Public Knowledge will present oral arguments requesting repeal of the Federal Communications Commission’s November 2017 Order, “Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment,” before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday, August 27.

Yesterday, the fanfiction platform Archive of Our Own won the Hugo Award for Best Related Work. The Hugo Awards are given for excellence in science fiction and fantasy, and are widely considered the most prestigious honor in the genre.

Yesterday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft order to approve the Sprint/T-Mobile merger. The move follows the Department of Justice’s approval of the deal, pending the divestiture of prepaid brands and customers, as well as several side agreements designed to accelerate Dish Network’s entry into the wireless market.

Today, Public Knowledge filed comments urging the Department of Justice to maintain its consent decrees that allow the agency to oversee how The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) operate. ASCAP and BMI are two Performing Rights Organizations, or PROs, which offer “blanket licenses” that allow services, businesses, and others to publicly perform the works of the PROs’ member songwriters. In light of the current state of the law in the music marketplace, Public Knowledge encourages the DOJ to keep its consent decrees in place.

Today, reports surfaced that the Trump Administration is drafting an Executive Order that would require the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission to monitor speech on social media platforms. Reports indicate that the draft order calls for the FCC to develop new regulations detailing how and when the law shields social media companies when they remove content from their platforms. Public Knowledge finds this Administration’s potential abandonment of free speech and agency independence alarming.