Karl Herchenroeder

As she prepares to leave office Friday, FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny told us she’s hoping for swift action on the five nominees awaiting Senate confirmation (see 1804170058). McSweeny, a former domestic policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden who has repeatedly advocated for better consumer data portability (see 1802220042), continues to seek more data control.

Expect the Senate Judiciary Committee to pursue a package of music copyright legislation like the one House Judiciary recently advanced (see 1804110060), industry attorneys and lobbyists told us. Music Modernization Act (S-2334) author Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told us he plans to discuss Senate Judiciary Committee consideration of the bill with Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Grassley “knows it’s important,” Hatch said.

The State Department is fighting to maintain the free flow of data and maximize monetary value of the internet, as new international privacy laws threaten the ease of cross-border data transfer, said Deputy Assistant Secretary-Cyber and International Communications and Information Policy Robert Strayer Thursday. At a Media Institute event, Strayer cited Vietnam’s new digital economy strategy as an area of concern. From the audience CTA CEO Gary Shapiro cited efforts in China to “blockade” American tech sector progress and Europe’s “cumbersome” general data protection regulation, which he said further hampers U.S. competitiveness.

Senate Judiciary Committee members and Patent and Trademark Office Director Andrei Iancu expressed willingness Wednesday to explore legislative proposals on patent eligibility issues for artificial intelligence. Two Supreme Court decisions -- Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International and Mayo v. Prometheus -- created “significant confusion” for applying traditional patent protections to AI algorithms, Iancu said during an oversight hearing. PTO can issue certain guidance and better clarity surrounding AI patent application, but “it’s not easy” since the office has those two cases for context. “If there is an interest in this committee or elsewhere, we would be very happy to work with you toward a solution,” Iancu said.

Three nominees for the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors expressed willingness Wednesday to defend negotiated service agreements with Amazon if they prove to be fruitful deals for the agency. President Donald Trump ordered a task force to analyze the USPS’ financial situation, which he says is worsened by Amazon deals (see 1804130059). During a confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, ranking member Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., expressed concern that presidential task forces often “tell presidents what they want to hear.” Those who have confronted Trump have been “shown the door” in a short period of time, she said. Nominees David Williams, Robert Duncan and Calvin Tucker agreed to, in McCaskill’s words, stand up to the president if the deals are beneficial. But McCaskill said negotiated service agreements with UPS and FedEx also need to be analyzed. “I don’t think we’re going back in terms of volume of packages in this country, and I am very concerned that we have enabled our competition to be more successful while we’ve hamstrung the Postal Service,” McCaskill said. Duncan said the facts will lead to the truth, and Tucker said he doesn’t necessarily anticipate a confrontation with Trump but is willing to challenge assumptions. “There’s no question [Trump’s] on a mission here. He’s got a thing about the man who owns Amazon,” McCaskill said, referring to Jeff Bezos. Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., shared McCaskill’s “frustrations” about gathering contract data from the USPS and said he looks forward to the task force’s findings. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Trump and McCaskill appear to be on the same side in this issue, but McCaskill said that unlike UPS and FedEx, Amazon isn't a USPS competitor but rather a customer. The question is whether the USPS is charging adequately, Paul said. There's a price where Amazon will deliver packages on its own, and the USPS needs to find the appropriate price, he added. Paul said he doesn't dislike Amazon but dislikes losing billions of dollars.

After reading briefs in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Justice Stephen Breyer concluded both sides are “absolutely right.” That came in Tuesday oral argument on whether to reverse a precedent shielding online retailers from state and local tax collection (see 1804160059).

Expect the Supreme Court to consider how much the digital economy has evolved since 1992 when it considers a potential sales tax law reversal for online retailers, various parties told us Monday. The high court will hear oral argument Tuesday in South Dakota v. Wayfair (see 1803080066).

A Democratic senator and others told us they're wary of Donald Trump attacking Amazon. The latest salvo from the president came Thursday, when he ordered reassessment of the financial situation of the U.S. Postal Service, which Trump says loses money because of Amazon. Trump also attacked The Washington Post, owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, for its coverage of the administration.

There's no evidence suggesting U.S. consumers value personal data “at all,” though news like the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach (see 1804110065) could change perceptions rapidly, acting Director of the FTC Bureau of Competition Bruce Hoffman said Thursday. “There is no good reason to think that consumers value data about themselves in the same way that they value money in their bank accounts,” Hoffman said at a Computer and Communications Industry Association event.

While Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told lawmakers Wednesday his personal information was scraped in the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach, he avoided committing to minimizing user data collection yet said regulation of social media companies is “inevitable.” His wide-ranging testimony at the House Commerce Committee was a second consecutive day of congressional testimony (see 1804100054).