Week of February 27, 2023
It may never rain in Southern California, but apparently it does snow from time to time. While snow coated the Mojave Desert, the sun shone brightly on the boys of summer as Major League Baseball’s spring training kicked off in Florida and Arizona.
President Biden made a historic visit to Kyiv last week as a show of support for Ukraine’s defense of its country against Russian invaders, and this week the House Armed Services Committee will conduct oversight hearings into the military aide that has been provided to Ukraine.
This will be a short legislative week in the House, as Democrats will hold their annual policy retreat, and the Senate continues to process nominees and organize their legislative committees.
What We’re Watching:
House Revives Privacy Debate: The Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, And Commerce will hold a hearing on Wednesday to continue their fact-finding mission on how a comprehensive national privacy standard can enhance civil liberties as well as ensure America’s technological leadership. This is the first step in Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ push to pass comprehensive privacy reform, building on the 117th Congress’ American Data Privacy Protection Act (ADPPA). The ADPPA made it farther in the legislative process than any past efforts when it was overwhelmingly supported by Members of both parties at the E&C Committee. However, the dynamic has shifted now that McMorris Rodgers has the committee gavel, and a significant number of new committee Members on both sides of the dais will need to be educated about the broader issue of privacy reform. Nonetheless, this week’s hearing, amid a very busy committee schedule, is an indicator that this issue is a top priority for the Chair.
House Select Committee on China’s First Hearing: The new Select Committee on China will hold its first hearing in prime time (thanks a lot January 6 Committee) on Tuesday night. This committee may be the hottest game in town in the 118th Congress, as “China issues” are broad in scope, and a priority for almost every industry. And, while the news that the Covid pandemic likely started with a lab leak in China will only increase the political dynamic of this hearing (and the Committee’s work), this initial event is expected to be a more top-line discussion about the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party. Witnesses for the hearing include:
The Honorable Matthew Pottinger, Former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor
The Honorable HR McMaster, Former U.S. National Security Advisor
Ms. Tong Yi, Chinese Human Rights Advocate
Mr. Scott Paul, President of theAlliance for American Manufacturing
Supreme Court, Congress, and CDA 230: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week in two cases (Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh) that could have profound impacts on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The big takeaway from the oral arguments, Section 230 reforms may be left to the Congress to decide. Several pieces of legislation introduced last year track some of the algorithm issues raised in these cases, and other bills in the pipeline could impact the 230 debate, including reintroduction of the PACT Act and EARN IT Act. It will be worth noting whether House Members use this week’s E&C Committee privacy hearing (referenced above) to also press for the need for reforms around 230, as their Senate colleagues did in an earlier Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that was supposed to focus on children’s online privacy.
What’s Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
House Science Committee hearing on China technology competition - Tuesday, February 28 at 10:00 AM ET
House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the CCP - Tuesday, February 28 at 10:00 AM ET
House Financial Services Committee markup - Tuesday, February 28 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Banking Committee hearing on export controls - Tuesday, February 28 at 10:00 AM ET
House Oversight Committee markup - Tuesday, February 28 at 11:00 AM ET
House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing on privacy - Wednesday, March 1 at 8:30 AM ET
Tech Events
The Technology Policy Institute - 2023 Antitrust Conference - Monday, February 27 at 9:00 AM ET
The Cato Institute - "Bank Secrecy Act Reform: Restoring the Fourth Amendment" - Monday, February 27 at 10:00 AM ET
The Bipartisan Policy Center - "The Role of Fintech in Americans' Financial Security" - Monday, February 27 at 2:00 PM ET
Billington CyberSecurity - "Executing DOD's Cybersecurity Mission” - Tuesday, February 28 at 8:00 AM ET
The Brookings Institution - “Discussion with Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen on reauthorization of FISA Section 702” - Tuesday, February 28 at 9:30 AM ET
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation - "Can Regulators Handle the Mastodons of the World? focusing on decentralized Internet services” - Tuesday, February 28 at 10:00 AM ET
Politico - Privacy: Who’s Winning? - Wednesday, March 1 at 8:30 AM ET
SeedAI - “National AI Research Resource Task Force Public Event” - Wednesday, March 1 at 10:00 AM ET
NIST - Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board Meeting - Wednesday, March 1 and 2 at 10:00 AM ET
The Atlantic Council - "U.S. Leadership in the Future of Money" - Monday, March 1 at 12:00 PM ET
The Cato Institute - "Gonzalez v. Google at the Supreme Court," focusing on Section 230 and YouTube algorithms that allegedly assist terrorist recruitment - Thursday, March 2 at 12:00 PM ET
What’s Interesting This Week:
TV Like You’ve Never Seen Before…. On February 28, 1954, the first color television sets using the NTSC standard were offered for sale to the general public. NTSC is the standard used in most of North and South America, Japan, and a few other places in the world.
