New FTC pick blasted antitrust scrutiny of Google - iPhone's alleged knockoff sparks trade concerns - RCA becomes CCA Presented by Ericsson

With help from Tony Romm, Steve Friess and Michelle Quinn

NEW FTC PICK BLASTED ANTITRUST SCRUTINY OF GOOGLE — Tony Romm and Elizabeth Wasserman have the story: “The Obama administration's new pick for the FTC previously questioned the merits of a Google antitrust probe — writing in early 2011 there had not been "concrete evidence" of harm to competition. Joshua Wright, currently a professor at the George Mason University School of Law, on a number of occasions argued there could be legal holes in the FTC's pursuit of allegations that Google misused its dominant position in search and advertising. The White House announced its intent to nominate Wright on Monday. ... The move comes as the FTC is ramping up its probe against Google. Staff at the agency have presented early findings in their antitrust investigation to the commission, which could bring a case against Google or broker a settlement before the end of the year.” More, for Pros: http://politico.pro/OCj2p5


IPHONE’S ALLEGED KNOCKOFF SPARKS TRADE CONCERNS — From Michelle Quinn: “Lawmakers of both parties have long complained that China's tech companies aren't playing by the rules of fair trade. The latest example is GooPhone, a Chinese company that makes a device that looks and feels a lot like the iPhone5 that Apple is expected to unveil Wednesday. Some in Washington have seized on GooPhone as the quintessential example of what is wrong with the international enforcement of American intellectual property rights, the perils of a global supply chain, and the barriers U.S. companies face when trying to access the Chinese market.” More, for Pros: http://politico.pro/On7g6c

APPLE NEARING FED SECURITY CERTIFICATION -- David Saleh Rauf reports: “Apple is closing in on getting its iOS mobile operating system certified by a key federal government security program — a move that will raise the stakes in the company’s bid to replace government-issued BlackBerrys with iPhones and iPads. After more than two years, Apple has cleared its biggest barrier in locking down federal security validation for software codes that power iOS to meet strict U.S. government standards for encrypting and protecting data.” More, for Pros: http://politico.pro/NlWTOC

HOUSE CR BOOSTS CYBER FUNDING — The continuing resolution unveiled by House appropriators last night tosses a big bone to cybersecurity: the National Protection and Programs Directorate housed in DHS would receive a $282 million boost, meaning it would be funded at the rate of $1.170 billion. With it, House appropriators are aiming to give DHS some flexibility on how it can spend the money, setting aside a chunk of it for so-called "essential cybersecurity activities." The catch: Lawmakers are requiring the agency within 15 days to submit their expenditure plan for that subset of funds.

FCC: NET NEUTRALITY PROTECTED INTERNET FROM THREATS — In a response filed last night in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the FCC argued that its controversial net neutrality regulations were needed because of “significant threats to openness” on the Internet. The commission’s brief rebuts a lawsuit filed by Verizon and MetroPCS seeking to get the rules overturned. The document: http://politico.pro/QzvzOT. The Pro story, from Brooks Boliek: http://politico.pro/PcDrk4

NET NEUTRALITY AN ISSUE AT ‘ABUSE OF POWER’ HEARING? The FCC’s net neutrality rules may come up at tomorrow’s House Judiciary Committee hearing — dubbed "The Obama Administration's Abuse of Power” — as an example of the administration overstepping its bounds. That’s according to a press release from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who will testify at the hearing. From Lee’s release: “For example, the Federal Communications Commission issued ‘net neutrality’ regulations despite that Congress had never granted it the authority to regulate the Internet. In fact, the D.C. Circuit had specifically held that the FCC lacked this enforcement authority.” The hearing starts at 10 a.m. We’ll be tracking.

Good Tuesday morning and welcome to Morning Tech, where for a minute there, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney actually had something in common: nearly identical text on their online donation pages. Apparently, the Romney campaign snagged the language from Obama’s page — the result of a “junior staff confusion,” according to Romney digital director Zac Moffatt. Via Mashable: http://on.mash.to/RBr5ar

Send comments and tips — we don’t care about the wording — to [email protected] or @ jesskamen. Find the crew’s contact info below today’s Speed Read and find Pro on Twitter @ POLITICOPro.

ICYMI: HOUSE INTELLIGENCE READYING HUAWEI-ZTE REPORT -- The House Intelligence Committee aims to release an unclassified report on its probe into Chinese telecom firms Huawei and ZTE during the first or second week of October, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger said. Ruppersberger said his 'recommendation' to the two companies is: ‘If you want to do business in our country, then you’d better stop your country from cyberattacking us.’

FIRSTNET BOARD SETS FIRST MEETING — Mark your calendar: The board governing the build-out of the nation's interoperable, broadband public safety network holds its first public meeting on Sept. 25, where you can expect the board to "adopt its bylaws and make initial organizational decisions," per a note to be published in the Fed Register. http://1.usa.gov/QfRsyC

PROSSER GOES TO TEAM TWITTER — Jim Prosser, who has been the media’s go-to person at Google on patent issues, is jumping the Google ship for Twitter’s communication team. Prosser had been at Google for more than two years, handling some of the company’s biggest intellectual property news, such as Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility and its courtroom faceoff with Oracle over copyright and patents. Before joining the search firm, Prosser worked for Direct Relief International. At Twitter, he joins other ex-Googlers like Gabriel Stricker and Karen Wickre.

CRS REPORT: DRONES POSE PRIVACY CHALLENGES — A recent Congressional Research Service report offers this topline conclusion: "The prospect of drone use inside the United States raises far-reaching issues concerning the extent of government surveillance authority, the value of privacy in the digital age and the role of Congress in reconciling these issues."

With a number of drone privacy-related bills on Capitol Hill, the CRS report notes generally there are ambiguities as to how Fourth Amendment protections apply to drone surveillance. For example, CRS says it's clear that drone snooping on a person inside her home would require a warrant, but it's unclear as whether area "immediately surrounding the home — for instance, a backyard, a swimming pool, a deck, or a porch — would receive similar protections as the interior of the home if surveilled by drones or other aerial vehicles." Other nuances exist as to the application of a search warrant to drone usage in public places. Far more on the report, with a h/t to EPIC for first noticing the doc: http://bit.ly/PXaKrV

GAO REPORT: THE FCC’S REGULATORY FEE PROCESS NEEDS TO BE UPDATED — The FCC has collected 2 percent more in regulatory fees over the past 10 years than it should have, according to a GAO report released yesterday, which concludes the agency “assesses regulatory fees among industry sectors and fee categories based on obsolete data, with limited transparency,” and is in need of major reform.

GAO recommends that Congress consider whether the excess fees should be appropriated for FCC’s use or, if not, what happens to them. GAO also suggests the FCC consider the approaches of other fee-funded regulatory agencies, like the NRC or FERC. The FCC, which in July released a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing changes to the agency’s regulatory fee program, agrees with the GAO’s recommendations, according to the report. Read it here: http://1.usa.gov/TL4bfV

S.F.'S OPTIONS AFTER THE COURT RULING — San Francisco officials are evaluating a 9th Circuit ruling Monday that means, for now, that retailers do not have to comply with the city's 2010 cellphone ordinance requiring they hand out information to consumers about cellphone use and their health ( http://politico.pro/NWuErw). A spokesman for the San Francisco city attorney's office said that the office "will confer with city policy makers about our legal options before we make any decisions about possible next steps."

** A message from Huawei: We've put $230 million into innovation in the U.S. and bought $30 billion from U.S. suppliers. And that's just the beginning. **

RCA BECOMES CCA — The Rural Cellular Association has changed its name to the Competitive Carrier Association in order to more accurately reflect the advocacy group’s membership and the changes in the wireless industry in recent years, CCA President and CEO Steven Berry said.

“In the last six to eight years there’s been an increasing amount of consolidation,” Berry said, referring to AT&T and Verizon’s dominance in the wireless market. And because of that, he said, all other carriers, urban as well as rural, now share similar interests and concerns — namely, preserving a competitive marketplace.

RCA got its start 20 years ago representing rural and regional wireless carriers, but after AT&T’s proposed $39 million bid for T-Mobile, other carriers quickly saw the need to join, Berry said. Following AT&T’s announcement, Sprint joined the group; when the deal went sour, so did T-Mobile.

“We represent over 100 wireless carriers, and if you go down the line — Leap Wireless, AllTel and keep going down the line to the smallest of carriers — they all share the same concerns: access to spectrum that’s usable, interoperability and device availability,” Berry said. The new name “better reflects who we are, what we’re concerned with and our policy priorities,” he said, adding that he hopes the change “will also signal to carriers that may want to be members that this is an effective advocacy home for them.”

ICYMI: MORE MONEY VIA TEXTS -- The FEC last week issued an advisory opinion that now permits campaigns to accept up to $5,000 per candidate per election from donors via text messages. The previous rule, when texting donations was first OK'd in August, was that no donor could give more than a cumulative $200, but that was challenged by Scott Goodstein, Revolution Messaging’s CEO and founder. The FEC sided with Goodstein over the CTIA, the mobile phone industry lobby. The maximum per text remains $20, though, so folks would really have to be willing to text a lot to get close to the limit.

TODAY ON TAP:

TRENDS IN TECH CONFERENCE — Women in Government Relations sponsors a “Trends in Technology” conference, during which cybersecurity legislation and the “outlook for the lame duck and prospect in the 113th Congress” will be on tap. Scheduled speakers include Kim Koontz Bayliss of Dutko Grayling, Peggy Binzel of the Podesta Group, Ann Beauchesne of the National Security and Emergency Preparedness Department for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Kendall Burman of the Center for Democracy & Technology. http://bit.ly/SXUZV9

ADWKDC PANEL ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICS -- Real Clear Politics sponsors a panel as part of AdWkDC, a weeklong advertising industry conference, on the role of digital and social media in 2012 elections. Panelists include Colin Moffett, senior VP of digital content strategy for Weber Shandwick, Matt Lewis of The Daily Caller and Richard Levick, CEO of Levick. It starts at 9:45 a.m. at the Washington Plaza Hotel. More info: adwkdc.com

ASK JULIUS -- FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski today will be at Twitter HQ for a live Q&A via Twitter, starting at 1:30. The hashtag: #AskJulius

SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS MARKUP POSTPONED -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has rescheduled the markup on S. Con. Res. 50 — the resolution to defend the multistakeholder Internet governance model — which was originally slated for today. It is now on the committee’s schedule next Wednesday, Sept. 19. ( http://1.usa.gov/QzQIbG)

SPEED READ:

NEW IPHONE COULD BOOST ECONOMY: The new iPhone, which Apple plans to release this week, could boost the U.S. GDP by up to 0.5 percent, JP Morgan says, according to Reuters: http://reut.rs/OmkoJ3

WILL THE IPHONE BE A CARRIER CASH COW? The iPhone has become one of the most important influences on carriers' profits, and its influence is growing, The Wall Street Journal reports: http://on.wsj.com/RP5N88

CHINA PLANT AGAIN FACES CRITICISM: Labor groups said that vocational students were being forced to work at Foxconn Technology plants making iPhones as “interns,” The New York Times reports: http://nyti.ms/QakX7w

SILICON VALLEY ISN’T SHARING FACEBOOK’S MISERY: Other tech companies seem to be doing just fine, the AP reports: http://apne.ws/QGRONo

COMPANY SAYS IT, NOT FBI, WAS HACKING VICTIM: Orlando-based company BlueToad said it was the source of a file hackers posted online last week that contained a million identification numbers for Apple mobile devices, The New York Times reports: http://nyti.ms/OaMwcm

[Tips, comments, suggestions? Send them along via email to our team: Jess Kamen ( [email protected] , @ jesskamen ), Tony Romm ( [email protected] , @ tonyromm ), Eliza Krigman ( [email protected] , @ ekspectacular ), Elizabeth Wasserman ( [email protected] , @ elizwasserman ), Brooks Boliek ( [email protected] , @ technocowboy ), Keith Perine ( [email protected] , @ kperine ), Michelle Quinn ( [email protected] , @ MichelleQuinn ), David Saleh Rauf ( [email protected] , @ davidrauf ) and Steve Friess ( [email protected] , @ stevefriess ).]

** A message from Huawei: We've put $230 million into innovation in the U.S. and bought $30 billion from U.S. suppliers. And that's just the beginning. **

Follow us on Twitter Heidi Vogt @HeidiVogt



Alexandra S. Levine @ali_lev



John Hendel @johnhendel



Cristiano Lima @viacristiano



Leah Nylen @leah_nylen



Steven Overly @stevenoverly



Nancy Scola @nancyscola