New Bi-Partisan Privacy Bill Introduced

The  Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act of 2021 has been reintroduced and is being led by Senators Kennedy (R-LA), Klobuchar (D-MN), Manchin (D-WV and Burr (R-NC). The proposal seeks to improve the transparency of online platforms, strengthen consumers’ options when a data breach occurs and ensure companies comply with privacy policies that protect consumers.

According to the bill’s press release the proposal seeks the following: 

• Give consumers the right to opt out and keep their information private by disabling data tracking and collection,

• Provide users greater access to and control over their data,

• Require terms of service agreements to be in plain language,

• Ensure users have the ability to see what information about them has already been collected and shared,

• Mandate that users be notified of a breach of their information within 72 hours,

• Offer remedies for users when a breach occurs, and

• Require that online platforms have a privacy program in place.

Lanton Law’s technology practice has been monitoring privacy developments nationwide. If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today.

New Executive Order on Cybersecurity Released in Response to Ransomware Attack

In the wake of the Colonial Pipeline attack, President Biden has signed the Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity. The EO has a number of provisions including: 

• Establishes a “Cybersecurity Safety Review Board” comprising public- and private-sector officials, which can convene after cyber attacks to analyze the situation and make recommendations.

• Requires IT service providers to tell the government about cybersecurity breaches that could impact U.S. networks, and removes certain contractual barriers that might stop providers from flagging breaches.

• Plans for enhancing software supply chain security 

This comes amid an increase in cyber attacks on private healthcare and technology companies as well as the federal government. 

Ransomware attacks are becoming a bigger threat and being prepared from a compliance and risk management standpoint is becoming more crucial. Having appropriate cyber policies in place is one step.  We have other solutions. 

Lanton Law is a national boutique law and lobbying firm that focuses on technology and healthcare. If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today.

Tech Stakeholders Alert: FTC Workshop on Dark Patterns

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced an April 29, 2021 virtual workshop to examine digital “dark patterns,” a term that has been used to describe a range of potentially manipulative user interface designs used on websites and mobile apps.

“Bringing Dark Patterns to Light: An FTC Workshop” will explore the ways in which user interfaces can have the effect, intentionally or unintentionally, of obscuring, subverting, or impairing consumer autonomy, decision-making, or choice. For example, some sites sneak extra items into a consumer’s online shopping cart, or require users to navigate a maze of screens and confusing questions to avoid being charged for unwanted products or services.

Some of the topics the workshop will examine include:

• how dark patterns differ from sales tactics employed by brick-and-mortar stores;

• how they affect consumer behavior, including potential harms;

• whether some groups of consumers are unfairly targeted or are especially vulnerable;

• what laws, rules, and norms regulate the use of dark patterns; and

• whether additional rules, standards, or enforcement efforts are needed to protect consumers.

The FTC will be seeking public comment on the following topics with a deadline to submit comments by May 29, 2021. 

• Defining dark patterns

• Prevalence of dark patterns

• Factors affecting dark pattern adoption

• Dark patterns and machine learning

• Effectiveness of dark patterns

• Harms of dark patterns

• Consumer perception of dark patterns

• Market constraints and self-regulation

• Solutions

Dark pattern policy discussion has increased over the last few months. If you are a technology stakeholder, it is a discussion to take note of. 

Lanton Law is a national boutique law and lobbying firm that focuses on fintech, technology and healthcare. If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today.

Congressional Legislation on Big Tech is Forthcoming

The U.S. House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Cicilline (D-RI) issued a statement shortly after the Committee marked up and approved the Committee’s report which after a 16 month investigation examined the state of competition within the digital economy.

The Congressman’s statement stated: 

“Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook each hold monopoly power over significant sectors of our economy. This monopoly moment must end. I’m grateful to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who worked with me over the past two years to compile this Report, which makes clear that Congress and the antitrust enforcement agencies must step up to restore a competitive marketplace, enhance innovation, and protect our democracy. Now that the Judiciary Committee has formally adopted our findings, I look forward to crafting legislation that addresses the significant concerns we have raised.”

The report is expected to become an official committee report shortly. Lanton Law has been closely monitoring legislation from Senator Klobuchar (D-MN) and Congressman Cicilline (D-RI) and we strongly believe that this year we will see legislation based off of this Committee report to strengthen antitrust laws aimed at tech companies. 

Lanton Law is a national boutique law and lobbying firm that focuses on technology and healthcare. If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today.

Cybersecurity & FY 22 Discretionary Funding Request

The President’s request for fiscal year 2022 discretionary funding has been released. Below are a few mentions for cybersecurity:  

• To support agencies as they modernize, strengthen, and secure antiquated information systems and bolster Federal cybersecurity the discretionary equest recommends $500 million for the Technology Modernization Fund, an additional $110 million for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and $750 million as a reserve for Federal agency information technology enhancements.  

With increased hacking and ransomware attacks, cybersecurity is going to be more front and center for both policy and legal discussions. For example in this request by the Administration, the attack on SolarWinds Corp. and Microsoft Exchange’s email servers were expressly mentioned. For stakeholders that traffic in data, cybersecurity policies are essential. Ensuring compliance with federal and state requirements are key and we can help. 

Lanton Law is a national boutique law and lobbying firm that focuses on technology and healthcare. If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today. 

Senator Markey and Congressman Lieu Reintroduce Bill Seeking to Improve the Cybersecurity of IoT Technology

Senator Markey (D-MA) and Congressman Lieu (D-CA) have reintroduced the Cyber Shield Act. The proposed legislation will create a voluntary program to identify and promote internet-connected products that meet industry-leading cybersecurity and data security standards, guidelines, best practices, methodologies, procedures, and processes, and for other purposes. 

According to the legislators’ press release, the proposal will specifically establish an advisory committee of cybersecurity experts from academia, industry, consumer groups, government, and the public to create cybersecurity benchmarks for IoT devices – such as baby monitors, home assistants, smart locks, cameras, cell phones, and laptops. IoT manufacturers can then voluntarily certify that their products meet those cybersecurity benchmarks, and display this certification to the public with a “Cyber Shield” label that will help consumers identify and purchase more secure technology for their homes.”

The bill can be viewed here. 

Our reliance on technology has become even more vital with the effects of COVID-19. With all of the hacking and malware attacks we have witnessed against various data stakeholders, we foresee cybersecurity as a major policy area that will continue to be expanded.   

Lanton Law is a national boutique law andlobbying firm that focuses on technology and Health IT.If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions,contact us today.

Congressional IoT Legislation Introduced to Prepare for 5G Networks.

Congresswoman DelBene (D-WA) and Congressman Katko (R-NY) have introduced the Internet of Things (IoT) Readiness Act of 2021. The bill proposes to direct the Federal Communications Commission to collect and maintain data on the growth in the use of Internet of Things devices and devices that use 5G mobile networks in order to determine the amount of electromagnetic spectrum required to meet the demand created by such use, and for other purposes. The proposed legislation can be viewed here. Both legislators are the co-chairs of the Internet of Things Caucus. 

COVID-19 has directly resulted in ramping up our technology needs. We foresee policymakers placing more emphasis on infrastructure, especially around communications and technology so that our country can remain competitive. 

Lanton Law is a national boutique law and lobbying firm that focuses on technology and Health IT. If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today. 

Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) Lawsuit Causes Facebook to Pay Settlement

On February 26, 2021 in the United States District Court Northern District of California, the Court found that Facebook was ordered to pay $650 million. This issue derived from the underlying lawsuit alleging whether the collection of an individual's biometric data in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act is sufficient to establish Article III standing. As a result of this dispute, the company’s automatic facial recognition tagging features are now an opt-in feature instead of being an opt-out choice. 

The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act enacted in 2008 was an important first step in developing policy on biometrics. According to the law, a private entity possessing biometric information accessible to the public must have a retention schedule and policy for permanently destroying biometric information. Additionally, there are restrictions on how a private entity may collect, capture, purchase, receive through trade, or otherwise obtain a person's or a customer's biometric identifier or biometric information. Most importantly, this law requires obtaining written consent prior to collecting biometric information as the law provides a private right of action for anyone injured under the Act. 

Lanton Law’s technology practice which includes biometrics and privacy issues, has been monitoring the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act for some time. We have posted several blogs addressing this issue as companies continue to evolve biometrics into the business models. As 2021 unfolds we confidently believe that legislative and regulatory oversight will increase leading to more litigation that fine tunes points left unanswered about this emerging field. 

We at Lanton Law can help. Our legal and policy tools can help offer your organization a clear path forward to navigate what will be changing policies for technology stakeholders. Contact us today to discuss your options.   

Apple Gets Legislative Victory in North Dakota For Now

The North Dakota senate voted in opposition of advancing a bill that would have required app stores to enable software developers to use their own payment processing software. This bill directly addressed fees charged by both Google and Apple.

So what would the bill have addressed? 

The proposal applies to a digital application distribution platform for which cumulative gross receipts from sales on the digital application distribution platform to residents of this state exceed ten million dollars in the previous or current calendar year which uses:

• The platform to provide an application that was created by a person domiciled in this state to a user; or

• The platform to provide an application to a resident of this state.

A provider of a digital application distribution platform may not:

a. Require a developer to use the provider's digital application distribution platform as the exclusive means of distributing a digital product to a user. 

b. Require a developer to use the provider's digital transaction platform or in- application payment system as the exclusive means for accepting payment from a user to download the developer's software application, or purchase a digital or physical product or service created, offered, or provided by the developer through a software application.

c. Retaliate against a developer for choosing to use another digital application distribution platform, digital transaction system, or in-application payment system. 

d. Refuse to allow a developer to provide the provider's application or digital product to or through the provider's platform or system or refuse to allow a user access to the developer's application or digital product through the provider's platform or system, on account of the developer's use of another platform or system. A violation of this subdivision is considered retaliation under this section.

If the North Dakota bill would have advanced through the Senate and into the House, this may have spurred other states to take similar measures, as we have seen with legislation that addresses landmark major policy issues. For example Arizona is considering similar legislation.

Now the title of this blog post is “Apple Gets Legislative Victory in North Dakota For Now.” If you listen to the 2/16/21 CNBC interview with State Senator Kyle Davison (R-ND), Senator Davison states something along the lines of if the bill is defeated in the vote today then nothing is really dead until the legislative session is over.

We at  Lanton Law have seen several times in multiple states that when ideas are deemed to be dealt with through a legislative defeat, sometimes that “dead” bill  comes back during the same session in a companion bill, a budget bill or some other “rider.” Many times it comes down to how determined the legislator is at seeing something accomplished. 

This bill is a prime example of how technology stakeholders and stakeholders in other similar sectors are finding that they have to increase their awareness of state and federal policy in order to remain cognizant of fast moving trends and to ultimately ensure compliance. 

We at Lanton Law can help. Our legal and lobbying tools can help offer your organization a clear path forward to navigate what will be changing policies for technology, healthcare and clean energy stakeholders. We are a D.C. based firm with no state boundaries as we are active nationwide. Contact us today to discuss your options.

Virginia on Track to Become Second Second State to Pass Data Privacy Laws

Lanton Law’s privacy practice has been closely monitoring the various state conversations around data privacy. We previously wrote a blog post titled California’s Consumer Privacy Act Could Be Coming to a State Near You, where we traced how California took the first step to create a consumer privacy law in the wake of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation.    

So what’s going on with Virginia? Earlier this month the Virginia Senate passed 

 Senate Bill 1392, titled the Consumer Data Protection Act. The Virginia House of Delegates approved a companion (identical) House Bill H.B. 2307 by an 89-9 vote. Each bill likely will be heard in committee next week by the opposite chamber, which provides additional opportunities to make amendments. The state General Assembly will adjourn on March 1, it is expected that Governor Northam will sign the legislation. 

What does the bill do? The proposed legislation seeks the following:

“Establishes a framework for controlling and processing personal data in the Commonwealth. The bill applies to all persons that conduct business in the Commonwealth and either (i) control or process personal data of at least 100,000 consumers or (ii) derive over 50 percent of gross revenue from the sale of personal data and control or process personal data of at least 25,000 consumers. The bill outlines responsibilities and privacy protection standards for data controllers and processors. The bill does not apply to state or local governmental entities and contains exceptions for certain types of data and information governed by federal law. The bill grants consumer rights to access, correct, delete, obtain a copy of personal data, and to opt out of the processing of personal data for the purposes of targeted advertising. The bill provides that the Attorney General has exclusive authority to enforce violations of the law, and the Consumer Privacy Fund is created to support this effort. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2023.”

As with major policy issues that have yet to have a federal solution, states like California, Virginia and others are creating piecemeal policies, which will create compliance issues for entities that operate in several jurisdictions. New York, Oklahoma, Washington State, Minnesota, and North Dakota are jurisdictions that we continue to monitor with brewing policies on point.  

As we become more reliant on technology which crosses several sectors now, businesses are finding that they have to increase their awareness of state and federal policy in order to remain compliant. We at Lanton Law can help. Our legal and lobbying tools can help offer your organization a clear path forward to navigate what will be changing policies for healthcare, technology and clean energy stakeholders. We are a D.C. based firm with no state boundaries as we are active nationwide. Contact us today to discuss your options. 

The SAFE TECH Act Introduced into Congress

The ‘‘Safeguarding Against Fraud, Exploitation, Threats, Extremism, and Consumer Harms Act’’ or the "SAFE TECH Act" has been introduced into Congress. The proposal is led by Senators Warner (D-VA), Hirono (D-HI) and Klobuchar (D-MN), as the bill seeks changes to 47 U.S. Code § 230. 

The law which is part of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), also called Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, provides ISP’s with federal immunity to any cause of action that seeks to make ISP’s liable for information that originated with a third party service user. 

Specifically, §230 states: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” The additional specifics of this law describe the liability shield that these companies currently enjoy which is further protected by federal preemption law. 

We have written several blog post on this topic about prior legislation targeting the law as well as prior U.S. DOJ Scrutiny on the matter. 

Since the SAFE TECH Act has been unveiled there have been multiple stakeholders expressing concern with unintended consequences this proposal in its current form has that will likely result in chilling of expression. 

Regardless of your political viewpoint, if you are a tech stakeholder that has ISP capabilities or you are providing services that deal with the exchange of ideas, you should be monitoring this type of legislative action to avoid unnecessary surprises to your business model. We at Lanton Law can help. 

Our legal and policy tools can help offer your organization a clear path forward to navigate what will be changing policies for technology stakeholders. Contact us today to discuss your options.

New York State of the State 2021 Calls for Proposal to Safeguard Data Security Rights

Last month as part of the State of the State 2021, Governor Cuomo announced a comprehensive law around personal data and privacy protections for New York state residents.

So what does this proposal outline?

According to the Governor’s proposal “This law will mandate that companies that collect information on large numbers of New Yorkers disclose the purposes of any data collection and collect only data needed for those purposes. Governor Cuomo will also establish a Consumer Data Privacy Bill of Rights guaranteeing every New Yorker the right to access, control, and erase the data collected from them; the right to nondiscrimination from providers for exercising these rights; and the right to equal access to services.”  

“The proposal also expressly protects sensitive categories of information including health, biometric and location data and creates strong enforcement mechanisms to hold covered entities accountable for the illegal use of consumer data. New York State will work with other states to ensure competition and innovation in the digital marketplace by promoting coordination and consistency among their regulatory policies. 

New York’s proposal seems to be following a trend set by California’s Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act. We believe that we are witnessing a slow moving transition towards similar oversight in other states. 

The increasing demands around data security and data privacy has presented new challenges to business operations and compliance efforts. Not to mention there are new rising risks around consumer data privacy expectations. 

Lanton Law is a national boutique law and lobbying firm that focuses on healthcare/life sciences and technology. We are the dedicated business partner that you need behind you to help you confront the changing regulatory landscape around data. 

If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today!

New Congressional Bill Aimed at Tech ISPs

The Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency Act has been introduced by Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and John Thune (R-South Dakota), which targets Internet Service Providers and attempts to limit their protections under 47 U.S. Code § 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), also called Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. 

The proposed Act points out two critical facts: 

• “Online consumers are not adequately protected in the United States because, with the exception of Federal criminal statutes, providers of interactive computer services are immune from the enforcement of most Federal statutes and regulations.

• The bill among a list of proposed policies also seeks to preserve the internet and other interactive computer services as forums for diversity of political discourse, unique opportunities for cultural development, and myriad avenues for intellectual and commercial activity.”

Specifically, the interactive computer service provider shall provide the following elements:

• reasonably inform users about the types of content that are allowed on the interactive computer service;

• explain the steps the provider takes to

• ensure content complies with the acceptable use policy;

• explain the means by which users can notify the provider of potentially policy-violating content, illegal content, or illegal activity

• include publication of a quarterly transparency report outlining actions taken to enforce the policy

While there are some First Amendment concerns with this legislation, this demonstrates how Section 230 comes under increasing scrutiny by policymakers. It’s a question of when for technology regulation so if you are a technology stakeholder, it is better to be prepared.

Lanton Law is a national boutique law and government affairs firm that focuses on technology and healthcare. If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today.

Senator Hawley Proposes New Congressional Legislation Targeting Behavioral Ads

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) has recently announced his new legislation titled the Behavioral Advertising Decisions Are Downgrading Services (BAD ADS) Act. This bill proposes to remove Section 230 immunity from Big Tech companies that display manipulative, behavioral ads or provide data to be used for them. Behavioral ads are defined in the legislation. 

It is unclear as to how this ties directly to Section 230 immunity and is different from other Congressional bills that create a nexus between Section 230 and its protections to content policies on websites. This bill would not apply to contextual ads  such as advertising that is directed to a user based on:

• ‘‘(aa) the content of the website, online service, online application, or mobile application to which the user is connected;

• ‘‘(bb) the location of the user, as of the time at which the advertising is directed to the user; or

• ‘‘(cc) the search terms that the user applied to arrive at the website, service, or application to which the user is connected

Regardless of whether this or other legislation gets enacted this year, Section 230 comes under increasing scrutiny by policymakers. It’s a question of when for technology regulation, so if you are a technology stakeholder it is better to be prepared.

Lanton Law is a national boutique law and government affairs firm that focuses on technology and healthcare. If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today.

Big Tech Company Executives Pressed On Capitol Hill On Their Market Influence

On July 29th four of the biggest tech companies CEOs testified in front of Congress. Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, and Sundar Pichai of Google all took questions from the U.S House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law. The hearing which can be viewed here was titled “Online Platforms and Market power, Part 6: Examining the Dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.”  

Sadly, there was a lot of political posturing on both sides of the political aisle and not a lot of policy. The main takeaway is that there is still no clear bipartisan antitrust agenda. 

Democrats presented evidence regarding antitrust concerns. It seemed they had pointed questions regarding certain deals such as Amazon's purchase of Ring to control that sector of the market and Facebook's alleged threats against Instagram before its purchase of the company.  

Republicans focused on perceived anti-conservative bias in tech instead of addressing company size and market power. Their questions focused on whether the tech companies will participate in "electioneering" for Joe Biden and grilled Facebook about Twitter's shutdown of Trump Jr.'s account. 

This has been a year-long investigation by this Subcommittee with this testimony capping the investigation. Subcommittee members are still in the process of sending follow-up questions to the CEOs and finalizing their conclusions over the next few weeks. Once they are done the Subcommittee will file a report of its findings. 

This process has been highly politicized, and many tech stakeholders are wondering whether any significant policymaking will get done by the end of the year. While there is reason to be skeptical, there is a highly charged election about to take place, meaning it wouldn’t surprise us if a small step towards technology regulation was accomplished. The bigger question is what happens to tech policy at the start of 2021? 

We continue to see an increase in federal and state policymaking when it comes to technology companies. The threat of looming technology legislation will undoubtedly lead to increased regulation. It’s better to be prepared now by knowing the landscape and preparing your strategic options in order to navigate the increased scrutiny. 

Lanton Law is a national boutique law and government affairs firm that focuses on technology and healthcare. If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today. 

The Policy Conversations Around Tik-Tok Warrant Monitoring from Technology Stakeholders

With all the news surrounding the Trump Administration and its complex political and economic relationship with China, some may find it surprising that the latest company suspected to be possibly impacted by the two countries would be TikTok. 

According to its website, TikTok is an app for short-form mobile videos. The company says it has offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo, but the company does have close ties to China through the company’s owner ByteDance; a Beijing-based technology company. TikTok has become more mainstream in the U.S. due to the pandemic, whereby various users including small business owners have been using the app to expand their economic reach. 

The last few months have brought increased scrutiny over the app. Both India and Indonesia have banned the app, while the U.S. Navy and other U.S. armed forces branches have banned the app as well. Most of the concerns have been around the issue of national security and how much user information  is shared with the Chinese government.

TikTok responded to this brewing controversy last year with a statement that addressed the company’s viewpoint on data privacy and security as well as content concerns. In response to the Administration threatening that it is considering a ban on TikTok, the company has been increasing its lobbying presence to hedge against a possible ban.   

Will a possible ban have a chilling effect on U.S. technology companies? Currently, the answer is no. We don’t want to cause controversy by suggesting this, but with the recent activities in Congress, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice that we have been reporting about, warrants that technology stakeholders keep a close watch on how the industry is receiving a lot of policy interests. It is safe to believe that technology policy is on the verge of changing, as technology stakeholders can no longer sit back and think that this industry is immune from regulatory oversight. 

Lanton Law is a national boutique law and government affairs firm that focuses on technology,   healthcare/life sciences and finance. If you are an industry stakeholder with questions about the current landscape or if you would like to discuss how your organization’s strategic initiatives might be impacted by either Congress, regulatory agencies or legal decisions, contact us today. 

New Legislation Targeting Technology Liability Shield Under Section 230

Earlier this year we started our conversation with the technology industry urging stakeholders to be aware of the growing policy attacks on the responsibilities of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) via the technology law 47 U.S. Code § 230. 

The law which is part of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), also called Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, provides ISP’s with federal immunity to any cause of action that seeks to make ISP’s liable for information that originated with a third party service user. 

Specifically, §230 states: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” The additional specifics of this law describe the liability shield that these companies currently enjoy which is further protected by federal preemption law. 

A few weeks back we highlighted how politicians on both sides of the aisle have been more assertive in how tech companies are not living up to their expectations under Section 230. Now in addition to recent U.S. Department of Justice scrutiny, U.S. Senator Hawley (R-MO) has introduced the Limiting Section 230 Immunity to Good Samaritans Act, which seeks to provide accountability for bad actors who abuse the Good Samaritan protections provided under that Act. 

According to the Senator’s press release the bill “would prohibit Big Tech companies from receiving Section 230 immunity unless they update their terms of service to promise to operate in good faith and pay a $5,000 fine (or actual damages, if higher) plus attorney’s fees if they violate that promise.” This legislation makes it easier for Americans to sue tech companies that censor political speech or hide competitor content. This bill mirrors more conservative politicians who feel that tech companies are censoring conservative viewpoints.

Regardless of your political viewpoint, if you are a tech stakeholder that has ISP capabilities or you are providing services that deal with the exchange of ideas, you should be monitoring this type of legislative action to avoid unnecessary surprises to your business model. We at Lanton Law can help. 

Our legal and policy tools can help offer your organization a clear path forward to navigate what will be changing policies for technology stakeholders. Contact us today to discuss your options.     

FCC to Vote in June on Commissioner Carr’s 5G Upgrade Order

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it will vote on Commissioner Carr’s 5G Upgrade Order as part of an initiative to accelerate U.S. wireless infrastructure improvement plans. 

According to the FCC “The 5G Upgrade Order clarifies the FCC’s 2014 rules by:

• Explaining when the 60-day shot clock for local approval begins 

• Specifying what new equipment qualifies for streamlined approval

• Clarifying how local governments’ concealment and aesthetic conditions of approval apply  

• Asking for public comment on what activity related to a modification can occur outside of a wireless site”

The full Commission will vote on the 5G Upgrade Order at its next open meeting on June 9, 2020.