Week ahead in tech: Lawmakers focus on email privacy, internet transition

The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to pass a privacy bill that would ensure law enforcement gets a warrant before forcing technology companies to hand over their customers’ emails.

The Senate will be taking up its own email privacy bill after the House unanimously passed a similar version last month. After years of little movement, privacy advocates saw a breakthrough in the House when a number of small changes were made, clearing the path to passage.

{mosads}It is unclear what, if any, changes the Senate version will adopt before the Thursday markup. Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said there could be bipartisan changes.

“And so that will come out next week depending on what sort of bipartisan agreement we can get if there is going to be any changes,” he said. “And I’m not anticipating any, because I just don’t know at this point.”

Among its provisions, the bill closes off a loophole in the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act that allows law enforcement to use just a subpoena — rather than a warrant — to force technology companies to hand over a customer’s electronic communications.

Some advocates had pushed Grassley to simply take up the House version because of its overwhelming support. But the Iowa senator said he wanted the upper chamber to “do its due diligence” on the issue.

If the Senate ultimately advances its own version, it will have to be merged with the House version before reaching President Obama’s desk.

Also in the coming week, on both sides of the Capitol, GOP members are increasing pressure on the administration to delay the government’s planned handoff for oversight of the internet domain name system. The handoff to an international group is intended to be completed later this year.

But a number of lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), have warned that the plan could allow other countries to gain more control over the internet.

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday is taking up a Commerce, Justice and Science spending bill that would block the handover through 2017. The Senate Commerce Committee is also planning a Tuesday hearing to scrutinize the transition.

On the House side, the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on U.S. capabilities to respond and prepare to cyber threats.

On Thursday, the House Small Business Committee will hold a hearing on the sharing economy, titled “A taxing experience for new entrepreneurs.”

Also on Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission holds its May open meeting. It’s a slower meeting than the last few, which featured high-profile items on privacy, the agency’s Lifeline program and high-capacity business internet deals.

The commission this time will consider three items. One is a Notice of Proposed Rule-making for updating the public file requirements and another is a report and order (as well as a Further Notice of Proposed Rule-making) that deals with the requirements for reporting network outages.

It’s also a week full of deadlines at the commission. Monday is the deadline for reply comments on Chairman Tom Wheeler’s plan to open up the set-top box market. And the first round of comments on Wheeler’s broadband privacy proposal is due on Friday — right before the long Memorial Day weekend.

THE HILL EVENT:

Join us May 24 for “State of the Sharing Economy: A Discussion on the Future of Cross-Border Commerce,” featuring conversations with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Navdeep Bains, Canadian minister of innovation, science, and economic development. Topics of discussion include: New markets created by technological innovation, the global sharing economy, and policy and regulatory reforms to protect personal and proprietary data. Register here.

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