Overnight Tech: GOP chairman to propose high-skilled visa overhaul | Zuckerberg’s 5,700 word letter | Tech lobbies gear up ahead of internet fight

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who chairs the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, says he can be a “bridge” between the tech industry and President Trump.

In a speech at the Capitol on Wednesday, Hatch rolled out his “innovation agenda” and sought to calm many of the tech industries worries about Trump.

Topping the list, Hatch said that he would be introducing a bill on high skilled immigration similar to his 2015 legislative efforts and also beef up spending on STEM [Science, technology, engineering and math] education.

Hatch, who was an early supporter of Trump, has been speaking with the president about H-1B visas, one of the technology industry’s highest priority policy issues. The industry relies on the visas to attract high-skilled workers from around the world.

{mosads}Tech leaders have been worried that Trump may move to restrict the visa program.
But Hatch said he was confident that he had soften Trump’s views on the program.

“I think the President trusts me,” Hatch said during his speech.

Hatch also noted his interest in more legislation regarding patents and passing the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to require a warrant to search citizen’s emails.  

“We’re likely going to need follow-on legislation to prevent future forum-shopping and to ensure that litigants have a meaningful connection to the site of the suit,” Hatch said, critiquing the practice of litigants trying to bring patent cases in courts that are more favorable to such lawsuits.

The Senate Finance Committee Chairman also expressed a desire for tax reform. Hatch blasted America’s corporate tax rate for being one of the highest in the world and advocated for moving to a territorial tax code, based on domestic profits and exempting foreign income.

“Many of our trading allies, by contrast, have moved to a territorial system in which they tax corporations in their home country based only on the profits those corporations make at home,” Hatch said. “This puts America at a competitive disadvantage and makes it a less attractive place to do business.”

Hatch’s speech on Thursday comes on the heels of his meetings with tech interests last week.

The Utah senator met with Apple, Amazon, Oracle, Cisco, Qualcomm, The Information Technology Industry Council, The Business Software Alliance and The Internet Association to discuss tech related issues.

A Senate aide said “stakeholders were able to weigh in with what they considered their priorities legislatively” at the meetings.”

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TECH/TELECOM NAB HIGH-PROFILE LOBBYISTS: Industry groups on both sides of the net neutrality issue have hired some big-name lobbyists as Congress eyes the possibility of a legislative solution to the issue. The Internet Association, which represents companies like Google and Facebook, announced today that they hired Michael Bloom, a longtime aide to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). And cable industry group NCTA hired former aides to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and former President Barack Obama from Akin Gump as outside lobbyists, disclosure forms revealed.

ZUCKERBERG’S 5,700 WORD LETTER: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pledged to help build a “global community” in a lengthy letter published Thursday on the social networking site. The 5,700-word open letter emphasized the community-building aspects of his platform, and while it does not mention President Trump by name, it seems to be rebuttal to his criticisms of globalization. “In times like these, the most important thing we at Facebook can do is develop the social infrastructure to give people the power to build a global community that works for all of us,” Zuckerberg wrote.

Read more here.

AT&T ROLLS OUT NEW DATA PLAN: AT&T announced a new unlimited data plan on Thursday, just days after Verizon rolled out its own unlimited offering, according to The Washington Post. A single line will cost a $100 a month, and a second and third line will each cost $40 a month on top of that. For a four-line family plan, each line will cost $55 a month for the first two months, and $45 for every month after that.

MARKEY BLASTS GOP OVER INTERNET PRIVACY RULES: Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called out Republicans on Thursday for trying to undo the FCC broadband privacy rules that passed late last year. The broadband privacy rules, which were passed in October under former Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, require service providers to obtain consumers’ permission to use certain information.

“Big broadband companies want to mine and sell consumers’ most sensitive personal information without any consent,” Markey, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, said in a statement. “Overturning broadband privacy protections is nothing more than Big Broadband’s way of pumping up its profits and undermining consumer rights.” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) revealed this week that he would be introducing a resolution to repeal the rules under authority granted by the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress, with presidential approval, to repeal agency regulations before they go into effect.

Read more here.

FCC WANTS RADIO CHIPS IN PHONES: During remarks at the North American Broadcasters Association’s Future of Radio and Audio Symposium on Thursday, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said that he would like to activate FM chips that are currently in most cellphones so that users can access terrestrial radio. “As you know, the vast majority of smartphones sold in the United States do, in fact, contain FM chips. The problem is that most of them aren’t activated,” Pai said.

“You could make a case for activating chips on public safety grounds alone. The FCC has an expert advisory panel on public safety issues that has also advocated enabling FM radio chips on smartphones. It pointed out that, ‘[h]aving access to terrestrial FM radio broadcasts, as opposed to streaming audio services, may enable smartphone users to receive broadcast-based EAS alerts and other vital information in emergency situations–particularly when the wireless network is down or overloaded.'”

Pai also noted the value to consumers of being able to listen to the radio on their phones.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Chicago fines David Plouffe $90,000 for illegally lobbying for Uber in the fall.

The FCC released its February open meeting agenda.

Cybersecurity companies are sitting out on the fight between tech companies and Donald Trump.

Putin is looking to beef up Russia’s security services.

Blackstone buys London based cloud computing company Cloud reach for $100 million, reports Reuters.

Civil liberties groups are calling Republicans to tackle stingrays, which law enforcement uses to track phones, reports Inside Sources.