Ajit Pai is back on the telecom policy scene as chief lobbyist for the mobile industry, and he has quickly managed to anger a coalition that includes both cable companies and consumer advocates.

Pai was the Federal Communications Commission chairman during President Trump's first term and then spent several years at private equity firm Searchlight Capital. He changed jobs in April, becoming the president and CEO of wireless industry lobby group CTIA. Shortly after, he visited the White House to discuss wireless industry priorities and had a meeting with Brendan Carr, the current FCC chairman who was part of Pai's Republican majority at the FCC from 2017 to 2021.

Pai's new job isn't surprising. He was once a lawyer for Verizon, and it's not uncommon for FCC chairs and commissioners to be lobbyists before or after terms in government.

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wants to enforce a 10-year moratorium on AI regulation by making states ineligible for broadband funding if they try to impose any limits on development of artificial intelligence.

The House previously approved a budget bill that contained a fairly straightforward provision to ban state AI regulation for 10 years. Cruz, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, yesterday released budget reconciliation text that takes a different approach to preventing states from regulating AI.

Cruz's approach may be an attempt to get around the Senate's Byrd Rule, which limits the inclusion of "extraneous matter" in budget reconciliation legislation. He wants to make it impossible for states to receive money from the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program if they try to regulate AI. Cruz released a summary that says his bill "forbids states collecting BEAD money from strangling AI deployment with EU-style regulation."

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Two commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission are resigning at the end of this week. For at least a little while, the FCC will have just two members: Chairman Brendan Carr, a Republican chosen by Trump to lead the agency, and Anna Gomez, a Democratic commissioner.

Democrat Geoffrey Starks announced in March that he would leave in the near future, and today he said that Friday will be his final day. Starks' departure could have given Carr a 2-1 Republican majority, but it turns out Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington will leave at the same time as Starks.

"I will be concluding my tenure at the Federal Communications Commission at the end of this week," Simington announced today. "It has been the greatest honor of my professional life to serve the American people as a Commissioner. I am deeply honored to have been entrusted with this responsibility by President Donald J. Trump during his first term."

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The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) teamed up with DOGE to fire 10,000 employees while relying on "hopelessly error-ridden" personnel records, a class-action complaint filed yesterday alleged. The lawsuit said the HHS terminated thousands of workers on April 1, shortly after sharing the flawed personnel records with the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

"These agencies knew that the records were hopelessly error-ridden, and that the records should have been used, if at all, with great caution," said the lawsuit filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia. "Instead of taking steps to verify the contents of the records and correct the systemic inaccuracies, the agencies promptly used them to fire 10,000 employees."

The case was filed by a law firm founded by former Justice Department attorneys on behalf of seven named plaintiffs and all others who were laid off as part of the April 1 Reduction in Force (RIF). It alleges that the government violated the Privacy Act, which requires agencies to verify the accuracy of information used as the basis for adverse actions against employees.

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Internet service provider Frontier Communications agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by major record labels that demanded mass disconnections of broadband users accused of piracy.

Universal, Sony, and Warner sued Frontier in 2021. In a notice of settlement filed last week in US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the parties agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice, with each side to pay its own fees and costs.

The record labels and Frontier simultaneously announced a settlement of similar claims in a Bankruptcy Court case in the same district. Frontier also settled with movie companies in April of this year, just before a trial was scheduled to begin. (Frontier exited bankruptcy in 2021.)

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The Trump administration is backing cable company Cox in a battle that could determine whether Internet service providers are forced to disconnect users accused of piracy.

Cox, which says ISPs shouldn't have to terminate customers based on unproven allegations of copyright infringement, has been seeking Supreme Court review of Sony's victory in the underlying lawsuit. The court asked the US solicitor general to file a brief expressing the views of the United States government. Solicitor General John Sauer, a Trump nominee, filed a brief yesterday.

The Supreme Court "should grant certiorari to address the first question presented in Cox's petition: whether an ISP materially contributes to copyright infringement by continuing to provide Internet access to particular subscribers after receiving notice that copyright infringement has occurred on their accounts," Sauer wrote.

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A federal judge has given Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employees access to US Treasury payment systems as long as they meet training and vetting requirements but denied the Trump administration's motion to completely dissolve a preliminary injunction.

US District Judge Jeannette Vargas of the Southern District of New York is overseeing a case filed against President Trump by 19 states led by New York. In February, Vargas issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Treasury Department from granting DOGE access to systems containing personally identifiable information or confidential financial information.

In April, Vargas allowed DOGE employee Ryan Wunderly to access the Treasury Department's Bureau of Fiscal Services (BFS) system, after government declarations said "that Wunderly has undergone the same vetting and security clearance process that applies to any other Treasury Department employee provided with access to BFS payment systems." In an order yesterday, Vargas ruled that four more employees can access the system.

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National Public Radio sued President Trump and his administration today over Trump's move to block funding for public broadcasting. NPR said Trump acted illegally, and that losing federal funding could force it to shut newsrooms and dramatically scale back news coverage.

On May 1, Trump issued an executive order titled, "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media," in which he ordered the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and all US agencies to cease federal funding for NPR and PBS. The White House had previously alleged that NPR and PBS "spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news.'"

NPR's lawsuit in US District Court for the District of Columbia asked the court to declare Trump's executive order and all actions to implement it unconstitutional. NPR's lawsuit said that Trump "has no authority under the Constitution to take such action. On the contrary, the power of the purse is reserved to Congress, and the President has no inherent authority to override Congress's will on domestic spending decisions. By unilaterally imposing restrictions and conditions on funds in contravention of Congress, the Order violates the Separation of Powers and the Spending Clause of the Constitution."

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AT&T has struck a deal to buy CenturyLink's consumer fiber broadband division for $5.75 billion, giving the Internet provider another 1.1 million fiber customers in 11 states.

The all-cash deal is expected to close during the first half of 2026 assuming the companies obtain regulatory approval. AT&T will gain new customers in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.

The deal will give AT&T room to grow its user base by more than the 1.1 million existing CenturyLink customers, as AT&T said the network areas being sold include over 4 million fiber-enabled locations. "The transaction will enable AT&T to significantly expand access to AT&T Fiber in major metro areas like Denver, Las Vegas, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City and Seattle, as well as additional geographies," AT&T said.

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The US Senate today voted along party lines to kill a Federal Communications Commission program to distribute Wi-Fi hotspots to schoolchildren, with Democrats saying the Republican-led vote will make it harder for kids without reliable Internet access to complete their homework.

The Senate approved a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to nullify the hotspot rule, which was issued by the Federal Communications Commission in July 2024 under then-Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The program would be eliminated if the House version passes and President Trump signs the joint resolution of disapproval.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announced the plan in January, saying the FCC program would "imped[e] parents' ability to decide what their kids see by subsidizing unsupervised access to inappropriate content." He also alleged that the hotspot program would shift control of Internet access from parents to schools and thus "heightens the risk of censoring kids' exposure to conservative viewpoints."

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President Donald Trump is demanding the release of Tina Peters, a former election official who parroted Trump's 2020 election conspiracy theories and is serving nine years in prison for compromising the security of election equipment.

In a post on Truth Social last night, Trump wrote that "Radical Left Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser ignores Illegals committing Violent Crimes like Rape and Murder in his State and, instead, jailed Tina Peters, a 69-year-old Gold Star mother who worked to expose and document Democrat Election Fraud. Tina is an innocent Political Prisoner being horribly and unjustly punished in the form of Cruel and Unusual Punishment."

Trump said he is "directing the Department of Justice to take all necessary action to help secure the release of this 'hostage' being held in a Colorado prison by the Democrats, for political reasons."

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A messaging service used by former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has temporarily shut down while the company investigates an apparent hack. The messaging app is used to access and archive Signal messages but is not made by Signal itself.

404 Media reported yesterday that a hacker stole data "from TeleMessage, an obscure Israeli company that sells modified versions of Signal and other messaging apps to the US government to archive messages." 404 Media interviewed the hacker and reported that the data stolen "contains the contents of some direct messages and group chats sent using [TeleMessage's] Signal clone, as well as modified versions of WhatsApp, Telegram, and WeChat."

TeleMessage is based in Israel and was acquired in February 2024 by Smarsh, a company headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Smarsh provided a statement to Ars today saying it has temporarily shut down all TeleMessage services.

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Elon Musk's companies could avoid over $2.3 billion in potential fines and other liabilities thanks to Musk's unusual government position as the head of DOGE, said a memo yesterday from the Democratic staff of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The estimate is said to include potential liability from federal investigations, litigation, and other regulatory actions.

"Since his appointment, Mr. Musk has taken a chainsaw to the federal government with no apparent regard for the law or for the people who depend on the programs and agencies he so blithely destroys... Mr. Musk's position may allow him to evade oversight, derail investigations, and make litigation disappear whenever he so chooses—on his terms and at his command," the 44-page memo said.

The subcommittee's investigation found that as of January 20, "Musk and his companies were subject to at least 65 actual or potential actions by 11 different federal agencies." The memo said the subcommittee "was able to estimate potential financial liabilities for 40 of the 65 actions by eight federal agencies," resulting in the $2.37 billion total.

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A lawyer representing MyPillow and its CEO Mike Lindell in a defamation case admitted using artificial intelligence in a brief that has nearly 30 defective citations, including misquotes and citations to fictional cases, a federal judge said.

"[T]he Court identified nearly thirty defective citations in the Opposition. These defects include but are not limited to misquotes of cited cases; misrepresentations of principles of law associated with cited cases, including discussions of legal principles that simply do not appear within such decisions; misstatements regarding whether case law originated from a binding authority such as the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; misattributions of case law to this District; and most egregiously, citation of cases that do not exist," US District Judge Nina Wang wrote in an order to show cause Wednesday.

Wang ordered attorneys Christopher Kachouroff and Jennifer DeMaster to show cause as to why the court should not sanction the defendants, law firm, and individual attorneys. Kachouroff and DeMaster also have to explain why they should not be referred to disciplinary proceedings for violations of the rules of professional conduct.

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Router maker TP-Link is facing a criminal antitrust investigation into whether it engaged in predatory pricing, Bloomberg reported yesterday. TP-Link was already facing government scrutiny over its ties to China.

"The US is conducting a criminal antitrust investigation into pricing strategies by TP-Link Systems Inc., a California-based router maker with links to China whose equipment now dominates the American market, according to people familiar with the matter," Bloomberg wrote. "Beyond pricing, a focus of the inquiry is also whether the company's growing US market share represents a threat to national security... The scrutiny began in late 2024 under the Biden administration and has continued under President Donald Trump."

Justice Department prosecutors are investigating whether TP-Link engaged in a predatory pricing scheme that "involves selling goods below cost in order to gain market share before raising prices once competitors have either been hobbled or eliminated," the report said.

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A Democratic member of the Federal Communications Commission plans what she calls a First Amendment tour to fight the Trump administration's "ongoing campaign of censorship and control."

"Since the founding of our country, the First Amendment has protected our fundamental right to speak freely and hold power to account. Today, the greatest threat to that freedom is coming from our own government," Commissioner Anna Gomez said yesterday.

Gomez plans to focus on FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's actions against news broadcasters and tech firms. Under Carr, "the FCC is being weaponized to attack freedom of speech in the media and telecommunications sector instead of focusing on its core mission—connecting the public, protecting consumers, and supporting competition," Gomez's announcement said.

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The European Commission issued a €500 million fine to Apple and a €200 million fine to Meta yesterday, saying that both companies violated the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The companies are required to bring their platforms into compliance within 60 days or face "periodic penalty payments," the EC said.

These are the first two non-compliance decisions adopted by the commission under the DMA. The EC said it determined that Apple breached its anti-steering obligation and that "Meta breached the DMA obligation to give consumers the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data."

"Apple and Meta have fallen short of compliance with the DMA by implementing measures that reinforce the dependence of business users and consumers on their platforms," said European Commissioner for Competition Teresa Ribera.

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The Trump administration plans to kill the free tax filing program operated by the Internal Revenue Service, the Associated Press reported today, citing two anonymous sources.

The IRS launched Direct File in a pilot for the 2024 tax filing season. It was available to taxpayers in 12 states last year, and was available in 25 states this year. The program's website says the filing tool will be open until October 15 for people who obtained deadline extensions, but it hasn't been updated to account for the plan to end Direct File.

"The program had been in limbo since the start of the Trump administration as Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have slashed their way through the federal government," the AP article said. "Musk posted in February on his social media site, X, that he had 'deleted' 18F, a government agency that worked on technology projects such as Direct File."

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A government whistleblower told lawmakers that DOGE's access to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) systems went far beyond what was needed to analyze agency operations and apparently led to a data breach. NLRB employee Daniel Berulis, a DevSecOps architect, also says he received a threat when he was preparing his whistleblower disclosure.

"Mr. Berulis is coming forward today because of his concern that recent activity by members of the Department of Government Efficiency ('DOGE') have resulted in a significant cybersecurity breach that likely has and continues to expose our government to foreign intelligence and our nation's adversaries," said a letter from the group Whistleblower Aid to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence leaders and the US Office of Special Counsel.

The letter, Berulis' sworn declaration, and an exhibit with screenshots of technical data are available here. "This declaration details DOGE activity within NLRB, the exfiltration of data from NLRB systems, and—concerningly—near real-time access by users in Russia," Whistleblower Aid Chief Legal Counsel Andrew Bakaj wrote. "Notably, within minutes of DOGE personnel creating user accounts in NLRB systems, on multiple occasions someone or something within Russia attempted to login using all of the valid credentials (e.g. Usernames/Passwords). This, combined with verifiable data being systematically exfiltrated to unknown servers within the continental United States—and perhaps abroad—merits investigation."

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The Trump White House is proposing to eliminate most federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and issued a statement yesterday alleging that NPR and PBS "spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news.'"

"The NPR, PBS grift has ripped us off for too long," the White House statement said.

White House budget director Russ Vought drafted a memo for a rescission plan that would eliminate funding already approved by Congress, according to multiple news reports. This includes $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), or about two years' worth of funding for the nonprofit group that provides money to public broadcasting stations.

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