Broadcast advocate Preston Padden, a vocal supporter of FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, criticized Comcast Friday for “egregious” lobbying against her confirmation. Sohn’s confirmation process remains stalled as three Senate Democrats -- Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia -- remain undecided on the nominee (see 2205110050). “Comcast is a company with impeccable Democrat credentials,” but that makes its “extremely targeted campaign against” Sohn “harder to accept,” Padden said. He noted the company’s hiring of Larry Puccio, a former top aide to Manchin when he was West Virginia’s governor, and Consilium Consulting’s Kirk Adams, saying they were hired to lobby Manchin and other moderate Senate Democrats against Sohn. “One Democrat leaning company should not be able to block President Biden’s FCC nominee with micro-targeted lobbying hits,” Padden said. Comcast didn’t comment. Free Press, meanwhile, noted Saturday would “mark 500 days during the Biden administration without a full-strength, five-member” FCC.

The White House should “develop and implement a national broadband strategy,” and “federal broadband efforts are fragmented and overlapping," GAO said in a report released Tuesday. Fifteen federal agencies administer more than 100 federal connectivity programs, but “U.S. broadband efforts are not guided by a national strategy with clear roles, goals, objectives, and performance measures,” GAO said in its report to Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi and four other panel Republicans. The White House “has not decided if a national strategy is needed, but it is well positioned to develop and implement one. A strategy to help better align programs could also include legislative proposals for Congress. Without such a strategy, federal broadband efforts will not be fully coordinated, and thereby continue to risk overlap and duplication of effort.” The office noted NTIA led an interagency group in 2018 to review differing broadband program definitions, but the agency “did not identify which statutory provisions limit alignment nor recommend any changes." GAO urged NTIA's Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth to write a report to Congress “that identifies the key statutory provisions that limit the beneficial alignment of broadband programs and offers legislative proposals to address the limitations.” NTIA should also direct the office to “regularly seek and incorporate feedback when updating” its BroadbandUSA federal funding guide, GAO said. NTIA said it “agrees with” both agency-focused recommendations, in comments released with the GAO report, noting it's "imperative" federal entities are well-coordinated on broadband spending priorities. NTIA “is prepared to develop” the proposed report and planned to release details of its “planned actions” once the “final GAO report is issued." The agency hadn’t released those plans Wednesday afternoon.

The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing an NTIA oversight hearing with Administrator Alan Davidson the first full week of June, panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said in an interview. The Communications Subcommittee may handle the hearing instead of the full panel, Cantwell said. The hearing is expected to happen June 8 or 9, lobbyists said. Davidson previously testified at a February House Communications Subcommittee NTIA oversight hearing (see 2202160064).

Apple and Google should ban apps from “using data mining practices that could facilitate the targeting of individuals seeking abortion services,” Democrats wrote the companies Friday. Democrats have been making similar calls since the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade (see 2205240061). Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., signed Friday’s letter with Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Should the court overturn the decision, “anti-abortion prosecutors and even vigilantes may be able to exploit online mining of data from apps on the Google Play Store [and App Store] to stop individuals from accessing abortion services or to target them retroactively,” the lawmakers wrote. Policies “must require available apps to prohibit and protect against data practices that threaten individuals seeking abortion services.”

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.”

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.”