The FCC will be under the gun as soon as the omnibus COVID-19 legislation (HR-133) takes effect, if it's signed by President Donald Trump. Trump suggested he may veto the bill and seek changes, though industry experts said it’s not clear whether he will follow through on that threat. Among the deadlines in the legislation is an unusually quick turnaround for telehealth grants. FCC officials said work on implementing the bill will have to start under Chairman Ajit Pai and continue after Jan. 20, when Joe Biden becomes president.
Proposed new EU rules for digital platforms could become a global norm, some stakeholders speculated. The Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Market Act (DMA), unveiled by the European Commission Dec. 15 (see 2012150022), aim to protect fundamental rights online and create a fairer, more open digital market, the EC said. DSA would require very large platforms ("gatekeepers") take risk-based action to prevent abuse of their systems through increased transparency.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the National Lifeline Association's petition for review of the FCC Wireline Bureau's revisions to the Lifeline program’s non-usage rules, said a ruling Tuesday. The same court last month denied NaLA's request for an emergency stay of the minimum services standard increase to 4.5 GB monthly (see 2011300069).
The combined FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus bill (HR-133) that Congress passed Monday got further praise from lawmakers and other observers Monday and Tuesday for its broadband funding and other telecom and tech policy provisions (see 2012210055). HR-133’s approval got a far more mixed reception from within the copyright community because it includes text from the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (Case) Act (HR-2426/S-1273) and Protecting Lawful Streaming Act. Both chambers passed HR-133 by overwhelming margins, sending the measure to President Donald Trump.
Both houses of Congress were expected to vote Monday night on the combined FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus bill (HR-133), after Hill leaders reached a deal on the measure, which includes $6.82 billion for broadband and a raft of other tech and telecom policy provisions. HR-133 also includes increases in annual funding for the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other agencies compared with FY 2020. The Senate was, meanwhile, set to hold a revote on invoking cloture on FCC inspector general nominee Chase Johnson after failing a first try Saturday.
President-elect Joe Biden's transition ethics rules governing the FCC, FTC and other agency review teams are relatively weak, some observers said in recent interviews. They pointed to the rules' relatively lax limits on "revolving door" movement of industry officials into the temporary roles that could influence the incoming administration's actions. The landing teams have been working with the FCC, FTC (see 2011250059) and other agencies since late November, when the General Services Administration began allowing the federal government to begin the transition process.
President-elect Joe Biden said Thursday his incoming administration “will make cybersecurity a top priority at every level of government,” after Russian government-sponsored hackers breached several federal government agencies, including the departments of Agriculture, Commerce and Homeland Security. The House Homeland Security and Oversight committees launched an investigation into the breach, in which hackers penetrated federal cyber defenses via vulnerabilities in SolarWinds Orion software used for network management systems. DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency directed all agencies to disconnect the software.
Google got slapped Thursday with another antitrust lawsuit, this time from 35 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico (see 2012170037). As with states’ lawsuit against Facebook last week (see 2012100003), attorneys general from both parties in most states joined the complaint against Google, alleging the search firm violated Sherman Antitrust Act Section 2. Google said the AGs would harm search results at businesses’ cost.
The FCC may approve in coming weeks the latest Communications Act Section 706 report. It's expected to conclude that broadband is being deployed in a reasonable and timely manner and say 25/3 Mbps downstream/upstream remains an appropriate benchmark for fixed service, FCC and industry officials said. FCC Democrats want to wait for the new administration, officials said. The report is due in February, after the start of Joe Biden's presidency.
Texas filed a multistate lawsuit against Google for anti-competitive conduct, exclusionary practices and deceptive representations, state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced Wednesday. Also signing the suit were Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah.