Amazon is focused on “engaging with our new neighbors -- small business owners, educators, and community leaders. Whether it’s building a pipeline of local jobs through workforce training or funding computer science classes for thousands of New York City students, we are working hard to demonstrate what kind of neighbor we will be,” an Amazon spokesperson emailed us Friday in response to reports the company is reconsidering its plans to build its HQ2 headquarters in New York’s Long Island City.
Intelligence agencies need to re-examine federal guidance, last updated in 2011, for collecting public-facing online and social media data, Alexander Joel, Office of the Director of National Intelligence civil liberties chief, told the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Friday. Basic principles guiding agencies are “good ones,” Joel said during PCLOB’s first public hearing since May 2015. Agencies worry about First Amendment protections and whether officials should be explicitly linked to a person’s social network to collect public-facing data, Joel said. Collecting publicly facing data on individuals can be critical to developing overseas intelligence and preparing data for policymakers, he said.
The FCC proceeding on updating orbital debris rules could involve whether the agency should be undertaking it, experts told us. Some FCC proposals could get notable commercial industry pushback. Commissioner Brendan Carr raised authority questions when the NPRM was adopted in November (see 1811150028). The item hasn't appeared in the Federal Register. Asked when it expects publication, the FCC didn't comment.
A compromise FCC kidvid rule revamp is looking more likely, given several recent developments. Industry officials believe Democratic control of the House could be a factor, and not all of the proposals in the NPRM will make it to the final order. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who led the proceeding, "is looking for a compromise that provides flexibility for broadcasters and benefits children," said an aide. Broadcasters are unlikely to get “everything they want,” one lawyer said.
New Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the FCC must move quickly on complaints AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint are selling customers' real-time location data to bounty hunters (see 1901080046). The ex-Enforcement Bureau staffer, flanked by staff, met reporters Friday.
T-Mobile “remains optimistic and confident” regulators will approve its buy of Sprint, as reviews reach their final stages, CEO John Legere told analysts Thursday as the company reported Q4 results. The New York Public Service Commission applied jobs conditions as it voted 3-0 Thursday to clear T-Mobile/Sprint in the agency’s consent agenda, which requires no discussion. The deal is likely to be approved by the end of the first half of the year, Legere said: “If not in the bottom of the ninth inning, it’s in the late innings.”
House Communications Subcommittee members formally began a new chapter Thursday in their yearslong debate over net neutrality legislation. They used a hearing to stake out largely familiar positions on use of Communications Act Title II as a legal basis for FCC rules. Leading subcommittee Democrats strongly supported restoration of the rescinded Title II-backed 2015 rules. Some lawmakers have been exploring potential legislation that would put into statute broad contours of the now-rescinded rules (see 1901100001).
Spotify's buy of two podcast-related companies is part of a strategy to become “the world’s leading audio platform,” said CEO Daniel Ek on the company’s Wednesday Q4 webcast. The company said earlier in the day it's buying podcast content producer Gimlet Media, and Anchor, a podcast technology company with creation, publishing and monetization services. Spotify Chief Financial Officer Barry McCarthy said future SEC filings will include prices: “I don’t want the transactions we’re closing to bleed over into deals we may be negotiating.”
ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland shouldn’t wait for courts to rule on net neutrality before moving ahead with a law to restrict procurement to companies that follow such rules, Maryland Del. Kirill Reznik (D) told us Wednesday after the House Economic Affairs panel heard testimony on his net neutrality and ISP privacy bill (HB-141). Telecom and cable industry witnesses advised the state to wait at least until a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which heard argument last week on the FCC net neutrality order (see 1902010046). A House Communications Subcommittee hearing is Thursday (see 1902060036).
The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing a potential privacy hearing, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told us Wednesday. The hearing, to be held potentially in late February or early March, depends on resolving overlapping jurisdictional issues with the Banking Committee, said Kennedy, a privacy-minded lawmaker who sits on Banking but not Commerce. It’s unclear what witnesses Commerce might try to gather for a possible hearing, Kennedy said. Commerce and Banking didn’t comment.