Overnight Tech: FCC chief downplays delay to TV box reforms | Lawsuit filed over internet transition | Waze rolls out ridehailing service

LEDE: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is downplaying his last-minute decision Thursday to delay a vote on his proposed television box reform plans, saying it’s just a matter of timing.

“It is a large document, it goes back and forth, there were iterations that didn’t come back until late last night,” he said, speaking today at his usual post-meeting press conference. “People need time, period.” Republican commissioners said at their own press conference that the last “redline” version of the proposal had reached them around 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday night. Officials decided to pull the vote on Thursday morning, not long before the open meeting began. Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a skeptic of the plan who is seen as the swing vote on the item, declined to stop and speak with reporters as she left the commission’s meeting room on Thursday.

{mosads}It’s a blow for Wheeler and opponents of the proposal came out in droves to praise the delay and, in some cases, call for the public release of the proposal.

“It’s clear that the many questions about the scope and authority of the commission in this set-top box proceeding have taken their toll on its consideration,” said House Energy and Commerce Chair Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and tech subcommittee chair Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) in a statement. “As we’ve stated before, this process has been clouded with uncertainty and indecision around both what the commission is proposing and whether the proposal is supported by legal authority.”

Industry groups were quick to praise the delay as well. But it seems as though Wheeler doesn’t expect to pursue a further notice, or otherwise seek more comments through a formal process. “I don’t think that this is an issue where the public has not had an opportunity to express themselves or has not been heard,” Wheeler said.

Supporters, in the meantime, are asking Wheeler to move ahead with his plans as quickly as possible. “I am extremely disappointed that the majority of the FCC Commissioners have not yet come to an agreement to provide relief for consumers for these bloated set-top box rental fees and certainty to companies who wish to innovate with new products,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in a statement. “I urge the Commission to complete this rulemaking as soon as possible.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said it was “unfortunate” that the vote had been delayed.

WHAT COMMISSION DEMS ARE SAYING: The commission’s three Democrats cast the delay as a minor occurrence on the way to successfully resolving the set-top box question in a joint statement on Thursday. “We have made tremendous progress – and we share the goal of creating a more innovative and inexpensive market for these consumer devices,” they said. “We are still working to resolve the remaining technical and legal issues and we are committed to unlocking the set-top box for consumers across this country.”

PAI’S ‘SINGULAR EXCEPTION’: Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai drew attention to a provision that appeared in a version of the set-top box proposal last night. But couldn’t provide much detail. “It’s effect would have been to grant almost a singular exception to a particular company, that’s all I’ll say,” he told reporters, citing the commission’s rules regarding the disclosure of non-public information.

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‘SCHATZ’ FIRED: Democratic lawmakers hammered a lawsuit against the Obama administration’s internet transition filed by four Republican state attorneys generals. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) released statements disparaging the move to block the transition. “Senator Cruz failed to convince his colleagues to join in his reckless plan to derail the IANA transition, so his cronies are now turning to the courts to undo the will of Congress, which was clearly expressed less than 24 hours ago,” Pallone said. Schatz didn’t hold back either, saying that the lawsuit was “baseless” and “another cheap attempt by a fringe group to politicize the IANA transition.”

FOR YOUR CALENDAR: A federal judge in Texas set a hearing on the matter tomorrow.

BIG DATA: European Commission on Competition Margrethe Vestager delivered a speech on Thursday noting that the commission would be cognizant of how data is handled in evaluating future antitrust cases. “A company might even buy up a rival just to get hold of its data, even though it hasn’t yet managed to turn that data into money,” said Margrethe Vestager. The speech happens to coincide with a New York Times report that Salesforce.com is attempting to prod European regulators to look into antitrust issues regarding the Microsoft-LinkedIn deal. Microsoft is gaining access to data from LinkedIn’s vast userbase.

MORE RIDE(MARKET)SHARE: Google quietly released it’s ridesharing service in San Francisco, reports the Wall Street Journal. Google is keeping the release of the app, Waze Rider, relatively low key. Right now, users are limited to a certain number of rides a day to keep people from making a living off the app. The tech giant is subsidizing ride costs at the moment, keeping them below typical fares on Lyft and Uber.

THE $10,000 QUESTION: A hacker publication, 2600 Magazine, is offering $10,000 for access to Donald Trump’s tax returns. The magazine tweeted out the offer on Tuesday. According to a lawyer with a history of defending hacktivists, the magazine isn’t doing anything illegal in that it’s not asking anyone to break the law. But breaking the law is the most likely means of someone obtaining the returns.

ON TAP:

At 9:00 a.m. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) will be speaking at an ITIF event on banning revenge porn.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Salesforce.com is reportedly raising antitrust concerns over Microsoft’s planned purchase of LinkedIn with European Union regulators.

Federal regulators on Thursday overhauled the system that pushes alerts to smartphones and other mobile devices in an emergency.

Intelligence officials told Donald Trump they had “high confidence” that Russia was behind the hacks of several Democratic organizations, including the Democratic National Committee (DNC). That briefing was also before the Republican presidential nominee said during the first presidential debate of 2016 that no one knew Moscow was involved, reports Time.

Republican attorneys general in four states are filing a lawsuit to block the transfer of internet domain systems oversight from the U.S. to an international governing body.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) pulled a vote on a contentious proposal to open up the market for television set-top boxes from its agenda minutes before the start of its monthly meeting on Thursday.

The State Department has agreed to process thousands of pages of Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails that were recovered by the FBI in time for the general elections.

Donald Trump’s transition team will meet next week with representatives of the tech industry, multiple sources confirmed, even as their candidate largely has been largely shunned by Silicon Valley.