Karl Herchenroeder

Facebook, Google and Microsoft support the Federal Election Commission rulemaking to increase online political advertising transparency (see 1805250032 and 1805290037), but the commission should look to recent industry response for guidance, they commented. The commission is considering two proposals that would update online ad disclosure requirements for the first time since 2006.

Data throttling will be a top enforcement priority when FTC jurisdiction over broadband providers is restored June 11, said Consumer Protection Bureau Director Andrew Smith Friday. When the FCC net neutrality order takes effect, the FTC will look to publicly expose “issues with respect to fast-tracking of certain traffic and slowing down to less speed with respect to other traffic,” Smith said at a George Mason University event, citing recent throttling allegations against AT&T.

Online platforms should strive for some degree of uniformity when deciding how to filter malicious content, said Facebook Global Politics and Government Outreach Director Katie Harbath Thursday. “You don’t necessarily want Facebook making one decision, Google making another decision, Twitter making another decision, too,” Harbath said at a Cato Institute event. “These are conversations we have to be having collectively, to be thinking about what are the right ways to be handling this.” Platforms should draw lines in deciding where regulation is the “right answer,” and where companies should self-regulate, she said.

To reduce the global threat of botnets dramatically, it’s vital the tech industry “support and reward” continuous development of innovative security technology, the secretaries of commerce and homeland security told President Donald Trump in a report released Wednesday (see 1801110006). It responded to a May 2017 executive order. The order directed the secretaries to lead a cybersecurity effort with the goal of “dramatically reducing threats perpetrated by automated and distributed attacks.” The agencies hosted two workshops, issued as many requests for comment and published a stakeholder inquiry through the president’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. The agencies consulted DOD, DOJ, the State Department, FBI, FCC and FTC, among other agencies.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wants more answers from the FBI in a debate about the agency allegedly misleading Congress on encryption back doors (see 1805230027). Though the bureau repeatedly claimed in 2017 it couldn't unlock 7,775 devices, officials recently acknowledged the number is closer to 1,200.

Expect a Senate Judiciary Committee markup on the Music Modernization Act (S-2823) as early as mid-June, with plans of moving forward with the copyright package as originally introduced, despite an alternative bill floated by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., industry observers told us (see 1805230068). Broad support for the original package means the bill should move quickly, bill sponsors said (see 1805110056).

Artificial intelligence algorithm bias is one issue the FTC will potentially address in upcoming public hearings on emerging consumer protection and competition issues, said Consumer Protection Bureau Senior Attorney Tiffany George Thursday. Chairman Joseph Simons recently testified the agency plans a series of hearings throughout the country on consumer protection (see 1805170073). A spokesman said Thursday the agency is working through details on timing and scope.

Amid calls to break up Facebook’s “monopoly,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told us the current tech landscape isn't comparable to that surrounding antitrust activity against Microsoft in the late 1990s, when he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. Anticompetitive issues could surface, “but I don’t see any reason for it right now,” he said. The Open Markets Institute, Public Citizen and Content Creators Coalition are among groups demanding Facebook divest Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger (see 1805210051). Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin separately said DOJ should investigate big tech concentration of ownership.

Discussing bipartisan draft legislation that would direct a Department of Commerce study on the IoT, House lawmakers from both parties said Tuesday that Congress isn't paying enough attention to consumer privacy. The Digital Commerce Subcommittee held a hearing on draft legislation from Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said the State of Modern Application, Research and Trends of IoT (Smart) Act would produce for Congress a central source of information on how industry is integrating IoT devices and how the country is adapting.

Reps. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, and Hank Johnson, D-Ga., introduced legislation Tuesday that would maintain Patent and Trademark Office fee-setting authority. In exchange, PTO would implement modern IT systems and big-data analytics. CTA CEO Gary Shapiro urged Congress to protect “critical” PTO programs like inter partes review (IPR) from “special interest attacks” and applauded the bill’s introduction. The bill drew cheers from Software & Information Industry Association Senior Vice President-Public Policy Mark MacCarthy. PTO Director Andrei Iancu told the House Judiciary Committee during a hearing Tuesday that since enactment of the America Invents Act, fee setting authority allowed the agency to operate more efficiently and recoup necessary costs. He suggested the committee work with the PTO to maintain that authority. Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said the committee’s efforts to “deter patent trolling” through the America Invents Act “have been a resounding success.” The legislation and the recent court decisions “deprived patent trolls of many of the weapons they use to extort payments from innocent companies,” he said. The High Tech Inventors Alliance urged the committee to uphold the America Invents Act, the IPR process and precedents established by recent patent-related Supreme Court cases. IPR is working as Congress intended by allowing the PTO to fully assess patents and correct mistakes without litigation, HTIA General Counsel John Thorne said: “This vital mechanism along with recent unanimous Supreme Court rulings, such as the Alice decision (see 1804180073), apply to invalid patents that never should have been issued in the first place and are the primary fuel for abuse of the patent system.”