Week of September 12, 2022
It has been 21 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the event that sometimes seems like yesterday can often feel like it was another lifetime as we debate and haggle over the issues we face in the present. Lest we forget, this New Yorker piece from 2002 remains a valuable remembrance of the sacrifices from that day. And, in a timely connection with our cousins across the Atlantic, here is the scene when Queen Elizabeth II ordered the Star Spangled Banner played at Buckingham Palace in the days following those attacks.
The House and Senate are both back and voting this week. The big item for September will be a Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded, probably until mid December. The appropriations process and the NDAA will continue moving forward, but resolution of those items is likely to fall after the election. The bipartisan deal on privacy reform in the House is not on the legislative calendar, and a vote on Senate antitrust legislation is not scheduled.
*Editor’s Note: The Franklin Square Group Tech Weekly goes out every Monday when Congress is in session. We welcome any feedback on your thoughts.
What We’re Watching:
(Another) Big Week in Crypto: Crypto will take the stage in the Senate this week, as the Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday morning to discuss the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act of 2022, introduced by Chairwoman Stabenow (D-MI) and Ranking Member Boozman (R-AR). The Committee will first hear from CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam. The second panel consists of industry experts to provide their thoughts on the legislation, which has so far garnered support from crypto stakeholders. While witnesses state their case for crypto governance under the CFTC, at the same time SEC Chairman Gary Gensler will be testifying before the Senate Banking Committee in an oversight hearing. Gensler has been an advocate for the SEC to serve as the governing body for crypto and digital assets.
Social Media in the Spotlight: Last week showed the spotlight on social media with President Biden’s industry roundtable, and this week will bring continued focus. The White House hosted a discussion on Thursday with experts and industry stakeholders to analyze current issues surrounding social media including privacy, mental health, children's online protections, competition, Section 230 concerns, algorithmic bias, and more. Afterwards, the Administration renewed their vow to revoke Section 230 liability shields for big tech platforms. This week, the Senate is echoing this focus in a number of hearings related to social media and privacy issues, as well as examining the national security implications of lax data protection practices. While the prospects for Congress to act on a federal privacy framework are dimming, social media is sure to remain a keen focus for legislators on both sides of the aisle.
Antitrust Legislative Hurdles: As the legislative days are ticking for a vote on the American Innovation Choice Online Act, another piece of antitrust legislation faced steep hurdles in Senate Judiciary last week. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a markup of S. 673, The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2021, a bipartisan bill to create an antitrust exemption to allow news publishers with fewer than 1,500 employees to enter into collective bargaining agreements with big tech companies such as Google and Meta. The bill was pulled from consideration after two hours of debate following the passage of an amendment offered by Senator Cruz (R-TX), which would eliminate the antitrust exemption if the parties discussed content moderation. The dust up over the amendment echoes the partisan divide over justifications for content moderation and modifying section 230. It is unclear if the bill will receive additional consideration this session, but it seems to be another sign of problems for antitrust legislation in general.
What’s Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
Senate Banking hearing on new financial products - Tuesday, September 13 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Judiciary hearing on Twitter data security - Tuesday, September 13 at 10:00 AM ET
House Small Business hearing on Right to Repair - Wednesday, September 14 at 10:00 AM ET
House Select Committee on Modernization of Congress hearing - Wednesday, September 14 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing to examine national security implications of social media - Wednesday, September 14 - Panel I at 10:00 AM and Panel II at 2:30 PM ET
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on data protections from foreign entities - , September 14 at 3:30 PM ET
Senate Agriculture hearing on the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act - Thursday, September 15 at 10:00 AM ET
House Agriculture hearing on broadband in the Farm Bill - Thursday, September 15 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on fusion energy - Thursday, September 15 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Banking hearing on SEC Oversight - Thursday, September 15 at 10:00 AM ET
Tech Events
The American Enterprise Institute - "A New Compact with Big Tech" - Monday, September 12 at 1:00 PM ET
Bloomberg Live - "Intelligent Automation: Creating the Workforce of The Future" - Monday, September 12 at 8:30 PM ET
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation - "Should the EU Regulate General-Purpose AI Systems?" - Tuesday, September 13 at 10:00 AM ET
The Government Executive Media Group - "Tech Forecast: The Art of the Possible" - Tuesday, September 13 at 10:00 AM ET
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the XR Association 2022 Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) Policy Conference - "Privacy in the Metaverse: Setting Expectations and Separating Fact from Fiction" - Wednesday, September 14 at 1:00 PM ET
Federal Communications Commission meeting of the Federal Advisory Committee - “Technological Advisory Council to consider and advise the Commission on topics such as 6G, artificial intelligence, advanced spectrum sharing technologies, and emerging wireless technologies” - Thursday, September 15 at 10:00 AM ET
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation - "A New Frontier: Leveraging U.S. High-Performance Computing Leadership in an Exascale Era" - Thursday, September 15 at 11:00 AM ET
What’s Interesting This Week:
God Save the Queen… Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was the second-longest reigning monarch in history, reigning since 1952, after France's Louis XIV. In that same year, a Cambridge PhD candidate designed one of the earliest computer games called OXO, a version of Tic-Tac-Toe (known in Britain as 'Naughts and Crosses’).
