Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida and nine other House Commerce Committee Republicans had urged the FCC ahead of its Wednesday meeting against approving data breach notification rules that would sidestep a 2017 Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval that rescinded similar regulations as part of the commission's 2016 ISP privacy order (see 1704030054). FCC Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington raised the CRA issue in their dissents against the data breach rules that the commission approved Wednesday 3-2 (see 2312130019). "These rules are substantially the same as those Congress disapproved of" in the ISP privacy order, Cammack and the other Republicans said in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel released Wednesday. "Therefore, it would be unlawful for the FCC to adopt these new rules." They cited "requirements for notification, content of customer notification, and recordkeeping," which "largely mirror" elements of the 2016 rules. "Given these similarities, we are shocked that the FCC is attempting to revive these rules after Congress explicitly rejected them," the lawmakers said. When "Congress overrules an agency, that action is final; no agency has the power to ignore the plain meaning of a Congressional statute."

The short-term extension Congress is considering for surveillance authorities in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) opens the door for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) debate to continue into 2025, prolonging surveillance abuse for 16 months, Demand Progress said Wednesday ahead of the House’s expected vote on the NDAA (see 2312120073). As drafted, the NDAA includes an extension through April for the FISA and surveillance authorities under Section 702. “A temporary extension of Section 702, like the one currently included in the NDAA, would be entirely unnecessary and paves the way for a sixteen-month extension,” said Demand Progress. Congress should consider proposals that revise Section 702, including a warrant requirement for searches of U.S. persons, it said.

Removing liability protections for generative AI tools would have significant, negative impacts on online free expression, content moderation and innovation, advocates and industry groups wrote Senate leaders Monday. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., announced plans to seek unanimous consent through a hotline process for his No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act (see 2306150059). A coalition of groups, including the Computer & Communications Industry Association, American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Prosperity, Center for Democracy and Technology, Chamber of Progress, Electronic Frontier Foundation, R Street Institute and TechFreedom, sent the opposition letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Generative AI “is a complex issue that deserves careful thought and nuanced, precise legislation -- not a rigid, heavy-handed overreaction that threatens to undermine free speech, user safety, and American competitiveness in the AI marketplace,” they wrote. “We urge Congress to consider a more thoughtful approach.”

The House China Committee Tuesday recommended as part of a report on ways to "fundamentally reset" the U.S. economic competition with China that Congress "fully fund" the FCC's Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, which faces a $3.08 billion budget gap and resultant prorating of payouts to participants (see 2310120067). Lawmakers have been eyeing whether to directly appropriate the additional $3.08 billion amid stalled talks on a spectrum legislative package that would loan the money to the FCC and use future auction proceeds to pay it off (see 2311070050). The House China report doesn't recommend a specific funding vehicle but says providing the money will help remove "Huawei, ZTE, and other high-risk foreign adversary-controlled telecom vendors" from U.S. networks. The panel recommended strengthening the FCC’s "covered list" of companies barred from the agency’s equipment authorization program by enacting legislation allowing DOJ "to make determinations as to the national security threat from certain equipment and services that can trigger the FCC to add such equipment and services to the Covered List. This could ensure that the FCC can rapidly respond to 'white-labeled' equipment and services that should be on the Covered List." House China also wants legislation "requiring a separate equipment certification for any device using any module produced by any Covered List entities or their subsidiaries or affiliates." Competitive Carriers Association President Tim Donovan praised the report. "Congress must immediately provide full funding to secure our nation’s networks and prevent any loss to vital communications services," he said in a statement.

The Senate confirmed Ballard Spahr’s Kenneth Jarin as chair of the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s International Broadcasting Advisory Board Wednesday night on a voice vote. The chamber separately confirmed Jarin to an IBAB term through Jan. 1, 2027. The Senate also confirmed four other nominees for IBAB seats: Luis Botello, former International Center for Journalists deputy vice president-global impact and strategy, through Jan. 1, 2025; Jamie Fly, former Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty CEO, through Jan. 1, 2027; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty ex-President Jeffrey Gedmin, through Jan. 1, 2025; Michelle Selesky Giuda, former assistant secretary of state under President Donald Trump; and former WJLA-TV Washington anchor Kathleen Matthews, ex-Maryland Democratic Party chair, through Jan. 1, 2027. “Each member brings a wealth of talent, expertise and passion to our mission to inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy, and I can’t wait to see what we accomplish together,” USAGM CEO Amanda Bennett said Thursday in a statement. IBAB “adds a layer of thoughtful oversight and strategic guidance to our agency that will undergird our commitment to freedom and democracy into the future.”

Officials at the FBI, Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency, State Department and National Science Foundation violated the First Amendment when they pressured social media companies to remove content, Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote Wednesday. He sent letters to the State Department, FBI, CISA and NSF asking for information related to “censorship” activity. According to Cruz, the State Department sent social media companies a list of individuals they identified as “inauthentic,” but the list included American citizens, not just foreign actors. The NSF “doled out millions to fund Stanford University and the University of Washington’s Election Integrity Partnership, which successfully influenced social media companies into ‘moderating’ millions of tweets flagged by CISA and the FBI,” said Cruz. The lawmaker is seeking information on “applicable taxpayer-funded grant making and non-governmental partnerships processes.” NSF doesn’t “engage in censorship and has no role in content policies or regulations,” the agency said in a statement Wednesday. NSF invests in research on communications technology based on congressional and statutory guidance, it said: It’s in the U.S.’s best economic and security interest to understand how scammers and foreign adversaries are using communications tools. The other agencies didn’t comment.

Meta should stop intentionally evading children’s privacy law by knowingly collecting data of users younger than 13 without consent, Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., wrote CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday. Citing findings in a lawsuit from more than 30 state attorneys general, the lawmakers wrote that Meta in 2015 allegedly collected data on underage users, “even after receiving reports that the users were children.” Platforms must obtain parental consent before collecting data on users younger than 13 under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The states’ complaint cited internal Meta documents estimating “that four million users on Instagram were under age 13, making up 30 percent of all children between 10 and 12 years old” in the U.S. Meta didn’t comment.

Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., want the FCC to “move swiftly to permit” sharing in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band as part of the Further NPRM it opened in May (see 2305180052). A Dish-commissioned analysis of the band submitted last month found providers can offer fixed-wireless service in the lower 12 GHz band without causing interference to satellite operations (see 2311160032). The FCC “has a unique near-term opportunity to expand broadband access, improve the distribution of spectrum resources, and put our spectrum to its most efficient use, especially in rural areas of the country,” Markey and Blackburn said in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel released Monday. “If the Commission determines that fixed broadband operations can coexist in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band without interfering with incumbent users, the Commission should move swiftly to permit such use, particularly as the federal government deploys additional resources to close the digital divide.” The FCC “can do this by updating twenty-year old rules for the band to account for new technological advances, which can make sharing possible, and considering the creation of a sharing framework to permit local access to unused spectrum channels in this band; ensuring tribes have adequate spectrum access in the band; and potentially authorizing low-power, indoor-only unlicensed use of the band,” the lawmakers said.

President Joe Biden should reverse U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai’s decision to abandon digital trade provisions at the World Trade Organization, a bipartisan group of 32 senators wrote in a letter to the president Thursday (see 2311160079). Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, led the effort with 30 other senators. This follows a similar request from a bipartisan group of House members. “Retreating from our longstanding principles without offering a viable alternative does not help U.S. workers, it does not help U.S. consumers, it does not help U.S. businesses, and it does not help U.S. allies; it only helps our adversaries,” they wrote. The White House and USTR didn’t comment.

Santa Clara County, California, Supervisor Joe Simitian (D), who was active on distracted driving, privacy and surveillance issues as a state senator, said Wednesday he’s running to succeed retiring House Communications Subcommittee senior member Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. Eshoo announced last week she wasn’t running for reelection in 2024 (see 2311210073). She is one of seven House Commerce Committee members who have announced their retirement. Simitian’s announcement didn’t highlight his telecom and privacy legislative work. He authored a Santa Clara County surveillance transparency ordinance (see 1609090061) and in 2017 aided work on similar state-level legislation (see 1703140017) by Sen. Jerry Hill (D) that stalled in the California legislature. Simitian, while a state senator, pressed for legislation that would hike fines for using a cellphone while driving (see 1002260137). He also pressed for changes to California’s data breach notification law (see 0903100129).