Lillian Salerno, a former Department of Agriculture deputy undersecretary, told us she's interested in being an FTC commissioner if nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, but added Tuesday: "I have no idea if I'm being considered." Reuters reported Monday that Salerno is under consideration to fill the empty Democratic seat. Currently, the five-member commission has two members, acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen, a Republican, and Commissioner Terrell McSweeny, a Democrat. Two of the empty seats will likely be filled by Republicans while the other seat should be filled by a Democrat or independent. "I'm a 100 percent confident that if I was given the opportunity ... I would certainly try to protect consumers and particularly small business and ordinary citizens" from abuses involving people's private communications and lack of competition, said Salerno. The Texas resident, who worked in Agriculture's rural development program for five years, said she informed Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, both Republicans, about her interest in being on the FTC but hasn't forwarded her name to the White House, nor has the Trump administration contacted her. She also said she hasn't been contacted by the Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The Intercept reported Friday that Schumer wants his former chief of staff, David Hantman, to fill the FTC seat. Before setting up his own public policy firm, Hantman was Airbnb's head of global public policy for three years, after a nearly six-year stint as Yahoo vice president-global public policy. Neither Schumer's office nor the White House commented. Republican Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes has been floated as a possible nominee to head the commission.

The Copyright Office said it launched a blog aimed at expanding the office's social media presence and sharing office activities. An expanded CO social media presence was part of the office's 2016-2020 strategic plan (see 1510230042). Posts will include updates on registration practices, law and policy developments, information on copyright basics and “copyright lore,” the CO said Thursday. Acting Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple Claggett focused her first blog post on the CO's role. The launch came a week after the CO went live with an updated version of its website.

The Senate Finance Committee plans a hearing at 10 a.m. Tuesday to consider the nomination of Robert Lighthizer as U.S. Trade Representative, the committee announced. “In order for Congress to have a strong say in the Trump Administration’s trade policy agenda, we need to confirm the USTR as soon as possible,” said Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Hatch said he looks forward to hearing how Lighthizer plans to protect American intellectual property rights overseas. Hatch last month said his committee would draft waiver legislation to set the stage for Lighthizer’s confirmation, because he represented the Brazilian Ministry of Industry and Commerce for the Skadden Arps law firm more than 15 years ago (see 1701030014). The Trade Act of 1974 prevents anyone who represented other governments on trade issues with the U.S. from serving as USTR or deputy USTR.

The Communications Workers of America urged passage of call center legislation to be introduced by Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas. A CWA report Thursday condemned offshoring of jobs. Green plans to offer a bill to require U.S. callers to be told the location of the call center to which they're speaking and allow callers to request a U.S.-based center, the report said. It would make U.S. companies that off-shore their call center jobs from the U.S. ineligible for certain federal grants and taxpayer-funded loans. The bill also appeared in the last Congress. “The off-shoring of call center jobs is a trend that is bad for American workers and communities and harmful to the security of U.S. consumers’ sensitive information,” CWA said. “In many cases, overseas call center workers work for low pay, long hours, and in sub-standard conditions.”

President Donald Trump's feelings toward the news media are immaterial; what matters is that he respects the First Amendment and "acts with dignity," said News Media Alliance CEO David Chavern in a blog post Friday which NMA emailed a notification about on Monday. NMA said that a Trump tweet calling the media the "enemy of the American people" employed rhetoric "usually reserved for terrorists."

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday requiring agencies to establish what the administration is calling regulatory reform task forces. “Each Regulatory Reform Task Force will evaluate existing regulations and identify candidates for repeal or modification,” the administration said in a news release. “Each agency’s Task Force will focus on eliminating costly and unnecessary regulations. To hold the Task Forces accountable, agencies will measure and report progress in achieving the President’s directives.” He surrounded himself by executives Friday when signing the order and lambasted what he called job-killing regulations. “An impossible situation, we’re going to solve it very quickly,” Trump promised at the order’s signing. He said the litmus test should be whether regulations make life better or safer for people. “We have begun a historic program to reduce the regulations that are crushing our economy,” Trump said Friday during the Conservative Political Action Conference. “We’re going to put the regulation industry out of work and out of business.” He repeated his belief that 75 percent of the “repetitive” and “horrible” regulations aren't needed, despite pledging his commitment to strong regulations otherwise. The order requires each task force to provide progress updates to agency chiefs within 90 days. “Within 60 days of the date of this order, the head of each agency, except the heads of agencies receiving waivers under section 5 of this order, shall designate an agency official as its Regulatory Reform Officer,” said the order text. Agency chiefs may request waivers from compliance with the order.

Recent government action on transgender issues is "troubling and goes against all that we believe in," said Yahoo in a Thursday statement. The Education and Justice departments under President Donald Trump's direction withdrew guidance issued last year that required public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms based on their gender identity. In the brief statement posted on Tumblr, Yahoo said it "has and always will recognize the inalienable right to equality for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression." In multiple news reports, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Uber also expressed similar dismay. Some of those same companies and their associations were also upset at Trump's immigration curtailment order (see 1701290001).

A coalition of industry and right-leaning groups and officials urged President Donald Trump's administration Tuesday to implement pro-IP rights policies and practices. Former FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, ACT-The App Association, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and NetCompetition were among the entities that signed the open letter. The administration should protect IP rights through “effective” provisions in trade agreements that use the “lure of access to the U.S. market” as an “incentive to convince trading partners they should increase” their IP rights protections, the groups said. The administration should consider IP protection “integral” to consumer protection and national security, the groups said. IP protection is also a “critically important” complement to internet freedom since both allow for a “truly free community” in which “people can engage in legitimate activities safely, and where bad actors are held accountable,” the groups said. They also encouraged promotion of voluntary initiatives that allow good-faith actors to work within the private sector “to address illegal conduct. These voluntary efforts can empower consumers to make educated decisions about their online activities and encourage creativity, innovation, investment and jobs.”

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Thursday he intends to “serve as a bridge between [President Donald Trump] and the tech community” to convey the sector's myriad policy interests to the White House. “I think the president trusts me” on tech issues, Hatch said. Tech sector stakeholders have been highly critical of Trump's executive order curtailing immigration, at least temporarily, from seven Muslim-majority countries. The tech sector strongly backed the states of Washington and Minnesota in their fight to keep Trump’s now-suspended order from being reinstated (see 1701290001, 1702060016 and 1702100042). Hatch, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, told tech officials Thursday his “innovation agenda” for the 115th Congress will include reintroduction of his Immigration Innovation (I-Squared) Act “in the near future.” The bill may cap the number of H-1B visas for high-skilled foreign workers that a company can seek, Hatch said. The tech sector has been one of the top fields seeking H-1B visas. Hatch's tech agenda emphasizes policy priorities such as promoting broadband investment, IP law revamps and discouraging countries from adopting data localization laws. Hatch said he believes it's “past time” for the Senate to pass legislation aimed at updating the 30-year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The House unanimously passed its ECPA update, the Email Privacy Act (HR-387), earlier this month but it's unclear when a Senate version might progress (see 1702070011). Hatch also emphasized the importance of Congress continuing to maintain a “light regulatory touch” on IoT and other emerging technologies in a way that also protects consumers. CTA CEO Gary Shapiro praised Hatch's agenda. “Empowering innovators to create new jobs, markets and industries will provide countless benefits to the U.S. economy and American consumers, while enabling our nation to remain one of the world's best places to do business,” Shapiro said in a statement. Hatch's plan will "boost innovation and remove obstacles that are holding back a leading sector of the economy -- technology," said Computer & Communications Industry Association President Ed Black in a statement. The Software and Information Industry Association believes Hatch is “committed to working across the aisle and with the Trump administration to promote a comprehensive slate of policies that will advance U.S. global leadership and job creation,” said Senior Vice President-Public Policy Mark MacCarthy in a statement. “At a time when American companies face more global competition than ever, this Innovation Agenda is a must-do list for Congress.” CTIA believes Hatch's agenda will “ensure that the U.S. remains the world leader in high-tech innovation,” said Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Kelly Cole in a statement. TechNet CEO Linda Moore said the agenda “will bring focus to many of the issues that matter most to the technology industry, such as high-skilled immigration, STEM education and workforce training, tax reform” and the ECPA revamp.

The technology industry is urging House and Senate Republican and Democratic leaders of the Intelligence and Judiciary committees to provide a balanced approach and open debate on the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is to expire by year's end. "It is critical that Congress takes a balanced yet focused approach with respect to Section 702," wrote BSA|The Software Alliance, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, CTA, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Internet Association and TechNet in a Wednesday letter. "We urge your committees to ensure that any reauthorization includes meaningful safeguards for internet users' privacy and civil liberties, measures to ensure transparency and accountability, and a commitment to continued Congressional oversight." Such an approach, the industry groups wrote, would preserve the intelligence community's need for critical data from foreign sources and ensure digital security and privacy protections. They also want the debate to be open so as to help build public trust in such intelligence activities. Section 702 allows U.S. intelligence agencies to collect information about non-U.S. persons who are under investigation and located overseas (see 1605100001). Critics say Americans are likely getting swept up in such surveillance activities and may be subject to a search without a warrant (see 1612160040). The letter was addressed to House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and ranking member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va.