Sen. Ron Wyden remains opposed to the Earn It Act because it threatens free speech and security, his spokesperson told us Tuesday when asked if the Oregon Democrat plans to place a hold on the bill (see 2007070060). The spokesperson emailed that the bill won’t do anything to “stop the monsters who produce and spread” child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and “threatens the security and free speech of every American.” Wyden’s Invest in Child Safety Act (S-3629) (see 2007010072) would “provide resources to help protect children from becoming victims and to catch the predators responsible,” his office said.
Country of origin cases
Copyright royalty judges’ initial determination in a webcasting rate-setting proceeding is now due April 15, the Library of Congress said Monday, citing COVID-19. The original Dec. 16 due date was postponed four months, given the “scope and severity of the COVID pandemic and its commensurate disruption of the Web V proceeding.”
The House Armed Services Committee advanced its FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395) Wednesday on a 56-0 vote. The committee added two anti-Ligado amendments to the measure (see 2007010070). Additional amendments House Armed Services advanced include several that would implement March recommendations of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission (see 2003110076). Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., meanwhile, was able reach a deal on a manager’s amendment to that committee’s FY21 NDAA (S-4049), which also has anti-Ligado language. The manager’s amendment now includes language from the Utilizing Strategic Allied (USA) Telecom Act (HR-6624/S-3189) and the Open Technology Fund Authorization Act (HR-6621/S-3820). HR-6624/S-3189 aims to fund creation of an NTIA-managed open radio access network R&D fund to spur movement to open-architecture, software-based wireless technologies (see 2001140067). The modified text would repurpose $75 million from the FCC Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Fund for R&D purposes. The original HR-6621/S-3189 would have provided more, which would have been drawn from spectrum auction proceeds. HR-6621/S-3820 would establish the Open Technology Fund as an independent grantee of the U.S. Agency for Global Media charged with “countering internet censorship and repressive surveillance and protecting the internet as a platform for the free exchange of ideas." The new Inhofe manager's amendment, as earlier, includes language from at least three other tech and telecom bills: the Developing Innovation and Growing the Internet of Things (Digit) Act (S-1611), Deepfake Report Act (S-2065) and Harvesting American Cybersecurity Knowledge through Education (Hacked) Act (S-2775). Senate leaders agreed to vote once the Senate returns from a two-week recess on an amendment to attach the text of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (Chips) for America Act. S-3933 would allocate $10 billion to match state and local incentives and direct the Commerce Department to establish a $3 billion grant program.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to consider a significant amendment to the Earn It Act (S-3398) from Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., at Thursday’s markup (see 2006290056). According to a committee aide, Graham intends to introduce a manager’s amendment with Blumenthal that would remove the tech industry’s blanket immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act from federal civil, state criminal and state civil child sexual abuse material (CSAM) laws: “Service providers will now be treated like everyone else when it comes to combating child sexual exploitation and eradicating CSAM.” The amendment would task a government-backed commission with developing voluntary best practices rather than approving best practices required for certification, as originally drafted. “By allowing any individual state to set laws for internet content, this bill will create massive uncertainty, both for strong encryption and free speech online,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Wyden’s bill would direct $5 billion for investigations and resources about online child abuse. Offices for Graham and Blumenthal didn't comment. Internet Association Senior Director-Federal Government Affairs Mike Lemon welcomed recognition of Fourth Amendment concerns raised against the original bill. He said the amendment, however, would replace one set of problems with another. It would open the “door to an unpredictable and inconsistent set of standards under state laws that pose many of the same risks to strong encryption,” Lemon said. As Section 230 “does not apply to federal criminal law, these proposals, including a government-backed Internet regulatory commission, can only undermine the ongoing fight against CSAM,” said Computer & Communications Industry Association President Matt Schruers. The bill “makes it possible for one state to undermine encryption nationwide,” said NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo. The tech industry shouldn’t be immune from lawsuits, whether at the state or federal level, when it’s responsible for injuring people including children, said National Center on Sexual Exploitation General Counsel Benjamin Bull. He said that either industry will self-correct, or the federal government will expose it to litigation. CSAM is illegal under federal law, despite Section 230, emailed Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Vice President Daniel Castro. “Why are some members of Congress so aggressively pursuing this new law? By most accounts, it appears to be because this law can be used to undercut encryption.”
The House Armed Services Committee voted Wednesday to include in its FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395) two amendments aimed at hindering the FCC’s approval of Ligado’s L-band plan, as expected (see 2006260051). The Senate continued to consider its Armed Services Committee-cleared NDAA version (S-4049) with anti-Ligado language intact (see 2006110026). Senate Armed Services Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., attempted but failed to advance by unanimous consent a manager’s amendment to S-4049 containing additional telecom and tech language.
Refining the Digital Millennium Copyright Act might be better than scrapping the statute and starting from scratch, the Copyright Office wrote Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Monday. Tillis and Leahy asked May 29 how CO would design a modern anti-piracy framework starting from scratch (see 2006090063). The Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee, which Tillis chairs, plans to release draft legislation in December for updating the DMCA. The original balance of this law between platforms and rights holders has shifted, acting Register of Copyrights Maria Strong wrote, citing complaints from rights holders about the burden they shoulder in flagging content. Strong noted tech industry stakeholders are largely satisfied with how the act is working. Altering the framework could have significant impacts on operations and business models of platforms with a disproportionate impact on small businesses and startups, Strong wrote: “This fact may caution in favor of refining the current system, rather than starting from scratch. There may also be practical reasons to refine the current system rather than scrap notice-and-takedown entirely, including international obligations and the adoption of similar systems by a number of our trading partners.”
Sheltering-at-home spurred a record number of consumers to experiment with over-the-top video, reported Parks Associates Monday. The churn rate for OTT services grew to 41% in Q1 from 35% in Q1 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than two in five U.S. broadband households trialed an OTT service, and 8% of U.S. broadband households surveyed subscribed to at least one new OTT service. Stay-at-home orders helped newcomers Disney+ and Apple TV+ beef up their subscriber rosters in Q1, with 49% of new OTT subscribers joining Disney and 27% picking up Apple TV+, Parks said. A key question is whether subscribers will keep these service, said analyst Steve Nason. “A significant challenge, especially for services relying on original programming, is delivering new content since production on many series has halted.”
The next National Broadband Plan shouldn't be a 10-year project and shouldn't be assigned solely for the FCC to conduct and implement, said New Street's Blair Levin during a Friday FCBA webinar with panelists who worked on the original National Broadband Plan before it was released as a report to Congress 10 years ago (see 1003170154). Their consensus now is it should be shepherded outside the FCC to gain broader buy-in across government (see 2003030030). Suggestions for NBP ownership included NTIA, the Commerce Department or the White House.
Satellite news truck companies worry the pending C-band partial clearing could mean the end of their industry, since the lost spectrum is a necessary and irreplaceable resource. Satellite C-band providers say those occasional user worries are misplaced. Operators say their post-clearing plans leave enough spectrum to maintain service at least for the near term.
Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Tom Carper, D-Del., urged the FCC, DOJ and IRS Friday to “aggressively” crack down on robocall scams about the COVID-19 pandemic. They wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Attorney General Bill Barr and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig: “Government and industry should always cooperate to fight illegal robocalls, but it is even more critical at a time when so many Americans are facing economic and health concerns.” The senators’ letter to Pai noted FCC recent actions, including a $225 million fine against robocall businesses Rising Eagle Capital and JSquared Telecom and their principals (see 2006090044). Only “a negligible amount of the hundreds of millions of dollars in FCC-levied fines against robocallers since 2015 have been actually been collected by” DOJ, the senators said. “This poor track record raises concerns that scammers using robocalls to deceive consumers and exploit anxiety associated with the COVID-19 public health emergency will be able to act without significant fear of reprisal, and never made to disgorge the ill-gotten proceeds.” The lawmakers sought recommendations whether further legislation is needed “to ensure that the FCC and DOJ work closer together and actually recoup fines that the FCC levies against robocallers.” They want to know whether six gateway providers the FCC and FTC contacted in April (see 2004030052) have cut traffic allowing pandemic-related scam robocalls originating outside the country into the U.S. The two agencies sent a second round of letters to the providers in May (see 2005200053). The FCC, DOJ and IRS didn’t comment.