Overnight Tech: House to explore drone safety, privacy

LEDE: House lawmakers on Thursday are slated to explore the safety and privacy implications of drones, as the technology becomes increasingly popular in the United States. 

Advocates for privacy, the drone industry, insurance carriers, and realtors are slated to testify in the House Judiciary subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet. Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said the hearing would help reveal the “privacy, safety and intellectual property” implications of the technology. 

Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said drones — known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)—have the potential for tons of innovation but “an expanded use of UAV technology requires that the public and private sectors work together to ensure consumers’ safety and privacy are fully protected.”

{mosads}Drones have been increasingly in the news as of late with unfortunate mishaps ranging from a small drone crashing at the U.S. Open grounds to more severe cases of firefighters being stalled because of drones in the area of a fire. The Federal Aviation Administration has also reported a drastic increase in drone sightings by pilots. 

The FAA has guidelines on the height, weight and use of drones for recreational use, and has proposed similar guidelines for the use of commercial drones. In the meantime, it has handed out thousands of waivers for commercial operators. Members of Congress have attempted to insert themselves into the debate as well by proposing a number of bills, ranging from requirements that drones contain collision avoidance technology to one that would employ geo-fences to keep drones away from airports and other sensitive areas. 

COMMUNICATIONS PRIVACY LAW TO GET HEARING: The Senate Judiciary Committee has added a hearing to its calendar next Wednesday about “reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.” Hundreds of lawmakers in the House and Senate have signed onto legislation to update the 1986 law, which currently allows law enforcement to use a subpoena, rather than a warrant, to access emails or other material stored in the cloud that are older than 180 days.

PAI SAYS NET NEUTRALITY CAUSED DROP IN INVESTMENT: Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai was part of a roundtable at the American Enterprise Institute Wednesday morning about whether broadband investment is declining in the wake of the commission’s net neutrality order. Much of the discussion was off-the-record, but Pai’s opening statement was not — and featured an indictment of the impact of the order on investments by ISPs. “What’s responsible for the recent drop in infrastructure investment?” he said, as attendees ate breakfast. “There’s no disruption in the overall economy to blame. Instead, it’s the FCC’s decision to capitulate to the President’s demands and impose Title II public utility regulation upon the Internet that is playing a large role.” Hal Singer of the Progressive Policy Institute presented data he said helped to back up that contention — central to the case against the order. He said that between the first half of 2014 and the first half of 2015 capital expenditures from ISPs had declined 12 percent.

MICROSOFT CASE COULD UNLEASH ‘WILD WEST’: The Center for Democracy and Technology issued a warning after oral arguments Wednesday in a case in which Microsoft is challenging a U.S. warrant issued for email information stored on a foreign server. If the court rules in the government’s favor, the tech group said the economic consequences “could be huge” and predicted it would unleash the “Wild West” for other countries to obtain similar information about U.S. citizens held by foreign companies operating in the United States. 

PATENT REFORMERS PLAN HILL BLITZ: Lawyers and executives from more than 20 companies are slated to hit Capitol Hill on Thursday to push for quick passage of patent reform in the House and Senate. A combination of tech and retail companies that are aligned with United for Patent Reform, including Google, Salesforce, Cisco, Overstock, Dillard’s, JCPenney and more, are fighting to build back momentum for reform after House legislation was pulled from the calendar in July amid concerns from lawmakers.

THUNE OUTLINES DETAILS ON ONLINE VIDEO HEARING: Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) confirmed Wednesday afternoon that he intends to hold a hearing looking at online video in the near future. “There’s a lot of innovation occurring in the video marketplace, so this will just be an opportunity for us to sort of bring that out, ask some questions and get some feedback about how do we continue to support and promote kind of innovation,” he said. 

Asked whether the examination could bring back his “Local Choice” proposal, which would give consumers the ability to pick individual broadcast networks to pay for, Thune responded with a smile: “Who knows, that might come up, but we’ll see. I think that could be a question or two, but I think that the purpose of it really is it’s been a while since we’ve done an assessment of what’s happening in that space and so this will be kind of an update and perhaps give us some direction in terms of what we might want to do legislatively.” Politico was the first to report that the committee was considering the hearing, citing industry sources.

AMAZON QUESTIONS ONLINE VIDEO REGS: In a meeting earlier this month, Amazon met with FCC staff to “question the need” for new regulations on online video. The company, which operates its own on-demand video service, said the market has flourished in the absence of regulation. The commission is considering changing the definition of a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD), which currently encompasses cable and satellite providers, to be “technologically neutral” and include services like over-the-top video. 

“In view of this dynamic, healthy, and rapidly changing technological and competitive environment, we questioned the need for government intervention in this market segment, expressing concern that the rules proposed by the Commission would inhibit innovation by imposing on OTT services regulatory burdens created long ago that are neither relevant to nor tailored to address this new vibrant industry,” the company wrote in a disclosure filing. 

UBER GIVES $5.5M TO CARNEGIE-MELLON AFTER POACHING PROFS: The ride-hailing service is donating the sum to the school to fund an endowed chair in robotics and three fellowships. The donation is part of a larger partnership between the university and the company — but it comes after that partnership appeared to turn rocky. Around the time the partnership was announced, the company reportedly poached at least 40 scientists from one of its robotics labs.

ON TAP: 

At noon, Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) will discuss the Judicial Redress Act at an event sponsored by CCIA at the Capitol Visitors Center.

Also at noon, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) participated in an event about the on-demand economy at the Aspen Institute.

At 3 p.m., A House Judiciary subcommittee will explore the legal landscape and policy recommendations for the emergence of domestic drones. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 

Lawmakers should give workers in the on-demand economy access to a minimum hourly wage and benefits like unemployment regardless of whether they are considered employees or independent contractors, a national labor group said in a report released Wednesday.

CNN is slated to stream the second Republican presidential debate free online next week — a departure from Fox News’s decision last month when it hosted the first GOP forum. 

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) on Wednesday remained confident that his patent reform bill would get a floor vote soon, but failed to offer any concrete timeline.

The House overwhelmingly approved legislation Tuesday night that makes it easier for device makers to fulfill their obligation to provide warranty information to customers.

China is organizing a technology forum in Seattle to demonstrate its influence over the U.S. industry, according to a Wednesday report from The New York Times.

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