Overnight Tech: Why FCC likely won’t go after Colbert | Dems want details on claimed cyberattack | Court to rehear AT&T case | Schumer pushes consumer advocate for FTC

DEMS WANT DETAILS FROM FCC ON CYBERATTACK: Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) are asking the Federal Communications Commission for information about the agency’s claim it was targeted cyberattacks after being criticized by late night comedian John Oliver on Sunday.

The two Democrats sent a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai with a list of questions about the FCC’s claim on Monday that its comment filing system had been hit with a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.

“DDoS attacks against federal agencies are serious — and doubly so if the attack may have prevented Americans from being able to weigh in on your proposal to roll back net neutrality protections,” they wrote. “Any potentially hostile cyber activities that prevent Americans from being able to participate in a fair and transparent process must be treated as a serious issue.”

Oliver, on his HBO show “Last Week Tonight” on Sunday night, tore into Pai over his plans to repeal the agency’s net neutrality rules, and urged his audience to file comments in support of the regulations on the FCC’s website.

The comment site later slowed to a crawl and many attributed it to the flood of responses prompted by Oliver. But the next day, FCC chief information officer David Bray said that the site was disrupted by malicious actors and not legitimate commenters.

Fight for the Future, a pro-net neutrality advocacy group, said that it was skeptical of the claim and suggested that the FCC may be intentionally misleading the public in order to save face in the midst of the backlash.

“The FCC should immediately release its logs to an independent security analyst or major news outlet to verify exactly what happened last night,” Evan Greer, the group’s campaign director, said in a statement.

Read more here.

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JOHN OLIVER PROMPTS FLOOD OF FCC COMMENTS: The Federal Communications Commission is getting bombarded with comments on net neutrality in the wake of comedian John Oliver’s segment on the topic.

Since Oliver ripped FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s (R) new plan to roll back the agency’s net neutrality measures during Sunday’s episode of “Last Week Tonight,” the FCC has received almost 150,000 comments on the rules. That’s five times as many as it had received in the 30 days before the segment.

Read more here.

WHY THE FCC IS UNLIKELY TO GO AFTER COLBERT: It is highly unlikely that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will fine late-night host Stephen Colbert for an obscene joke he made about President Trump last week, experts say, despite remarks by the agency’s chairman about reviewing complaints filed on the broadcast.

Colbert raised eyebrows with a joke during one of his monologues in which he suggested that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin engaged in sexual acts.

The joke prompted criticism from conservatives, and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was asked about them in multiple media interviews in the days following. He told Fox Business’ Neil Cavuto that he hadn’t seen video of the joke, but that the FCC would look into any complaints it receives, as it does with all objections filed to the agency by television viewers.

Read more here.

SCHUMER PUTS FORWARD FTC NAME: Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced on Tuesday that he is backing a consumer advocate and former Department of Education official to serve on the Federal Trade Commission.

Schumer formally recommended that President Trump nominate Rohit Chopra, currently a fellow at the Consumer Federation of America, to fill the Democratic opening on the FTC.

“The Federal Trade Commission should be led by people who put the interests of consumers above all else, and that’s what Rohit Chopra has done his entire life,” Schumer said in a statement.

Read more here.

COURT WILL REHEAR FTC-AT&T CASE: A federal court will rehear a case brought by AT&T against the Federal Trade Commission after it ruled last year that the agency does not have authority to take action against telecommunications companies.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for the Northern District of California said it will rehear the case before a full panel of judges.

The court had ruled last year that the FTC had no jurisdiction over common carriers — a designation carried by companies that offer phone services.

“We have reviewed the court’s order, and we look forward to participating in the en banc review,” said AT&T spokesman Michael Balmoris.

Read more here.

M&A ON THE BOOMBOX, BABY: Pandora is raising money to explore a sale, Axios reports. The company received $150 million from top private equity firm, KKR. The online music-streaming site has a surprising amount of mobile traffic, beating out apps like Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, Netflix and Twitter, partially due to its stronghold on country music. Despite crushin’ it harder than Brad Paisley, Pandora is still seeing slow gains in advertising, and generates most of its earnings from its ticket vendor business.

ON TAP:

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee to head the Justice Department’s antitrust division at 10 a.m.

The Senate Judiciary subcommittee on crime and terrorism will hold a hearing on cross-border data at 2:30 p.m.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Reuters: Apple market cap hits $800 billion

Open Mic’s study on the business risks of fake news

CNN Tech: Yelp’s stock takes a double digit beating

BSA on “Why Data Needs to Move Across Borders and Why You Should Care”