Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor and likely incoming secretary of commerce in the Donald Trump administration (see 1611300028), “will ultimately direct much of the administration’s trade policy,” Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller told reporters on a call Tuesday. Miller said there’s no talk currently of merging the U.S. Trade Representative with the Commerce Department. But “Mr. Ross will be playing a big role in any trade particulars” and “setting much of the overall direction on this front,” Miller said. The Senate will need to confirm the Ross nomination next year.

Action to weaken encryption will work "against the national interest," said a report released Tuesday by members of an encryption working group selected from the House Judiciary and Commerce committees. In one of four observations, the report said the national security community stressed the need for strong encryption in national defense and securing critical infrastructure. Industry said encryption is one of the "strongest cybersecurity tools available," and civil society groups emphasized its importance for privacy, speech and human rights, said the document. Congress shouldn't weaken encryption, but the report said it shouldn't ignore concerns from the law enforcement and intelligence communities and should explore other proposals and nurture cooperation between law enforcement and tech industry. The report also said encryption is widely available around the world and there's no one-size-fits-all solution to challenges presented to law enforcement. Working group members include House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., House Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J. Others are Reps. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y.; Suzan DelBene, D-Wash.; Darrell Issa, R-Calif.; Bill Johnson, R-Ohio; Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.; and Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.

The Technology Policy Institute issued 10 recommendations it says can help the Trump administration better promote innovation and economic growth. In the 18-page policy paper, TPI President Scott Wallsten and President Emeritus Thomas Lenard said the incoming administration should roll back the FCC net neutrality and broadband reclassification order because they largely deal with hypothetical concerns rather than fix current problems and should use antitrust enforcement to address competition issues. Trump's team has signaled a distaste for those regulations and will likely push to have the order repealed (see 1611230014). The Thursday paper said processes to put spectrum into the hands of the private sector should be streamlined and business models such as those "based on price and non-price differentiation without requiring regulatory approval" should be allowed. Wallsten and Lenard seek more incentives to improve cybersecurity and ensuring strong intellectual property rights policies.

A bill that would ban clauses that stifle negative online consumer reviews of a company's product or service (HR-5111) and another bill (S-3183) prohibiting the mass online purchase of events tickets, which are resold at higher prices, were signed into law Wednesday by President Barack Obama. The Consumer Review Fairness Act now prohibits gag or non-disparagement clauses within a company's terms of service, which have been used to silence bad reviews of goods, services or conduct (see 1606210061 and 1511040028). Consumers Union Senior Policy Counsel George Slover said in a statement "businesses should not be able to manipulate consumer feedback so that only glowing reviews see the light of day. If a business can't or won't deliver, it should have to answer in the marketplace." The other new law, the Better Online Ticket Sales (Bots) Act, bans use of software that circumvents a ticketing system's control measures and scoops up massive amounts of an events' tickets before the public has the chance to buy them. Ticket sellers and other supporters of the law said the tickets are then resold at exorbitant prices (see 1612010018).

The News Media Alliance's recent white paper on policy positions (see 1611300048) for the incoming Trump administration is “alarming” given its call to potentially “weaken fair use,” said Electronic Frontier Foundation IP activist Elliot Harmon in a blog post. The alliance, formerly known as the Newspaper Association of America, proposed that a Trump White House and Congress seek the enactment of “strong” copyright protections that “must be structured to allow for a return on investment, and not to encourage aggregators, search engines, social media sites and advertising networks to build revenue from content in which they do not invest.” Legislation should include language “refocusing the fair-use test on its original purpose to prevent courts from undermining the Constitution’s encouragement of compensation to entities that generate creativity and productivity,” NMA suggested. It targets federal courts' transformative fair use test prong by “asking the government to revoke rights that journalists rely on: the use of quotations and eyewitness photos in news reporting is itself a form of transformative fair use,” Harmon said. “Glibly asking to change the fair use statute, which has been the bedrock of copyright law's free speech protections since it was written into the Copyright Act in 1976, is short-sighted and dangerous.” Fair use “is one of the safety valves in copyright law intended to protect First Amendment rights,” Harmon said. “The press can’t afford to weaken one of its most important tools.” It “takes a leap to say what we're suggesting” will result in a weakening of the fair use doctrine, an NMA spokesman said. NMA's white paper is aimed at “trying to bring back value” to the journalistic work its members produce, with its copyright proposal focusing on “protecting those that create and disseminate ideas,” the spokesman said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold its confirmation hearings (also see our calendar) for Trump administration attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Jan. 10 and 11. Sessions supplied answers to his written questionnaire, posted on the Judiciary website. His role will have bearing on antitrust matters, with the AT&T/Time Warner deal pending before the Justice Department, and on surveillance issues under debate there. Sessions is a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., bowed her anticipated bill Thursday aimed at establishing a voluntary copyright small claims process within the Copyright Office (see 1606080068 and 1609210060). The Fairness for American Small Creators (FASC) Act, which Chu sponsored with Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, mirrors both a 2013 Copyright Office recommendation for establishing an alternative copyright small claims process and the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act (HR-5757), which Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Tom Marino, R-Pa., filed in July (see 1607140035). Both the FASC Act and HR-5757 establish a Copyright Claims Board within the CO that would adjudicate cases involving damages claims under $30,000. “The increase in digital theft has made it harder for creators to be properly compensated for their work,” Chu said in a news release. “And most creators lack the resources to challenge copyright infringement claims in federal court. This bipartisan bill would help by creating an expedited process within the [CO] that will make it easier for creators to pursue claims and protect their intellectual property.” Chu drew praise from the Professional Photographers of America, one of the groups she said she closely consulted in writing the legislation. “This is [a] long-awaited day for visual artists,” said PPA CEO David Trust in the news release. “Most mom-and-pop creators have felt disenfranchised by America's copyright system. [The FASC] Act would finally give small creators equity under the law.” The Copyright Alliance believes “federal litigation is often difficult (or impossible) for many individual creators and small businesses to undertake, resulting in them having rights, but no remedies,” said CEO Keith Kupferschmid in a news release. Chu’s filing of the FASC Act came the day House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and committee ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., released their policy proposal for addressing CO-centric issues, which included an endorsement of the CO’s small claims process recommendation (see 1612080061).

The expected nomination of Andrew Puzder to be labor secretary (see 1612080067) got more opposition from the communications field. The CEO of CKE Restaurants likely to be nominated by incoming President Donald Trump "is the same man who moved a family-oriented restaurant into hyper-sexualized marketing. He publicly and vehemently defended his explicit marketing as harmless fun and as what young guys want. This is a troubling move from a new Administration that has said it wants to ‘drain the swamp,’” said Parents Television Council President Tim Winter in a release Thursday. “For someone who is charged with overseeing the interests and concerns of our labor force, it’s disconcerting that we’d rely on someone so seemingly eager to hyper-sexualize women for his own corporate gain."

The American Cable Association is applauding President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Linda McMahon as head of the Small Business Administration (see 1612070031). The former CEO of professional wrestling, over-the-top and pay-per-view company WWE "is on record as opposing government mandates that burden smaller companies and understands that government should not needlessly stand in the way of small businesses' efforts," ACA said in a statement Thursday.

The Communications Workers of America voiced concerns Thursday about Andrew Puzder, who reportedly is President-elect Donald Trump's likely pick to be secretary of labor. CWA said Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, objected to raising the minimum wage, among other union concerns. Puzder "would be a fine choice to head a government agency responsible for looking out for millionaires," said CWA President Chris Shelton in a statement. “Puzder has a record of public statements and action that demonstrates why he is a poor choice to head the agency responsible for promoting ‘the welfare of wage earners, job seekers and retirees.’ The Department of Labor is supposed to be on the side of working people when it comes to keeping jobs safe, stopping employer abuse and safeguarding workers’ rights on the job. That’s what working people need. Instead, Puzder opposes many of the policies and programs he would administer. He opposes the Department of Labor’s overtime rule and actually claimed that what workers 'lose in overtime pay they gain in stature and sense of accomplishment.'"