This Week in Tech: Obama’s FCC pick faces the Senate

Another controversial topic is net neutrality. Senators are likely to ask Wheeler what he would do if a federal court overturns the agency’s rules on the issue.

Wheeler’s writings from 2011 that argued the FCC should have approved the AT&T/ T-Mobile merger with aggressive new regulatory requirements could also draw scrutiny.

Other controversial topics, such as the FCC’s indecency rules and its Lifeline phone subsidy program, are also likely to come up.

Senate Republicans might be reluctant to approve Wheeler until President Obama names a nominee for the open Republican seat on the commission. The Senate often approves nominees to bipartisan commissions in pairs.

On Monday, Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai will keynote an event held by TechFreedom and the Competitive Enterprise Institute on cellphone unlocking and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Pai published an op-ed in support of cell phone unlocking this month in The New York Times, where he argued that a consumer should be able to take their device to another carrier without worrying about running afoul of copyright law.

“The government shouldn’t tilt the scales with legal penalties; it should leave the mobile marketplace alone,” Pai wrote.

FBI Director Robert Mueller will head back to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee at an oversight hearing. Last week, Mueller went through a thorough grilling by the House’s Judiciary panel about the administration’s sweeping surveillance activities.

On Thursday, Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, will give a keynote speech at an event on patent trolls held by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA).

Both the White House and Congress have proposed initiatives to combat the practice of opportunistically collecting patents for the purpose of enforcing them without producing the patented product. The White House announced a set of executive actions this month to crack down on abusive patent infringement lawsuits, while Congress is considering legislation.

Panelists at the CCIA event include Lisa Kimmel, attorney adviser to Ramirez; Frances Marshall, special counsel for intellectual property in the Department of Justice’s antitrust division; and CCIA Chief Executive Ed Black.