Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, pressed the Obama administration on its use of cell-site simulators, which can collect cellphone users’ information. They sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson Dec. 23, which they released Wednesday. Grassley, who will become chairman of Judiciary and Leahy ranking member in the new Congress, sought answers to several questions by Jan. 30. In the months since summer, “our staff members have participated in two briefings with FBI officials, and at the most recent session they learned that the FBI recently changed its policy with respect to the type of legal process that it typically seeks before employing this type of technology,” they wrote in the letter. “According to this new policy, the FBI now obtains a search warrant before deploying a cell-site simulator, although the policy contains a number of potentially broad exceptions and we continue to have questions about how it is being implemented in practice. Furthermore, it remains unclear how other agencies within the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security make use of cell-site simulators and what policies are in place to govern their use of that technology.”
Recent mobile cramming settlements with AT&T and T-Mobile “send a strong message to wireless carriers and crammers that this insidious practice will not be tolerated,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a news release Tuesday. “Unauthorized and unscrupulous third-party charges -- hidden in bills through vague and deceptive language -- have robbed consumers and they deserve their money back.” He held a news conference in Hartford Monday with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to let people know how to collect money from the settlement and how to alert the government of future problems. “Cramming is modern-day pickpocketing,” Rosenworcel said. “These bogus charges on consumer bills are unfair -- and they can add up fast. That's why these settlements are so important.” To allow consumers to seek compensation, AT&T set up a website, as did T-Mobile.
Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Angus King, I-Maine, defended strong net neutrality protections and pushed for Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband. They spoke together over the weekend on WGAN’s Inside Maine program, with King interviewing Booker and posting the 13 minutes of audio on his website. Booker and King wrote a joint op-ed earlier this month on the issue (see 1412080045). “It’s not just" you and me, Booker told King, citing the more than 4 million comments the FCC has received on net neutrality. “My office has received thousands of communications.” Booker warned of “a level of unfairness” that could “squelch” businesses. “I doubt if Instagram could get going if someone charged a big entry fee,” King said. He said he and Booker are not “big regulation guys” and said these protections would not amount to that. The FCC “can fix it by simply saying, by treating it as what’s called a common carrier and moving it under Title II,” Booker said, referring to a path under what he said was a recent Supreme Court decision on the issue. The Supreme Court hasn't ruled on net neutrality but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated some net neutrality rules earlier this year and did refer to a statutory path for net neutrality rules. Booker and King said the phone companies “hate” the idea of some net neutrality rules. Booker also said he has friends who work at the major ISPs, specifically alluding to Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen by citing one former political job Cohen held but without naming him explicitly. Cohen has helped with Democratic fundraising. “These are good people,” Booker said. “They come in, as lobbyists do, and they make their case to you.” But Booker disagrees with the reasoning, he said. Booker suspects these big companies will “sue again” over net neutrality. Many congressional Republicans and ISP industry stakeholders object to Title II reclassification.
House Commerce Committee Republicans emphasized spectrum and FCC process legislation (see 1412240031) in a 110-page document outlining policy ideas for the coming Congress. “Spectrum is a finite resource that is in ever-increasing demand,” the document said. “To adequately respond to this demand, creative solutions are necessary for clearing, consolidating, and sharing spectrum. There must also be discussion of the appropriate management of spectrum, both federal and commercial, through licensing and authorizing. While there have been significant improvements in spectrum utilization, there still remains a great deal to be done in order to ensure all users are effectively and efficiently using the airwaves they’ve been assigned.” The lawmakers emphasized reallocation, efficiency and sharing of spectrum. The policy document, spanning sectors beyond telecom, “offers a blueprint for our work in the next Congress,” Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said in a statement. “Our record speaks for itself with over 50 bills signed into law.” The document points to the virtues of the bipartisan Federal Spectrum Incentive Act (HR-3674), introduced in the recent 113th Congress: “This legislation provides a path for federal users that elect to discontinue radio operations without relocating to other frequencies or that relocate operations to share with another federal user, to receive a percentage of the auction proceeds the spectrum generates.”
Wiley Rein bought McBee Strategic Consulting. McBee will operate independently as a wholly owned subsidiary of the firm, Wiley Rein said Wednesday in a news release. The transaction will make Wiley Rein the only Washington law firm to bring to market strategic services like public policy practices and digital media practices, "in a robust, integrated offering," it said. The firms will operate separately with more than 310 legal, advocacy and communications practitioners, Wiley Rein said.
House Republicans may change how major legislation is scored in the 114th Congress ahead of possible big-ticket telecom items slated for consideration for coming sessions. GOP lawmakers released a draft version Tuesday of a resolution that would establish rules for the next Congress. Cost estimates for legislation deemed major would have to “incorporate macroeconomic effects,” it said: “An estimate provided by the Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 for any major legislation shall, to the extent practicable, incorporate the budgetary effects of changes in economic output, employment, capital stock, and other macroeconomic variables resulting from such legislation.” Lawmakers in the next Congress have said they want to overhaul the 1996 Telecom Act and may also seek to address net neutrality through legislation. Incoming Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., released several documents Tuesday defending macroeconomic scoring, a concept that was controversial when raised in the past. “The rule defines ‘major legislation’ as any revenue or direct-spending bill that causes a gross increase or decrease in revenues, outlays, or deficits of more than 0.25 percent of GDP in any year covered by the budget resolution,” Ryan said in one section. “The chair of the House Budget Committee and, for purely revenue legislation, the highest-ranking House member on the Joint Committee on Taxation (either chair or vice chair) can designate legislation as 'major' for purposes of this rule if a bill is likely to have a significant economic impact, but does not meet the numerical threshold.” Based on 2014 data, the threshold would have been $43 billion, likely to grow over time, Ryan said. It does not apply to appropriations bills, and in the 113th Congress, only three pieces of legislation would have been subject: the Jobs for America Act (HR-4); the Permanent Bonus Depreciation Act (HR-4718), which addressed a tax issue that the telecom and media industry heavily lobbied on; and the Tax Increase Prevention Act (HR-5771). Macroeconomic scoring will “give members of Congress a better understanding of how their decisions affect the economy,” Ryan said in a document backing such scoring.
Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., sent letters to the CEOs of Uber and Lyft inquiring about the companies’ privacy and data security policies. The letters, released Tuesday, asked several questions about how the companies manage their data. The senators sent the letters Dec. 19, and both the letter to Uber and the letter to Lyft cite the enforcement actions that the FTC has taken in this space. Nelson is expected to be ranking member of the Commerce Committee next year.
House Oversight Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., sent Sony Pictures Entertainment a letter Tuesday requesting information about what he called a “devastating cyber attack.” Cummings wants to know of all data breaches Sony has had over the past year and the number of employees and former employees affected by the recent hack. He wants to know what the company has done since learning of the breach and any recommendations Sony may have for cybersecurity legislation. He wants a response by Jan. 23 and a briefing from a company official by Jan. 19. President Barack Obama called for cyber legislation after the breach (see 1412190045). Sony has made available notifications about protection services since the hack. Free State Foundation President Randolph May also addressed the hack in a Tuesday blog post, saying online piracy is a real problem. The debate over the failed Stop Online Piracy Act "should not now be invoked as a ghostly mantra in a way that is intended to impede what ought to be a collaborative search for the right answers to combat piracy of intellectual property," May said.
GAO found that federal agencies adjusted digital strategies as more consumers embraced mobile devices. “The Office of Management and Budget, in response to the milestones laid out in its Digital Government Strategy, created the Digital Services Advisory Group, which -- together with the General Services Administration‘s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technology -- has provided federal agencies with guidance, resources, and tools to enhance access to government services via mobile devices,” GAO said in the 44-page report released Monday. “Five of the six agencies GAO interviewed have taken steps to improve access to their websites via mobile devices. For example, in 2012, the Department of Transportation (DOT) redesigned its main website, www.dot.gov, to provide a platform for mobile access.” It cited data from the Pew Research Center about the growing trend toward mobile services. GAO described ongoing efforts at various agencies, with some changes yet to come. GAO examined the Interior and Transportation departments, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Weather Service, Federal Maritime Commission and National Endowment for the Arts. “PDFs are difficult to download on a mobile device, in part because of the large amount of data they contain,” GAO said. “Some of these agencies are trying to reduce the number of data-intensive PDF files on their websites, but a number of these data-intensive PDFs are still present.”
House lawmakers cautioned against handing over Internet governance regulations to the ITU, while affirming their commitment to the multistakeholder model, in an essay on the Re/code site last week. House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and member Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., signed the essay, along with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif. “Many countries joined the U.S. in recognizing that multi-stakeholder governance will ensure the resilience of the Internet, and enable commerce and economic development,” it said. “They are increasingly seeing the self-interest and incentives of resisting an ITU-centric model, because it could empower countries to censor the free flow of information and suppress dissent, as well as stifle broadband investment in both e-commerce and network infrastructure.”