DOJ won’t terminate the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees, Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim said Friday (see 2101070048). He recommended the department continue reviewing the music licensing decrees every five years.
The 2020 report on "notorious" world markets for counterfeit and pirated goods, published Thursday by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, focused heavily on websites and apps where one can readily download or stream pirated movies, shows, music and videogames, but also expressed renewed concern about the ease of buying counterfeit goods online based on photos of legitimate products.
Public records show top tech and telecom executives gave campaign contributions in recent years to several members of Congress who objected to certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Numerous tech and telecom companies halted political action committee contributions after last week’s riot on Capitol Hill.
The U.S. “is finding unity on a number of major tech issues,” said CTA President Gary Shapiro. Democrats and Republicans agree with the American public “that we need high-speed broadband in our homes,” he told the first virtual CES this week. “We must accelerate 5G deployment and extend broadband to underserved urban and rural areas. Our use of digital health technology has skyrocketed during the pandemic. We must keep the momentum going by removing unneeded and outmoded rules.”
Chairman Ajit Pai’s final FCC commissioners' meeting Wednesday and its subsequent news conferences included condemnations of President Donald Trump by Republicans, speculation about future action on social media moderation, and presentations on staff work during Pai’s tenure. Pai said he had planned pre-election to leave the post after a single term, declining to comment on his plans or the second impeachment of President Donald Trump.
Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council for the incoming Biden administration, said at the virtual CES 2021 Tuesday the tech sector will play a role in the recovery of the U.S. economy, hit hard by the pandemic. Deese was interviewed by CTA President Gary Shapiro and was the first official from the new administration to speak at CES.
Congress will revisit the possibility of a federal moratorium on face-scanning technology in the upcoming session, House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., told us. Industry representatives expect the Biden administration to push for tighter face-scanning regulation. Reps from CTA, BSA|The Software Alliance and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) said President Donald Trump’s most important artificial intelligence contribution will be his regulatory guidance to agencies.
Facebook, AT&T, Google, Microsoft, Intel and Airbnb said they’re limiting political contributions after Wednesday’s deadly riot at the Capitol. Also Monday, Amazon Web Services was hit with an antitrust lawsuit from Parler after AWS stopped hosting the social media service, which is popular with conservatives. The Computer & Communication Industry Association supported platforms’ right to suspend certain accounts involved “in the incitement of violence,” including President Donald Trump's. See here for our news bulletin on Twitter permanently yanking Trump's account Friday.
Communications Decency Act Section 230 should be rewritten and tweaked, not repealed, House Republicans told us after President Donald Trump failed to dismantle the statute through must-pass spending bills. House Democrats agreed there’s bipartisan consensus on the need to rework the tech industry’s liability shield.
Facebook extended its ban of President Donald Trump’s accounts on the platform and Instagram “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks,” until Joe Biden takes office, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced. Also Thursday, congressional critics and others in the telecom and tech spheres slammed Trump over his encouraging protesters to go to the Capitol, where several were reported by authorities to have been killed. See here and here for our reports. (Our reporter, who was trapped for several hours, was later able to safely leave, as were other journalists.)