OVERNIGHT TECH: Verizon hits back in net-neutrality case

THE LEDE: The courts should not defer to the Federal Communications Commission on its claim that it has the power to regulate net neutrality, Verizon wrote in a filing on Monday.

The company was responding to an earlier filing from the FCC that claimed a recent Supreme Court case bolsters the agency’s net-neutrality rules. The Supreme Court ruled last month that agencies should be given deference to interpret their own jurisdiction if a law is ambiguous.

{mosads}”The core issue in this case is whether any substantive provision of the Communications Act authorizes the FCC’s sweeping regulation of the Internet,” Verizon wrote. “The agency’s inability to identify any specific authority for these rules … is fatal.”

Verizon claimed that Congress never gave the FCC the authority to enact the rules, which require Internet providers to treat all traffic equally. Even if the law were ambiguous, Verizon wrote, the FCC’s interpretation would be unreasonable.

Apple, DOJ clash in court: Monday was the first day of the trial over charges that Apple conspired with five publishing companies to raise e-book prices.

{mosads}”Apple’s conduct cannot be excused,” said the Justice Department’s attorney, Lawrence Buterman, according to The Associated Press. “Consumers in this country paid hundreds of millions of dollars more for e-books than they would have.”

“What the government wants to do is reverse engineer a conspiracy from a market effect,” Apple’s attorney, Orin Snyder, said, Reuters reports.

The Verge explains that Snyder questioned the judge’s impartiality because she already expressed her “tentative” view that the government is likely to win.

The Justice Department posted the slides for its opening statement online.

ON TAP

The Senate Commerce Committee’s Technology subcommittee will hold a hearing on Tuesday afternoon to examine the “state of wireless communications.”

Steve Largent, the president of wireless trade group CTIA, will testify, along with representatives from the Competitive Carriers Association, Comcast, Cisco, the Consumers Union and the Phoenix Center.

A subcommittee aide said the hearing will focus on new products and services, trends in wireless usage and providing enough spectrum for carriers. 

The House Homeland Security Committee’s Emergency Preparedness subpanel will examine how social media and technology are playing a role in response and recovery to disasters at a Tuesday morning hearing.

Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez will speak at a forum on mobile device security on Tuesday morning.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) will discuss legislation to combat abusive patent litigation at a Capitol Hill event on Tuesday at noon. Goodlatte has circulated a draft bill on the issue.

Later in the afternoon, John Holdren, the director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, will testify before the House Science Committee on the Obama administration’s plans for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. Officials from NASA and the National Science Foundation will also testify.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Google bans facial recognition from Glass: Google will not approve any facial recognition apps for its wearable computer, Google Glass. The company made the announcement in a blog post on Friday after lawmakers had expressed concern about the privacy implications of Google Glass. 

Time Warner hires Wilson: Chris Wilson, a top lobbyist for technology trade group TechAmerica, has joined Time Warner, the media company announced on Monday. He will serve as Time Warner’s vice president of public policy, replacing Linda Bloss-Baum, who left to start her own firm.

Genachowski calls for more regulation: Julius Genachowski, the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, believes his agency should not back down from regulating new technologies.

“The world isn’t slowing down and waiting for debates about authority to get resolved,” Genachowski said on an episode of C-SPAN’s “The Communicators” over the weekend. “I think it would be a mistake for the U.S. economy, a mistake for our global competitiveness, for the FCC to slow down.”

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