Lawmakers on Capitol Hill continued to view skeptically the FCC’s approval Thursday of a net neutrality NPRM that opens up questions of paid prioritization agreements. “As the Commission decides its next step, we urge them to consider establishing consumer protections while avoiding the pitfalls that would come with a Title II, utility-like classification of broadband — including, stifling innovation and choking off investment,” Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, said in a statement, mentioning a desire to address bigger related questions through the “anticipated rewrite of the Communications Act” that House Commerce is considering. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., called the FCC vote “very disappointing” and said “adding Internet ’toll lanes’ … would drastically change the Web as we know it.” Sens. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., reiterated earlier calls that Congress should take the lead on net neutrality, not the FCC, and slammed the NPRM. “The FCC should respect its regulatory limits and Congress should do its job to address these concerns,” they said. “In the meantime, any policy adopted by the FCC should continue to respect the ‘light touch’ regime that has led to industry investment and a thriving Internet ecosystem."

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., slipped the Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act text into an amendment to HR-3474, the Hire More Heroes Act, last week. Thune, ranking member of the Commerce Committee, submitted the amendment along with Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. The amendment is SA-3113. It would include “a permanent moratorium on Internet access taxes and multiple and discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce,” pointing to the many state jurisdictions that now exist. “The provision of affordable access to the Internet is fundamental to the American economy and access to it must be protected from multiple and discriminatory taxes at the State and local level."

The public should weigh in with hearing questions for FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, said the House Communications Subcommittee Thursday. It issued a news release calling for people to offer potential questions for Wheeler using the Twitter hashtag #AskWheeler. People can also suggest questions through Facebook, the subcommittee said. Wheeler will testify before the subcommittee during a Tuesday oversight hearing, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. “Are you worried about the future of the Internet? What would you #AskWheeler?” Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., tweeted Friday.

Congress should strengthen provisions in the revised USA Freedom Act to reflect the legislation as originally introduced last fall, several stakeholders told House leaders in a letter Wednesday. The bill, HR-3361, cleared the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees last week. “While the bill makes significant progress in ending bulk collection, we strongly believe that several technical corrections and clarifications to the bill are required if Congress is to help ensure that the bill language is not misinterpreted and its stated goal of ending bulk collection is met,” the letter said (http://bit.ly/1k5kTo0). Signers include the American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Democracy & Technology, Demand Progress, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Free Press, the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute and Reddit. The Reform Government Surveillance coalition also signed -- its members are AOL, Apple, Dropbox, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo. The letter points to three items that need deeper modification, changed to reflect the original bill -- overhauling Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702, which authorizes online surveillance; allowing for more “robust” reporting of surveillance orders by industry and government; and creating a special advocate for the FISA court. The letter also recommended that Congress tighten the language of the bill in certain places.

Some Democratic lawmakers applauded the FCC’s move forward with broadcast TV incentive auction rules at its Thursday meeting (see separate report in this issue), with much praise coming from the lead authors of recent letters to the FCC requesting a reserve of spectrum for certain carriers in the auction. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., who led a letter from House lawmakers to the FCC, lauded the proposal as striking “a good balance that will allow the wireless marketplace to remain competitive.” The proposal “correctly balances the need to promote wireless competition while generating sufficient revenue to fund critical priorities such as FirstNet,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who led a similar Senate letter. House Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., praised the agency for making “smart choices in balancing the congressional objectives of freeing up highly valuable spectrum for mobile broadband, unleashing the next generation of innovative unlicensed services that will one day fulfill the vision of ‘Super Wi-Fi’, and promoting a competitive wireless marketplace by giving carriers large and small a fair chance to bid for and win spectrum at the auction all while guaranteeing full funding of FirstNet.” Waxman had signed onto Matsui’s letter. Waxman urged parties to “redouble our efforts to ensure the auction’s success,” which primarily means “attracting as many willing broadcasters as possible to voluntarily participate in the reverse auction in order to maximize the amount of spectrum available for mobile broadband,” he said. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., who also signed Matsui’s letter, commended Wheeler for “crafting a balanced set of rules that will raise the necessary funds for FirstNet; advance new unlicensed innovation; and ensure a competitive bidding process where wireless companies of all sizes will have an opportunity to acquire the most valuable, beachfront spectrum.” Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, is pleased “the FCC is holding a future proceeding relating to Low-Power Television and TV translator stations,” he said. “I am a proponent of ensuring that the FCC considers every possible way to protect these stations during the incentive auction, and I anxiously await the future outcome of this proceeding.” Barton said he will champion “greater protection of LPTV and urge my colleagues to do the same,” he said. Don’t restrict bidding in the incentive auction, four senators told the FCC in a letter before its Thursday meeting. “We are concerned that bidding restrictions will have the effect of disincentivizing broadcaster participation because of concerns about reduced returns,” wrote Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; and John Thune, R-S.D., ranking member of the Commerce Committee (http://1.usa.gov/1swfirP). “This could result not only in less spectrum being put back into the market to be used efficiently, but also less revenue generated by the auction.”

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., expressed concern about the privacy protections for Samsung’s fingerprint scanner on its new Galaxy S5 smartphone, in a Tuesday letter to Samsung executives (http://1.usa.gov/1v2ekrc). “Passwords are secret and dynamic, while fingerprints are public and permanent,” Franken said. “Fingerprints are the opposite of secret.” Humans leave fingerprints everywhere, he said. “If hackers get hold of a digital copy of your fingerprint, they could use it to impersonate you for the rest of your life.” Franken said the Galaxy S5’s fingerprint scanner had been hacked, days after its release. The same thing happened to Apple’s Touch ID, which it rolled out on the iPhone last year, Franken said. He asked for more information about how Samsung’s technology generates fingerprints, what security measures it has, how it interacts with third-party apps and whether Samsung believes users have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” for the fingerprint data provided. Samsung did not comment. Franken’s staff has been a consistent presence at the NTIA-backed facial recognition code-of-conduct multistakeholder meetings, which have touched on similar biometric issues.

Five senators joined Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in backing the reserve of spectrum for some carriers as part of the FCC’s broadcast TV spectrum incentive auction, signing the Wednesday letter Markey sent on the topic, as expected (CD May 14 p16). “We support reserving a portion of available licenses for carriers with limited nationwide low-frequency holdings in order to promote competition, increase auction revenues, and protect against highly concentrated spectrum holding,” said the letter, signed by Sens. Markey; Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Al Franken, D-Minn.; and Angus King, I-Maine. “Although no qualified entity should be barred from participating in the auction, the Commission should establish transparent and fair limitations on how much low-frequency spectrum any one carrier can acquire.” The FCC will consider an incentive auction item at its Thursday meeting, and several House Democrats also recently voiced similar sentiments in a letter to the FCC.

Verizon backs the USA Freedom Act, it said in a statement emailed Tuesday. The measure, HR-3361, cleared the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees last week and “will achieve the important goals of ending [Patriot Act] Section 215 bulk collection of communication data, heightening privacy protections and increasing transparency,” Verizon said, saying it looks “forward to working with the House and Senate leadership, along with the White House, to address remaining issues and enact the USA Freedom Act into law this year.” The surveillance bill was introduced last fall.

The House Communications Subcommittee scheduled its May 20 oversight hearing of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for 10:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. Wheeler is the sole witness, with topics expected to range from net neutrality to the broadcast TV incentive auction.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., is spearheading a letter to the FCC backing the reserve of spectrum for some carriers as part of the broadcast-TV incentive auction it plans in mid-2015, his spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday. That letter is expected to be sent to the agency Wednesday morning, she said, and is similar to a letter House Democrats sent to the FCC earlier this week (CD May 13 p7). Markey’s spokeswoman declined to say how many signatures this Senate letter may have. The FCC is expected to vote on an incentive auction item at its meeting Thursday.