Innovation Policy Post

On February 14, another version of the Marketplace Fairness Act was introduced in the House and Senate. Like its previous incarnations in past Congresses, this bill would give states the authority to require out-of-state online retailers to collect sales and use taxes on purchases made to residents of their states -- regardless of physical presence in those states. CCIA has consistently opposed such legislation as saddling small Internet retailers with the burden of collecting taxes across thousands of jurisdictions, and penalizing them for daring to utilize the Internet for a new business model. As supporters of this bill have described it in terms of “fairness” and “leveling the playing field,” let us examine how accurate this language is.

The toll of patent trolls is a focus this week with the PTO hosting a software patent roundtable in New York and CCIA hosting a panel discussion on patent trolls on Capitol Hill Thursday.

As the FCC develops ground rules for Incentive Auctions, in which spectrum relinquished voluntarily by TV broadcasters will “go on the market” and be auctioned, the two prospective bidders already holding the largest amount of spectrum, including what’s considered the “best” spectrum below 1 GHz, naturally argue for a “free market” approach with no restrictions on the amount of spectrum that can be licensed to any one corporation.   But is that approach truly a “free market” one?   Not if you consider the marketplace headstart  and continuing advantages enjoyed by these two dominant carriers,  AT&T and Verizon, both legacies of monopoly Ma Bell.   CCIA detailed this phenomenon in an FCC filing at the end of November.  For example, AT&T and Verizon today control 86% of mobile spectrum below 1 GHz in the top 10 U.S. markets and 80% in the top 50 markets.

The starting gun for the debate on immigration reform went off with the unveiling of a reform framework by a bipartisan group of eight Senators on January 28, the introduction of the Immigration Innovation (I-Squared) Act on January 29, and the President’s outlining of his own reform plan also on January 29. This past week saw developments further illuminating the prospects for immigration reform with statements from multiple members of Congress at various events. On February 5, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on “America’s Immigration System: Opportunities for Legal Immigration and Enforcement of Laws Against Illegal Immigration”, while House Majority Leader Eric Cantor gave a policy speech at the American Enterprise Institute touching on immigration. On February 7, Senators Bennet, McCain and Klobuchar were interviewed on immigration as part of the Atlantic’s “Manufacturing’s Next Chapter” event. The overall effect was to underscore the broad consensus among lawmakers on the need for skilled immigration reform, even as they disagreed on other aspects.

Less than two months have passed since the World Conference on International Telecommunication (WCIT) in Dubai came to a halt over a controversial vote that would have extended a UN treaty largely centered around voice telecommunications to the Internet. Critics of the proposed revisions to the International Telecommunication Regulations breathed a bit easier as 55 of the 144 eligible delegations at the UN-sponsored conference failed to endorse Quality-of-Service rules, access fees and other strictures on the open Internet. Even with the remaining 89 member delegations as signatories, the treaty is mostly inert without participation by the US, Japan, European Union members and other nations that demurred.