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☆ Biden nominates telecom attorney Anna Gomez to FCC after more than two years of deadlock
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

President Joe Biden nominated telecom attorney Anna Gomez to the Federal Communications Commission, his second attempt to fill an empty seat on the typically five-member panel that has left the agency in a 2-2 deadlock for his entire presidency thus far. Gomez has previously worked for the FCC in several positions over 12 years, the White House said. Jonathan Spalter, president and CEO of USTelecom, a trade group that represents broadband providers like AT&T and Verizon , congratulated Gomez in a statement. Free Press, a nonprofit advocacy group that supports net neutrality, said Gomez's nomination was long overdue. González called Gomez "eminently qualified" for the role and praised the nomination of a Latinx candidate to the position.

☆ Ted Cruz accused JD Vance of empowering 'the radical Green Movement' by aligning with Democrats on a bill to prevent rail disasters like the East Palestine crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

JD Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, proposed the Rail Safety Act in March. "All of us were moved by the testimony of the witnesses" from East Palestine, Cruz said. "We cannot undo the psychological, economic, and physical toll of the derailment in East Palestine," Vance noted, but "there will be another East Palestine in this country if we do not pass the Railway Safety Act." "I earnestly hoped that we would reach a bipartisan consensus," Cruz said, but "this bill is overly and needlessly prescriptive." Nonetheless, Cruz doubted the bill would pass the Senate with 60 votes, let alone the House.

☆ Lawmakers press companies that collect U.S. consumer data to reveal how they buy and sell it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

In the letters, 10 lawmakers asked the companies for detailed responses on the types of sensitive information they gather, such as health, location and phone data, including apps consumers download to their devices. The companies were also asked what information they collect on minors. Last month, the subcommittee on oversight and investigations held a hearing with expert witnesses to examine "the role of data brokers in the digital economy." In that report, the regulator recommended that Congress force brokers to give consumers greater control over their data, but the "data brokers can easily circumvent existing rules and laws," the letter said. Here's the full list of data brokers who received the letter::AcxiomAtDataBabel StreetCoreLogic SolutionsEpsilon Data ManagementEquifaxExperianGravy AnalyticsInteliusKochavaLiveRampMylifeOracle AmericaPeopleConnectPlacer.aiRELXSafegraphSpokeoThomson ReutersTransUnionVerisk AnalyticsWhitepagesSubscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

☆ Threat of TikTok ban has creators scrambling to build followings on Instagram, YouTube
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Politicians have been threatening a nationwide TikTok ban unless ByteDance sells its stake in the app, a move China said it "strongly" opposed. "That's the power of TikTok," Spangler said, adding that the app drives the majority of sales for his business, The Good Chad. Olivier Douliery | Afp | Getty ImagesIn April, Montana legislators approved a bill that would ban TikTok from being offered in the state starting next year. Creators are turning to other platformsVivian Tu, who lives in Miami, has been preparing for a possible TikTok ban by working to build her audience and diversify her content across multiple platforms. With the looming threat of a TikTok ban, Foster said she's been sharing content across Instagram, YouTube and Twitter to try to expand her following.

☆ Lawmakers update Kids Online Safety Act to address potential harms, but fail to appease some activists, industry groups
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Late last year, dozens of civil society groups warned Congress against passing the bill, warning it could further endanger young internet users in different ways. Blumenthal's office said it did not believe the duty of care would have applied to those sorts of groups, but opted to clarify it regardless. Moreover, parental guidance in minors' online lives is critical, but KOSA would mandate surveillance tools without regard to minors' home situations or safety. The bill also faced criticism from several groups that receive funding from the tech industry. "Protecting young people online is a broadly shared goal.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File PhotoNEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. government could delay a decision on giving electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers tradable credits under a renewable fuel scheme, due to concern about legal challenges to the plan, two sources familiar with the matter said. Most credits generated under the RFS are for blending liquid fuels such as ethanol made from corn into gasoline. Adding credits for power generated from renewable gas and then used for charging EVs would take the program in a new direction. The EPA initially proposed adding EVs to the program when it outlined the mandates for blending biofuels for 2023-2025. The delay in finalizing the EV credit program may mean more volume is available for other renewable fuel pools under the 2023-2025 mandate, including blending for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last year recommended adding EVs to the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which incentivizes oil refiners to blend biofuels. The EPA under the Biden administration is now testing the legal limits of the liquid fuel program by extending it to EVs. The EPA has proposed granting EV manufacturers tradable credits based on the amount of renewable electricity that makes it on the grid. Renewable gas producers and EV manufacturers like Tesla have been jockeying to gain the most benefits from the new credits. The November proposal foresaw EV manufacturers could generate as many as 600 million credits in 2024 and 1.2 billion of them by 2025.

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - The Biden administration outlined efforts this week to address growing U.S. national security concerns on foreign companies' handling of Americans' data. Concerns about Chinese-owned TikTok have sparked new efforts in Congress to boost powers to address it or potentially ban the popular short video sharing app. Under Commerce Secretary for Industry and Security Alan Estevez was among those addressing information and communications technology supply (ICTS) chain threats, the department said. "I think it is a top priority and we need to move with urgency," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said at a Senate hearing on Wednesday of the legislative effort. Days before then President Donald Trump left office in 2021, the Commerce Department issued aimed at addressing ICTS concerns posed by China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.

☆ TikTok ban is the least palatable of options
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Montana is following a movement around the United States to try to keep Americans from using TikTok. That has consequences: The United States has never pulled a platform used by so many people to communicate. China, which before TikTok had never cracked the U.S. market with a successful social media network, is unlikely to let ByteDance part with TikTok. More recently the company had been working with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to ease concerns. TikTok users in the United States could still binge on short videos, but the company – and its rivals – would face tougher constraints.

☆ Bipartisan Senate bill would push ticket sellers to disclose fees upfront
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

You also have the option of purchasing live tickets that can be printed directly from your computer or wireless device. WASHINGTON — Swifties, the BeyHive and Cure fans may have a reason to rejoice: Senators on Wednesday are set to introduce a bipartisan bill targeting hidden ticket fees for live events. Dubbed the Transparency in Charges for Key Events Ticketing (TICKET) Act, the measure would require ticketing merchants to disclose upfront full ticket prices, including fees, for concerts, sporting events and other large gatherings. Ticket fees can comprise 21% to as much as 58% of the total cost of tickets, according to a statement from the committee. The bill aims to promote competition "by delivering ticket fee and speculative ticket transparency for the benefit of all consumers," the committee said.

☆ Microsoft-backed tech group pushes for A.I. regulation: Here's what it's suggesting
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

BSA, a tech advocacy group backed in part by Microsoft , is advocating for rules governing the use of artificial intelligence in national privacy legislation, according to a document released on Monday. Microsoft is one of the leaders in AI due to its recent investment in OpenAI, the creator of the generative AI chatbot ChatGPT. The group is advocating for four key protections:Congress should make clear requirements for when companies must evaluate the designs or impact of AI. "If it is, we should have a national agenda for digital transformation," he said, which would include rules around AI, national privacy standards and robust cybersecurity policy. Though the bill still faces a steep road ahead to becoming law, BSA said it already has the right framework for the sort of national AI guardrails the government should put in place.

☆ TikTok has tens of thousands of moderators in Ireland looking for offensive content, CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 23, 2023 in Washington, DC. To spot and remove offensive posts, TikTok has tens of thousands of Ireland-based workers tasked with content moderation, CEO Shou Zi Chew said on Thursday. Speaking at the TED2023 Possibility conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Chew said TikTok has "clear community guidelines" and that executives do not "make any ad-hoc decisions" when dealing with "bad actors" on the internet who post offensive content on the app. "Based on that, we have built a team that is tens of thousands of people plus machines in order to identify content that is bad, and actively, proactively remove it from the platform," Chew said. "I can say that we are building all the tools to prevent any of these actions from happening," Chew said.

April 19 Reuters) - Seagate Technology Holdings (STX.O) has agreed to pay a $300 million penalty in a settlement with U.S. authorities for shipping over $1.1 billion worth of hard disk drives to China's Huawei in violation of U.S. export control laws, the U.S. Department of Commerce said on Wednesday. Seagate sold the drives to Huawei between August 2020 and September 2021 despite an August 2020 rule that restricted sales of certain foreign items made with U.S. technology to the company. Seagate shipped 7.4 million drives to Huawei for about a year after the 2020 rule took effect and became Huawei's sole supplier of hard drives, the Commerce Department said. The other two primary suppliers of hard drives ceased shipments to Huawei after the new rule took effect in 2020, the department said. Even after "its competitors had stopped selling to them ... Seagate continued sending hard disk drives to Huawei," Matthew Axelrod, the Commerce Department's assistant secretary for export enforcement said in a statement.

The lobbying comes amid a sustained effort by TikTok to play down fears raised by lawmakers who want to ban the app, which has 150 million monthly active users in the U.S. She defended the work of TikTok's team in Washington and said the company is trying to address lawmakers' privacy and safety concerns. At the furthest end of the extreme is the legislation from Hawley and Buck that simply seeks to ban TikTok outright by directing the president to block transactions with ByteDance. Hawley has not eased his campaign to ban TikTok. But after, "our phones were ringing off the hook," with the majority of callers voicing opposition to a TikTok ban.

☆ US House Republicans face unity test with major energy bill
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( David Morgan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on its first major legislation of the year on Thursday, a partisan energy bill that poses an early test of unity for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's majority. The 175-page measure, dubbed the Lower Energy Costs Act, represents a top 2022 Republican campaign pledge to lower Americans' energy costs by scaling back Democratic President Joe Biden's climate policies and increasing oil and gas production through deregulation. 1 - House Resolution One, is the most important bill to this Congress," Republican Representative August Pfluger of Texas told reporters. Both Republicans and Democrats are keen to pass legislation that streamlines permitting for energy projects, but the disagreement over the House bill reflects gaping divisions over how to do that. "It does absolutely nothing to lower energy costs for American families.

☆ Fact Check-Satirical edit of TikTok hearing asks if TikTok can talk to the plane on airplane mode
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A clip from TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Zi Chew’s testimony before the U.S. Congress has been edited to include satirical audio. this entire hearing was hilariously humiliating for those asking the questions.” Another example can be seen (here). The video has a TikTok watermark with the username “@barneyplease” and was shared on TikTok (here) on March 25, 2023. The word “airplane” does not appear in transcripts of the hearing (here) and (here). Reports on how social media users shared videos on TikTok critical of Congress members after the hearing can be seen (here), (here) and (here).

☆ Biden FAA nominee who withdrew cites 'cheap and unfounded partisan attacks'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's nominee to head the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) who withdrew from consideration said on Monday he did not see a path forward for winning approval. Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington said in a statement that he had written to Biden on Friday to withdraw. "I no longer saw a respectful, civil, and viable path forward to Senate confirmation," Washington said on Monday. "I faced cheap and unfounded partisan attacks and procedural obstruction with regard to my military career that would have further lengthened the already delayed confirmation process." Senator Kyrsten Sinema, an Independent, said on Monday: "The administration should quickly nominate a permanent FAA administrator with the necessary, substantial aviation safety experience and expertise."

☆ Exclusive: Biden nominee to head FAA withdraws after Republican criticism
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, March 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's nominee to head the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is withdrawing his nomination after Republican criticism that he was not qualified to serve as the top aviation regulator. Last year, Biden nominated Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington to serve as FAA administrator. A White House official had earlier told Reuters "politics must not hold up confirming an administrator to lead the FAA, and we will move expeditiously to nominate a new candidate for FAA administrator." Some industry officials think the White House could name acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen as a new nominee. Nolen, who was named head of the FAA's aviation safety office, has been the acting FAA administrator since April 2022 and has received backing from many Republicans in Congress.

☆ Exclusive: Biden nominee to head FAA withdraws after Republican attacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Last year, Biden nominated Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington to serve as FAA administrator. One of the sources, a White House official, told Reuters that "an onslaught of unfounded Republican attacks on Mr. Washington’s service and experience irresponsibly delayed this process, threatened unnecessary procedural hurdles on the Senate floor, and ultimately have led him to withdraw his nomination today." The White House official added "politics must not hold up confirming an Administrator to lead the FAA, and we will move expeditiously to nominate a new candidate for FAA Administrator." Some industry official think the White House could name acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen as a new nominee. Nolen, who was named head of the FAA's aviation safety office, has been the acting FAA administrator since April 2022 and has garnered wide support from Republicans in Congress.

☆ Biden’s pick to lead FAA withdraws amid shaky Senate support
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Phillip A. Washington speaks at a nomination hearing with the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Capitol Hill on March 01, 2023 in Washington, DC. Democrats and allied independents still might have pushed the nomination through, but key senators on their side balked at supporting Biden's pick. "The FAA needs a confirmed Administrator, and Phil Washington's transportation & military experience made him an excellent nominee," Buttigieg tweeted Saturday night. He has strong ties to the administration, however — he led Biden's 2020 transition team for the Transportation Department, which includes the FAA. "Given the significant challenges facing the FAA, this wasn't the time for an administrator who needed on-the-job training," he said.

☆ Asian Americans are anxious about hate crimes. TikTok ban rhetoric isn’t helping
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

And the Chinese government’s authoritarian approach to numerous other issues clashes with important American values, said many Asian Americans interviewed for this article. Concerns about China have gone mainstream as US national security officials and lawmakers have publicly grappled with state-backed ransomware attacks and other hacking attempts. People rallied during a "Stop Asian Hate" march to protest against anti-Asian hate crimes on Foley Square in New York, on April 4, 2021. But to Chu, the incident was an example of the way politics surrounding China, technology and national security have fueled anti-Asian sentiment. “Asian American issues are American issues, and all Americans deserve to be treated with respect.

☆ A GOP congresswoman says TikTok CEO's testimony made it clear to her that the app is 'an immediate threat' from China and that she supports a ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

GOP Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers called TikTok "an immediate threat" and wants it banned in the US. McMorris Rodgers said she's deeply concerned about the user data of millions of US TikTok users. "I would say there's an immediate threat via TikTok from the Chinese Communist Party. "What the hearing made clear to me was that TikTok should be banned in the United States of America to address the immediate threat and we also need a national data privacy law," she added. McMorris Rodgers pointed to Tiktok and parent company ByteDance as having ties to the Chinese government, which she said is a major risk to Americans.

☆ TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew got his start in tech at Facebook—now his app is its biggest competitor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Ashton Jackson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Prior to running the most popular social media app in the world, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was an intern for one of his largest competitors. On Thursday, Chew sat before Congress to defend TikTok against spying claims as Congress and President Biden weigh a potential U.S. ban. "We are committed to [being] very transparent with our users about what we collect," Chew told the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Today, Facebook has 2.9 billion active users, according to Meta's 2022 Q4 earnings presentation. "The potential security, privacy, content manipulation concerns raised about TikTok are really not unique to us.

☆ TikTok users are making fun of Congress members for their questions to app CEO Shou Chew
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Meanwhile, TikTok creators are leading the way ridiculing members of Congress. “There needs to be an age limit in Congress,” one caption by user @rachelhannahh said about a clip of US Rep. Many of the TikTok video clips suggested Congress members don’t know how modern technology works. They believe members of Congress are detached from technology and unaware of how tech companies within their own country operate, resulting in easily mockable questions. “What color is the algorithm?” said user Christian Divyne in a video mocking some of the questions Congress members asked Chew.

☆ Where TikTok users may go if the app gets banned
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —On the eve of a high-profile TikTok hearing this week, the company shared that it now has more than 150 million US monthly active users. “This uncertainty could push some TikTok content creators to focus more on, and possibly begin, pushing their audiences to other social network platforms,” Mogharabi said. Snap’s stock rose in the days leading up to TikTok’s appearance before Congress amid renewed talks among federal officials of a TikTok ban. Alex Brandon/APIf that happens, Lian Jye Su, an analyst with ABI Search, believes users will follow their favorite TikTok influencers and content creators wherever they go. For now, talk of a TikTok ban may still be premature.

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