Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in Egbert v. Boule. The case hinges on the question of whether federal officials can be held personally liable for damages when they retaliate against individuals engaged in First Amendment activities. This is an issue with important consequences for members of [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-26-22 The Federal Communications Commission has voted to deny a petition by broadcasters to reconsider its authorization of one of the former database administrators for the TV white spaces, Nominet UK (which has since sold its database management tech to RED Technologies). White spaces are spectrum in the TV [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-25-22 The FCC has voted to expand the online activities that define a candidate, and to square its political file rules with the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel had teed up the item for a vote at the Jan. 27 public meeting, but it [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-25-22 Transportation stakeholders, including all 50 state transportation departments (DOTs) told a D.C. federal appeals court Jan. 25 that the FCC erred in the way it opened up 5.9 GHz spectrum, which had been reserved for intelligent transport systems (ITS) for unlicensed wireless. But the action appeared to be [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-24-22 The U.S. Commerce Department is looking for input on how to incentivize investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Commerce points out that semiconductors are must-have tech for everything from securing the communications (5G) supply chain, to AI, to autonomous systems of all types, to quantum computing. Commerce pointed out [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-24-22 A bipartisan quartet of state attorneys general – from Texas, Indiana, and both Washingtons (the state and the District of Columbia) – are suing Google over location data privacy and its use in targeted advertising. The AGs argue that Google misled consumers by tracking their locations even when [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-24-22 President Joe Biden said during his press conference Jan. 19 that his administration “doesn’t deal with 5G,” by which he appeared to mean indirectly, since he has also signaled the administration has been a key player in a key 5G issue. The president was asked what he has [...]
Participated in an amicus letter (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the Supreme Court of California in Ukraine Relief, et al. v. Gurzhiy. We participated in this case previously in the California Court of Appeal. The case concerns three allegedly defamatory articles published by Gurzhiy’s online news outlet, The Slavic Sacramento. Both the trial [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-20-22 The Senate has weighed into what was described as an “overgrown standing army” of Big Tech monopolists, with Senate Antitrust Subcommittee chair Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) saying to the army of lobbyists that would try to take down a tough new antitrust law under consideration: “Bring it on.” The [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-20-22 President Joe Biden took some time during his press conference Jan. 19, one of only a handful of solo outings with the White House press corps, to suggest that media coverage has become polarized, much as the two political parties have been. He also ventured into some cord-cutting [...]