The next administration should look to raise criminal penalties for trade theft, broaden the scope of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and refocus its export controls on military technologies to better compete with China, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said this week. ITIF also said the U.S. should push for a new “techno-economic alliance” of key trading partners and develop a new multilateral export control regime focused on semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said in a report Monday that no state "is performing particularly strongly or particularly poorly in every area examined” as plans for the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program take shape. In a report card, ITIF gave better grades to states whose plans include using a variety of network technologies, streamlining regulations and crafting digital inclusion strategies. ITIF awarded A’s to Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Idaho, Oregon and Virginia. Receiving C's, the nonprofit's lowest grade, were Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Montana and Nevada. No state’s “trajectory is set in stone,” ITIF noted. “Addressing broadband needs and successfully implementing the BEAD program is a complex, ongoing task that requires a thoughtful, collaborative approach and must be able to adjust when the broadband landscape, available resources, or even community needs change.”

The Biden administration could impede U.S. competitiveness if it codifies new cloud service regulations that force the tech industry to monitor and share data about foreign customers with the government, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and IBM told the Commerce Department in comments due Monday. Telecom associations worried that definitions for cloud service companies might be too broad.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation last week called for greater cooperation between the U.S. and Europe on cybersecurity labeling of IoT products. Last month, the FCC approved the U.S. program (see 2403140034). The report urges coordination on technical standards and “potentially” a mutual recognition agreement. “An aligned EU-U.S. approach would allow firms to only test once in order to comply with both systems,” ITIF said: “Cooperation on IoT cybersecurity labeling would avoid creating yet another regulatory point of conflict in the transatlantic trade and technology relationship.”

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation called on regulators to rethink their spectrum sharing approach, refocusing on a top tier providing licenses for full-power use of a band, with reliable access at all times. “The dichotomy between dynamic spectrum sharing and exclusive licensing is a false one,” ITIF said in a report released Monday: “Reliable, full-power access is possible within a dynamic sharing framework if the FCC auctions super-priority rights to commercial users.” ITIF cited the model provided by the citizens broadband radio service band, which offered three tiers, with priority access licenses (PALs) sold in an FCC auction, with lesser rights than the incumbent Navy systems the rules are designed to protect. “We should not confuse the particulars of that band with the principles of the dynamic sharing system,” the report said. “In a band with significantly fewer incumbency interests, rights amenable to proponents of exclusive, shared, and unlicensed spectrum can coexist within a dynamic sharing system with only a minor alteration: Instead of just protecting incumbents and auctioning PALs that are secondary to the incumbents’ rights, the FCC should also auction licenses for the same type of rights the Navy has in the CBRS band.” ITIF noted widespread industry criticism of how CBRS works. Part of the reason “for decrying CBRS is that it should hardly qualify as ‘sharing’ when the federal incumbent retains the right to do whatever it wants whenever and wherever it wants,” the report said. ITIF noted there have been no reports of Navy systems suffering harmful interference since CBRS was launched. “Any party that thinks the Navy has reliable, full-power access in the current CBRS band should leap at the opportunity to get the same deal in another band,” ITIF said.

CTIA and other industry players sought to keep pressure on the Biden administration to make more mid-band spectrum available for 5G and eventually 6G in comments on the implementation plan for the national spectrum strategy. Others stressed the importance of spectrum sharing. NTIA has not yet posted the comments, which were due Wednesday.

Merger guidelines released Monday will provide greater transparency into FTC and DOJ antitrust enforcement, but regulators will continue to base cases on facts and the law, the agencies said Monday.

Most people in the U.S. "would be surprised to find out" that there are "search engine options other than Google,” said Megan Gray, CEO, GrayMatters Law & Policy, on an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) webinar Wednesday discussing implications of the DOJ v. Google antitrust trial that concluded last month in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Closing argument for the 2020 case (docket 1:20-cv-03010) is scheduled for May 1 before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.

An Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report, released Monday, calls on the federal policymakers to develop policies that consider tradeoffs of licensed, unlicensed and shared spectrum, and make allocations for the right reasons. “Licensed spectrum is good for providing the certainty needed to sustain wireless applications that require large, sustained investments,” but revenue from license auctions should be seen as “a side effect, not a goal in itself,” the report said. Spectrum auctions can generate lots of revenue, but “it is the market mechanism (including tradability on secondary markets) and the type of rights embodied by an exclusive license that make it a productive allocation,” it said. Unlicensed spectrum, “is a good way to prevent usage rights from becoming too fragmented,” but claims of congestion shouldn’t justify making more available, ITIF said: “One commonly cited claim is that unlicensed spectrum’s uses are important and valuable, and therefore more bandwidth should be freed up to ensure more reliable access to it. The problem with this argument is that licensed spectrum exists precisely for those who can’t operate under the uncertainties associated with unlicensed spectrum.” Spectrum sharing has become increasingly necessary as spectrum becomes more congested, ITIF said. Dynamic sharing “could even become the first-best allocation if technological advances enable a generalized use-or-share framework” and “there can be little objection, from a policy perspective, to allowing additional uses of a licensed band that does not cause harmful interference to the licensee,” the report said. But there are also limitations, ITIF said, noting power levels permitted in the citizens broadband radio service band are “327 times lower than those in the exclusively licensed band just above it.”

The FTC has an “uphill battle,” said Herb Hovenkamp, University of Pennsylvania law professor, Tuesday on an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation webinar on the commission’s September antitrust complaint against Amazon (docket 2:23-cv-01495) in U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle.