House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., are separately raising concerns about the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks Friday against DynDNS. The attacks resulted in outages or latency for many websites that use the service. The attacks most strongly affected users on the East Coast, though areas in the Midwest, California and Texas also were affected (see 1610210056). The DDoS attacks “are cause for serious concern as they directly disrupt the well-being of online businesses and consumers browsing the Internet,” Upton said in a statement Friday. “We’re closely monitoring the situation and will continue exploring strategies and developing protections to mitigate the impact these types of attacks have on our networks.” McNerney, a House Communications Subcommittee member, urged Congress Saturday to “examine this issue along with ways to improve our cyber security so that we are able to better protect against malicious parties, including hostile state actors, from interfering with our networks. Doing this will be vital for the strength of our economy and our national security.”

The FTC will examine the state of identity theft and how it may evolve, the commission said in a Tuesday news release announcing an all-day public conference May 24. Earlier this year, the FTC said it received more than 490,000 ID theft complaints in 2015, which the commission has characterized as an underreported crime. DOJ estimated 17.6 million Americans were victims of ID theft in 2014 (see 1601280051 and 1603010024). Next year's FTC conference will address how thieves get people's data, the type of information they often look for and how they use it or may attempt to use it in the future, the release said. The event also will seek to quantify the financial and economic impact of ID theft and resources available to victims. Next year will mark the 10-year anniversary of the executive order that created the federal Identity Theft Task Force, formed to develop a comprehensive strategy to fight the crime. The task force is chaired by the attorney general and co-chaired by the FTC chair.

Two out of three people encountered a tech support scam over the past year, found a Microsoft global survey summarized in a National Cyber Security Alliance blog post Monday. Courtney Gregoire, senior attorney in Microsoft's digital crimes unit, wrote that one in five consumers surveyed either downloaded software, visited a scam website, provided remote access to a computer or handed over credit card or other payment data -- and one in 10 lost money. She said consumers have lost hundreds of millions of dollars from such scams but often are "embarrassed or scared" to report them. The survey, conducted during the summer, included respondents from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Singapore, South Africa, the UK and U.S. Fraudsters typically have called older people to say their computers have been infected and try to sell them unnecessary tech support, Gregoire said, but scammers are now using "pop-ups, unsolicited email and scam websites" and luring younger people. The FTC recently filed a complaint against a multinational tech support company based in Missouri (see 1610120057).

President Barack Obama will participate in a White House-sponsored conference on science and technology innovation Thursday in Pittsburgh. Co-hosted by Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, it will touch on technology and data use to improve communities, artificial intelligence and other areas, said a White House blog post last week. Participants will include Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, Fitbit CEO James Park and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D). Representatives from Facebook, Google and Microsoft will speak.

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump promised Monday he will make cybersecurity an “immediate and top priority for my administration” if he wins the November election. “To truly make America safe, we truly have to make cybersecurity a major priority for both the government and the private sector,” Trump said during a Retired American Warriors event in Herndon, Virginia. He promised a “thorough review of our cyber defenses and weaknesses, including all vital infrastructure” soon after he takes office. The cyber review team “will proceed with the most sensitive systems first, but ultimately all systems will be analyzed and made as secure as modern technology permits,” Trump said. “The review will include providing exact recommendations for the best combination of defensive technologies tailored to specific agencies. This will include the various methods of internal monitoring, attack and penetration, investigation of suspected hackers or rogue employees, and identity protection for government employees.” Trump said he will direct DOJ to create joint task forces throughout the U.S. to coordinate local, state, federal and international cybercrime responses “to crush this still-developing area of crime.” Trump said he will direct his secretary of defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff to make recommendations for “strengthening and augmenting” U.S. Cyber Command. He proposed giving the U.S. “the unquestioned capacity to launch crippling cyber counterattacks,” as “America’s dominance in this arena must be unquestioned.” The U.S. “must develop the ability -- no matter how difficult -- to track down and incapacitate” non-state actors that launch cyberattacks, Trump said. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., said he believed Trump didn’t “follow through” enough on cybersecurity issues during last week’s debate with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (see 1609270056). Clinton’s campaign vowed in September to take a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity issues that would build on a White House Cybersecurity National Action Plan (see 1602090068 and 1609060060). Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., praised Trump’s cybersecurity plan in a statement on the Trump campaign’s website. The plan “is exactly what is required for these dangerous times -- bold, serious, and innovative,” Hoekstra said: Trump “understands that we must tackle the cyber threat comprehensively, and that includes being willing to take the offensive. And it means government and the private sector working together.”

Telecom and cable representatives are expected to be a part of a Trump campaign transition team meeting in Washington Thursday, a communications industry official told us. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has rarely weighed in on tech and telecom policy, and unlike his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, he has released no agenda on the topics. The Trump for America transition team scheduled an hourlong “information session” promising “an inside look on the work underway on planning for the transition” at the Baker Hostetler law firm’s offices and featuring transition team leader Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, said an invite to the tech sector. Transition team member Andrew Bremberg, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and a policy director for the Republican National Committee platform committee this year, sent the invite. Likely attendees include CTA, the Internet Association, MPAA, Information Technology Industry Council and CTIA, plus people representing individual companies, said officials. Officials said this is the first big formal outreach from the GOP national election forces since a summer RNC meeting with tech and telecom stakeholders (see 1606060035). One suspected this Thursday meeting will be as large as in that earlier meeting, which featured at least 75 or so people. An official confirmed that room size range of about 75-100 people for the earlier RNC meeting and said that during it, attendees all offered their key policy goals. The Trump campaign didn’t confirm the event, nor did spokespeople for certain trade organizations in these areas.

Two members of the House Commerce Committee questioned the merits of the FCC's set-top box order now on circulation (see 1609130064), one Democrat and one Republican. "I still have concerns with this most recent iteration, particularly the licensing body and development of a standard license," said Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif., citing multiple productive conversations with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on the issue. "Agreements between programmers and pay-TV providers are exhaustive and complex, and do not stop at channel placement or permissions. The FCC should release the text of the recent proposal with enough time for the public, consumer groups and industry stakeholders to sufficiently review the proposal before a vote by the Commission." Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo., also said he's "very concerned about the FCC’s set-top box proposal in relation to copyright protections and privately negotiated licenses. The FCC is proposing a massive new bureaucratic intrusion that threatens innovation, mobile viewing and exposes every consumer’s viewing habits to data mining." The requirement for multichannel video programming distributors to design an app for all devices "will require a huge amount of time, engineering and cost for MVPDs to meet, especially when considering there was a simple, efficient cost effective alternative put forward by the industry; namely building apps for an open standard HTML-5 platform," Long said. "Instead they now have to customize Apps with functionality that they may not even have developed." The agency has said the order would respect copyright and accounts for other issues (see 1609080085).

The House Monday approved the Better Online Ticket Sales (Bots) Act (HR-5104) and the Consumer Review Fairness Act (HR-1301) by voice vote under suspension of the rules. It was poised to pass the Amateur Radio Parity Act (HR-1301), a resolution (H Res-835) expressing the sense that the House “should adopt a national policy for technology to promote consumers' access to financial tools and online commerce to promote economic growth and consumer empowerment” and a resolution (H Res-847) backing “a national strategy for the Internet of Things to promote economic growth and empower consumers,” the Commerce Committee said in a news release before the measures’ consideration under suspension of the rules. “We've got a diverse collection of solutions -- from spotlighting the Internet of Things and Fin Tech to ensuring consumer fairness and allowing folks the chance to see their favorite artist or sports team,” said Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., in a statement. The House hadn't voted on some of the measures at our deadline. The Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee plans a hearing on Bots legislation (S-3183) Tuesday (see 1609080039).

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has no plans to bring up the Trans-Pacific Partnership during the lame-duck session after the November election, he told reporters Thursday. “We don’t have the votes right now,” Ryan said. “So it’s not something that I’m thinking about because I know the votes on this issue very well from doing TPA [Trade Promotion Authority] and we don’t have the votes. And quite frankly, I think they have to fix it.” President Barack Obama told reporters earlier this month he believes TPP, which involves telecom, tech and copyright provisions, eventually will be ratified. “Back home, we'll have to cut through the noise once election season is over,” Obama said, speaking in Asia following the G20 Summit. “It's always a little noisy there.” Vice President Joe Biden, speaking on CNN earlier this week, also said the administration will seek a congressional vote on TPP during the lame-duck session. “There’s going to be some additional changes that have to take place,” Biden added. Both Republican and Democratic presidential nominees have questioned the merits of the trade deal. Ryan will meet with his caucus Friday to discuss the strategy on government funding, which expires Sept. 30 and requires a continuing resolution for funding going forward. Senate Republicans said they're aiming for Dec. 9 as the target expiration date for a short-term CR (see 1609070053).

Hitch Radio CEO Ayinde Alakoye criticized GOP nominee Donald Trump for having an undefined tech and telecom agenda. “While Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton released a comprehensive technology policy platform in June that should excite software developers, Mr. Trump doesn’t pay much attention to our industry’s concerns and is, frankly, on the wrong side of many of the most important issues facing tech today,” Alakoye said in a blog post for TechCrunch dated Sunday. Hitch Radio created an instant messaging app for radio. “Over the course of his candidacy, Mr. Trump has questioned basic data security and privacy principles, called for the boycott of a trusted American innovator and wondered about the virtues of the internet," wrote Alakoye. "If elected president, Mr. Trump’s views on technology could wall off the industry, stifle job and economic growth and cede the United States’ long-held position as the world’s innovation hub.” He questioned the encryption stance of Trump and argued that any “serious candidate running for president must develop an articulate and inclusive policy agenda to ensure the technology industry broadly, and its developers specifically, can continue to innovate, grow and make our world a better place.” Telecom policy observers have been unclear about Trump’s view on telecom issues, relying on limited statements and a handful of tweets on this policy area.