Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced legislation Monday requiring “data harvesting companies” to disclose how consumer data are monetized and valued. The Designing Accounting Safeguards to Help Broaden Oversight and Regulations on Data (Dashboard) Act would apply to commercial data operators, like social media platforms, with more than 100 million monthly active users. Operators would have to file annual reports detailing “the aggregate value of user data they’ve collected, as well as contracts with third parties involving data collection.” The bill would implement user rights to delete data. The legislation would empower the SEC “to develop methodologies for calculating data value.” The premise that consumers are getting the short end of the bargain with online platforms by sharing data for free services is incorrect, said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Vice President Daniel Castro. Sharing data, which can be offered to multiple companies, isn’t the same as paying monetary fees for service, he continued. But he agreed with Hawley and Warner that if a bill moves forward for calculating data value, the SEC is the right agency. American Enterprise Institute scholars Will Baird and Jim Harper criticized a separate tech-related bill from Hawley (see 1905200036), saying the Do Not Track Act would allow consumers to “block online companies from collecting any data beyond what is indispensable to the companies’ online services.” The legislation would “create regulatory headaches” for users, operators and industry while failing to increase user privacy, they wrote. The bill, aimed at improving online user experience, would also “mandate one of the most universally despised features of the internet: the pop-up” in order to inform users of a do not track option, they said.

DOJ's reviewing ASCAP and BMI consent decrees (see 1906050060) nearly five years later “is inexplicable in its timing or reason,” Public Knowledge Policy Counsel Meredith Rose said Wednesday. Less than one year from passage of the Music Modernization Act, which presumed the decrees will remain, Justice should “refrain from sweeping changes to the current model” until a new system is in place, she said.

The Senate Commerce Committee plans a June 5 media and video marketplace hearing, as expected (see 1905150062). NCTA CEO Michael Powell and NAB CEO Gordon Smith are among those set to testify, also as expected. The other witnesses are Free Press CEO Craig Aaron and Nielsen CEO David Kenny, Senate Commerce said Wednesday. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. in G50 Dirksen. The panel is considered a way to set up the committee's debate on whether to reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (see 1903150045). Senate Commerce's description doesn't mention STELA but says “witnesses will discuss how new entrants in the video marketplace and the development of digital programming and streaming services have impacted consumer viewing habits and preferences. The hearing will also examine existing laws governing the video marketplace and their role in fostering access to content and promoting competition, localism, and diversity of viewpoints.” The Senate Commerce hearing happens a day after the House Communications Subcommittee's similar June 4 panel (see 1905280061).

Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Thursday introduced legislation that would ban the videogame industry from using “pay-to-win” and “loot box” practices. The legislation targets games used by minors. Incentivizing children to spend money on microtransactions in order to win competitive videogames is exploitative, the lawmakers said. The bill would apply to games for general audiences and minor-oriented games. “Inherently manipulative game features that take advantage of kids and turn play time into pay time should be out of bounds,” Markey said. Cowen analyst Paul Gallant said Friday that the bill would have significant industry impact, particularly for mobile gaming, “which generates the vast majority of its revenue from microtransactions." However, given pro-business Republicans, congressional gridlock and constitutional questions, Gallant believes the bill is unlikely to pass, he wrote investors. The FTC has an Aug. 7 workshop on loot boxes.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., led Wednesday night filing of the U.S. 5G Leadership Act (S-1625) in a bid to bar from U.S. networks equipment from Huawei and other Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers deemed a national security threat. Congress has repeatedly raised concerns about ZTE and other Chinese firms in the context of U.S. competition against China for leadership on 5G, including during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week (see 1905140079). S-1625's filing also follows President Donald Trump's executive order to bar some foreign companies' technology from U.S. networks and a subsequent Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security notice adding Huawei and some of its affiliates to a list of entities subject to export administration regulations that have a presumption of denial (see 1905150066 and 1905160081). BIS soon after issued a general license temporarily allowing certain transactions by Huawei and the affected affiliates through Aug. 19 (see 1905210013). S-1625 would make it U.S. policy that U.S. telecom networks “should not incorporate any hardware or software produced by, or any services offered by” Huawei, ZTE or other entities that are “subject to extrajudicial direction from a foreign government.” The bill would require the FCC complete its work on an NPRM to counter the threat from companies deemed a security threat to U.S. telecom networks or the communications supply chain (see 1812210032). It would create a grant program to make up to $700 million available annually to help U.S. communications providers remove from their networks Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security. “5G networks need to be robust and secure, and not rely on equipment or services that pose a national security risk,” Wicker said. “While we’ve made enormous progress in educating the private sector of the dangers [Huawei and other] vendors pose, we haven’t put in place policies to help resource-strapped rural carriers address and eliminate those risks,” Warner said. “We need to find insecure communications equipment, fix it, and fund it,” tweeted FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. S-1625 “addresses these issues -- lets get this done.” The Competitive Carriers Association and Telecommunications Industry Association praised Wicker and the other senators for filing S-1625. Senate Commerce Security Subcommittee Chairman Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., also signed on as co-sponsors.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., is seeking co-sponsors for his States Afforded Funding Extensions to Oppose Driving Recklessly in Vehicular Engagements (Safe to Drive) Act. HR-2416, which Krishnamoorthi sponsored with Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., would create two supplemental grants for distracted driving prevention programs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers grants but has stringent guidelines that last year four states qualified of the 30 that sought funding, Krishnamoorthi wrote colleagues. One of the supplemental grants would be awarded to states that pass anti-distracted driving laws that define “texting” as including almost every form of electronic data communication. The other grant would go to states that ban all non-navigational viewing of electronics while driving. Each of the two grants would draw on 25 percent of the money already allocated for the NHTSA funding. “Many states may never enact all the requirements to qualify for the current NHTSA grants, but they should still be able to receive funds to educate drivers about the dangers of distracted driving and enforce common-sense laws,” Krishnamoorthi said.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., introduced legislation Thursday to update regulations for streaming services to better guard children against harmful content. Targeting services like YouTube and Netflix, the Kids Internet Design and Safety Act would ban algorithms that “amplify and promote sexual and violent content,” ban manipulative advertising, set labeling systems and bar design features like auto-play.

NTIA plans a multistakeholder meeting on software component transparency, 10 a.m. April 11 at the American Institute of Architects, the agency said in Monday's Federal Register (see 1807190048).

House Judiciary Committee leaders took a step forward in their nascent examination of whether to renew the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, writing the heads of AT&T's DirecTV and Dish Network on how their subscribers would be affected if Congress allowed the law to sunset. Some lawmakers are beginning to dig into the debate (see 1903150045). NAB, an opponent of STELA reauthorization, publicized the letters. The Copyright Alliance is also urging Congress to not renew STELA (see 1903250057). Others back recertification. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and ranking member Doug Collins, R-Ga., sought information by April 19 on the effects of STELA sunset on the satellite companies' subscribers, including “the total number of subscribers by the designated market area where they reside, the call letter of each station being imported to that market, and the number of subscribers receiving each such station in each such market.” There has been pressure from four senators over 12 media markets in which DirecTV doesn't provide locally broadcast network affiliates (see 1903150045). “In all 12 markets, the broadcasters free over the air signal is available and can be combined with DIRECTV service seamlessly,” an AT&T spokesperson emailed Tuesday. “The law only allows distant signals to be provided to homes that can NOT get an over the air signal with an antenna. Typically, a small percentage of any TV market.” Dish didn't comment.

President Donald Trump intends to nominate Raytheon CEO Thomas Kennedy and Amazon Chief Information Security Officer Stephen Schmidt to the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, the White House said Thursday. The industry-led cyber advisory board worked last year on its Cybersecurity Moonshot study (see 1808150055). Trump also intends to renominate Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board member Edward Felten to an additional six-year term until Jan. 29, 2025, the White House said. The Senate confirmed Felten to his current term in October.