House Commerce Committee GOP leaders pressed NTIA Thursday on its handling of the contract with Verisign to operate the .com and .net domain name registries amid concerns that the company has made “excessive” increases in the price of .com domain names that “stifle the ability of potential … registrants to conduct business online.” NTIA contracted Verisign to operate the registries in 2001 and that agreement will automatically renew Nov. 30 absent the company providing “written notice of non-renewal within 120 days of its expiration,” House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Morgan Griffith (Va.) said in a letter to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. Since its 2006 renewal of the .com agreement, Verisign “has had a right of renewal, rather than ICANN holding a competitive bidding process for managing the .com registry at the expiration of each agreement.” DOJ “has previously recommended ICANN hold a competitive bidding process for renewals of registry agreements,” the GOP leaders told Davidson. “Members of Congress have also noted that Verisign’s exclusive control of .com allows it to operate as a monopoly over the .com registry.” Verisign “has since instituted a price increase of the maximum amount in every year it was allowed to do so,” the lawmakers said: “Some have argued that Verisign enjoys considerable profit margins from managing the registry, charging far more than it costs to operate it.” The lawmakers want information by Aug. 8 on NTIA’s negotiations with Verisign about renewal of the .com contract, whether the agency has studied the effect of .com price increases on the domain name marketplace and what sort of outreach it's done with other domain name stakeholders.

The Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved legislation that would establish a right for victims of deepfake porn to sue violators. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lauded passage of the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits (Defiance) Act (see 2406210047), a bipartisan measure that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced. A co-sponsor, Schumer said nonconsensual deepfake porn is a “horrible attack on someone’s privacy and dignity to have these fake images of them circulating online without recourse.” He urged a House vote.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday he would file a legislative vehicle that moves the Kids Online Safety Act (S-1409) and Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (S-1418), setting up floor votes to invoke cloture on the measures “as soon as Thursday.” Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., in recent months have maintained a hold on S-1409 aimed at preventing unanimous consent passage because of concerns over censorship (see 2407160056). The House Commerce Committee scrapped a late June markup of S-1409 companion HR-7891 amid chamber Republican leaders’ misgivings with the panel’s approach to privacy legislation (see 2406270046). “Social media has helped hundreds of millions of people connect in new ways over the last two decades, but there are also new and sometimes serious health risks that come along with those benefits,” Schumer said during a floor speech. “On this issue, we desperately need to catch up.” It “has been a long and bumpy road, but one thing I always knew for sure: it would be worth it,” Schumer said: He suggested he had reached “a consensus” with members so “we are going to get this done.” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., later praised Schumer’s push for a deal. Fight for the Future criticized Schumer’s plan to move S-1409 and S-1418. “This is not about protecting kids,” FFTF Director Evan Greer said. “This is about Senators getting to claim they’re protecting kids ahead of the election. It makes me sick to my stomach. Experts have repeatedly warned that KOSA would make kids less safe, rather than more safe.” Schumer’s decision to move on the bills “is deeply cynical” given that House leaders have indicated “KOSA currently has no path to becoming law,” Greer said: “So, Big Tech will continue getting away with murder, because Senate leadership are choosing to score political points rather than advance thoughtful legislation. For shame.” The Parents Television and Media Council, however, urged the Senate to move on S-1409 and S-1418.

The House Rules Committee plans a Monday meeting where it will consider whether to allow floor votes on proposed amendments to the Appropriations Committee-cleared FY 2025 FCC-FTC funding bill (HR-8773). These include proposals that would undo a ban on the FCC implementing an equity action plan and increase the FTC’s annual funding (see 2407100060). The underlying bill proposes boosting the FCC’s annual allocation to $416 million but includes riders barring the commission from implementing GOP-opposed net neutrality and digital discrimination orders (see 2406050067). Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., filed a late amendment barring the FCC from using its funding to administer or implement parts of Communications Act Section 706’s presidential war powers. Those powers let the president close any broadcast station or wireline communication facility for national security or defense reasons when “there exists war or a threat of war” or another national emergency. House Rules set a Monday deadline for lawmakers to file amendments to the Appropriations-approved Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee FY 2025 funding bill (HR-9029), which would eliminate advance CPB funding for FY 2027 (see 2406270059).

House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, pressed NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson Thursday to explain why he has significantly delayed responding to their oversight questions. Davidson hasn’t answered "additional questions for the record" (QFRs) that House Communications members sent following a May 15 NTIA oversight hearing, they said (see 2405150020). The deadline for responses was June 30, the lawmakers said, which was 30 days ago. In addition, it took Davidson until the day House Commerce announced the May 15 hearing to respond to follow-up questions House Communications members sent him after a Dec. 5 hearing (see 2312050076), a period of 107 days, Rodgers and Latta said in a letter to Davidson. “It is unacceptable that in order to receive responses to QFRs from an oversight hearing, we must introduce more oversight activity,” they said: “However, as this seems to be the only method of effective motivation, the NTIA will continue to receive additional congressional inquiries until the QFRs from the May hearing are received.” They asked Davidson to give them information by July 31 about how NTIA drafts and vets responses to follow-up questions. NTIA didn’t immediately comment.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is urging that the FCC “act expeditiously” on its Further NPRM eyeing dynamic sharing in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band “while continuing to maintain an evidence-based approach in this proceeding.” Sharing advocates are hoping for FCC action this year (see 2312270045). The FCC “has a unique near-term opportunity to expand broadband access, improve the distribution of spectrum resources, and put our spectrum to its most efficient use, especially in rural areas of the country,” Sullivan, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Commerce committees, said in a Friday letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Comm Daily obtained a copy of the letter. “In particular, if the Commission determines that fixed broadband operations can coexist in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band without harmful interference with incumbent users, the Commission should move swiftly to permit such use, particularly as the federal government deploys additional resources to close the digital divide.” Sullivan praised the FCC for “rigorous and forward-thinking work in allocating these resources, including assessing competing interference claims. I encourage the Commission to continue conducting objective analyses regarding interference claims, including in this proceeding.”

Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and ranking member Josh Hawley, R-Mo., pressed AT&T and data cloud company Snowflake Tuesday for information by July 29 on an April data breach that exposed call and text records for nearly all of AT&T’s wireless customers from mid-2022 (see 2407120033). “AT&T customers, including businesses and government entities, should be deeply concerned about this theft of private information about their communications,” Blumenthal and Hawley said in letters to AT&T CEO John Stankey and Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy. “There is no reason to believe that AT&T’s sensitive data will not also be auctioned and fall into the hands of criminals and foreign intelligence agencies.” The breach “appears to have been easily preventable,” the lawmakers said: “While Snowflake, AT&T, and other clients have avoided taking direct responsibility, according to Mandiant, it appears that the cybercrime group behind the breaches obtained companies’ passwords from malware infections, including malware bundled with pirated software.” Blumenthal and Hawley also raised concerns about recent data breaches involving other Snowflake clients, including Ticketmaster. AT&T has “received the letter from Sens. Blumenthal and Hawley and will be responding to them,” a spokesperson emailed. Snowflake didn’t immediately comment.

Former President Donald Trump’s selection of Senate Commerce Committee member Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate puts a backer of additional funding for the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program on the presidential ticket of a party that has many members who criticized the initiative. Vance is lead Senate GOP co-sponsor of the ACP Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565) and subsequent Secure and Affordable Broadband Extension Act (S-4317). Both propose giving the affordability program billions of dollars in stopgap funding for FY 2024 (see 2401100056). Vance also helped lead an unsuccessful bid to include $6 billion in ACP funding in May as part of the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act (see 2405090052). Vance, a freshman senator, opposed former-FCC nominee Gigi Sohn and Commissioner Anna Gomez during their confirmation processes last year (see 2307120073).

The FTC and DOJ should investigate the AI-related dominance of companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote the agencies Friday. The largest tech companies are entrenching their dominance in the “nascent generative AI industry” through “partnerships, equity deals, acquisitions, cloud computing credits, and other arrangements,” they wrote. It’s good the FTC and DOJ are probing the AI ecosystem, but “it has become clear that sustained, pointed action is necessary to fight undue consolidation across the industry.” The legislators called for an investigation of a recent deal between Amazon and AI startup Adept and how Amazon avoided potential agency oversight. “This strategic deal is the latest in a string of arrangements among tech firms that have created an entire generative AI industry centered around massive consolidation,” Wyden’s office said. The agencies confirmed receiving the letters but declined comment.

Republican ex-FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly marked the death of former Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., noting he respected the lawmaker's opposition to the commission approving Ligado’s L-band plan even though it prompted Inhofe placing a July 2020 hold on O'Rielly's reconfirmation (see 2007280039). Then-President Donald Trump withdrew O’Rielly’s renomination less than a week later for unrelated reasons (see 2008040061). “People suspect I was angered by his hold on my nomination years ago,” O’Rielly said. “To the contrary, I respected his engagement and views on a tough issue.” Inhofe, 89, died Tuesday.