telecom and tech-related amendments (see 2109010083).