Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is joining her panel’s privacy working group (see 1904260039), extending membership to six, lobbyists told us. Cantwell’s involvement means the group will remain evenly split across party lines, with South Dakota Sen. John Thune adding to the Republican side. Cantwell’s office didn’t comment.
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
The FTC is under pressure after Facebook estimated it will lose $3 billion-$5 billion as a result of the FTC’s data privacy investigation (see 1904240064), but a fine in the billion-dollar range would be significant, some experts said in recent interviews. Ex-FTC Chief Privacy Officer Marc Groman noted he had estimated a penalty in the $300 million range when news of Cambridge Analytica initially broke.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is pushing the Senate Commerce Committee’s bipartisan privacy working group (see 1904040073) to include elements of his bill (see 1812120036) in its proposal, according to lobbyists. They said that’s one aspect complicating long-awaited negotiations among Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Schatz.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative included China for the 15th straight year on its priority watch list for intellectual property violations. USTR also elevated Saudi Arabia from the second-tier watch list and downgraded Canada and Colombia from priority to watch, in the annual special 301 report Thursday (see 1902080063).
It’s unnecessary for Maine to pass privacy legislation regulating ISPs because they’re subject to FTC enforcement, NCTA and CTIA representatives told state legislators Wednesday. A local ISP and consumer advocates urged lawmakers pass a bill prohibiting state broadband providers from using, sharing or selling access to state customer data without expressed consent. The Senate Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee considered legislation from Sen. Shenna Bellows (D).
Congress can strengthen the U.S. moral rights framework through legislative amendments and other changes, the Copyright Office said in its long-awaited report on attribution and integrity protections (see 1703300036). The office offered specific amendments for improving the framework, and listed copyright elements it believes are working well and shouldn’t be changed. It began a study in January 2017 of potential changes for protecting moral rights as defined in the Berne Convention (see 1701230061). Tuesday’s report is the first comprehensive look at the U.S. moral rights framework in 30 years.
There’s enough evidence for U.S. antitrust enforcers to investigate whether Facebook is undermining competition by leveraging its data against rivals, antitrust experts said. Bringing an actual case will be much more complicated, they added. One expert argued it’s unlikely the FTC or DOJ bring a case, given the ongoing Cambridge Analytica probe, other enforcement priorities and that a company is suing Facebook on anticompetitive grounds.
Senate Commerce Committee lawmakers are eyeing the first week of May for a privacy hearing, lobbyists told us. This would be the third privacy-related hearing for members (see 1902270048 and 1903260068). One lobbyist said to expect the potential hearing to feature consumer groups, as the first two hearings were mostly industry-driven. The committee didn’t comment Friday.
T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T dodged Sen. Ron Wyden’s request for specifics on customer location data incidents in April 5 letters to the Oregon Democrat obtained by us Thursday. Instead, companies cited the life-saving benefits of sharing data with police and specific examples of customer rescues in emergencies. Verizon and T-Mobile also described generally how companies report location data breaches to the FBI and Secret Service through the FCC.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., shrugged off EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s suggestion that Warren’s proposal to break up big tech is “far-reaching” (see 1903180058). “It would give competition a better chance to flourish, and that’s what competition law should be all about,” Warren told us.