David McCabe
David McCabe
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Trump signs measure overturning internet privacy rules

Andrew Harnik / AP

President Trump has signed a Congressional resolution overturning Federal Communications Commission rules that would have required internet providers to get their customers' permission before sharing personal data like browsing history with advertisers. The rules had yet to go into effect.

What's next: Democrats view this as an issue that they can use to hit vulnerable Republican lawmakers, so they'll do what they can to keep it in play politically. Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who supported the effort to overturn the rules, said that he wants "the American people to know that the FCC will work with the [Federal Trade Commission] to ensure that consumers' online privacy is protected [through] a consistent and comprehensive framework."

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FCC kills condition on massive Charter-Time Warner deal

AP

The FCC voted — according to multiple reports — to eliminate a key condition of its approval of the $65 billion merger between Charter, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

The gritty details: The agency told Charter in signing off on the deal that it had to build out broadband to two million new customer locations, and that a million of those had to be places where there was already a broadband provider. The idea was that the latter stipulation would create new competition. That's what the FCC has voted to eliminate. A commission official argued to Axios earlier this year that it would encourage Charter to focus expand to customers who didn't already have broadband access.

Who wins: Supporters of the effort to eliminate the so-called "overbuild condition" include small cable providers. A spokesperson for Charter said in a statement that by "modifying the overbuilding condition, the FCC enables Charter to more fully devote our resources and attention to building out high-speed broadband to areas without it today."

Why it matters: It marks another place where new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is rolling back the actions of his predecessor, Democrat Tom Wheeler. Pai is a longtime critic of merger conditions he views as tangential to the deal in question.

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Pittsburgh says Uber has "moral obligation" to give back

The Wall Street Journal reports on some daylight between Uber at the city of Pittsburgh, one of the places where it tests its self-driving cars:

"If they are going to be involved in economic disruption, they have a moral obligation to society." — Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto

The details: Peduto wants Uber to sign on to help with senior services and commit to working condition and fuel economy changes, per the Journal. Uber told the paper it hopes "to continue to have a positive presence in Pittsburgh by supporting the local economy and community."

Why it matters: Uber's self-driving car program has dealt with its share of troubles. That includes a failure to get the right permits, initially, to test its cars in California and multiple alleged incidents involving the vehicles. The company has also been dealing more broadly with allegations that it has a toxic, sexist work culture.

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ISPs offer reassurances after privacy votes

Alan Diaz / AP

Major internet providers spent Friday reassuring customers nervous after Congress voted to overturn privacy protections that would have required them to get permission to share user data with advertisers. The rules had yet to take effect.

  • Verizon's Karen Zacharia: "Let's set the record straight. Verizon does not sell the personal web browsing history of our customers. We don't do it and that's the bottom line."
  • Comcast Gerard Lewis: "In view of all the misinformation and inaccurate statements that have been made in the last week, we want to make sure that our customers understand how strong our privacy protections really are."
  • AT&T's Bob Quinn: "The Congressional action had zero effect on the privacy protections afforded to consumers." And: "Hopefully, this week's action by Congress gets us back on the path to a more rational and consumer-friendly framework. I am also hopeful that facts actually work their way back into the debate."

Why it matters: The companies are aware of how much attention the vote has attracted, thanks in part to rallying cries from the liberal grassroots who are sure to have a vocal response to the efforts to roll back net neutrality rules.

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EU antitrust official mum on Google antitrust probe

European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager dodged commenting on when the bloc might resolve its antitrust cases against Google during a conversation with reporters in Washington:

"The Google cases are moving forward. They are high priority. But it is, as always, very difficult to give any kind of deadlines because we don't know what happens sort of in the process, things can still come up that we'll need to spend time on. You know that the procedural rights, they are important for us, and therefore it is very difficult to say when we will have a conclusion of the first, the second and the third Google case. But they are, of course, still very high priority."

Why it matters: Vestager's three cases against Google are closely watched because of the company involved, but also because they underscore Europe's broader willingness to take on American tech companies. The commissioner has denied harboring a bias against U.S. businesses.

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Where things stand in the fight over net neutrality

Photo illustration: Rebecca Zisser / Axios

After Republicans in Congress pushed through a resolution to overturn internet privacy rules, which is expected to be signed by the president, some Democrats are warning an agreement on net neutrality may be harder to reach. Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, compared this week's vote to a "sledgehammer" and said it "really poisons the well" for a broader net neutrality bill.

Why this matters: A legislative replacement for the FCC's net neutrality rules was never going to come easy. But any increased skepticism focuses the spotlight on Trump's FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and what he plans to do about the rules. Here's where things stand now:

The lay of the land ... words

At the FCC:

  • There's little doubt that Pai hopes to see scrapped the legal designation of broadband service that allowed the FCC to implement its net neutrality rules in the first place. He hasn't provided much in the way of details on how he'll go about doing this.
  • Pai's argument for undoing the rules is clear. He said at a conference in Barcelona a month ago that the rules "injected tremendous uncertainty into the broadband market," which he called "the enemy of growth."
  • Gigi Sohn, an advisor to former Chairman Tom Wheeler who spearheaded the net neutrality rules, said that consumer advocates see the privacy debate as a way to get people "excited and active on net neutrality" as the issue looms at the FCC. Pai, of course, will have his own vocal telecom allies in whatever path he choses to pursue.
Two angles: Proponents of the net neutrality rules will argue the fight over the privacy regulations is evidence that keeping the current regime in place will best protect consumers from bad ISP behavior. Detractors will say that stripping that regime — and handing authority over internet provider privacy back over to the Federal Trade Commission — will better serve consumers.

On Capitol Hill:

  • This month's votes to overturn the FCC's broadband privacy rules, which were born out of the net neutrality regulations, have become a front-row tech issue with Democrats. For example, the party's campaign arms are using it to attack Republicans.
  • Not every lawmaker is on the same page as Pallone. Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who would play a major role in any deal, says he doesn't want to link the privacy scuffle with the broader net neutrality debate. Same for Sen. Brian Schatz: "I don't know that it's the same thing."
  • Top Republicans insist they haven't scuttled a deal. Sen. John Thune, who is pushing for negotiations, says he thinks Democrats might be prodded towards the negotiating table by FCC action. The death of the privacy regulations does mean that privacy rules for ISPs could be used to soothe the fears of lawmakers wary of a deal. Thune says he's willing to consider that if it will bring Democrats to the table.

Reality check: Senate Democrats are unlikely to strike up serious conversations with Republicans about the issue before they see what Pai is up to. "I think right now it depends on what the FCC does, and it's highly unlikely that the legislative branch is going to go first," said Schatz.

The bottom line: Pai is likely to make the first move here, and he hasn't committed to a timeframe for action. Watch how the "netroots" advocates and Congress respond to his decision. "It's a safe assumption that [Chairman] Pai is going to move forward with his own proposal and we'll have to take a look at that and evaluate what the path forward is after that," Schatz said, "whether our best strategy is litigation or legislation."

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AT&T will build mobile network for first responders

Alan Diaz / AP

Federal officials said Thursday that AT&T will build a major wireless broadband network for first responders. The contract is worth $6.5 billion dollars, and billions more are expected to be spent on building out and operating the network.

This is a big step for the network, called FirstNet, which grew out of concerns on 9/11 about the inability of first responders to communicate with each other in an emergency. But the project has been troubled.

Why it matters: AT&T gets 20 megahertz of wireless spectrum to deploy as part of the project. That's primarily meant to be used for first responders, but the company can use excess network capacity to serve its customers — a boon given demand for wireless data has been on the rise. States are allowed to opt-out of the network, however, and develop their own systems.

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Another perspective on automation: Do more with "something different"

Jens Meyer / AP

An interesting perspective on the employment questions raised by automation surfaced at a Senate hearing this morning thanks to retired Col. Michael Cartney, who leads the Lake Area Technical Institute in South Dakota:

"So there's been concerns that technology's going to allow us to do more with less. So my response is always: you never do more with less, you do more with something different. And that's what technology's doing. But it's not reducing the number of workers we need, it's changing the types of workers that we need."

Why it piques our interest: We hear all the time that automation isn't going to rob Americans of their jobs, just change them. But Cartney isn't some think-tank type — he's involved in training Americans for new jobs.

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FCC to pull back part of broadband subsidies update

Robin Groulx / Axios

The FCC is moving to pull back one aspect of an Obama-era effort to reform to a program that subsidizes internet and phone service for low-income people, possibly presaging a larger effort to change the program.

The details:

  • Under Democratic Chairman Tom Wheeler, the FCC expanded the Lifeline program to cover broadband and said that the companies that provide that service could be approved by the federal government, rather than on a state-by-state basis. Some states sued over that change.
  • FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Wednesday that while he supports including broadband in the program, "the FCC will soon begin a proceeding to eliminate the new federal designation process." It will also stop defending the process in court, and Pai said the agency should reject the applications submitted through the process.
Why it matters ... words

Why it matters: This is just the beginning of a battle over the future of Lifeline. Pai drew headlines earlier this year when he moved to rescind the certification of several Lifeline providers approved under Wheeler — including among the applications he thinks should be rejected — and wants major changes to the program. Mignon Clyburn, currently the commission's only Democrat, said in a statement that Pai's "statement confirms that under this Administration low-income Americans will have less choice for Lifeline broadband, and potential providers who want to serve low-income Americans will face greater barriers to entry and regulatory uncertainty."

What we're watching: Whether this changes which companies — or how many — come to the table to provide broadband service through the program, since they will no longer be able to get certified through a centralized federal process.

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House votes to roll back privacy protections for internet customers

Elise Amendola / AP

The House voted 215-to-205 Tuesday night to overturn Obama-era regulations that require internet providers like Verizon, Comcast and AT&T to get a user's permission before sharing their browsing history and other data with advertisers. It also prohibits the FCC from creating similar regulations in the future.

The White House has said it will recommend that President Trump sign the resolution, which was already approved by the Senate.

What it means for broadband providers: The rules hadn't yet gone into effect so this doesn't change the day-to-day ways that ISPs deal with customer data. But this likely clears the way for ISPs to go full speed ahead in taking on Facebook and Google for digital ad dollars. Meanwhile, the FCC will have to determine how to deal with privacy on broadband networks without the rules in place.

What it means for net neutrality ... words

What it means for net neutrality: The vote could roil the waters on a larger debate over net neutrality. The privacy rules only exist because of the FCC's 2015 net neutrality regulations, which conservatives hate and liberals love. So this rollback — should the president sign it into law — adds a new wrinkle to that conversation.

  • One key lawmaker said this could make a legislative deal on net neutrality more difficult. "I mean, after this today, if this goes through, this is like a sledgehammer, right?" said Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House's Energy and Commerce Committee, adding, when asked about the chances of a net neutrality bill in light of the upcoming vote, "I'm always willing to meet with people but I think this really poisons the well."
  • Republican Sen. John Thune, who will likely lead any effort to reach a deal, said he would be willing to consider adding privacy protections to a legislative compromise on net neutrality "if that were something that it took to get Democrats to the table." Marsha Blackburn, who chairs a key tech subcommittee and sponsored the House resolution to roll back the privacy rules, said that she didn't think the vote would make getting a deal more difficult. "We're doing what needs to be done," she told Axios.
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