Government shutdown

• The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Federal Communications Commission’s request to postpone oral arguments, scheduled for Feb. 1, in a case challenging the agency’s decision to roll back its net neutrality rules. The FCC asked for a postponement because its staff is mostly furloughed during the government shutdown, but net neutrality groups opposed the request, saying the issue is too urgent.

• Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s staff cited the partial shutdown in declining the committee’s request for an emergency briefing on the wireless industry’s data collection practices. In a statement, the FCC said it will continue to investigate wireless carriers’ location data privacy practices after the shutdown ends.

• The number of expired web security certificates held by U.S. government agencies, including the White House, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Archives, grew from 80 to more than 130 last week as the government shutdown continues, according to internet security firm Netcraft. Outdated certificates make it harder for people to visit the sites because most browsers, such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, won’t load the pages without first displaying a warning message suggesting the site might be a security risk.

Data privacy

• Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced a new privacy bill Wednesday, dubbed “The American Data Dissemination Act,” aimed at providing a federal standard for privacy regulation for big tech companies that would pre-empt certain state privacy regulations. Under the bill, the Federal Trade Commission would write recommendations to Congress for the privacy rules, and Congress would need to successfully pass a law within two years after Rubio’s bill goes into effect or the FTC will have the power to write its own privacy rules.

• In an essay, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook called on Congress to pass comprehensive federal privacy legislation and suggested the FTC should create a “data-broker clearinghouse” to crack down on firms that sell and transfer personal information to other buyers. Cook also said consumers shouldn’t need to endure another year of data leaks and “companies irresponsibly amassing huge user profiles.”

Huawei Technologies Co.

• In a rare briefing with reporters, Huawei Technologies Co. founder Ren Zhengfei denied that his company helps China spy on Western governments and said he’d wait to see if President Donald Trump, whom he called a “great president,” intervenes in the case of Huawei finance chief Meng Wanzhou, who is in Canada facing extradition to the United States on charges of helping defraud banks to avoid sanctions on Iran. Ren also downplayed the company’s role in the current trade dispute between China and the United States, saying, Huawei is “only a sesame seed” in the conflict.

• Federal prosecutors are in the middle of a criminal investigation of Huawei for allegedly stealing trade secrets from U.S. business partners, according to people familiar with the matter, including in a case involving the robotic technology powering T-Mobile US Inc.’s smartphone tests. The investigation could lead to an indictment soon, the people said.

• Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) introduced bills banning the sale of U.S. chips and other components to any Chinese telecommunications company that violate U.S. sanctions or export control laws. Both Huawei and ZTE Corp. are cited in the bills as each company has been accused of failing to respect U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Telecommunications companies’ location data sales 

• Sprint Corp. said it will stop all sales of location data to third parties, nearly a week after AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile pledged to do the same following a report that the three telecommunications companies had been selling customers’ location data that was landing in the hands of bounty hunters and other unauthorized parties. Sprint did not say when it would halt the data sales; T-Mobile and AT&T said their processes would be complete in March.

• Top Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Communications Inc. and Sprint asking for more details about the companies’ data-sharing agreements. The group of Republicans — Reps. Greg Walden (Ore.), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Bob Latta (Ohio) and Brett Guthrie (Ky.) — said they are “deeply troubled” by the number of times reports about such location data sales have surfaced, and they sent additional letters to MicroBilt and Zumigo, third-party data aggregators named in a Motherboard report about such sales.

• The Senate and House of Representatives are scheduled to be in session following the federal holiday Monday.

• FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) will discuss voluntary auction of 2.5 GHZ EBS spectrum band at the National Press Club Tuesday morning.

• The FCC is scheduled to hold its next open meeting Jan. 30. Agenda items include consideration of anti-spoofing provisions in the RAY BAUM’S Act and establishing a schedule to transition to CAF Phase II Auction Support in price cap areas.

1) You Deserve Privacy Online. Here’s How You Could Actually Get It
Tim Cook, Time

2) Rubio debuts alternative privacy bill
David McCabe, Axios

3) U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people
David Shepardson, Reuters

4) Congress asks FCC for emergency briefing on ending location data sales
Alfred Ng, CNET

5) AG pick Barr wants closer scrutiny of Silicon Valley ‘behemoths’
Harper Neidig, The Hill

6) Huawei’s Founder Breaks Silence to Deny U.S. Spying Claims and Praise Trump
Yuan Gao, Bloomberg

7) Huawei Targeted in U.S. Criminal Probe for Alleged Theft of Trade Secrets
Dan Strumpf et al., The Wall Street Journal

8) Facebook to invest $300 million in news, focusing on local
Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press

9) Hack Brief: An Astonishing 773 Million Records Exposed In Monster Breach
Brian Barrett, Wired

10) Amazon Shareholders Push to Halt Sale of Facial Recognition Tech
Spencer Soper, Bloomberg