The direction of Capitol Hill's debate on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization remains uncertain after two hearings this week, said members of the Senate Commerce Committee and House Communications Subcommittee in interviews. Few Senate Commerce members revealed clear positions on renewal during a Wednesday hearing. Questions showed divisions in both parties. House Communications members registered a range of opinions during a Tuesday STELA panel (see 1906040057).
Congress needs to amend patent law, which is outdated, overcomplicated and causing the U.S. to fall behind competitors in China and Europe, experts told the Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee Tuesday.
New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge urged the FCC to make more use of use “use-it-or- share-it” rules to encourage carriers to make spectrum available on the secondary market. Industry groups instead backed rule liberalization to encourage more secondary market deals. Comments in docket 19-38 posted through Tuesday. In March, commissioners approved 5-0 an NPRM (see 1903150067) on how changes to spectrum partitioning, disaggregation and leasing rules “might further the agency’s goals of closing the digital divide and increasing spectrum access for small carriers and in rural areas.”
The House Oversight Committee plans a third hearing on facial recognition technology in about six weeks to ensure the FBI is using the tool properly, Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday. Lawmakers hammered an FBI official during a hearing, in which a GAO official outlined agency privacy and transparency failures for the technology. A federal moratorium on the technology remains on the table (see 1905220058). Cummings, numerous Democrats, ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., are exploring legislation.
Sizable private equity investing resulted in legions of startups in the small-satellite universe, but 2019 will likely be the year when "some of them start peeling off" and failing, said Quilty Analytics President Chris Quilty at an American Bar Association space law symposium Tuesday. "There's going to be a lot of roadkill in the next year or two." Most companies are "fighting over the table scraps" beyond the money that's gone to OneWeb and SpaceX, and when those smaller startups start getting to the point where they're ready for larger-scale investments, "stumbles" are likely, Quilty said, with funding if not declining at least decelerating. "It's healthy, it happens," he said.
It may be an understandable response to the New Zealand attacks, but the "Christchurch Call" has worrying aspects and could be difficult to implement, said digital rights activists and think tanks. There's no clear vision of what social media and video sharing platforms should be doing or planning to do to counter such situations and no effort to address tech companies' business model, they said. The Christchurch Call is a commitment by governments and tech companies to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. Eighteen countries plus major social media platforms such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft back the agreement, adopted May 15. The U.S. declined to sign (see 1905150047).
Local government and real estate groups said the FCC should rethink an NPRM on updating a rule for over-the-air reception devices with an eye toward spurring 5G deployment. Commissioners approved the OTARD NPRM 5-0 in April and comments were due Monday night in docket 19-71. Wireless ISPs in particular sought the rule change.
Few House Communications Subcommittee members took discernible positions on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization during a Tuesday hearing, amid observations of a clear divide among stakeholders. Three witnesses spoke in favor of some form of renewal, while NAB CEO Gordon Smith argued for expiration, as expected (see 1906030065). The panel was the House Commerce Committee's first review during this Congress on recertification of the statute, to expire Dec. 31 (see 1905280061). The Senate Commerce Committee plans a hearing Wednesday (see 1905290029).
Some USF program allies raised alarms in interviews and statements about Friday's FCC 3-2 NPRM calling for an overall budget cap for the four programs (see 1905310069). Some plan to spread the word about the rulemaking to the public, hoping for a critical response. Advocates for government fiscal discipline had kinder words about the rulemaking.
Apple previewed iOS privacy and security features, independence for Apple Watch, and a first-time dedicated iPad operating system at its Monday Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose. New features are expected to be available this fall.