Week in Review

Facebook’s cryptocurrency

  • Facebook Inc. formally announced its new cryptocurrency Libra, which will be directly backed by government currencies to provide relative stability to its value and will be available to purchase through a new subsidiary called Calibra. Facebook hopes to launch the program next year with 100 partners, and it currently has 27 partners, including Mastercard Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc.
  • House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters requested Facebook halt development of its cryptocurrency until Congress and regulators can “examine these issues and take action.” Waters joins a growing group of lawmakers who are raising concerns about the new project, including Financial Services ranking member Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)

Regulation

  • The Federal Trade Commission has been investigating YouTube, according to four people familiar with the matter, after several consumer groups and privacy advocates complained that the streaming service does not properly protect children or their data. Company executives have since accelerated talks about how to adjust YouTube content feeds for children, a person familiar with the plans said, including possibly retooling the algorithm for recommending videos.
  • Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook called for tech companies to take responsibility for the “chaos” they have helped create, saying in his commencement address at Stanford University that the tech industry is now better known for “the belief you can claim credit without accepting responsibility” than innovation amid data breaches, privacy violations and the spread of misinformation online.

Content moderation

  • Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced a bill modifying section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to prohibit social media platforms from exhibiting political bias in content moderation or risk losing the immunity that exempts them from liability for the content posted on their sites. Called the “Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act,” the bill would be the first proposed legislation aimed at modifying the section as lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), ramp up criticisms of the protections.
  • A Facebook content moderation site in Tampa, Fla., has been struggling to enforce the social media’s community standards amid conditions described by workers such as sexual harassment, verbal and physical fights at the office and theft, according to 12 current and former moderators and managers. Cognizant, the contractor that runs the Tampa site, is coming up for renewal of its contract with Facebook.

Cyber and national security

  • The Department of Homeland Security will start using a program housed in Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud services to store the biometric data of more than 250 million people, replacing its Automated Biometric Identification System, according to a request for information released earlier this week. The data, which is collected by several Homeland Security departments, is used to identify potential terrorists, immigration policy violators, criminals and others.

U.S.-China trade relations

  • Huawei Technologies Co. Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei said he estimates that the U.S. government’s sanctions will cut his company’s revenue forecast by $30 billion over the next two years, noting that he “didn’t expect the damage to be this serious.” Huawei is also expecting a drop in its international smartphone shipments by 40 million to 60 million this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
  • Apple sent a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative calling for a halt to its plans for 25 percent tariffs on certain Chinese imports, which would impact production of several of the tech company’s products such as iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches. Apple warned the administration that the planned tariffs would “tilt the playing field” in favor of its Chinese rivals.

Telecommunications

  • The Federal Communications Commission said it will vote at its July meeting on whether it should begin auctioning a band of largely unused 2.5 GHz spectrum that had been reserved for education purposes in an effort to expand fifth-generation wireless networks. Chairman Ajit Pai said the proposal would “allow for more efficient and effective use of the airwaves” and advance the United States’ leadership in 5G.
  • Dish Network Corp. is in talks with T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. to purchase some of their assets, including wireless spectrum and Sprint’s prepaid brand Boost Mobile, for at least $6 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, as the two carriers seek regulatory approval for their proposed merger. Discussions are ongoing, but Dish could announce the purchase as soon as this week, the people said.
  • House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) unveiled a new version of the chairman’s “Stopping Bad Robocalls Act” with bipartisan support — laying out a new requirement for carriers to implement call authentication technology and upping the FCC’s statute of limitations for prosecuting illegal callers from one to three years in most cases. The communications and technology subcommittee plans to hold a markup for the legislation this week, and a committee spokesperson said the committee is hoping for a full markup by the end of the summer.

Alphabet protests

  • Alphabet Inc.’s board rejected 13 shareholder proposals, which touched on subjects such as forced arbitration for temporary workers over sexual harassment cases, workplace diversity and the company’s work in China, at its annual shareholder meeting. Outside the meeting, employees and shareholders protested together for the first time to push the company to ditch its nondisclosure agreements and allow for more public venues to discuss harassment and discrimination.

What’s Ahead

  • The House and Senate are in session.
  • The FCC consumer outreach team will tour Minnesota and Wisconsin from June 24-28 to meet with community leaders and groups about telecommunications issues.

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

06/24/2019
FCC’s Upper Midwest Rural Tour
FCC’s June Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment Meeting 10:00 am
House Rules Committee takes up H.R. 2722, Securing America’s Federal Elections Act 5:00 pm
Council on Intelligence Issues event: “Intelligence Operations in a Digital Age” 6:30 pm
06/25/2019
FCC’s Upper Midwest Rural Tour
National Institute of Standards and Technology’s workshop on Consensus Safety Measurement Methodologies for ADS-Equipped Vehicles
House Small Business Committee hearing on broadband mapping 10:00 am
House Homeland Security Committee’s hearing on artificial intelligence and counterterrorism 10:00 am
House Oversight and Reform Committee’s hearing on vulnerabilities in TSA’s security operations 10:00 am
Senate Commerce Committee’s hearing on persuasive technology on internet platforms 10:00 am
ITIF’s panel discussion for the release of a report on trade with Korea, Mexico, and Taiwan 10:00 am
Hudson Institute’s event with FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly on capping the Federal Universal Service Fund 12:00 pm
The Federalist Society’s event on market competition in audio marketplace 12:00 pm
House Science Committee’s hearing on voting technology vulnerabilities 2:00 pm
House Homeland Security Committee hearing on cybersecurity challenges for state and local governments 2:00 pm
House Financial Services Committee’s hearing on fintech regulation 2:00 pm
Senate Commerce Committee’s hearing on transportation technology innovations 2:00 pm
06/26/2019
FCC’s Upper Midwest Rural Tour
National Institute of Standards and Technology’s workshop on Consensus Safety Measurement Methodologies for ADS-Equipped Vehicles
Forbes 2019 AgTech Summit
House Financial Services Committee hearing on artificial intelligence 10:00 am
House Science Committee’s hearing on societal and ethical considerations of artificial intelligence 10:00 am
House Homeland Security Committee’s hearing on social media companies’ efforts to combat terrorist content and misinformation 10:00 am
House Judiciary Committee’s oversight hearing of the U.S. Copyright Office 10:00 am
FTC’s webinar on consumer fraud and identity theft in southern California 11:00 am
06/27/2019
FCC’s Upper Midwest Rural Tour
Forbes 2019 AgTech Summit
Skift Tech Forum
Defense One Tech Summit 7:30 am
PrivacyCon 2019 9:00 am
Brooking Institution’s public discussion on these information-sharing systems and privacy legislation 1:30 pm
06/28/2019
FCC’s Upper Midwest Rural Tour
FTC Cmr. Phillips featured on Sedona Conference panel on Standard Essential Patents and Antitrust 1:00 pm
View full calendar

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