Artificial intelligence will have major ramifications economy-wide, potentially revolutionizing the communications industry, Chairman Ajit Pai said. At an FCC event, he urged “regulatory humility” when dealing with emerging technology, as micromanagement would be “foolish or counterproductive.”
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
Securing against botnets requires collective action from government, internet and communications stakeholders, industry officials said Thursday, releasing a report. The Council to Secure the Digital Economy cybersecurity coalition between tech and communications groups warns against “prescriptive, compliance-focused regulatory requirements.” Government’s role isn't regulation that stymies response to threats, Information Technology Industry Council CEO Dean Garfield said during a panel. The goal should be to cut back 90-95 percent of threats because no amount of collaboration will be able to eradicate all threats, CTA CEO Gary Shapiro said. There’s no higher cause than addressing threats to the digital economy, USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter argued, saying the cyber group plans to release an annual report: “This isn’t one and done.” Threats are increasing as the value of the tech sector grows, Garfield said. Shapiro called it a multi-factorial problem with multi-factorial solutions. Botnets can turn “everyday products into an army of devices capable of transmitting torrents of Internet traffic capable of knocking targeted networks offline,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said during a separate appearance Thursday. He encouraged the private sector to continue searching for “constructive solutions." The Commerce and Homeland Security departments released a road map highlighting focus areas for government and the private sector: the IoT, enterprise, internet infrastructure, technology development and awareness/education.
There's one less candidate to succeed retiring Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., on the House Judiciary Committee, possibly clearing the path for Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., as the next ranking member (see 1811280064) over Steve Chabot, R-Ohio. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, withdrew his candidacy for the seat, telling reporters Thursday: “It’s been made clear to me talking with leadership that I’m not going to get it, that job, so I’m not going to do it. It would be a waste of my time, waste of their time.” The House Republican Steering Committee Thursday was said to have picked Collins over Chabot, but their offices hadn't made announcements. The recommendation must be ratified by the GOP caucus, a lobbyist noted.
The House Republican Steering Committee is likely to recommend a member for the top GOP House Judiciary Committee seat by Thursday, lobbyists and officials told us. The race to succeed retiring Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., is between Reps. Doug Collins, Georgia; Steve Chabot, Ohio; and Jim Jordan, Ohio, with Collins the favorite (see 1810310025). The committee vote wraps up Thursday, a House aide said, and the recommendation is subject to Republican caucus ratification. Senate GOP leaders are eyeing a reduction in Senate Commerce Committee membership for the 116th Congress (see 1811280058).
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., will “most certainly” pursue anti-sex-trafficking-like legislation (see 1806290044) in 2019 holding online platforms accountable for illegal opioid/drug sales, he told us Monday. He originally raised the idea during a hearing with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg in September (see 1809050057). “They’re putting this junk on the market. They ought to be responsible for it,” Manchin said now. “If you look at all the platforms they’re using to sell this stuff on, don’t you think they should be held accountable? If they’re letting the sales come in illegally on their platforms?” Twitter and Facebook didn't comment.
The FTC’s goal is to reach the “right result” as fast as possible for privacy probes, Chairman Joe Simons testified when pressed by lawmakers for a timeline on the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica investigation. Simons wouldn't address specific cases during the first oversight hearing with all five new commissioners before the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee (see 1811230021). Hours earlier Tuesday, Facebook also faced heat at a multicountry hearing in U.K.'s House of Commons (see 1811270014).
Consumers have the right to sue for damages involving Apple’s alleged App Store monopoly (see 1811050033), liberal Supreme Court justices suggested Monday during oral argument in Apple v. Robert Pepper, docket 17-204. Conservative justices warned against allowing both developers and consumers to pursue potentially duplicative compensation. But Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared to side with Pepper.
The Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee’s FTC oversight hearing Tuesday (see 1811200051) is an opportunity for lawmakers to show bipartisan interest in federal privacy legislation, industry lobbyists told us. With all five commissioners set to testify, it’s also a chance to find out where there's consensus and disagreement within the FTC (see 1811210031), they said.
Despite high-level consensus from the FTC, consumer groups and industry on the need for stronger agency enforcement authorities, it will be very challenging to reach agreement on specifics for a new data privacy bill, tech interests told us.
Congress will need to decide how much it’s willing to disrupt competition when crafting privacy legislation, FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips said in an interview for C-SPAN's The Communicators, to have been televised Saturday: While lawmakers want to protect consumers, they must keep in mind that regulatory schemes can harm competition and entrench incumbents. “That may be worth it,” Phillips said. “It may be that the problem we’re solving is such that we’re willing to take a little competition out of the market, but it’s something that we need to keep in mind.” Determining these “value judgments” should come first before deciding whether the FTC needs better privacy authority, he said. “That a firm is large under our law doesn’t necessarily make it a bad firm. It doesn’t make its conduct illegal,” he said. Sometimes, firms illegally protect their position in the market, and that’s something the FTC should monitor, he noted. Phillips warned against using antitrust law to address claims that platforms are favoring content based on ideology, noting he's not sure his agency has a role there.