Karl Herchenroeder

The goal is to produce a draft bill this year to update the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, said Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Tuesday. “I have low expectations we can get it done in this Congress. But I think we can get a generally accepted baseline and continue to work with the House to move it on a bicameral basis,” he told us before Tuesday’s hearing on DMCA. “It hasn’t been touched since Chumbawamba was topping the charts” in 1998.

The House Commerce Committee is committed to advancing bipartisan legislation for regulating autonomous vehicles, Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said at a hearing Tuesday. Ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., asked why a bipartisan plan that passed the House in 2017 but stalled in the Senate (see 2001100042) isn’t enough. Certain protections are needed to ensure self-driving cars operate safely, Pallone said. The legislation should “facilitate the collection and reporting of vital crash and incident data, and protect Americans’ rights to access the courts for the inevitable incidents related to self-driving cars,” he said. Bipartisan legislation can be advanced without compromising safety, said Walden. If Congress fails to pass a bill, “investment in this transformative technology will go abroad,” said House Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. “If we fail, the safety, less congestion, and mobility benefits that come with this technology will go elsewhere.” CTA CEO Gary Shapiro, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety President Cathy Chase and Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO John Bozzella urged passage of legislation, with elements from the existing bills. A law is needed to ensure the federal government is responsible for regulation, which will make the U.S. more competitive, Shapiro said. “The worst outcome would be for Congress to delay the enactment of meaningful legislation that would establish the needed federal framework to realize these safety and mobility solutions,” Bozzella said.

The House Judiciary Committee will “certainly” address encryption issues, Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., told us last week. Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans and Democrats recently suggested Congress could be forced to alter encryption standards if the tech industry doesn’t act (see 1912100039). Asked if House counterparts will address the debate between Apple and DOJ, which continues to push for encryption back doors on smartphone devices, Nadler said, “Maybe. We’re certainly going to be looking at the question of encryption generally.”

China, India and the EU are among the regions tech and intellectual property groups recommended the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative monitor for international IP infractions. Public comments were due Friday for USTR’s 2020 Special 301 Review (see 1902080063). USTR has a Feb. 26 hearing. The Internet Association cited the EU’s new “onerous systems of copyright liability for internet services,” specifically the copyright directive. It “directly conflicts with U.S. law and requires a broad range of U.S. consumer and enterprise firms to install filtering technologies, pay European organizations for activities that are entirely lawful under the U.S. copyright framework, and face direct liability for third-party content,” IA said. IA didn’t recommend any specific countries for USTR’s priority watch list or watch list, raising concerns about China, India, Vietnam, Chile, Japan, Hong Kong and many others. BSA|The Software Alliance recommended USTR include Chile, China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam on its priority watch list; Argentina, Brazil, Korea, Mexico and Thailand on its watch list; and the EU as a region of concern. BSA cited measures that create market access barriers in the EU. The Computer & Communications Industry Association didn’t offer specific recommendations for the priority watch list or watch list. CCIA cited the EU’s recently enacted Copyright Directive and policies India is pursuing, which “pose significant negative consequences for the digital economy and depart from global norms.” Any “discriminatory practices under the guise of intellectual property that target U.S. exports should be identified and discouraged by USTR,” CCIA said. The International Intellectual Property Alliance recommended Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Ukraine and Vietnam for the priority watch list. It recommended Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Switzerland, Thailand and UAE for the watch list. IIPA suggested the U.S. engage trading partners to “remove discriminatory and restrictive trade barriers in those countries that harm exports of U.S. creative goods and services.”

DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim could recuse himself from other tech industry investigations, he told reporters Wednesday, after news of his Google probe recusal. Asked after a Media Institute event if there could be other conflicts, he said, “There could be perhaps, but we’ll see. I’ll let you all know.” The division is sorting through tech companies to see if there are any “appearance” issues, he said.

The tech industry’s content liability shield should be tightened because its protections have expanded well beyond the original intent, House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., told us Thursday. Congressional scrutiny of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is growing.

Governments should quicken their pace to increase tech regulation, Microsoft President Brad Smith said during an interview with C-SPAN's The Communicators, to have been televised this weekend. A strong federal privacy law is vital, but a global solution is best, he said, noting Microsoft is “pretty enthusiastic” about EU’s general data protection regulation. “Digital technology has gone longer with less regulation than almost any technology since the middle of the 1800s,” he said. “The market, consumers and even the industry itself would be better served for the long term with a different balance.” He noted the importance of data centers and Ireland, which he said is to data what Switzerland is to money. Ireland is a safe place with mild temperatures for data centers and a network of laws for protecting privacy and moving data, he said, noting about 35 percent of European data is stored in Ireland. Microsoft has more than 100 data centers in 20 countries, he said. It’s becoming the largest consumer of electricity in the world, the executive said. The weaponization of data starts with hacking by political states waging disinformation campaigns, Smith said, noting Microsoft spends $1 billion yearly on security.

The FTC will review social media advertising guidance in 2020, the agency confirmed (see 2001300032) Thursday. It will consider updating ad endorsement and testimonial guidance involving unfair and deceptive ad laws the FTC polices.

Maryland should tax digital ad giants like Facebook and Google so they pay their fair share to fund vital education infrastructure, state Senate Democrats and advocates said Wednesday. Various Republican Senators questioned a Democratic tax proposal considered Wednesday at a hearing before the Senate Taxation Committee, which didn’t make a formal recommendation. The Internet Association and advertisers testified the legislative proposal is a discriminatory tax that violates the Constitution.

The FTC will review social media-related advertising guidelines in 2020, the agency confirmed Thursday. It will consider updating “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” The guides offer insight into how the agency views truthfulness and deceptiveness in ads.