FCC Chairman Ajit Pai made some of his toughest comments yet on China during Tuesday's Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar. Pai acknowledged he will leave office Jan. 20 and “hand the baton” to a new administration. Others in Washington, including at the FCC, haven't said if they agree that Joe Biden is the next president. That administration “will have to decide the approach that they are going to take to address the issue of security in our communications networks, and I hope that they succeed,” Pai said: “I’m optimistic that there won’t be any turning back.”
Section 230
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai continues to hold off advancing the agency's Communications Decency Act Section 230 proceeding (see 2012230065). He has yet to circulate any item on 230, agency officials told us. Observers say this indicates the agency won't act on the section before Pai leaves Jan. 20, when Joe Biden is sworn in as president.
Industry praised Congress for overriding President Donald Trump's veto of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395), which includes several telecom and tech provisions (see 2012040043). The Senate voted 81-13 New Year's Day to override Trump's veto, an action he took partly because the measure lacked Section 230 language (see 2012230081). The House overrode the veto last week (see 2012290049). The Semiconductor Industry Association welcomed NDAA enactment of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (Chips) for America Act. HR-7178/S-3933 authorizes federal incentives to promote semiconductor manufacturing and public-sector investments in semiconductor R&D (see 2012170061). It “will help propel U.S. economic growth and cement America’s position at the forefront of semiconductor innovation,” said Qorvo CEO Bob Bruggeworth, who chairs SIA. The NDAA hinders Ligado’s L-band plan, which the Satellite Safety Alliance called a "win for all." This "will enable" DOD to "take much-needed steps to bolster the U.S. government and industrial base cybersecurity defenses, modernize its technology, and enhance U.S. leadership in innovation," said Information Technology Industry Council Senior Vice President-Public Sector Policy Gordon Bitko. Repealing Section 230 would be better than rewriting the tech industry’s liability shield because the latter option would further encourage Big Tech censorship, Parler said in a statement Monday. “A politically viable re-write of Section 230 would transform Orwell’s 1984 from a dystopian novel into an instruction manual, requiring all platforms to adopt Twitter/Facebook/Google’s terms of service,” said Parler Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., set up a potential vote later this week Tuesday on S-5085, a measure that would repeal Communications Decency Act Section 230 and increase the amount of COVID-19 stimulus payments. He began the process to get the bill onto the Senate calendar in advance of floor action. McConnell teased the bill earlier that day when he said the chamber will "begin a process" this week "to bring ... into focus" President Donald Trump's renewed call to repeal or revamp Section 230. Trump cited the issue Sunday after signing (see 2012280052) the FY 2021 appropriations and pandemic aid omnibus bill (HR-133). Trump later urged lawmakers to "get rid of" Section 230 and "don't let Big Tech steal our Country." The House voted 322-87 Monday to override Trump's veto of the conference FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395), an action he took partly because the measure lacked Section 230 language (see 2012230081). HR-6395 includes other telecom and tech provisions (see 2012040043), including ones to hinder Ligado’s L-band plan, and it has the text of the Spectrum IT Modernization Act (HR-7310/S-3717). The Senate is also expected to hold an override vote Wednesday night.
President Donald Trump signed the FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus bill (HR-133), which includes broadband funding and other telecom and tech policy provisions (see 2012210055). Trump’s signing Sunday came after he raised objections to parts of the measure last week (see 2012230078). He continued to criticize it in his signing statement, saying he’s “demanding many rescissions.” Congress “has promised” Communications Decency Act Section 230, “which so unfairly benefits Big Tech at the expense of the American people, will be reviewed and either be terminated or substantially reformed,” Trump said. “Big Tech must not get protections of Section 230!” It’s not clear what review Trump was referencing. Both chambers are to vote this week to override Trump’s veto of the conference FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395). He disapproved in part because it didn’t include language to repeal Section 230 (see 2012230081). The almost $7 billion in broadband funding included in HR-133 will promote "more ubiquitous deployment of secure high-speed broadband services," Free State Foundation Senior Fellow Andrew Long blogged Saturday.
Contrary to expectations, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai decided not to seek action on any items at the Jan. 13 commissioners’ meeting (see 2012210051). Pai on Wednesday released a meeting agenda that lists five panels updating commissioners on various parts of the FCC’s work. The meeting will be Pai’s last as chairman. Industry officials said Pai’s strategy means he can highlight the work he has done while avoiding complaints or letters from Congress that he must stop doing anything major.
President Donald Trump's Wednesday veto of the conference FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395) sets up likely veto override votes early next week, with the House expected to reconvene Monday. Trump cited the measure’s lack of language to repeal Communications Decency Act Section 230, an issue that clouded the measure’s prospects just before passage earlier this month (see 2012020068). It includes other telecom and tech provisions (see 2012040043), including ones to hinder Ligado’s L-band plan, and it has the text of the Spectrum IT Modernization Act (HR-7310/S-3717). “Your failure to terminate the very dangerous national security risk of Section 230 will make our intelligence virtually impossible to conduct without everyone knowing what we are doing at every step,” Trump said in his veto message to Congress. HR-6395 “fails even to make any meaningful changes to” Section 230, “despite bipartisan calls for repealing that provision. Section 230 facilitates the spread of foreign disinformation online, which is a serious threat to our national security and election integrity. It must be repealed.” Both chambers approved HR-6395 by margins far above the threshold needed to overturn Trump’s disapproval. Trump “made it clear that he does not care about the needs of our military personnel and their families” by vetoing HR-6395, said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., in a statement. The bill “passed with overwhelming, veto-proof support in both the House and Senate, and I remain confident that Congress will override this harmful veto.” Lawmakers sought several times this year to revamp Section 230 (see 2012100072), including via the withdrawn Online Content Policy Modernization Act (S-4632). Industry officials are watching whether FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will seek a vote on a declaratory ruling on Section 230 before he leaves office, though he didn’t announce plans Wednesday to seek action on any items at the commission’s Jan. 13 meeting (see 2012230065).
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and three other senators urged the Trump administration Friday to stop using tech liability protection language akin to Communications Decency Act Section 230 in a U.S.-U.K. trade agreement and future agreements. House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., seek a wider ban on Section 230-like language in future trade agreements as part of an FY 2021 appropriations omnibus package that was under negotiation Friday. Congress was expected that night to have approved a two-day continuing resolution to continue funding the federal government while talks continue. The amendment would prevent the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative from “giving more handouts to big tech companies by blocking any Ambassador from continuing to promote this misguided and misapplied law in any future trade negotiations,” Schakowsky and Steube wrote colleagues. “Congress can and should debate about Section 230 and how it has enabled platforms to turn a blind eye as their platforms are used to facilitate discrimination, cyber-stalking, terrorism, online frauds, and more,” Warner and the other senators wrote U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. “We urge USTR to refrain from including this provision in this and future free trade agreements until that debate has concluded.” They’re “optimistic that a new trade agreement with the United Kingdom will ensure fair, balanced, and reciprocal trade. But we want to note that we have concerns with the inclusion of safe harbor language modeled on” Section 230. “Including a safe harbor clause in any future trade agreements will further allocate more power to companies at the expense of individuals,” the senators said. The other senators signing were Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; and Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
Privacy rules for companies like Zoom are “becoming clearer,” though work remains, said Josh Kallmer, head-global public policy. “Privacy is an incredibly complex subject, and there are some very complex pieces of the law out there around the world and a very interesting debate happening” in the U.S., he said on C-SPAN's The Communicators. The show was to have been telecast over this weekend.
In a media market where broadcasters and MVPDs are far more regulated than booming streaming competition, Congress should consider expanding FCC forbearance authority to cover the video market including broadcasters and MVPDs, Chairman Ajit Pai told the Media Institute Tuesday. He said government should "fundamentally rethink the very concept of media ownership regulation."