Congress should eliminate the FCC’s data breach notification authority and instead allow the FTC to regulate through a federal privacy law, a privacy-focused telecom association told House Commerce Committee members Wednesday (see 2404160034).

"The sky's the limit" when considering Chinese capabilities for conducting digital attacks on critical U.S. infrastructure, since China switched from focusing on economic and political espionage to a strategy that can only be pre-positioning for attacks, Brandon Wales, executive director of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said Wednesday. Also at a Semafor conference on digital infrastructure, Kathy Grillo, Verizon senior vice president-public policy and government affairs, said the lack of FCC auction authority could have significant ramifications in a handful of years for keeping up with growing data demands. Numerous conference speakers talked about AI’s potential and risks.

Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565) lead House sponsor Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., told us she's cautiously optimistic ahead of the opening of a discharge petition Thursday to force a floor vote on the measure (H.Res. 1119). HR-6929/S-3565 proposes allocating $7 billion for FY 2024 to the ailing FCC connectivity program. Thursday marks the end of a seven-legislative-day waiting period before Clarke can begin collecting signatures on the petition, which would require backing from at least 218 members before becoming effective (see 2404100075). Republican observers, even those who support giving ACP stopgap money, are skeptical the discharge petition bid will succeed.

Broadband officials and experts Wednesday called for continued pressure to replenish the FCC's affordable connectivity program (see 2404100075). Some panelists during Next Century Cities' bipartisan tech policy conference also urged community leaders to engage with their state broadband offices as NTIA approves states' plans for the broadband, equity, access and deployment program.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez and carrier executives warned of challenges from the pending expiration of the affordable connectivity program and negative implications for the broadband access, equity and deployment program, speaking Wednesday at a Competitive Carriers Association conference streamed from Palm Springs, California. Gomez said she supports the proposed 5G Fund, circulated by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last month (see 2403260052), and is focused on concerns raised by CCA and others.

Paradise Mobile, which launched last year in Bermuda and will start operations soon in the Cayman Islands, offers a new take on what a wireless network can look like, executives for the mobile network operator said Tuesday during a Light Reading webinar. The network is a completely virtualized open radio access network.

The House Commerce Committee said Tuesday it plans an April 30 hearing on a revised draft version of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act. The move represents an apparent reversal in panel Republicans' position on the measure, which would mandate U.S. automakers keep AM radio technology in future domestic-made vehicles, given they voiced skepticism about a previous iteration (HR-3413/S-1669) earlier in this Congress (see 2401050065). The AM radio bill's backers within and outside the broadcast industry pointed to the hearing announcement as a sign of momentum but stopped short of labeling it an indication House leaders had reached a clear-cut deal to ease the measure's passage through the lower chamber.

LAS VEGAS -- Broadcasters struggle with an unbalanced relationship with programming networks and tech companies, broadcast CEOs told NAB President Curtis LeGeyt in a panel discussion at NAB Show 2024 Monday. “We cannot finance the content for these networks and then have the network say ‘Watch it on our streaming service the next day,’” said Allen Media CEO Byron Allen. “A challenge is that we’re highly regulated and there are many who are not,” said Graham Media CEO Catherine Badalamente.

The FCC is asking the 11th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court to deny the Insurance Marketing Coalition’s April 3 motion to stay portions of its Dec. 18 order implementing rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to target and eliminate illegal robotexts, pending the disposition of the coalition’s appeal to vacate the order (see 2312220059). The commission filed its opposition Monday (docket 24-10277).

Proponents of revised net neutrality rules are urging FCC commissioners to further tighten provisions on 5G network slicing, one of the more contested items in the proposed rules (see 2404050053). But officials on both sides said it’s not clear how many changes will be made to the order, prior to an expected 3-2 vote next week. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel may need to make some concessions because the rules likely won’t pass without support from her fellow Democrats Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez.