Privacy advocates Friday lauded the House’s Thursday passage of an amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations bill (HR-4870) to prohibit the NSA from using funds to conduct warrantless searches of information collected under Section 702 of the Patriot Act. Section 702 authorizes various types of Internet surveillance efforts, including gathering electronic communications from ISPs and Internet traffic information from backbone providers (CD March 20 p4). The amendment from Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., resolves issues the USA Freedom Act (HR-3361) “fails to address,” said Harley Geiger, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT). The bipartisan 293-123 vote to support the amendment shows “clearly there is political will” to go beyond HR-3361, said Geiger. The USA Freedom Act passed the House in late May (CD May 23 p9). “The Massie/Lofgren amendment would also forbid the NSA from using its funds to induce companies to introduce new security vulnerabilities in technology products and services in order to facilitate surveillance,” said Greg Nojeim, CDT’s senior counsel and director of the Freedom, Security and Technology Project. “These are significant and sorely-needed reforms that enhance privacy and user trust in American technology,” he said. Demand Progress Executive Director David Segal said HR-3361 was “rewritten in secret at the last minute,” and the passage of this amendment shows “the American people will not accept half-measures or superficial reforms. The Senate, which is considering its own version of the USA Freedom Act, “should ensure” its version “protects our constitutional rights,” Segal said. The Electronic Frontier Foundation also supported the amendment’s passage in a Thursday night statement (http://bit.ly/1lSyqfj).

The Communications Act of 1934 is showing its age and needs an update, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., reiterated Thursday in a message on the House Commerce Committee website (http://1.usa.gov/1m4LPWm). President Franklin Roosevelt had signed the Communications Act 80 years ago as of Thursday, thus creating the FCC. “Now I won’t claim to know what was going on in the minds of lawmakers in 1934, but I think it’s safe to say the members of the 73rd Congress did not have daydreams of the Internet or the near-ubiquitous connectivity of today’s mobile wireless networks,” Walden declared, saying the act “falls woefully short in accounting for the many innovative technologies we enjoy today.” In December, he and other House Commerce Committee Republicans had launched an attempt to update the act, with hearings and white papers this year and legislation next year. “We have received tremendous public input on our #CommActUpdate and encourage that to continue as we release additional white papers on the detailed issues that weigh so heavily on today’s communications marketplace,” Walden said. The House Republicans have released three white papers exploring these issues so far. The latest, on competition policy, which the subcommittee only recently posted online (http://1.usa.gov/1psSfzA) has received 84 responses.

Three witnesses will spend Tuesday testifying at both oversight hearings on AT&T’s proposed acquisition of DirecTV. The House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee will hold the first at 10:30 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn, and the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee will hold the second at 2:30 p.m. in 226 Dirksen. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, DirecTV CEO Michael White and American Cable Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman are scheduled to testify at both. The House hearing will also include Public Knowledge Senior Staff Attorney John Bergmayer. The Senate hearing will also include Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy Project Director Larry Downes, Writers Guild of America, West President Christopher Keyser and Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., “has been the epitome of a leader during his time in the Congress,” the American Television Alliance said, congratulating Scalise on his ascension to GOP whip Thursday (CD June 20 p11), replacing Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was elected majority leader. “We have seen up close how he puts policy knowledge and political skill to use for the benefit of functioning markets that help consumers.” ATVA mentioned how Scalise introduced the Next Generation Television Marketplace Act (HR-3720), “a comprehensive video reform bill that repeals many outdated laws that currently govern the video marketplace” and that has the backing of ATVA. The group’s members include the American Cable Association, DirecTV, Dish, the New America Foundation, NTCA, Time Warner Cable and USTelecom. It has aggressively lobbied Congress to revamp retransmission consent rules this year as part of Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization, an effort that broadcasters have consistently opposed. Scalise is a member of the Communications Subcommittee and had campaigned against a clean STELA bill.

TechNet lauded the election of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as Republican House Majority Leader Thursday, replacing Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va. McCarthy has served as whip. “Few members of Congress have as deep an understanding and appreciation for the economic impact and social change created by technology as Leader McCarthy,” CEO Linda Moore said in a statement, citing his “longstanding relationships inside the technology community.” His Federal Election Commission records also show significant donations from telecom and media players such as AT&T, Comcast, CEA, NAB, NCTA, USTelecom, Verizon and Viacom. Republicans also selected Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., as the next whip, replacing McCarthy. Scalise is a member of the Communications Subcommittee and is actively focused on video issues, urging overhaul of old rules and criticizing parts of the current retransmission consent regime. Scalise was one of the most vocal voices on the subcommittee this year in trying to convince his colleagues to overhaul video market rules as part of Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization. Capitol Hill staffers have suggested in recent days that Scalise’s rise to GOP leadership would be good for the House Commerce Committee overall, potentially giving its issues greater prominence and attention. The Communications Subcommittee will have to advance a STELA bill as well as, potentially, within the coming years, an overhaul of the Communications Act, as committee leaders have said they intend to do.

Robert McDowell, a former Republican FCC commissioner, plans to tell Congress Friday why FCC net neutrality rules are not necessary. “Nothing is broken that needs fixing,” McDowell says of the Internet access market in his written testimony for a hearing the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee is holding at 9 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn. McDowell, now a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute, voted against net neutrality rules while at the agency. The agency is currently engaged in a rulemaking with the goal of creating new rules. “In sum, the term ‘net neutrality’ seems to morph almost daily, but ultimately all of the arguments for it translate into ‘please regulate my rival ... but not me!’ in order for the politically-favored to gain a competitive advantage through regulatory arbitrage,” McDowell plans to say, warning of a potential “regulatory Leviathan” that would emerge from the regulation. McDowell’s testimony points to U.S. antitrust laws as protecting consumers and given those laws apply to the Internet, they avoid the question the FCC faces over how to classify broadband. Many net neutrality proponents have requested the agency reclassify broadband as a Telecom Act Title II telecom service, believing stronger rules would be possible in that case. McDowell plans to also point to Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act as a relevant piece of law reducing the need for FCC rules. His remarks slam Title II of the Communications Act as “particularly powerful, prescriptive and far-reaching” and warn that net neutrality rules would spur other countries to regulate the Internet in troubling ways. Other witnesses for the hearing include FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright and Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu, a scholar on net neutrality issues who reputedly coined the phrase. The Telecommunications Industry Association sent subcommittee leaders a letter ahead of the hearing warning against Title II reclassification. “The question of whether or not to impose utility-style regulation on Internet Service Providers has previously been thoroughly considered -- and rejected by the FCC,” TIA President Grant Seiffert said (http://bit.ly/TbnCCj). “The Internet has flourished due to the U.S.’s long standing light touch regulatory approach."

The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed consideration of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization bill (S-2454), as expected (CD June 19 p15). Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced a two-page clean reauthorization bill earlier this month. It was on the Judiciary agenda for its executive business meeting Thursday. Consideration of STELA “is going to be held over,” Leahy said at the meeting’s outset. In that committee, any member can delay consideration of new business by a week. “At our next meeting, that bill will be up for a vote,” Leahy said. “I can safely say both on behalf of Senator Grassley and myself, that’s something we hope to move quickly through the Senate.” Later that day, Judiciary announced an executive business meeting for Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in 226 Dirksen. No agenda was released, but a Judiciary aide confirmed to us that STELA is expected to be on it. In his written statement for the session (http://1.usa.gov/1lEMgWM), Leahy had pointed to the importance of swiftly moving what he called “a bipartisan, non-controversial STELA reauthorization” through the Senate. Lobbyists and observers still await STELA bills from the Senate Commerce Committee and House Judiciary Committee. The House Commerce Committee advanced a bill earlier this year.

Privacy advocates outlined several concerns and recommendations about how the Senate should modify the House-passed version of the USA Freedom Act (HR-3361), in a letter sent to Senate leaders Wednesday. The groups “urge Congress to avoid any form of mandatory data retention regime, which would force U.S. telecom companies to retain and make available to the government data on their customers that they would not otherwise maintain,” said the letter (http://bit.ly/1lC70zX), signed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Democracy & Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Free Press, New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, Reddit and TechFreedom, among others. “Any such mandate, in addition to creating unnecessary economic burdens and data security risks, would represent an unacceptable threat to privacy and civil liberties and would face the strongest possible opposition from our community as well as the opposition of the Internet and telecommunications industries.” They will oppose the USA Freedom Act if it does not “definitively” end bulk collection of metadata, focusing on what many say is an overly broad definition of “specific selection term,” they said. The legislation should also have stronger transparency reporting provisions and make the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court more accountable, they said.

Industry groups, technology companies, civil liberties advocates and libertarian-leaning groups on Wednesday lauded the Email Privacy Act for reaching 218 co-sponsors, which gives it majority House support. HR-1852 would amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to require a warrant to access all remotely stored electronic content. It’s a “significant milestone,” said Google Senior Privacy Policy Counsel David Lieber in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1oGb0le). Software and Information Industry Association Senior Director-Public Policy David LeDuc noted in a blog post that a “majority of the majority” supports the bill, with 136 Republicans backing it (http://bit.ly/1qdskvh). “This stands out as a bipartisan priority to level the playing field for protection of electronic communications,” LeDuc said. The bill’s original sponsors -- Reps. Jared Polis, D-Colo., and Kevin Yoder, R-Kan. -- have said they would like to skip any committee markup and pass the clean bill under suspension, which requires a two-thirds majority. “This legislation is critical to Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights,” said Katie McAuliffe, executive director of Digital Liberty for Americans for Tax Reform, a tax reduction advocate group that is a member of Digital 4th, a coalition of civil liberties and conservative groups. Getting majority sponsorship means “Americans’ electronic communications can be protected from unwarranted government intrusion,” said Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, which also belongs to the Digital 4th. Amending ECPA is a “top priority” for the Direct Marketing Association, said DMA Vice President-Government Affairs Rachel Thomas in a Wednesday blog post (http://bit.ly/1yj5jf5). “The consequence of this outdated provision in an important law has been to strip Internet users of basic rights.” Linda Moore, CEO of senior tech executive network TechNet, said in a statement that “ECPA is an obsolete piece of legislation that must be brought into the 21st century.” Google’s Lieber said ECPA makes outdated distinctions based on age of email. “An email may receive more robust privacy protections under ECPA depending on how old it is, whether it has been opened, and where it is stored -- while users attach no importance to these distinctions,” he said. “The Department of Justice itself has acknowledged that there is no principled reason for this rule.”

Democratic and Republican House members asked the GAO to conduct a study of communications services on tribal lands. “We're deeply concerned by the lack of access to communications services in Tribal communities and the barriers this presents to education, public safety, and economic development,” said a Wednesday letter (http://1.usa.gov/1jzjym2) signed by Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., along with Reps. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Don Young, R-Alaska. They asked about efforts at various levels to collect data on communications availability, “including fixed and mobile broadband, wireline and wireless phone service, and radio and television broadcast service,” as well as programs that help in promoting the deployment of such infrastructure and service adoption. They also request a list of “challenges that exist to increasing telecommunications subscribership rates for residents on Tribal lands and recommendations for addressing those barriers.”