Today, Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) led a group of 15 senators in introducing the “Data Care Act of 2018,” which would require online service providers like Facebook and Google to responsibly protect individually identifying information about consumers. Public Knowledge welcomes the bill as a good starting point for a discussion about what responsibilities custodians of our personal information should have.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission adopted its first ever Communications Marketplace Report. The Report complies with new congressional requirements to streamline the Commission’s various communications reports into a comprehensive, consolidated review of the state of the communications ecosystem.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission voted on a party-line vote to approve a Declaratory Ruling on “Text Messaging Classification,” classifying text messaging as a Title I information service under the Communications Act. This action enables wireless carriers to discriminate against short-messaging services (SMS) and short codes, the standard five or six-digit vanity numbers used by organizations such as Catholic Relief Services for disaster relief campaigns, or by political campaigns and marketing firms.

Today, Public Knowledge joined 19 other public interest, rural, Native American, and consumer groups in a letter urging Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to either issue a new Public Notice examining the classification of text messaging and short codes, or to classify both as Title II telecommunications services.

Recently, the Council to Secure the Digital Economy and the Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security published papers documenting industry and governmental efforts to counter botnets.