Sometime in October 2025, expect the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to issue rules requiring that companies report cyber incidents and ransomware payments, Wiley's Sydney White said during the second part of an FCBA CLE on Thursday (see 2405090051). The rules are part of additional authority CISA received under the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA). Numerous cyber incident-reporting requirements exist, so new requirements will add to companies' reporting burden, experts said.
The FCC should reign in its Enforcement Bureau to avoid conflicts with recent and expected U.S. Supreme Court decisions, though the current bureau doesn’t “overreach” as frequently as it did under former Chairman Tom Wheeler, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Thursday during a Wiley panel discussion called “Opportunities to Reform FCC Enforcement." Carr told us, “The jury is still out” on whether the EB under FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel needs reform, he said in an interview after the panel discussion: “We’re not off the rails the way the agency was during the Wheeler tenure."
The FTC’s actions against Amazon’s deal to buy iRobot show the agency will work outside U.S. antitrust law and achieve its goals through European enforcers, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Tuesday in a letter to the agency. Comer announced his office is investigating the FTC’s collaboration with European antitrust enforcers on the Amazon transaction (see 2402010063). The FTC filed a second request for information on the deal in September 2022, opening a probe of the agreement, and an EU investigation soon followed, Comer said. EU enforcers announced an in-depth investigation in July and told Amazon it was blocking the deal in January, he said: “The FTC’s actions indicate to American businesses that the FTC will work outside of U.S. antitrust law by using the EC to realize its desired outcomes.” It appears the agency “actively coordinated” with foreign enforcers to block a deal that “could have saved American jobs and promoted American innovation and standing in a vital market,” he said. The FTC declined comment Wednesday.
The FTC should narrow the scope of its online impersonation rule, preventing unnecessary liability for broadband and wireless providers, NCTA, CTIA, USTelecom and the Consumer Technology Association told the agency in comments posted through Wednesday. Consumer advocates urged the agency to make the rule broad enough to stop companies from turning a blind eye to scams.
Bipartisan legislation introduced Tuesday would eliminate algorithmic-targeted content for children younger than 17 and block users 13 and under from using platforms. Introduced by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, the Kids Off Social Media Act would grant the FTC and state attorney general authority to enforce against violations. It would require schools to block and filter social media on federally funded networks. Sens. Peter Welch, D-Vt.; Ted Budd, R-N.C.; John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Angus King, I-Maine; and Mark Warner, D-Va.; are co-sponsors. “The growing evidence is clear: social media is making kids more depressed, more anxious, and more suicidal,” said Schatz. “This is an urgent health crisis, and Congress must act.” Cruz said he’s hopeful this bill, the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) will “greatly reduce the physical and emotional dangers threatening many of America’s youth.”
The FCC and FTC agreed to "coordinate consumer protection efforts" on net neutrality, the agencies announced in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) Tuesday (see 2404250004). "If consumers have problems, they expect the nation’s expert authority on communications to be able to respond," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said. FTC Chair Lina Khan noted that "effective law enforcement requires targeting the upstream actors enabling unlawful conduct, and having the FCC as a partner here will be critical.” The MOU ends the 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom agreement between the two agencies and clarifies that commitments from prior MOUs "remain in effect and are not altered or invalidated by the new MOU."
FCC commissioners approved fines against the then-four national wireless carriers for allegedly not safeguarding data on customers' real-time locations, in orders released Monday. The vote was 3-2. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon plan to appeal.
HOT SPRINGS, Virginia -- Expect increasingly heated clashes in coming years between factions advancing exclusive use of spectrum and those supporting spectrum sharing, as well as policy discussions about USF contribution changes, aides to the FCC commissioners said Friday at the FCBA annual seminar here. Meanwhile, AI experts said that in the absence of congressional action they see the FTC and states becoming vigorous in regulating generative AI.
FCC staff changes: Office of Internal Affairs’ Nese Guendelsberger moves to acting legal adviser-wireless to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, succeeding Shiva Goel (see 2404250030 and 2404240059); Marco Peraza, wireline adviser to Commissioner Nathan Simington, leaves to become attorney adviser to FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson; and Darryl Cooper of the Disability Rights Office and Pamela Smith of the Office of General Counsel, retiring … Shutts & Bowen hires Patricia Flanagan, ex-Fox Rothschild, as partner-trademark and copyright.
The FTC, DOJ and California attorney general should investigate whether Google violated antitrust or copyright law last week when it blocked news websites in the state, the News/Media Alliance wrote in a letter to enforcers Tuesday. Google temporarily limited access to news websites, “retaliating” against the California Journalism Preservation Act (see 2307060034), a legislative proposal that would require platforms to pay news publishers for use of their content, the letter said. Google may have violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, the FTC Act or the Lanham Act, it said. The California News Publishers Association joined the alliance in its letter to California AG Rob Bonta (D). The letter's “baseless claims deflect” from the real issues with the legislation, Google said in a statement Wednesday: “This bill is unworkable and will hurt small, local publishers to benefit large, out-of-state hedge funds. We have proposed reasonable alternatives to CJPA that would increase our support for the California news ecosystem and support Californians' access to news.” Offices for the FTC, DOJ and Bonta didn’t comment Wednesday.