Four senators want Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations to properly account for cross-border data flows. Any agreement “must include meaningful, clear obligations, enforceable through a strong and effective dispute settlement mechanism, that prohibit unnecessary limitations on the cross-border transfer, storage and processing of data or the physical location of computing infrastructure,” said Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.; Commerce ranking member John Thune, R-S.D.; Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Finance ranking member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in a joint letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman Friday (http://1.usa.gov/1wwGCeG). “We urge you to stand firm against efforts by other countries to seek reservations and overly broad exceptions that would undermine these obligations and provide lower levels of protection for trade in digital goods and services as compared to other areas of trade.” House Commerce Trade Subcommittee Chairman Lee Terry, R-Neb., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., sent a similar letter to Froman and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker Friday. “Trade agreements must acknowledge and support the growth of international trade through e-commerce, and cross-border data flows are the backbone of this growth,” the lawmakers said (http://1.usa.gov/1nCWMl5). “We urge you to secure enforceable commitments to free and open cross-border data flows around the world, for the sake of U.S. businesses and for a prosperous global economy.”

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., hosted a “Silicon Holler Express” bus tour of parts of his state last week, he said in a news release. “We're already doing high-tech business where high-speed Internet is available, but with Kentucky's new 'Super I-way,' we will be able to recruit even more complex businesses, and draw them to what I like to call Silicon Holler," Rogers said in a statement last week (http://1.usa.gov/1sYYRXH). "The first phase of the broadband project is expected to be complete in the next 18 months, so now is the time to plan our work and work our plan." He hosted 50 leaders from Kentucky to highlight this initiative, the release said.

The Competitive Carriers Association lauded five GOP senators for advocating a revamp to FCC Mobility Fund rules to focus on rural areas receiving high-speed mobile broadband. Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Deb Fischer, R-Neb.; Jerry Moran, R-Kansas; and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., sent the letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Friday. “The Senators are absolutely correct; rural households and businesses will benefit tremendously from high speed mobile broadband services,” Competitive Carriers Association President Steven Berry said in a statement (http://bit.ly/1wmwB5e). “It is well within the FCC’s authority to ensure rules for Mobility Fund II will allow rural communities to benefit from the same services as their urban counterparts.”

Phoenix Center President Larry Spiwak pushed back against the basing of net neutrality rules on Communications Act Title II, saying the proposal outlined by House Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is "insidious." Waxman proposes to reclassify broadband as Title II and then forbear from the brunt of it, including sections 201 and 202. “While the FCC may forbear from sections 201 and 202, it cannot forbear from the mandates of sections 201 and 202, and it is these very mandates, not the numbers ‘201’ and ‘202,’ that expressly permit the paid prioritization that Waxman seeks so desperately to ban,” Spiwak said Thursday in an op-ed for The Hill (http://bit.ly/1rnx0NW). Spiwak said that “to proceed by reclassification with a gerrymandering of the commission's Section 10 precedent does nothing more than guarantee a third trip to the Courts of Appeal.” He attacked what he judges various legal deficiencies.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., inquired about the practices of social media app Whisper, which specializes in anonymous sharing of messages. “While Whisper may provide its users a unique social experience, the allegations in recent media accounts are serious, and users are entitled to privacy policies that are transparent, disclosed, and followed by the company,” Rockefeller said to WhisperText CEO Michael Heyward in a Wednesday letter (http://1.usa.gov/1uLkuZv), asking the company to brief committee staffers on its privacy policies. “It is questionable, at best, whether users seeking to post anonymously on the ‘safest place on the internet’ would expect that WhisperText has information sharing relationships with third parties such as media organizations.” Rockefeller expressed concern about allegations that the company has tracked locations of consumers who didn’t want to be tracked and created an office outside the U.S. to process user data despite a policy to the contrary. He also flagged the way the company partners with third parties and shares content. "We share the Senator's interest in protecting consumer privacy and will respond shortly," Heyward said in a statement, saying Whisper disagrees with allegations reported by The Guardian and welcomes "the discussion and opportunity to correct the record."

In rewriting the Communications Act, “I would have a very skinny FCC,” said Robert Litan, a Brookings Institution nonresident senior fellow, speaking Wednesday at a Brookings Institution event in Washington on the Communications Act. Litan backs a “very minimalist role” for the agency, focused on its management of spectrum auctions and “I would have them administratively stop discrimination,” whether on the Internet or in traditional media spaces involving network owners blocking content, he said. Robert McDowell, a former Republican FCC commissioner and now partner at Wiley Rein, cautioned about the ease with which the FCC can escape “its congressional tether” and become “oligarchical,” citing the role of the courts in reining the agency in when needed. Litan, a former principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, scoffed at the FCC’s role in approving acquisition deals and said it should be nixed. Larry Irving, a former NTIA administrator and now consultant to telecom and information technology clients, resisted what he viewed as any “straight economic test” or one simply focused on consumer harm, calling communications the “lifeblood of a democracy.” They debated over how prominent the public interest component of the FCC’s role should be, with McDowell cautioning over a potentially “expansive” interpretation. “A straight economic test would frighten me,” Irving said. But the public interest standard should be clearer, he said, noting past challenges in finding the right balance. “It’s impossible,” McDowell said, cautioning against ex ante regulation and noting how much has changed even in the past decade. Irving referred to the many pieces of the FCC puzzle and said “the Communications Act gets most of them right.” But Irving would work to fix certain shortcomings at the agency, he said, referring to a need for expediency on certain fronts. He called efforts to clear federal spectrum “abysmal.” Litan predicted multiple possible drivers of a Communications Act overhaul on Capitol Hill, positing that net neutrality advocates could end up unhappy with the FCC’s rulemaking and ultimately go to Congress seeking a “fix” of the act. Alternatively, Republicans could take control of the Senate, Litan posited: “Imagine a scenario in which they win the presidency in 2016,” Litan said. “Maybe that becomes something the Republicans push because there’s no one to veto.”

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, asked Treasury Department officials and banking regulators what actions they’re taking to prevent data breaches within the financial system, in a letter Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1wtXm64). Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen were among the officials copied on the letter. “The recent breaches show once again that no company is immune from the risk of cyberattack,” said Johnson in a Tuesday release (http://1.usa.gov/1uGxks9). “While financial institutions and retailers are at the front lines in protecting consumers’ information, the financial regulators must also ensure that financial institutions have the appropriate safeguards in place to keep consumers’ data safe,” he said. “I look forward to hearing more about the steps they are taking,” said Johnson. JPMorgan Chase said recently that 76 million households and 7 million small businesses were affected by a breach in June (see 1410060071).

The FCC needs to use a “light-touch Title II approach” to crafting net neutrality rules, applicable to wired and wireless services and banning paid prioritization deals, House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., told FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a letter Wednesday, consistent with her past statements on the issue. The approach “should include but not be limited to the use of Section 202, which explicitly states that ‘any unjust or unreasonable discrimination’ is unlawful,” Eshoo told Wheeler, referring to the Communications Act (http://bit.ly/1x9bXSL). “This approach should seek comment on whether to retain the use of other consumer protection provisions contained within Title II, including the preservation of universal service, the protection of privacy and the assurance of access for people with disabilities.” She argued against the idea that Title II is a “relic of the past” or “heavy-handed” in its nature, pointing to forbearance authority: “The Commission has used this forbearance authority often -- removing many legal obligations from Title II services like wireless voice, for example, but never abandoning the core nondiscrimination protections that are at the heart of the Communications Act.” She pointed to recent settlements the FCC has reached with AT&T and Verizon over mobile cramming and privacy. “Unless the Commission reclassifies broadband under Title II, it will not be able to take actions like these to protect consumers and businesses when it comes to their use of broadband and other modern communications services,” Eshoo said. Industry officials have strongly opposed such arguments, saying Title II would be onerous and that forbearance is no easy or assured path for the companies involved in providing broadband service. They also argue against applying the same standards to wired and wireless services.

Net neutrality regulation is “a terrible idea,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in the tech agenda he outlined for Congress, according to a news release Wednesday. “The last thing we need is government telling ISPs how to carve up bandwidth. Keep the Internet free and it will continue to drive our economy forward,” Hatch said at the headquarters of Overstock.com in Salt Lake City, in prepared remarks (http://1.usa.gov/1CW92ij). “In addition to promoting broadband investment, Congress should support policies that encourage increased deployment and adoption of mobile online services and content, including increased access to licensed and unlicensed spectrum.” Hatch, chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force and a member of the Judiciary Committee, pressed Congress to address what he referred to as patent trolls through legislation, citing a need for “common-sense reforms to our patent laws -- including fee shifting, heightened pleading and discovery standards, and a mechanism to enable recovery of fees against shell companies.” There should be “a renewed focus to combat online piracy” and “responsible data stewardship,” Hatch said, backing a “long overdue” update to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act that would require a warrant for email searches. He backs a “streamlined” antitrust review process and tax overhaul, he said. Cybersecurity legislation should “provide proper incentives, like liability protection, to encourage the private sector to share cyber-threat information with the government,” he said. “Cybersecurity legislation must also strike the right balance between protecting our nation’s computing infrastructure and protecting individual privacy rights. ... A voluntary, non-regulatory approach is most likely to yield consensus legislation”

Broadcaster lobbying expense exploded this latest quarter compared with the same time last year. NAB spent $3.98 million in 2014’s Q3, according to its lobbying disclosure form posted this week. A year earlier, NAB had reported spending $3.26 million, more than half a million dollars less. NCTA spent less on lobbying in 2014’s third quarter than it had a year before -- $3.81 million this latest quarter compared with $4.44 million a year ago. Both NAB and NCTA employ a wide range of lobbying firms and target a variety of priorities on Capitol Hill, both legislatively and in asking lawmakers to act on other fronts. NAB in particular has spiked in its outlays this past year, spending as much as $5.28 million in 2014’s first quarter and $4.65 million in the second, both higher amounts than what it spent in those quarters a year earlier. Both the cable and broadcast industries have been highly engaged this year in the reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, which expires Dec. 31.