FCC’s Digital Discrimination Proceeding Is On Shaky Ground
Plus TikTok, the Chinese Communist Party, Section 230, and more . . .
FCC: Berin and Jim filed reply comments on the FCC’s digital discrimination NPRM. They debunk comments arguing that the FCC should go beyond regulating intentional discrimination to regulate mere “disparate impact.” Congress has given the FCC no such authority. Such arguments assume Congress placed Section 60506 of last year’s Infrastructure Act into the Communications Act. But, as we explain, it didn’t. Nor can the FCC’s ancillary authority support what some want: disparate impact rules that replicate common carriage regulation, e.g., build-out requirements. Disparate impact rules would fail in court, as our original comments explained.
Podcast: On the latest Tech Policy Podcast, Corbin talks with National Review national security correspondent Jimmy Quinn about the proposed TikTok ban, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and other aspects of the recent uptick in Sino-American competition.
China: Corbin’s Substack rounded up his recent work about the Chinese Communist Party in various venues. Yes, they really are the baddies.
Section 230: Kellan Howell interviewed Ari for a Scripps News video and article on the provision. “Without Section 230 I doubt we would have seen the explosion of speech online, and especially from everyday people, from you and I, from the non-elites,” he commented.
USF: Corbin filed an amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit supporting rehearing en banc of a challenge to the constitutionality of the FCC subdelegating huge powers to run the Universal Service Fund (USF) to a private company (USAC). As Jim said in his recent paper analyzing other aspects of USAC’s operations, this is “an alphabet soup of due process violations.”
Space Law: Earlier today, Jim spoke at an in-person event, hosted by the University of Kentucky, on the future of space and interplanetary law. The video will be made available on YouTube in a few days.
First Amendment: On his new Substack, Ari noted that Governor Greg Gianforte’s proposed changes to the Montana bill banning TikTok might actually ban all social media entirely. NBC News noticed and quoted Ari.
In an interview with Based Politics, Ari comments on Disney’s recent lawsuit against Florida: “while it’s obvious that Florida’s actions were retaliation against speech the government didn’t like, it’s not the easiest case to win.”
We’re moving further away from closing the digital divide.