By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-5-21The first Senate Antitrust Subcommittee hearing has been scheduled in the new Congress, and look for revamping antitrust laws to rein in Big Tech to be a big part of the discussion.The bipartisan hearing, March 11 at 10 a.m., was announced jointly by Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and ranking member [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-5-21 Minnesota Democrat Rep. Angie Craig has revived an effort to create broadband nutrition labels. That comes as House and Senate Democrats plan to introduce legislation restoring the FCC's Open Internet Order net neutrality rules eliminated by the Republican FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai. Craig, who is a member of [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-4-21 Wi-Fi fans including NCTA-The Internet & Television Association are applauding the re-introduction of the Government Spectrum Valuation Act. The bill, introduced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), would finally mandate that the government put a value on unlicensed spectrum to the economy, rather than give it no value when relevant [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-3-21 Republican Senators John Kennedy (La.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.) have introduced a bill that would deny some Chinese companies access to U.S. capital markets, including some familiar names in the suspect tech category. The American Financial Markets Integrity and Security Act would ban what it calls "malign" Chinese [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-3-21 In an unusual alliance, cable operators, Google, Public Knowledge, and others have told Congress the FCC is taking the wrong approach to the upcoming 3.45 -3.55 GHz (3.45 GHz band) auction, in particular the size of the licenses it plans to auction. Congress mandated in the Consolidated Appropriations [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-3-21 Industry players were weighing in Wednesday (March 3) on Google's announcement that when it phases out third-party cookies, it will not try to come up with another way to identify and track browsing for the purposes of targeted advertising. “The NAI values Google’s engagement with the broader digital [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-3-21 Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) will reportedly introduce legislation in the next several weeks to reinstate the Title II classification for Internet access providers as a way to restore the FCC's authority and the rules against blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. Democrats want to use new rules to get [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-2-21 Consumer Reports is celebrating Virginia Governor Ralph Northam's signing of the Consumer Data Protection Act. “This is a historic moment for privacy rights,” said CR senior policy analyst Maureen Mahoney. “Virginia is now just the second state [after California] to pass a comprehensive privacy bill. While we're pleased [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-1-21 The just-passed $1.9-trillion COVID-19 relief bill (H.R. 1319) has, potentially, more than $17 billion in funding that could go to subsidize broadband, including a homeowners assistance fund states can tap to subsidize broadband for low-income residents during the pandemic. That is in addition to the $3.2 billion in [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 2-25-21 The head of the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee made it clear at its hearing Thursday on Big Tech "gatekeeper" platforms and antitrust that it was the launch of a congressional effort to reign in the largest platforms. "Mark my words: Change is coming, laws are coming," said Subcommittee [...]