The White House’s coming summit on Silicon Valley’s alleged anti-conservative bias (see 1906260070) seems like an attempt to intimidate companies into bending to the administration’s will, said Computer & Communications Industry Association CEO Ed Black Wednesday. Social media sites shouldn’t be forced to be neutral on hate or religious intolerance, he said: “If those airing grievances at this week’s meeting are unsatisfied with one company’s policy against objectionable content, there are plenty of competitors from which to choose.”
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
The Senate Commerce Committee’s lead privacy negotiations will be limited to the two party leaders for now, Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told reporters Monday about his talks with ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. Meanwhile, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., confirmed (see 1907010058) to reporters that he’s hopeful the entire privacy group can strike a deal, but he’s open to moving forward bilaterally with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “Knowing that Sen. Wicker and the ranking member will have a lot of say ultimately, we’re still interested in reaching a conclusion among us," Moran said. "This issue is too important. We’ve come too far for us not to continue to see if we can reach a conclusion that we and maybe several others agree on.” Blumenthal told us he continues to have discussions with all individuals involved in Commerce group talks: “I think the group will form a consensus, and that’s my hope.” Wicker told reporters: “Sen. Cantwell and I are going to proceed just the two of us, and we’ll probably be getting back to some people. But for now, it’s sort of us in the room.” He expects to speak with Cantwell about the topic this week. Asked if they’ll incorporate work from the group, Wicker said, “There’s a nice foundation to go off.” Wicker and Cantwell are “having some discussions on their own, and that’s fine,” Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to dovetail with those. … I think the group will continue to be utilized because there’s been so much work done” from Republicans and Democrats dating back to last session, when Thune led hearings on the topic.
Tech companies should be required to follow industry-written best business practices for protecting children’s online safety to “earn” Section 230 liability protections, said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. That portion of the Communications Decency Act gives websites immunity from liability for the third-party content they host. Congress has chipped away at that immunity, including with anti-sex trafficking legislation passed in 2018 (see 1806290044).
Facebook later this month will offer high-profile testimony to Congress, this time on the company’s entry into digital currency markets (see 1906190060). Calibra Head David Marcus is expected before the Senate Banking Committee on July 16 (see 1906190060) and the House Financial Services Committee on July 17.
Alexa users can delete audio data, but Amazon is still working to remove related transcript data, despite pressure from Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., in July 2018. Coons in May suggested the company misrepresented the control that Echo smart speaker users have in deleting audio data from interactions with Alexa (see 1905240034). Responding to Coons in a letter dated Friday, the company said transcripts are deleted from Alexa’s primary storage systems, and “we have an ongoing effort to ensure those transcripts do not remain in any of Alexa’s other storage systems.” That leaves open the possibility that transcript data remains stored, despite user requests for deletion, Coons said in a statement Tuesday. He raised concern about how data can be shared with third parties: “The American people deserve to understand how their personal data is being used by tech companies.” Amazon’s letter describes how it retains records of Alexa’s actions in response to users, despite deletion of user audio. Examples include when a customer “subscribes to Amazon Music Unlimited, places an Amazon Fresh order, requests a car from Uber or Lyft, and orders a pizza from Domino’s.” The e-tailer doesn’t anonymize user identity information related to transcripts, which allows customers to review transcripts. Alexa is designed to get smarter every day, the company said, using machine learning to analyze region, dialect, context, environment, age and other details about Echo users. The company didn’t comment further.
The FTC should create a data protection bureau, the advertising industry asked in a final round of comments on policy hearings. Broadband, retail and financial groups backed a federal, pre-emptive privacy standard. A Google-linked researcher said there’s no economic evidence to suggest online platforms need access to large amounts of data to compete “effectively.”
Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., are open to moving forward with their own privacy bill, given uncertainty about the Senate Commerce Committee’s privacy working group (see 1906270053), three lobbyists told us separately. Ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., doesn’t believe the working group is the best way to reach consensus and is reportedly looking to negotiate bilaterally with Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss. That’s despite months of talks between Wicker and the original members: Moran, Blumenthal and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. Offices for the six involved in the group’s talks, including Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., didn’t comment. Moran and Blumenthal are prepared to move forward regardless of the group's makeup, one tech lobbyist told us. Another said this signal from Moran and Blumenthal could be a negotiating tactic to bring the entire group to the table. The two remain committed to reaching consensus on privacy, especially given the group’s work this session, a Senate Republican lobbyist said. Moran “has been a great partner, and the work has been really substantive,” Blumenthal told reporters last week. “Other Republican and Democratic members of the committee have made immense” contributions, and “I’m still very hopeful.” Asked if he will move forward with Moran independently, Blumenthal said, “I’m not going to speculate about the future.”
The FTC isn’t equipped to handle modern enforcement challenges, Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., told us, saying there’s a strong case for creating a new data privacy agency. Eshoo and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., are drafting a bill that would create such an agency modeled after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (see 1906250033).
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., doesn’t see her panel’s privacy group (see 1906140052) as the best route for reaching legislative consensus, a Democratic committee aide told us Thursday. A day earlier saw reports that Cantwell wants to negotiate bilaterally with Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss.
Congress should consider offering the tech industry a set of standards to ensure proper moderation practices for malicious content, House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters after a hearing Wednesday. Democrats from the panel hammered witnesses from Facebook, Google and Twitter, saying industry isn't doing enough to remove content from bad actors like the Christchurch, New Zealand, mass shooter (see 1905150047). Republicans mostly focused criticism on First Amendment issues and claims of anti-conservative bias.