Google is failing to comply with the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the company's alleged collusion with the Biden administration to censor online speech (see 2302150045), Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote Monday, threatening subpoena “enforcement” options. Parent company Alphabet delivered some 4,000 documents in response to the subpoena, but the documents include “improper redactions,” Jordan wrote King & Spalding's Daniel Donovan, an attorney representing Alphabet. The company failed to deliver “material the Committee has reason to believe may be in the company’s possession and is responsive to the subpoena," wrote Jordan. The committee expects unredacted copies of the previous material and other material moving forward, he said. If the company doesn’t comply, the committee “may be forced to consider the use of one or more enforcement mechanisms,” he said. A company spokesperson said Monday: "Since December, we have been producing relevant documents in response to the committee’s requests and will continue to work constructively with them.”

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., continued Tuesday his recent streak of Senate Armed Services Committee hearings in which he’s pressed DOD officials to support his bid to delay congressional action to repurpose portions of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for commercial 5G use until after the Pentagon completes a study of its systems on the frequency. Rounds’ concerns about a premature lower 3 GHz repurposing led him to object in March to a House-passed bill that would have extended the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through May 19 (HR-1108), setting the stage for the mandate’s expiration (see 2303090074). Lawmakers haven’t reached a consensus on reconsidering his alternative proposal to restore the authority through Sept. 30 (see 2304280027). “Physics still count” in determining the appropriate use of a particular band, Rounds said Tuesday after Gen. Chance Saltzman, U.S. Space Force chief-space operations, said repurposing parts of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band could force the military to migrate off the frequency a “developmental radar that is going to significantly enhance our ability to do space domain awareness.” Shifting the radar off the band would mean “we lose the time we’ve already invested” plus as much as several hundred million dollars in development costs, and “would also mean that we have to use” different spectrum that “isn’t as capable” for deep space operations, Saltzman said. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Brown said the DOD’s study of the band will be “critical to understand the impact” on U.S. national security that could come from repurposing it for 5G. He said some Special Operations Forces C-130 aircraft equipment utilizes the frequency and it would cost about $2 billion to “redesign it” to operate on another band.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., confirmed Thursday he plans a hearing as soon as the second week of May with a primary focus on a potential legislative USF revamp. “My intention is for the focus to be in and around USF” given ongoing work with Communications ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., to “create a working group” to draft a legislative revamp, Lujan told us. “Thus far it feels like there’s bipartisan interest from all sides,” so “I’m hopeful this hearing will bring” the issue onto “the front burner and maybe can act as a catalyst for us all to work together and get things done.” Lujan and former Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., refiled the Funding Affordable Internet with Reliable (Fair) Contributions Act last month to direct an FCC study of expanding the USF funding pool to include edge providers like Google-owned YouTube and Netflix (see 2303160080). Thune and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., refiled the Reforming Broadband Connectivity Act in late March in a bid to revamp USF's funding mechanism (see 2303280071).

The House passed the Precision Agriculture Satellite Connectivity Act (HR-1339) Wednesday on a 409-11 vote. HR-1339 would require the FCC to review and potentially institute changes to satellite rules to promote precision agriculture. The chamber also passed (see 2304260056) the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act (HR-1343) and Advanced, Local Emergency Response Telecommunications Parity Act (HR-1353) earlier in the week. House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, hailed passage of all three bills, which their panel advanced in March (see 2303240065). "Americans need access to reliable, high-speed internet services, whether on the farm, in their home, or in emergency situations," Rodgers and Latta said. "It is essential that America continues to lead in developing these technologies to close the digital divide.”

Tweaking current children’s privacy law won’t adequately protect young internet users so Congress must pass a comprehensive federal privacy law, House Commerce Committee members said during a House Innovation Subcommittee hearing Thursday. Witnesses told the panel the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and FTC rules can’t make up for what’s lacking without a federal privacy law. Child safety legislation must be rooted in a comprehensive national standard, said House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. She said the FTC should be the preeminent data protection regulator in the world but only at the direction of Congress, voicing her disapproval of the agency “going its own way” through a privacy rulemaking effort. FTC Chair Lina Khan recently told committee members the agency would defer to Congress if legislators pass a federal law (see 2304180077). Ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., agreed with Rodgers, saying protecting children will require passing a federal privacy law. House Innovation Subcommittee Chairman Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., asked witnesses why COPPA doesn’t go far enough in protecting children’s privacy. Salesforce Global Privacy Head Edward Britan noted COPPA doesn’t extend to children older than the age of 13 and said it’s difficult to identify young users using age-verification methods. COPPA applies only to data collected from kids’ online activity, which would surprise most parents, said Public Interest Privacy Center President Amelia Vance. The FTC can’t provide the preemption needed for small businesses to manage compliance, said ACT|The App Association President Morgan Reed, noting 289 privacy bills are being considered at the state level. Congress is the only body that can provide clear privacy rules across the board for companies, he said.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., asked the GAO Monday to review the effectiveness of federal, state and local broadband programs. They cited the results of a 2022 GAO study that found there’s no cohesive federal broadband strategy to guide the work of more than 100 federal connectivity programs (see 2206010068). Lujan and then-Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., subsequently filed the Proper Leadership to Align Networks (Plan) for Broadband Act to require the Biden administration to develop a national broadband strategy (see 2208040064). The GAO should “build upon” the findings of its 2022 study by determining “the effectiveness of each” federal, state and local broadband initiative, Lujan and Thune said in a letter to U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. The study should ask whether each of the federal broadband programs “were established in line with Congress’ directive on the funding’s intended purpose.” They want GAO to determine whether the programs meet specific policy goals, the extent to which they overlap and how that affects each initiative’s success. The lawmakers want to know whether the FCC, NTIA, and the Agriculture and Treasury departments fulfilled agreements they made in a May 9 memorandum of understanding adopted in response to the GAO’s previous report and whether federal agencies have coordinated with state and local broadband programs. “Addressing weaknesses in each of these broadband programs will help ensure more Americans are connected to reliable broadband services,” Lujan and Thune said. GAO didn’t comment.

The House is set to vote as soon as Tuesday night on the Secure Space Act (HR-675) and three other satellite and spectrum-focused bills under suspension of the rules. The other measures on the docket: the Precision Agriculture Satellite Connectivity Act (HR-1339), Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act (HR-1343) and Advanced, Local Emergency Response Telecommunications Parity Act (HR-1353). HR-675 would bar the FCC from granting satellite licenses to any entity it identifies as a national security risk under the 2020 Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act. HR-1339 would require the FCC to review and potentially institute changes to satellite rules to promote precision agriculture. HR-1343 would provide statutory authority for ITS’ role in managing NTIA’s telecom and spectrum technology programs. HR-1353 would require the FCC to allow satellite direct-to-cell service providers and others to apply to access spectrum to fill in wireless coverage gaps in unserved areas specifically to provide connectivity for emergency services. The House Commerce Committee unanimously advanced all four bills last month (see 2303240065).

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected next week to mark up two pieces of legislation aimed at protecting children online. The committee on Thursday held over two bills that appeared on the agenda for the first time this year: the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act (Earn It) Act (S-1207) and the Strengthening Transparency and Obligation to Protect Children Suffering from Abuse and Mistreatment Act of 2023 (Stop CSAM Act). Introduced by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the Earn It Act removes online platforms’ “blanket immunity” under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for violations of law on online child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The committee passed the bill by voice vote in 2022 (see 2202100071). The bill “imposes basic accountability on tech companies that are complicit in the sexual abuse and exploitation of children,” Blumenthal said in a statement. Reps. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., and Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, introduced companion legislation in the House. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., filed his Stop CSAM Act, which would expand the “federal civil cause of action for child victims to also permit victims of online child sexual exploitation to bring a civil cause of action against tech platforms and app stores” that promote or facilitate exploitation. Durbin told reporters Wednesday he’s “still working” on gaining Republican support for his bill. He said during Thursday’s markup that he’s looking forward to discussions about kids safety legislation in the coming weeks. He’s consulted Graham about the process and thinks the top Judiciary Republican agrees this is a “historic and significant, maybe one of the most important things we do during the course of this year.” The modernization of sentencing on this issue is “long overdue,” said Durbin. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation Wednesday urged Congress to pass the Earn It Act: “Congress never intended for Section 230 to permit and encourage online platforms to do nothing -- or worse -- facilitate the spread of CSAM.” Fight for the Future called the Earn It Act a “censorship and surveillance bill that risks the rights and safety of all who depend on encrypted services while making children less" safe. The bill “could lead to suspicionless scans of every online message, photo, and hosted file,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation said. “In the name of fighting crime, the Earn It Act treats all internet users like we should be in a permanent criminal lineup, under suspicion for child abuse.”

CTIA, NTCA and eight other groups urged the leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services and Commerce committees Thursday “to restore FCC auction authority to safeguard our national security and promote our economic security with clear planning for future commercial spectrum opportunities.” The FCC’s mandate expired in March amid a Senate impasse on two competing bills to extend the remit that turned on related negotiations on a larger spectrum legislative package that Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., feared would result in a deal that would repurpose parts of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for commercial use before DOD finishes a study of its systems on the frequency (see 2303090074). FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and other commissioners similarly encouraged Congress Wednesday to bring back the commission’s mandate (see 2304190069). “Congress has acted decisively to promote our national security and unlock domestic innovation with the CHIPS Act and similar efforts to promote U.S. and trusted allies in the wireless equipment market,” the groups said in a letter to Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Senate Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I.; House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.; House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala.; and the panels’ ranking members. “A similar bipartisan effort is needed now to address spectrum policy, because we are at risk that key 5G innovations will be pushed overseas, particularly to China, if we do not recommit to a spectrum policy that ensures that both government and commercial interests have sufficient access to key spectrum bands.” China “is poised to have over 400 percent more 5G spectrum than the United States available for commercial use by 2027, and is working now to drive other nations to make available the same bands that are already available in China,” the groups said: Reauthorization will “safeguard our national security and promote our economic security with clear planning for future commercial spectrum opportunities.”

The House passed the Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Abroad Act (HR-1149) Wednesday night on a lopsided 410-8 vote. The measure, which the House previously passed in September (see 2209210049), would require publicly traded companies to disclose whether they contracted to use untrusted telecom equipment or services. It would also direct the State Department to report on U.S. collective defense allies using untrusted telecom equipment or services in their 5G networks. "For far too long, the world has stood by as Chinese telecoms giants operated as vehicles for the Chinese Communist Party to commit horrific human rights violations against the Uyghur people, conduct mass surveillance and espionage, and supply technology to other repressive regimes around the world," said lead HR-1149 sponsor Susan Wild, D-Pa. "Today, Congress sent a clear message that it would be tolerated no longer." Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan praised the House for passing HR-1149, but cautioned that "we cannot solve" potential use of untrusted equipment "domestically without Congress providing additional funds to fully complete the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program." Lawmakers proposed in a scuttled December spectrum legislative package to use some proceeds from future sales of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band and other frequencies to provide an additional $3.08 billion for the rip and replace program (see 2212190069).