Data portability and interoperability could get early movement as the House Antitrust Subcommittee looks to draft bipartisan bills for its antitrust review, Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., and ranking member Ken Buck, R-Colo., told us. At a hearing earlier Thursday, members of both parties showed support for working on portability and interoperability. Buck highlighted both items for potential subcommittee collaboration.
Section 230
There won’t be legislative announcements from leadership at Thursday’s hearing on tech antitrust, House Antitrust Subcommittee Chair David Cicilline, D-R.I., told us Wednesday. But he expects the conversation to further define specific proposals. Legislative proposals could touch on interoperability, explicit prohibitions on favoring products and services, and nondiscrimination, he said. The hearing focus will be on the power of dominant firms to exclude competitors and favor products and services to make it difficult for entrants to compete, he added.
In his first speech since joining the FCC, Commissioner Nathan Simington told the Free State Foundation via teleconference that he opposes Communications Act Title II net neutrality regulation, indicated he still supports government action to curb non-ISP “gatekeepers,” and seemed optimistic about his ability to influence agency policy while in the minority. "Even commission decisions that don’t command a consensus are formed organically by conversations within the FCC,” Simington said. “The vast majority of decisions are bipartisan.”
House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., hoped the COVID-19 aid package Democrats are aiming to pass via budget reconciliation includes additional E-rate funding. Pallone emphasized during an Incompas event the committee’s part of the pandemic bill, which it intends to mark up Thursday, is unlikely to address other telecom matters. More broadband money is almost certain to make it into additional economic aid measures and an infrastructure bill targeted for later this year, Pallone said.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and others cited the 25th anniversary Monday of the Telecom Act’s signing as a jumping-off point for a range of communications and tech policy proposals for this year, including the need for more broadband funding in coming legislation. Some noted the importance of the ongoing debate over revamping Communications Decency Act Section 230, enacted as part of the 1996 law.
Three Senate Democrats introduced expected legislation Friday (see 2102030060) to weaken Communications Decency Act Section 230 immunity, so victims of discrimination, harassment, cyber-stalking and other behavior could sue online platforms. Introduced by Mark Warner, Va.; Mazie Hirono, Hawaii; and Amy Klobuchar, Minn.; the Safeguarding Against Fraud, Exploitation, Threats, Extremism and Consumer Harms (Safe Tech) Act would let consumers seek court orders “where misuse of a provider’s services is likely to cause irreparable harm” and hold platforms “accountable when they directly enable harmful activity.” Users could sue platforms when they directly contribute to loss of life. “Section 230 has provided a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card to the largest platform companies even as their sites are used by scam artists, harassers and violent extremists,” said Warner. The bill will hold platforms “accountable for harmful, often criminal behavior enabled by their platforms to which they have turned a blind eye for too long.” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., opposed the bill, saying it would effectively repeal the law he co-authored: “Creating liability for all commercial relationships would cause web hosts, cloud storage providers and even paid email services to purge their networks of any controversial speech.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged Congress to be “mindful of the impact of changes in our antitrust laws and to focus on ensuring federal antitrust agencies have the resources to do their job consistent with the law.” Changing merger review legal standards, relying on fines over remedies and expanding private litigation “will not make America’s economy more vibrant and will have far-reaching implications impacting virtually every sector of our economy,” said Executive Vice President Neil Bradley.
Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, plan to introduce legislation targeting Section 230 immunity, online housing discrimination and civil rights, they told us Tuesday (see 2101260066). “There are certain provisions, certain areas that we think that [online platforms] should not have immunity,” Hirono said, citing housing discrimination and civil rights. “This particular iteration has the support of a lot of groups because there’s concern, of course, on both sides, left and right.” There’s “a lot of interest” in making changes to Section 230 immunity, she added.
Senate Communications Subcommittee lead Democrat Brian Schatz of Hawaii confirmed to us he’s “probably” going to give up an opportunity to chair the subpanel in this Congress to retain other leadership roles, as expected (see 2101190001). That makes it all but certain that Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., will take over the Communications gavel, lawmakers and lobbyists said. Democrats will have to wait to formally take control of Senate Communications and other panels until leaders finalize a power-sharing agreement to handle the 50-50 chamber.
Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., requested comment by Feb. 5 on a discussion draft of a bill to amend Communications Decency Act Section 230 to ensure “civil rights laws apply” to advertisement targeting. Ad targeting limits user visibility of ads based on personal data like gender, race, hobbies, interests and location, Clarke said Thursday: It perpetuates inequities. Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said, “We know all too well how marketing efforts have been targeted to exclude marginalized groups.”
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is circulating online content-related legislation for potentially addressing civil rights violations in housing markets, Fordham University law professor Olivier Sylvain said Tuesday at the State of the Net conference. Hirono has been in discussions with Virginia Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine about Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 1908060064). Her office didn’t comment about a potential bill.