Alisha Green

(First published in CQ News on Sept. 22, 2016.)

Some of the top Republican lawmakers who pushed to delay a long-planned transition of internet oversight, which will give an international group of stakeholders control over the web’s address system, weren’t always so wary of the hand-over.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers accused European authorities of a money grab by seeking more than $14.5 billion in back taxes from Apple Inc.'s Ireland operations, and some are using the case to call for a tax overhaul.

The European Commission concluded Tuesday that Ireland should recover 13 billion euros in “unpaid taxes” — plus interest —from the tech giant's operations in the country.

Congress is grappling with a plethora of technology-related legislation that appears to be headed nowhere fast, in part because of concerns over security and privacy. As CQ Roll Call’s Adriel Bettelheim and technology reporter Alisha Green explains, the Internet of Things Caucus hopes to provide a bridge for understanding the issues at stake when it comes to technology policy — and find areas where lawmakers can work together.

Once again, the Senate will vote on gun control in the aftermath of a mass shooting — this time the nation’s worst in modern history. A man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State strafed a gay nightclub in Orlando on June 12, killing 49 people.  

Monday’s votes on four gun-related amendments will come amid debate on a multi-agency spending bill that includes funding for the Justice Department.  

In an open letter to presidential candidates, 13 tech trade groups representing thousands of companies, including Silicon Valley giants Apple, Facebook and Google, outlined for the first time a technology policy agenda they’d like to see parties adopt, including backing the trans-Pacific trade deal .  

Among other things, the letter calls on candidates to “advance ambitious initiatives to reduce barriers to trade in digital and other goods and services, including obtaining the congressional authorization of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.”  

A high-stakes court battle between Apple Inc. and the FBI over access to data on a locked phone has drawn Congress into the broader public debate the case has raised.

On a politically polarized Capitol Hill, one of the House panels that often stands out for bipartisanship is becoming fractured by disputes over the effects of the Federal Communications Commission’s controversial net neutrality rules.

Office of Personnel Management CIO Donna Seymour announced Monday she is retiring — just two days before she was scheduled to testify at a House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on a data breach that compromised the records of more than 22 million current and former government employees.

The European Union and United States reached a political agreement last week on allowing EU citizens’ personal information to be sent across the Atlantic, but lingering uncertainty about whether the pact will be approved by EU regulators has businesses — and U.S. lawmakers — on edge.

More than 50 privacy, digital rights and consumer groups are urging the Federal Communications Commission to propose rules “as soon as possible” that would protect consumers’ information from being collected and shared by broadband providers without consent. 

A bill that would require warrants for government access to emails is the most popular piece of bipartisan legislation in this Congress, drawing more than 300 co-sponsors and support from tech giants such as Google. Many had hoped it would pass without a hitch.

A federal court will hear arguments Friday in a lawsuit that challenges the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules. It is a high-stakes case that is likely to touch on free speech and is expected to affect how the Internet works in the future.

A bipartisan House bill that would require the government obtain a warrant to access emails is facing road blocks as groups including law enforcement and federal agencies seek exceptions.

House lawmakers Tuesday expressed concern over the vulnerability of the nation's communications network in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in Paris on Friday. 

A draft bill making the rounds among Senate lawmakers would require selling even more airwaves than initially agreed to in the recent budget deal.

Lawmakers are mulling legislation to protect consumers' right to criticize businesses online, even when the consumers have agreed to obscure clauses the businesses use to safeguard their reputations.

There is at least one issue on Capitol Hill bringing together Republicans, Democrats, the tech industry and even the White House: Legislation to expand high-speed Internet access nationwide, especially for rural, tribal and other remote areas.

The European Court of Justice’s invalidation of a European Union-U.S. data protection agreement this month sent shock waves through U.S. businesses and caused Congress and President Barack Obama’s administration to scramble for a solution.

The Federal Communications Commission’s defense of its rules regulating broadband services in court has a free speech element that could have wide implications for how the Internet should function and consumers’ access to online content.