Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders faced scrutiny for how he expressed one of his broadband policy stances last week. “Today, people living in Bucharest, Romania have access to much faster Internet than most of the US,” said Sen. Sanders, I-Vt., on his Twitter account. “That’s unacceptable and must change.” His tweet inspired several irate reactions and a website: berniespeedtest.com. The website showcases the Sanders tweet. “Romania's extremely fast internet seems to have shocked Mr. Bernie Sanders this morning,” the website said. “But what will Bernie think about your internet connection? Take the speed test below.” The website said its creators are “some guys from Romania (not the billionaires)” and also reassures Sanders: “Don't worry Bernie, we still like you. Greetings from Romania.” Some observers dug deeper into the policy differences between the U.S. and Romania. “Responses to Sanders’s musings have ranged from indignation to amusement over his befuddlement on how a relatively poor country can fare so well in the digital sector,” said economics professor Carmen Elena Dorobăț in a blog post for Mises Institute, focused on Austrian economics. “But the answer to the confusion is simple; furthermore, it is not a technical explanation -- relating to innovative engineering or the organization principles of the networks -- but an economic one. The Internet service providers market in Romania has been one of the least regulated markets in the world.” Broadband policy has factored relatively little in the 2016 presidential campaign season so far. Several consumer advocates, including Common Cause, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge, had sent a letter to Fox News GOP debate moderators asking them to query the GOP candidates on broadband policy during Thursday’s debate, but they never did.
A Donald Trump administration likely wouldn't stake out positions too far removed from the Republican norm on communications issues, New Street Research said in a note to investors. “Even without classical campaign position papers, we think Trump will likely be supportive of the general GOP direction in telecommunications policy,” the firm said. “For example, we suspect he would favor reversing current FCC efforts on pre-empting state municipal broadband bans, Set-Top Boxes, Special Access, and Privacy, while being more sympathetic to consolidation than the [Department of Justice] and FCC have been in recent years.” But New Street conceded there’s not a lot to go on. Trump has presented himself as an anti-establishment candidate. “As with most Trump policy pronouncements, we only discern two consistent elements: adjectives and deal making,” New Street said. “That is, the policy will be great, believe me. It will make America winning winners. Further Trump will appoint the smartest people and they will strike great deals. Stated differently ... nothing to date on the campaign trail provides much of a hint on real policy direction on telecom and media.”
President Barack Obama signed into law two much-discussed bills Wednesday -- the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (HR-644), which contains language permanently extending the Internet Tax Freedom Act, and the Judicial Redress Act (HR-1428). "We take our privacy seriously," Obama said before signing the Judicial Redress Act. "Along with our commitment to innovation, that’s one of the reasons that global companies and entrepreneurs want to do business here. We enforce our privacy laws, unlike a number of other countries. And in fact, just this month, we finished a landmark new agreement called the Privacy Shield, which provides tough new protections to safeguard consumer data, and it gives certainty to thousands of businesses representing hundreds of billions of dollars in trade." Judicial Redress was seen as an important factor in the establishment of the Privacy Shield agreement between the U.S. and the EU. "We’ve also established the first Privacy Council to strengthen protections of people’s personal information and privacy rights across the federal government," Obama said. "We’ve put new laws and policies in place that clarify what we do and what we do not do when it comes to people’s data and our intelligence efforts." Lawmakers attending the signing ceremony were Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said a White House pool report. FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez also attended, as did U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman and David O'Sullivan, EU ambassador to the U.S.
President Barack Obama wants to involve states more in combating cybersecurity threats, he told governors Monday at a National Governors Association reception in the White House State Dining Room. The governors had gathered in Washington for their winter meeting over the weekend. “This is a complex challenge, and we’re not going to be able to meet it alone,” Obama said. “We’ve made a lot of progress these past seven years, including sharing more information with industry and with your states. But all of us are still vulnerable.” He mentioned the launch this month of the Cybersecurity National Action Plan and a pending “major overhaul” of federal computer systems. “I want to do more with your states, including sharing more information about threats, improving our joint response capabilities,” he said. Obama referred to a new bipartisan commission he has formed and said he will want feedback from state governors. “And I think that we probably have some good ideas about where your vulnerabilities are in terms of your state databases and what you’re doing there,” he told the governors. “So that’s an area where I think we can probably work together.” Obama also mentioned that the governors can apply pressure to Congress on other priorities, such as approval of the administration’s Trans-Pacific Partnership deal. “It is inconceivable if, for example, you are in California, that you don’t want a Trans-Pacific Partnership that ensures the gateway for commerce in the Pacific is open to California businesses and workers for decades to come,” Obama said. “It’s inconceivable that you’d be opposed to that.”
If President Barack Obama is determined to nominate a black woman to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s vacant seat on the Supreme Court, one viable candidate would be Ketanji Brown Jackson, U.S. district judge in the District of Columbia, wrote Tom Goldstein, founder of SCOTUSBlog.com, Tuesday in a blog post. Jackson is the presiding judge in the recording industry’s complaint that the major automakers have violated the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) by shipping CD-copying hard drives without paying royalties required under the statute (see 1407310086). Jackson held a hearing May 5 on the automakers’ motions to dismiss the case because their products are outside the AHRA’s scope (see 1505060062), but after nine months of taking the arguments under advisement, she hasn't ruled on the pleadings. In Jackson, Obama would have a nominee who previously was confirmed “without any Republican opposition in the Senate not once, but twice,” first for a seat on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, later to her current judgeship, said Goldstein. Jackson’s “credentials are impeccable,” including cum laude graduate honors at the Harvard Law School and being a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, said Goldstein, who has argued more than 30 cases before the Supreme Court. Jackson, 45, also is related by marriage to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., wrote Goldstein.
The Judicial Redress Act (HR-1428) heads to President Barack Obama for his signature after the House passed the amended bill Wednesday, a day after Senate approval. HR-1428 would give European citizens and other non-U.S. persons legal redress if they believe their personal data was abused by U.S. federal agencies. "As this bill heads to President Obama’s desk, I’m optimistic that it will be signed into law, completing a critical agreement with our allies and securing a safer future for the United States," said Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who sponsored the bill, in a statement. The White House didn't immediately comment on Obama's signing plans. European officials have called the legislation integral to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, the new trans-Atlantic data transfer framework that imposes stronger protections for European citizens' personal data. HR-1428 was also considered important to the umbrella act for law enforcement data exchange (see 1602100026). In a related matter, the Commerce Department told the Electronic Privacy Information Center that the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield "does not exist" following the group's Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of the agreement. "As announced on February 2, 2016, we have reached agreement with the European Commission on the EU-US Privacy Shield and are working now to finalize the agreement documentation," the department said in its letter to EPIC. The European Commission is expected to provide the agreement's text by the end of February.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center launched an educational initiative to put privacy and data protection front and center in the 2016 presidential election. "Data breaches, identity theft, and government surveillance are critical issues facing American voters, yet the candidates have said hardly a word," said President Marc Rotenberg in a statement Sunday announcing the Data Protection 2016 campaign. The campaign provides information about privacy and data protection, provides a link to register voters, and will market materials such as buttons and stickers to help support the group. EPIC said it won't endorse any candidate, party or platform.
Expect President Barack Obama to release his FY 2017 budget proposal at 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Government Publishing Office said in a news release Friday. The date was expected (see 1601080016). The administration budget proposal will encompass funding figures for NTIA and agencies including the FCC and FTC. Capitol Hill appropriators haven't developed appropriations measures for FY 2017 but are expected to begin to do so on an earlier schedule than usual this year.
“That will end, and that will end immediately,” promised GOP presidential contender Ted Cruz of Communications Act Title II net neutrality rules, in a video unveiled last week by Protect Internet Freedom. “It’s been regulation-free,” the Republican Texas senator said of the Internet. “[President Barack] Obama is salivating to regulate the Internet.” He said the FCC now claims the authority to regulate pricing and terms of sale, despite FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler saying he has no intention to regulate broadband pricing. “If they succeed in this, anyone who wants to innovate has to go to government regulators to get permission to launch some new website, to do something novel on the Internet,” Cruz said. “That is lunacy.” He again blasted net neutrality as “Obamacare for the Internet” and called the order “a disaster.” Last month, Protect Internet Freedom posted videos of two other GOP presidential contenders -- Carly Fiorina and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. -- blasting the order (see 1512180046). The Obama administration is “trying to hand over control of the Internet to what they call an international body of stakeholders, such paragons of free speech as Russia and China,” Cruz said, referring to Internet governance. He compared the Internet governance transition to President Jimmy Carter's giving away, as Cruz phrased it, the Panama Canal. “We will keep the Internet entirely free of regulations, entirely free of taxes,” Cruz said of his possible presidency. “Leave the Internet free and open for the American people.”
Commissioner Mike O’Rielly chided the FCC after President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address (see 1601130057) said his administration had protected net neutrality. "Not Surprising: Admin took full credit for #NetNeutrality in #SOTU, thereby destroying @FCC pretense of independent process. #SOTUSwitcheroo," O’Rielly said in a tweet Wednesday. The White House had no immediate comment.