By Ann E. Marimow, washingtonpost.com, 10-31-23 The Supreme Court on Oct. 31 struggled to agree on how to determine when public officials can block critics from their private social media accounts, reviewing two cases that will have broad implications for citizen interactions with politicians online. All nine justices seemed to acknowledge the challenge and importance [...]
By Cristiano Lima and Cat Zakrzewski, washingtonpost.com, 10-30-23 President Biden signed a sweeping artificial intelligence executive order on Oct. 30, marking the U.S. government’s most ambitious attempt to spur innovation and address concerns the burgeoning technology could exacerbate bias, displace workers, and undermine national security. The sprawling order tackles a broad array of issues, [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-19-23 The Federal Communications Commission has voted 3-2 to begin the process of giving utility-style authority to regulate broadband access by reclassifying broadband as a Title II telecommunications service subject to some common-carrier regulations and then restoring bright-line rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization…. Broadband access is currently [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-13-23 The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case early next year that could impact how much regulatory discretion the FCC has over the communications industry. The court agreed Friday to hear Relentless Inc., et al. v. Dept. of Commerce, et al., a case about federal fishing rules…. The [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 9-20-23 Two former Obama-era solicitors general are arguing the FCC should not restore network neutrality rules eliminated under Republican Chair Ajit Pai. In a new paper co-written by Donald B. Verrilli Jr. and Ian Heath Gershengorn, the veteran legal minds advise that the Federal Communications Commission does not have [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 9-18-23 House and Senate Democrats have introduced a bill that could take a bite out of Big Tech’s online advertising marketplace by banning so-called surveillance advertising. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, made it clear that the bill was clearly aimed at hitting Big Tech in [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 9-15-23 Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee have released a report they said shows that the Biden Administration’s $42-billion-plus Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program is duplicative of other subsidy programs and ripe for waste, fraud, and abuse, like doling out money to serve unserved locations at the [...]
By Cat Zakrzewski, Cristiano Lima, and David DiMolfetta, washingtonpost.com, 9-14-23 Some of the most powerful tech leaders in the world – including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg – traveled to Capitol Hill for a meeting on artificial intelligence, where they expressed unanimous agreement that the government needs to intervene to [...]
By Eva Dou and Gerrit De Vynck, washingtonpost.com, 9-10-23 The Justice Department finally will take Google to court over its alleged sharp-elbowed tactics on Sept. 12, in a landmark trial that marks the department’s first antitrust case against a major tech company in more than 20 years. Filed in 2020 under the Trump administration, [...]
By Cristiano Lima, washingtonpost.com, 9-7-23 The Senate on Sept. 7 confirmed Anna Gomez, President Biden’s pick for the Federal Communications Commission, ending a lengthy partisan split at the regulatory agency and giving Democrats the power to carry out major agenda items. Senators voted 55-43 to confirm Gomez, an FCC veteran who is a communications [...]