Lawmakers: Shutdown wearing on tech agencies Presented by CTIA

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With help from Nancy Scola, Steven Overly and Jordyn Hermani


— Shutdown latest: Lawmakers are growing more concerned about the shutdown’s impact on key functions at federal agencies that deal with tech.

— Important nom: President Donald Trump’s pick for ombudsperson for the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield agreement is headed to the Senate for confirmation.

— Heat on Oracle: A congressional tech caucus is calling for Oracle to respond to Labor Department claims it discriminated against female and minority employees.

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LAWMAKERS: SHUTDOWN WEARING ON TECH AGENCIES — Lawmakers are voicing concern about how the partial government shutdown is slowing the work of key tech and telecom agencies as the lapse in funding continues. Here’s the latest:

— Eyes on FCC, FTC: House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) called a Jan. 31 hearing on how the shutdown is affecting federal agencies, and the FCC and FTC will be part of the mix. Both agencies have furloughed large parts of their staff, and many of their regular activities have been paused. Expect questions about the FCC’s ability to police robocalls and the FTC’s stalled investigation of Facebook’s privacy practices.

— Location, location, location: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) accused FCC Chairman Ajit Pai of having “stiffed” Pallone, in rejecting his request for an emergency briefing on how wireless carriers handle user location data. Pai told Motherboard the FCC “has already has been investigating this issue” and that it “will resume once the shutdown has ended.”

— Will another one bite the dust? The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, where business has been carrying on as usual amid the shutdown, is nearing the end of its available funds for patent operations, according to an update posted on the agency’s website. “Based on current estimates and expenditure rates, we expect our reserves to fund patent operations to last until at least the second week in February, and trademark operations to last until at least mid-April 2019,” the USPTO wrote, adding that it will weigh options to extend those timelines.

PRIVACY OMBUD NOM HEADS TO THE SENATE — President Trump has sent to the Senate the nomination of Keith Krach to serve as undersecretary of state for economic growth — an appointment of keen interest to MT because Krach would also serve as ombudsperson under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield agreement.

— If confirmed, Krach would fulfill a key demand made by European officials. They’ve said that the continuation of the Privacy Shield deal, which streamlines data flows across the Atlantic, hinges on having a permanent, high-ranking U.S. point person for their privacy complaints. They’ve been agitating for just such an ombudsperson since the resignation of the last undersecretary for economic affairs more than two years ago. Krach is the former chairman and CEO of the electronic signature company Docusign.

FIRST IN MT: HOUSE TECH CAUCUS WANTS ANSWERS ON ORACLE — The congressional Tech Accountability Caucus is pressing Oracle to address the “deeply troubling” allegations that it discriminated against female and minority employees. Earlier this week the Labor Department, in an amended complaint, said the tech company "systematically underpaid" women, blacks and Asians and called for it to pay back more than $400 million in lost wages. An Oracle representative on Wednesday called the claims “meritless” and “spurious.”

— “Considering this deeply troubling federal accusation that has dire consequences on both women and communities of color, we deem it immensely important that you provide a proper, transparent, and statistically accurate refutation of the claims made in the Department of Labor filing,” caucus leaders, including Reps. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), wrote to Oracle in a letter obtained by MT. They call for the company to provide written answers or a briefing within 14 days.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS — The Internet Education Foundation’s annual State of the Net Conference next week will feature a string of tech heavyweights from the Trump administration, including Justice Department antitrust chief Makan Delrahim, FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter and White House tech and telecom adviser Gail Slater. Earlier this month a slew of officials from the FTC, FCC and White House pulled out of the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas due to the shutdown, but an IEF spokesperson told MT that Delrahim, Slaughter and Slater are still on board for State of the Net. Read the full rundown for the Jan. 29 event here.

PLUS: SOCIAL MEDIA MEDDLING TALK INBOUND — Expect foreign influence campaigns on social media to come up during Tuesday’s Senate Intelligence hearing on global threats, though it likely will not be a focal point in the proceedings, a panel spokesperson told MT. The Jan. 29 session is set to feature testimony from top officials at the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

INDUSTRY: LEAVE PACKAGES ALONE — Amazon and other companies that ship packages to consumers urged Hill staffers on Thursday to preserve the U.S. Postal Service’s universal service obligation. It’s a wonky name for a simple concept that is critical to the industry. Essentially, the postal service has long delivered mail and packages to all zip codes, even rural or hard-to-reach areas, at a reasonable price to the consumer. That allows e-commerce companies to lean on postal couriers to reach distant places — and contain their shipping costs. Now, the Trump administration has proposed amending that obligation, which is not explicitly defined in law, to exclude non-essential shipments.

— The argument: Former Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.), who leads the Package Coalition, said his group is not calling on Congress to define the universal service obligation — at least not yet. “We think the operational presumption that has been in existence since the early 1900s is working just fine,” he said. Coalition members warned that postal changes that harm shippers could ultimately hurt USPS, which relies on parcels for a sizable chunk of its revenue.

— Some privacy, please? Google's legal battle over a $57 million fine in France could become a benchmark case for privacy law in the European Union, Bloomberg Law reports.

— Take two: Senate Democrats are planning to “lay a marker down” with a new net neutrality bill, John reports for Pro.

— Going once, going twice: The Pentagon is reviewing a possible conflict of interest in Amazon’s bid for a giant Pentagon cloud computing contract, The Washington Post reports.

— If I must: “Silicon Valley, facing pressure, pledges to help on housing shortage,” POLITICO California’s Carla Marinucci reports.

— Telecom conundrum: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said he's talking about efforts to further restrict Chinese telecom giants Huawei and ZTE with the White House and Commerce Department, your host reports for Pro.

— Freedom of expression-ish: Google urged U.S. labor regulators to limit protections for activist workers, The Los Angeles Times reports.

— Zuck in the middle with you: Mark Zuckerberg addresses criticisms of Facebook in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

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