Facebook's plan to integrate messaging services WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger raises privacy concerns, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said Friday. “We need more than mere assurances from the company that this move will not come at the expense of users’ data privacy and security,” Markey responded to reports. Emailed a Facebook spokesperson: "We're working on making more of our messaging products end-to-end encrypted and considering ways to make it easier to reach friends and family across networks ... There is a lot of discussion and debate as we begin the long process of figuring out all the details of how this will work.” The FTC should fine Facebook more than $2 billion for violations in the Cambridge Analytica breach, groups wrote Chairman Joe Simons Thursday. Electronic Privacy Information Center, Color of Change, Government Accountability Project and Open Market Institute alleged FTC Act violations. Such infractions can result in a $41,000 fine per offense, the groups wrote, and Facebook said as many as 70 million Americans were affected. “Even generously assuming that each affected person was subject to only one violation of the order, a thousand dollar fine per violation would necessitate a $70 billion fine. Our point is not to argue for a fine of this scale, but to underscore the authority the FTC possesses to impose consequential fines,” they wrote. The agency should also require Facebook to “unwind” its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, the groups said, citing failures to protect WhatsApp user data. The commission didn’t comment. Facebook declined comment on the investigation.

The big four wireless carriers should describe if and how third parties gained consent for collecting and sharing user location data (see 1901160044), Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote the companies Thursday, doubling down on questions posed in May. His letter to AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile CEOs requested data-sharing information about Oregon customers. He asked for records showing third parties obtained customer consent, what procedures are used for gaining consent and if third parties misrepresented consent agreements. He claimed the carriers didn't provide complete answers to the same questions in May, and asked for a response by Feb. 15: “You and your lawyers seem to prioritize corporate secrecy over transparency about how your customers’ information has been shared without their knowledge.” AT&T referred to a previous statement detailing how the company is winding down location data agreements. The other carriers didn’t comment Friday.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., filed the Telecommunications Denial Order Enforcement Act Wednesday to require the president to bar export of U.S. telecom equipment to any China-based telecom company that violates U.S. export control laws. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona were lead Democratic sponsors. The bill cites Huawei and ZTE, which have drawn lawmaker ire over spying allegations, as potential violators of U.S. sanctions. The legislation would bar any “official of an executive agency” from modifying an export denial order against a violating Chinese telecom company unless the president certifies to Congress the company hasn't violated U.S. laws for at least a year and is cooperating in U.S.-led investigations into its activities. President Donald Trump in 2018 instigated a settlement that lifted the Commerce Department ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1807130048), which also drew congressional pique. “Huawei is effectively an intelligence-gathering arm of the Chinese Communist Party whose founder and CEO was an engineer for the People’s Liberation Army,” Cotton said. “If Chinese telecom companies like Huawei violate our sanctions or export control laws, they should receive nothing less than the [corporate] death penalty.”

The House voted 240-188 Wednesday to pass the FY 2019 Financial Services and General Government funding bill (HR-264), which includes appropriations for the FCC and FTC. The bill is one of four that House Appropriations Committee Democrats filed Sunday in a bid to end the partial government shutdown and finalize FY 2019 funding for affected federal agencies, including the FCC and FTC (see 1901070057). HR-264 would allocate $333 million to the FCC for FY 2019, including $11 million for the Office of Inspector General. The legislation would give the FTC almost $310 million. Those funding levels are the same as in a Senate Appropriations Committee-cleared FY 2019 Financial Services appropriations bill and in President Donald Trump's proposed budget (see 1806210068). The Senate and House passed versions of a FY 2019 “minibus” appropriations bill last year that included $335 million for the FCC and more than $311 million for the FTC (see 1808010064). House passage of HR-264 came on the 19th day of the partial shutdown, during which there were no new signs of potential progress on Capitol Hill to end the impasse with President Donald Trump (see 1901080004).

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced a bill Friday that would create a White House office for coordinating interagency strategy to combat technology theft and supply chain threats from foreign adversaries like China. The Office of Critical Technologies & Security would coordinate with federal and state regulators, industry, experts and international partners, the lawmakers said. The bill would protect U.S. competitiveness in emerging and dual-use technologies, Warner said. “China continues to conduct a coordinated assault on U.S. intellectual property, U.S. businesses, and our government networks and information with the full backing of the Chinese Communist Party,” Rubio said. They cited Chinese telecom companies ZTE and Huawei as part of an overall threat on U.S. private sector supply chains.

Prospective 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., blasted ZTE for lobbyist hires she alleged “keep blocking” Congress' ability to ensure the Chinese telecom equipment maker meets the Commerce Department's settlement that lifted a ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1807130048). Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., later filed the ZTE Enforcement Review and Oversight (Zero) Act to enforce the settlement's terms (see 1809180055). Kasowitz Benson reported in late December ZTE retained ex-Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., now a partner with the firm, to “undertake an independent assessment of concerns that Members of Congress, Executive branch and American businesses have about any national security vulnerabilities and risks that ZTE products may pose." Lieberman and the firm “will then submit a report to ZTE concerning those concerns and appropriate measures that may be taken to resolve/or ameliorate them,” the disclosure said. “Although Lieberman/KBT will not be advocating for ZTE, we have decided to register in the interest of transparency and caution because we will be talking with Members and other covered officials as part of the assessment we are conducting.” American Continental Group and Black Diamond Strategies also reported lobbying Capitol Hill on behalf of ZTE via Hogan Lovells over the Zero Act. ZTE “violated serious U.S. sanctions” on Iran and North Korea, Warren tweeted Wednesday. “Their lobbyists keep blocking accountability. And today [Lieberman] joined them. Should that be legal? No.” There should be “a lifetime ban on Members of Congress working as lobbyists to make sure they only serve the public,” she said. “We need a ban on foreign lobbying so countries like China, Russia and Saudi Arabia have to conduct their foreign policy out in the open. I've proposed both.”

The House Ways and Means Committee's outgoing chairman expressed skepticism that the new North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico can clear the House without revisions. Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who will pass the gavel to ranking member Richard Neal, D-Mass., in January, expects Ways and Means “will be working to continue to improve the agreement until there's bipartisan support for it," he said last week. Brady thinks “the 'yes' votes for this agreement will come from lawmakers who want not just an improved NAFTA, but they want a seamless one,” with no supply-chain “disruption” in sales of “more American agriculture and technology," he said. “That desire for a seamless transition to a new agreement is both the smart thing to do for the economy, and where lawmakers will want to be."

The FTC should investigate whether Google Play store apps violated a children’s privacy law by improperly sharing location data, Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Tom Udall, D-N.M., wrote the agency Wednesday. The apps illegally shared tracking information, “exposing children to inappropriate content and advertising,” the lawmakers claimed. The FTC confirmed it received the letter. Apps in Google’s Designed for Families program comply with “strict” policies on content, privacy and advertising, a Google spokesperson emailed. “We take these issues very seriously and continue to work hard to remove any content that is inappropriately aimed at children from our platform.”

The Senate passed the Measuring the Economic Impact of Broadband Act (S-645) and two other tech and telecom bills Thursday under unanimous consent. The others were the Amber Alert Nationwide Act (S-3461) and an amended version of the House-passed National Quantum Initiative Act (HR-6227). S-645 and House companion HR-5093 would compel a Bureau of Economic Analysis assessment of effects of broadband deployment and adoption (see 1703150053). S-3461 and House companion HR-6350 would fund integration of all U.S. territories into the national Amber alerts program (see 1809240038). HR-6227 would establish a National Quantum Coordination Office within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (see 1809130065). Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who sponsored S-645, praised Senate passage. It "will help provide us with the reliable, publicly available economic data we need to make informed decisions about expanding broadband, connecting our communities, and keeping us competitive,” Klobuchar said. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., lauded passage of the amended HR-6227. “Establishing a national quantum program is essential to maintaining our position as global leaders in science and technology,” Thune said. “If the U.S. is to lead the way in quantum, we will need a coordinated federal effort to focus resources, unify public and private sector interests, and train a quantum-ready workforce,” blogged Intel Director-Quantum Hardware Jim Clarke.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai should address questions about the platform’s dominance and alleged anti-conservative bias, House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox News Sunday. Pichai is to testify before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday (see 1812030044). McCarthy asked what Google is doing with its vast trove of Search data, claiming the platform knows “almost everything about us.” The U.S. needs to “know that Google is on the side of the Free World (in particular, America) and will provide its valuable services free of political bias and censorship,” he tweeted. The company didn’t comment.