The Parents Television Council urged House and Senate leaders to “swiftly pass” the Family Movie Act Clarification Act this Congress. HR-6816 filed by Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah. It would update the 2005 statute to clarify streaming services are an approved form of filtering device alongside DVD players. It responded to VidAngel's court battle over its filtering technology (see 1806050039). The company has since introduced a streaming-centric business model some believe may violate copyright law (see 1710190007). PTC President Tim Winter said Wednesday "it simply brings the Family Movie Act -- which allows families to filter explicit content from DVDs -- onto contemporary streaming media platforms.” Entertainment companies “have cleverly but dishonestly painted filtering technology as a tool of copyright piracy,” Winter said. MPAA didn't comment.

Executives from Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Oracle will meet at the White House Thursday to discuss American leadership in tech and innovation, said a government official: Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian and Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman will attend. The companies and organizations didn't comment.

All FTC members are expected to testify before the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee at 2:30 p.m., Nov. 27, in 253 Russell. The oversight hearing would be the first joint testimony from all five new commissioners. It will focus on FTC competition and consumer protection priorities, ongoing agency policy hearings and privacy and data security authority.

The House is expected in early December to pass the National Timing Security and Resilience Act, following Senate approval last week as part of the U.S. Coast Guard Authorization Act, the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation blogged. S-2220 would have the Transportation Department establish a terrestrial national timing signal as a GPS timing backup, it noted Monday.

Sen. Chuck Grassley will chair the Senate Finance Committee in 2019, the Iowa Republican announced Friday. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is expected to succeed Grassley as Judiciary chair (see 1810310025). Between 2001 and 2011, Grassley held the GOP’s top Finance seat, which retiring Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, currently holds. Graham would "push for the appointment and Senate confirmation of highly qualified conservative judges to the federal bench and aggressive oversight of the Department of Justice and FBI,” he said, wanting “common sense, bipartisan solutions to major issues.”

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s (USCC) annual report to Congress, to be released Nov. 14, will include a partial focus on China’s high-tech development activities, including its progress on “Next Generation Connectivity,” USCC says for Tuesday’s Federal Register. The event is 10 a.m. in 902 Hart. Concerns about China’s role in 5G include in a leaked National Security Council draft memo that proposed building a government-owned national 5G network (see 1801290034). USCC Vice Chairman Carolyn Bartholomew said in March she believes China is intent on leading the world on 5G and won't play fair in challenging the U.S. for such dominance (see 1803200036).

Canada should reconsider letting Huawei participate in developing the country's 5G infrastructure, said Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. They were among senators who unsuccessfully pushed to restore a Commerce Department ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to Chinese equipment manufacturer ZTE (see 1808010068). September testimony by Canadian Center for Cyber Security Head-Designee Scott Jones to a parliamentary committee said that country's government has strong cybersecurity protections. Canada is reluctant to outright ban any telecom equipment provider in case that leaves it vulnerable if any other vendors' equipment is attacked, Scott testified. Huawei is barred from Canadian government contracts and from providing equipment to Canada's core telecom infrastructure. Still, "we have serious concerns that such safeguards are inadequate,” Rubio and Warner wrote Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “We are concerned about the impact that any decision to include Huawei in Canada’s 5G networks will have on both Canadian national security and 'Five Eyes' joint intelligence cooperation among the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.” The “strong alignment between the United States and Canada in spectrum management has meant that American and Canadian carriers in many cases share complementary spectrum holdings,” they noted. Trudeau's office didn't comment.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., unveiled principles for an “Internet Bill of Rights” Thursday, calling for opt-in consent for the collection of personal data and net neutrality. The document is modeled on the Obama administration’s 2015 internet bill of rights. Khanna’s office said it consulted ex-officials and tech companies, including former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter.

The Senate Commerce Committee will host a second hearing on potential privacy legislation (see 1809260050), with a focus on new privacy laws in Europe and California. As expected, California privacy activist Alastair Mactaggart and EU chief data privacy regulator Andrea Jelinek will testify, along with Center for Democracy & Technology CEO Nuala O’Connor and Georgetown Law Center on Privacy &Technology Deputy Director Laura Moy. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday in 253 Russell.

The Senate voted 93-6 Wednesday to pass the FAA Reauthorization Act (HR-302), sending the bill to President Donald Trump. The House passed a five-year recertification last week 398-23 (see 1809270050). HR-302 would direct the Department of Transportation to issue regulations banning in-flight voice use of cellphones and other mobile devices, would clarify how wireless towers should be marked to protect low-flying aircraft and includes several provisions aimed at unmanned aerial vehicle systems. The UAV language includes text of the Preventing Emerging Threats Act, which would let the Department of Homeland Security and DOJ react in real-time to stop terrorism threats and would provide clear public disclosure about no-fly areas (see 1809270055). Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., applauded the five-year authorization. “Innovators also get a needed boost from provisions enhancing the competitiveness of our aircraft manufacturers and the continued integration of unmanned aircraft,” Thune said. Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International CEO Brian Wynne called the bill's inclusion of remote ID standards “critical for the ultimate realization of expanded operations, such as beyond line of sight and package delivery.” The also directs a rulemaking on a UAS Traffic Management system.