Sonos applauds the House Antitrust Subcommittee Democratic staff report Tuesday for recommending Congress should consider legislation on abuse of market power in the digital economy (see 2010060062), emailed a spokesperson Wednesday. The report came a week after Sonos filed its second lawsuit against Google (see 2009290037) for infringement of five additional patents for its latest smart speaker launch (see 2009300062). “The House report vindicates Sonos’ belief that big tech routinely engages in practices that stifle innovation, artificially extend their monopolies and harm consumers,” said Sonos Chief Legal Officer Eddie Lazarus in a statement. Big tech companies “copy other peoples' inventions, flood the market with chintzy products sold at bargain basement prices, and make consumers pay with their privacy. Congress has our support as they pursue a legislative package that reigns in this destructive behavior.” Sonos has made "misleading statements about our history of working together," emailed Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda Thursday. "Our technology and devices were designed independently. We deny their claims vigorously, and will be defending against them.” Google supports Congress "focusing on areas where clearer laws would help consumers," said Castaneda.

The National Retail Federation hailed House introduction of the Online Accessibility Act to amend the Americans with Disabilities Act to include commercially owned, consumer-facing websites and mobile apps, making them more accessible to the visually impaired. The bill, introduced Thursday by Reps. Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Lou Correa, D-Calif., would establish standards for defining which websites and apps are ADA-compliant, directing DOJ to issue rules spelling out the definitions. “Retailers want to serve all customers, and that includes those who are blind or visually impaired,” said NRF Friday. “This bill makes it clear that the ADA applies to websites and requires that businesses make their websites accessible, but it also sets clear rules on what that means. This should put an end to frivolous lawsuits that have diverted resources that could be better used to make sure online products and services are easily available to everyone.” A federal judge in May ordered consolidation of nearly two dozen complaints from advocates for the blind against Onkyo, Sound United, Vizio and other consumer product companies, alleging the companies failed to make their e-commerce sites accessible to the visually impaired, in violation of the ADA (see 2005140002).

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, led filing of the Unplug the Internet Kill Switch Act (HR-8336/S-4646) in a bid to bar the president from using emergency powers to unilaterally take control over or deny access to the internet and other forms of communication. The measure would remove from Communications Act Section 706 language that allows the president to take control of or shut down "any facility or station for wire communication” if the White House deems it "necessary in the interest of the national security and defense” after a proclamation “that there exists a state or threat of war involving" the U.S. "If you give government an inch, it takes 10 miles, and this has been vividly illustrated by the surveillance state’s overreaches in a time of seemingly endless war," Paul said. "No president from either party should have the sole power to shut down or take control of the internet or any other of our communication channels during an emergency." Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., are lead co-sponsors of S-4646. Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky., is co-sponsoring HR-8336. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel previously raised concerns about the Section 706 language (see 2001280069).

Responses from Alphabet, Facebook, Squarespace and Twitter about alleged anti-conservative bias are “completely unpersuasive,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said Thursday. Lee originally wrote the companies asking each to “justify anti-conservative bias in their content moderation process.” Alphabet's Google uses content moderation standards that “are apolitical, unbiased and do not preference one point of view over another,” the company wrote. Twitter doesn’t use “political viewpoints, perspectives, ideology or party affiliation to make any decisions, whether related to automatically ranking content or how we enforce our rules,” it wrote. Facebook also denied undue political influence over its content moderators. Squarespace said many of Lee’s questions don’t apply to the company because it doesn’t have market power or a comments section and doesn’t engage in “content removal coordination with other online platforms or competitors.” Lee responded: “I continue to be concerned about the ideological discrimination going on at these firms and I believe further oversight will be necessary in order to obtain the facts and answers that the American people deserve.”

The House Commerce Committee advanced tech bills Wednesday on voice votes -- the Combating Pandemic Scams Act (HR-6435), AI for Consumer Product Safety Act (HR-8128) and American Competitiveness of a More Productive Emerging Tech Economy Act (HR-8132). The committee earlier cleared (see 2009090068) three communications measures. HR-6435 would compel the FTC to inform the public about mail, telemarketing and internet scams involving COVID-19. HR-8128 would direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to start a pilot using artificial intelligence. HR-8132 would require the FTC and Commerce Department report on the impact of AI and other emerging technologies on U.S. businesses doing interstate commerce. Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., hoped the chamber votes on the measures “soon.” Ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., and other GOP leaders said they're "disappointed that legislation on autonomous vehicles and data protection were noticeably missing” from the markup.

Senate Republicans introduced legislation Tuesday to clarify Communications Decency Act Section 230, altering liability protections for tech companies. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced the Online Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity Act. The legislation would replace “otherwise objectionable” with concrete terms for defining content moderation liability such as content promoting terrorism, unlawful content and content promoting self-harm. It would condition content moderation liability on an “objective reasonableness standard” when companies restrict access to content.

The Senate Antitrust Subcommittee scheduled a hearing on Google’s role in ad market competition at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 15 in 562 Dirksen, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced Tuesday. The hearing is titled “Stacking the Tech: Has Google harmed competition in online advertising?”

The Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee announced details for a hearing on Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 1201 for 2:30 p.m. Sept. 16 in 226 Dirksen (see 2006230068). Witnesses are Copyright Office General Counsel Regan Smith, Intel Intellectual Property Policy-Global Director Vanessa Bailey, University of Colorado Law School professor Blake Reid, Mitchell Silberberg’s Matthew Williams, Constantine Cannon’s Seth Greenstein, ACT|The App Association President Morgan Reed and Auto Care Association Senior Vice President-Regulatory and Government Affairs Aaron Lowe.

The tech industry’s dominance over the ad marketplace puts broadcast stations "at a competitive disadvantage” for ad revenue and “impedes broadcasters’ ability to effectively monetize” online content, NAB told the House Antitrust Subcommittee Wednesday. CEO Gordon Smith said, “Local stations consequently lack bargaining power when dealing with the massive digital companies that essentially have become gatekeepers for content providers.”

The Bound Congressional Record, recording the daily proceedings and debates on the floor of Congress, is being added to Congress.gov, blogged Robert Brammer, Library of Congress Law Library chief-office of external relations. The agency also plans to add search aids such as the Daily Digest, History of Bills and index, which are usually found in the last part of the Bound Congressional Record for a given year, he said Monday.