Federal Communications Commission Research Articles

FCC Announces Its Existing RF Exposure Limits Apply to 5G [Health Matters

Citing support from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced in December 2019 that it reaffirms the RF radiation exposure li mits it first adopted in 1996 fa The action was undertaken in the face of appeals from some to tighten, and others to loosen, the existing limits. In the process, the FCC also resolved and terminated a 2013 Notice of Inquiry that sought public input on whether it should modify its existing RF exposure rules considering recent scientific opinions and authoritative expert views, among other issues [2]. Apparently, six years since the Notice of Inquiry, the FCC deems it appropriate to maintain the existing RF exposure limits. It is interesting to observe that the FCC dedined to make changes that would stiffen the current rules or to make any changes that would effectively relax the current rules.

NEW HAMPSHIRE LOTTERY COMMISSION v. BARR, BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE COALITION TO STOP INTERNET GAMBLING AND NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONVENIENCE STORES IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS AND SUPPORTING REVERSAL No. 19-1835 (1st Cir. Dec. 24, 2019)

NEW HAMPSHIRE LOTTERY COMMISSION v. BARR, BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE COALITION TO STOP INTERNET GAMBLING AND NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONVENIENCE STORES IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS AND SUPPORTING REVERSAL No. 19-1835 (1st Cir. Dec. 24, 2019)

An Efficient Ultrawideband Pulse Transmitter With Automatic On–Off Functionality for Primary Radar Systems

This letter proposes an ultrawideband (UWB) transmitter for a UWB primary impulse radar that is designed for real-time pedestrian localization. The proposed transmitter applies a novel combination of a UWB pulse generator followed by a UWB amplifier to boost output pulse amplitude, which is able to be turned off automatically after one pulse transmission in order to reduce power consumption. The transmitter has been fabricated using 45-nm SOI CMOS technology and has been measured on a printed circuit board (PCB). The produced pulses possess a high measured peak-to-peak amplitude of 425 mV and a width of around 600 ps. The power spectral density (PSD) of the pulse achieves a maximum of −41 dBm/MHz at 6 GHz with a −10-dB bandwidth of 4.5 GHz from 3.3 to 7.8 GHz that assures that the proposed transmitter complies with the regulation of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for UWB outdoor applications. The pulse generator consumes around 10 pJ/pulse from a 1-V supply, which is very low among the similar designs, and remains almost constant with an increasing pulse repetition time (PRT).

The Secret Life of a Text Message

On February 14, 2019, hundreds of thousands of text messages were ensnared in a defective communications server—only to be released months later. By the time these messages reached their recipients, their worlds had changed: Heartfelt valentines arrived from loves now lost; other late-arriving messages seemed to come from ghosts of the recently passed. It could have been worse. Text messages help to enable a wide variety of critical applications, from public safety missives to corporate security protocols. If these sorts of messages had been trapped and later released, the results might have been far more concerning: Evacuation orders might have been lost, or late-arriving public safety warnings might have sparked misplaced panic. And yet there has been surprisingly little regulatory attention to this failure, among others, in the text messaging system. These failures highlight the fragility of our communications infrastructure—both technical and regulatory. Technically, the text messaging system is surprisingly consolidated, creating effective bottlenecks (and isolated points of failure) in our communications network. Regulatorily, the Federal Communications Commission recently reclassified text messaging services, placing them beyond the agency’s regulatory ambit. Together, this network consolidation and weak regulatory oversight give rise to important safety, security, and competition concerns. And so, this Valentine’s Day Server Failure should alert policymakers to the need to ensure that our regulatory infrastructure keeps pace with technological change.

Broadband Mergers and Dynamic Bargaining: An Application to Netflix

I measure how mergers in the market for broadband internet service affect short-run welfare. Mergers between internet service providers (ISPs) with non-overlapping markets may decrease welfare by increasing ISP bargaining leverage against content providers. However, study of this welfare channel has been stymied by a lack of data on interconnection fees between content and internet service providers. I estimate an industry model of demand, plan choice, pricing and interconnection bargaining using data on plan prices, consumer choice sets and bargaining delays between major U.S ISPs and the leading purveyor of streaming video content, Netflix. Intuitively, if delaying agreement over interconnection degrades quality of service to subscribers, then the opportunity cost of lost subscriptions identifies the fee. To map disagreement times and ISP competition into interconnection fees, I develop a multilateral dynamic bargaining model with asymmetric information. ISPs make take-it-or-leave it offers to learn about Netflix’s benefit from interconnection, while simultaneously competing for subscribers who value Netflix quality of service. I structurally estimate the model and recover fixed interconnection fees ranging from 44 to 69 million USD. I find that a proposed merger between TimeWarner and Comcast that was challenged by the Federal Communications Commission would have slightly raised interconnection fees and bargaining length, reducing consumer welfare by 1.9 percent.

Seeking a Clearer Picture: Assessing the Appropriate Regulatory Framework for Broadband Video Distribution

This Note examines the appropriate regulatory framework for the distribution of commercial video content over broadband networks. As online video providers such as Netflix and Hulu expand, they are beginning to compete directly with the video services of major cable and telecommunications companies. Frequently, these companies also serve as a customer’s Internet service provider, leaving them in the position of carrying these competitive services over their broadband networks. This conflict has led to calls for regulation that would protect nascent online video services from feared anticompetitive actions by the major providers. In April 2010, against the backdrop of this expanding conflict, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Comcast Corporation v. FCC dealt a blow to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) ability to regulate in this arena. There, the circuit court invalidated the FCC’s jurisdictional approach to regulating broadband Internet. Although the FCC has subsequently reasserted its jurisdiction over broadband, the fallout from Comcast has rekindled debates as to whether broadband is best governed by proscriptive FCC regulation, or whether oversight of this marketplace should be left to the general antitrust authorities - the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. This Note discusses the jurisdictional challenges to broadband oversight faced by each agency, and assesses the substantive and procedural merits of FCC and antitrust governance regimes. It then argues that, given the uncertainty regarding its authority, the FCC should abandon its efforts to regulate broadband video distribution in the absence of clear market harms. Finally, this Note proposes that this dynamic and rapidly evolving marketplace should develop outside the bounds of proscriptive regulations, with antitrust serving as a backstop if market intervention proves necessary.

Spatial and temporal assessment of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields emitted by smart meters and smart meter banks in urban environments

This paper describes radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic field (EMF) measurements in the vicinity of single and banks of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) smart meters. The measurements were performed in a meter testing and distribution facility as well as in-situ at five urban locations. The measurements consisted of gauging the RF environment at the place of assessment, evaluating the worst-case electric-field levels at various positions around the assessed AMI meter configuration (spatial assessment), which ranged from a single meter to a bank of 81 m, and calculating the duty cycle of the system, i.e. the fraction of time that the AMI meters were actually transmitting (12-h temporal assessment). Both in-situ and in the meter facility, the maximum field levels at 0.3 m from the meter configurations were 10–13 V/m for a single meter and 18–38 V/m for meter banks with 20–81 m. Furthermore, 6-min average duty cycles of 0.01% (1 m) up to 13% (81-m bank) were observed. Next, two general statistical models (one for a single meter and one for a meter bank) were constructed to predict the electric-field strength as a function of distance to any configuration of the assessed AMI meters. For all scenarios, the measured exposure levels (at a minimum distance of 0.3 m) were well below the maximum permissible exposure limits issued by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Indeed, the worst-case time-average exposure level at a distance of 0.3 m from an AMI installation was 5.39% of the FCC/IEEE and 9.43% of the ICNIRP reference levels.

Presidential Review: The President’s Statutory Authority Over Independent Agencies

Many presidents have been interested in asserting authority over independent regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Reserve Board. The underlying debates raise large constitutional questions, above all about the meaning and justification of the idea of a “unitary executive.” In the first instance, however, the president’s authority over independent agencies depends not on the Constitution, but on a common statutory phrase, which allows the president to discharge the heads of such agencies for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” This phrase – the INM standard – is best understood to create a relationship of presidential review and a particular remedy for legal delinquency flowing from that review. It allows the president to discharge members of independent agencies not only for laziness and torpor (“inefficiency”) or for corruption (“malfeasance”), but also for neglect of their legal duty, which includes clearly erroneous decisions of policy, law, or fact, either repeatedly or on unusually important matters. Connecting this understanding to the Take Care Clause, we reject both a minimalist approach, which deprives the president of any kind of decisionmaking authority over policy made by independent agencies, and also a maximalist approach, which would treat the independent agencies as essentially identical to executive agencies, in terms of presidential oversight authority. This approach has strong implications for how to understand the President’s supervisory authority over the independent agencies; it suggests that he has such authority insofar as he is attempting to ensure against “neglect of duty” but not if he is displacing their policymaking discretion.

A low cost fractal CPW fed antenna for UWB applications with a circular radiating patch

In this study a validated antenna into simulation and through measurement has been described and analyzed. The coplanar waveguide (CPW) technique has been chosen to feed the radiating patch while the two ground planes have been partially designed in the top side of the substrate. The fractal geometry, applied to the circular radiator, has been obtained by merging the circular and rectangular shapes. The fiberglass FR-4, with a single side of 35μm copper thickness, has been used to achieve the antenna material with a permittivity of 4.4, a thickness of 1.6 mm, a loss tangent of 0.025 and an overall dimension of 34x43 mm 2 . The proposed CPW fractal antenna has been configured to operate in the frequency range 3.1-10.6 GHz published by the federal communications commission (FCC) as an ultra-wide band (UWB). To calculate the return loss, the gain, the current density and the radiation pattern of the simulated antenna, two electromagnetic solvers have been involved which are the CST microwave studio and ADS. The series of measurement have been performed by using the network analyzer and the anechoic chamber in order to confirm the computed antenna.

QoS aware distributed dynamic channel allocation for V2V communication in TVWS spectrum

Vehicles use Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) standard for communicating among themselves. But, with the increased number of on-road vehicles, DSRC channels get congested. So, an alternative to DSRC needs to be introduced, to meet the diverse demand for various vehicular applications. Federal Communication Commission released TV White Space (TVWS) for dynamic spectrum access. These TVWS channels has the potential to be used for Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication. However, the vehicles are highly mobile and communicate in an adhoc manner. Thus, employing TVWS in V2V communication requires efficient optimized channel allocation technique. In this work, a distributed joint channel and power allocation technique is devised, that considers both spatio-temporal change of TVWS availability and vehicular mobility. The channels are allocated based on user's transmission requirement with an adjusted power level such that significant interference is not caused to neighbouring primary users and other secondary users, transmitting in the same channel. Multiple vehicles are assigned a single channel using the proposed optimization technique to increase the system throughput. Vehicles are enabled with cognitive facility that allows them to sense the spectrum availability instead of relying on the geo-location TVWS database. The optimized channel and power allocation problem is a Mixed Integer Non-Linear Programming model which is solved using Lagrange's dual method. Simulation analysis shows that proposed optimization technique achieves high throughput while maintaining the network's QoS.

Spectrum and Delay Efficient Routing Protocol for Mobile Cognitive Ad-Hoc Networks

The ad hoc mobile cognitive network is an advanced network technology for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) problem of frequency deficiency. Cognitive radio networks are cognitive networks that select their network parameters based on the network environment. In a cognitive radio network, two users, the primary and the secondary or the cognitive user, gain access to the spectrum available to communicate with each other when the primary user accesses the spectrum. The secondary user should leave the spectrum and use the spectrum for the spectrum if the spectral hole is available for transmission. Therefore, routing in cognitive networks is a challenge and a challenge in mobile cognitive networks because of node mobility, the primary user interface, and the lack of spectrum. A delay minimized routing protocol is proposed for minimum delay route selection between the source and destination, which is improved version of AODV. The numerical and ns2 simulation results for the proposed protocol significantly state that delay minimized routing protocol (DMR) is better in terms of average end-to-end delay and average throughput.

El Internet en la era Trump: aproximación constitucional a una nueva realidad

En este trabajo se analiza, desde el derecho constitucional, el principio de neutralidad de Internet. Dicho principio es garantía de imparcialidad e igual trato en relación con los contenidos, el origen y acceso del tráfico en Internet y la interconectividad entre los distintos sistemas y tecnologías de la red. Se analizará también el impacto que las políticas y la forma de hacer política del presidente Donald Trump podría representar para la red por la revocación de la neutralidad de Internet por parte de la Federal Communications Commission (FCC, por sus siglas en inglés), así como por la expansión de la posverdad. El artículo comienza con una aproximación sobre cómo el derecho constitucional afronta hoy el reto tecnológico de Internet, para luego analizar la neutralidad en su doble dimensión sustantiva y formal (o tecnológica), y concluir con algunas consideraciones acerca de las transformaciones y riesgos que puede generar el nuevo giro de la administración de Trump en la democracia.

Designation of 988 crisis hotline available for public comment

Following its designation last month of 988 as the three‐digit dialing code for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has initiated a proposed rule and is now offering the public the opportunity to review and provide public comments on the document.

Design and Optimization of Dual-Band Energy-Efficient OOK UWB Transmitter Via PSO Algorithm

A CMOS ON–OFF-keying 3–10.6-GHz transmitter with low power consumption and low complexity used to Impulse Radio Ultra-Wide Band (IR-UWB) communication system is presented in this work. This architecture is designed and optimized via particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The IR-UWB transmitter is adapted to generate a high bandwidth frequency and it has a band switching capability. It consists of a switching inductance–capacitance voltage-controlled oscillator (LC_VCO), a pulse generator circuit, an injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) circuit, a buffer and an antenna. The VCO is switched ON/OFF by the pulse signal produced by a generator circuit which is realized through synchronizing the received data by a clock signal. The used technique for transmitting a discontinuous signal is based on a complementary switch-mode ON–OFF LC_VCO, whose main advantage is to reduce power consumption. In this work, a best agreement between the results of the optimization technique and those of the simulation is obtained. The simulated results illustrate a signal of pulse width of 2.5 ns and a pulse repetition rate (PRR) of 200 MHz. The output spectra are centered at 4-GHz and 8-GHz frequencies with 1,332-MHz and 1,350-MHz bandwidths, respectively. The peak-to-peak amplitude of a UWB signal output is 154[Formula: see text]mV. The IR-UWB transmitter power consumption is 11.4[Formula: see text]mW which corresponds to the consumption energy of 28.5 pJ/pulse @ 200[Formula: see text]MHz. The power spectral densities (PSDs) of the output signals of both circuits viz. ON–OFF LC_VCO and ILFD are less than [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]dBm/MHz, which agreed well with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) regulation. The transmitter design is well implemented using a TSMC 0.18-[Formula: see text]m CMOS process technology in an Advanced Design System (ADS).

FCC, Congress Close to Designating 988 as Suicide Hotline Number

FCC, Congress Close to Designating 988 as Suicide Hotline Number

Insights Into the Autonomy of Video Relay Interpreters

Insights Into the Autonomy of Video Relay Interpreters Robert Nowicki (bio) Professional Autonomy in Video Relay Service Interpreting. Erica Alley. Gallaudet University Press, 2019. 145 pages. $65.00 (hardcover, e-book). As video relay services (VRS) exit their second decade of existence, the book Professional Autonomy in Video Relay Service Interpreting, by Erica Alley, examines the scope and development of their application in the United States. Alley, who has worked for a VRS company, draws on her own experiences and those of other professionals in the industry to research the positive and negative impacts of VRS. Alley's text examines many kinds of changes but focuses on interpreter autonomy within VRS from the perspective of the interpreters themselves, whom the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) titles "Communication Assistants" (CAs). By situating CA workers within the systems of their employment, Alley asks, is CA autonomy impeded or better managed following the FCC's implementation of new regulations that affect their work? The text begins with a review of how professions, including interpreting, are valued in society. Via a progressive lens, Alley clarifies that CA workers are indeed professionals, whose work is defined and shaped by both social and legal expectations. Alley's chief contribution in this text is her examination of how FCC regulations may control and possibly inhibit CA autonomy in the VRS profession. Throughout the book, the author identifies social and practical outcomes of emerging communication technologies and their impact on the deaf and hearing communities who use VRS. Alley reviews the history and development of the first, bulky TTYs manufactured in the 1960s, then describes the development of text relay services, and finally the advent and rapid expansion of VRS services into the 21st century. The text summarizes the social impacts of interpreting and communication technologies, classified in terms of both positive and negative impacts that affect both the deaf and hearing communities. Alley asserts that the social impact on the deaf community has been particularly profound. VRS has forever changed the ways in which the deaf community sees and relates to itself, as well as the wider hearing world around it. Historically, American Sign Language interpreters developed in response to needs arising at home. Interpreters were often the child of deaf adults who acquired interpreting skills in order to address the shared needs of language and culture within the family; sometimes another member of the community would share this need. The advent of VRS coincided with the growing need to incorporate CAs into a respected profession. CAs are presently and historically an important bridge who link deaf and hearing communities. In addition to a rising professional [End Page 128] class of interpreters, technological development was also a shaping force that changed this dynamic relationship. The history of VRS coevolved with the rise of a professional class of sign language interpreters but also the growing involvement of governmental regulatory bodies like the FCC that fund the industry. As time, law, and the technology changed, the role of the CA became increasingly linked to economic concerns, including the VRS companies' need to generate profit. Alley explicitly links the professional role of the interpreter and regulation by governmental control. She documents cases of VRS corporate rules that were motivated by capitalist, profit-driven motives rather than long-established codes of ethical behavior (p. ix). Alley describes historical parallels between spoken- and sign language interpretation as professions, then argues that as the FCC became the main source of funding for VRS companies employing CA workers, the purpose of sign language interpreters inverted. Where initially the role of the interpreter was to meet the needs of deaf consumers, at present, the role is now more robustly linked to profit incentives. Two consequences of this development are the devaluing of the deaf consumer and the diminishing of the autonomy of the CA. Because the FCC is the main source of VRS operational income (it is also in charge of industry oversight), it wields disproportionate control of VRS operations. Consequently, as Alley describes, the autonomy of the CA becomes at risk, which also increases the potential for decreased quality of service. Another of Alley's compelling arguments is her description of how FCC...

Federal Communications Commission’s experimental radio service as a vehicle for dynamic spectrum access: An analysis of 10 years of experimental licenses data

AbstractDynamic spectrum access (DSA) systems, commonly known as spectrum sharing, are considered one of the most promising paths for more efficient spectrum allocation. When talking about DSA, the most discussed topics revolve around particular technologies such as cognitive radios or particular solutions such as the advanced wireless services-3 initiative. However, in this work, we explore a less discussed approach for spectrum sharing: the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s experimental radio service (ERS). The ERS grants licenses for experimentation, market trials, and product development in Federal and/or non-Federal bands. Frequencies in these licenses are assigned on a shared basis and not for the exclusive use of any one licensee. Using FCC’s scraped information in the period between 2007 and 2016, we were able to gain a deeper understanding of the ERS. We find that the processing time (i.e., time to get a license) has been reduced from 100 days to an average of 23 days in 2016. Moreover, the assignation process of experimental licenses is characterized great flexibility in terms of the authorized technical and nontechnical characteristics. We also explored what is behind these 10 years of information.

Transient Thermal Responses of Skin to Pulsed Millimeter Waves

This study examines thermal responses of skin to pulsed millimeter wave (mm-wave) and radiofrequency (RF) radiation. We review limits for pulse fluence in the IEEE Std. C95.1-2019 and the 2020 guideline of the International Commission on Nonionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), as well as the recently re-affirmed guidelines of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The focus of the study is on millimeter-wave frequencies (30-300 GHz) where energy is absorbed close to the body surface and intense pulses could potentially cause high temperature gradients at the skin, but the model is extended to lower frequencies as well. The study employs a simple one-dimensional baseline thermal model for skin and Pennes' bioheat equation (BHTE), together with a baseline model for thermal damage to skin based on a standard model. The predicted temperature increases produced by 3-sec pulses at 94 GHz are consistent with previous experimental results with no adjustable parameters in the model. The few reported data on thermal damage to the skin from pulsed 94 GHz energy are insufficient to enable a conventional analysis of damage thresholds and the data may be affected by errors in dosimetry. The baseline model suggests that the implicit limits on pulse fluence in the present FCC guidelines might allow, in extreme (but in practice unrealistic) cases, transient increases in skin temperature that approach thresholds for thermal pain but which remain well below levels anticipated to cause thermal damage. Limits on pulse fluence in the current IEEE and ICNIRP exposure guidelines would preclude such effects. Such extreme pulses are far above those that are emitted by wireless and other technologies but may be emitted by some nonlethal weapons systems. FCC's proposed “device-based time averaging” rules will restrict thermal transients in skin from mm-wave transmitters to levels that are roughly an order of magnitude below the slower temperature increases produced by the low-frequency components of the modulation waveform and appear to be excessively conservative. An appendix discusses the applicability of two approximations to the analytical solutions to the bioheat equation that can be used to estimate temperature increases in skin from exposure to mm-waves.

Incumbent Informing Capability (IIC) for Time-Based Spectrum Sharing

As the President's principal advisor on the regulation of the telecommunications industry, and policies relating to the Nation's economic and technological advancement, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce programs and policymaking focus largely on protecting federal spectrum-based capabilities while expanding the availability of spectrum for all users. Managing core federal spectrum programs effectively and efficiently, identifying innovative approaches to increase spectrum access and sharing opportunities, and ensuring that the Internet remains an engine for continued economic growth, which promotes a 21st century Internet economy and expands broadband Internet access in America are a driving force for NTIA policy decisions. A key pillar of this policy is to increase spectrum access for all users through improved cooperation and collaboration between Federal and non-Federal spectrum stakeholders. This paper describes an Incumbent Informing Capability (IIC) for Time-Based Sharing, an innovative way to collaboratively, securely, and dynamically increase opportunistic spectrum access within spectrum allocations principally used by the federal government. The IIC is a mechanism for more reliably informing “new entrants” in a shared spectrum band when incumbent federal systems are operating in close proximity and thus need to be protected. New entrant access to the spectrum would be controlled through an enhanced, near-real-time Spectrum Coordination System (SCS). The IIC could replace extra layers of sharing techniques such as the environmental sensing capability (ESC), which presently is required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) in the 3550-3700 MHz band. IIC has several potential benefits including support for mid-band spectrum sharing, reduced dependence on environmental sensing, more secure and reliable operations, and improved incumbent control of real-time spectrum usage information. Mid-band spectrum (between 1 GHz and 10 GHz) is valuable for broadband mobile wireless (e.g., 5G) communications because of its favorable propagation characteristics combined with potential for large individual channel bandwidth. This paper describes the concept for the IIC solution including operational needs and proposed business processes. It outlines how the IIC could be employed to enable spectrum sharing in the CBRS 3550-3650 MHz band and the 3450–3550 MHz band with potential for application to other bands in the future. Successful implementation of IIC will require interdisciplinary collaboration across institutions to apply AI/machine learning, secure distributed processing and data storage, and automated aggregate interference analysis. We expect the capability to evolve over time toward a dynamic spectrum sharing paradigm in selected bands where “everyone informs”, building on work demonstrated in the DARPA Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2) that can more fully optimize the use of spectrum. The work is relevant to US global leadership in 5G and beyond, inspiring innovation and further research into advanced dynamic spectrum sharing.

Enhanced Privacy Duties for Dominant Technology Companies

This paper explores two case studies in order to extract the elements of a legislative approach in the United States for stronger privacy regulation for dominant technology companies. The Federal Communication Commission’s now-repealed broadband privacy rules required broadband companies to obtain opt-in consent for data use beyond what was needed for providing broadband service. In an abuse of dominance case, the German Federal Cartel Office required Facebook to get separate affirmative consent from its users for combining third-party and affiliate data with data from its own social network service. Informed by these two cases, this paper outlines a new privacy law for dominant technology companies in the United States. It would establish enhanced privacy duties for dominant technology companies to ensure that the consumer interest in effective data protection is vindicated in a context where consumers are less able to exercise their general privacy rights. It develops several economic factors to test whether a company is dominant in its line of business and covers companies providing search, social media, online retailing and video exchange services. The paper proposes that such dominant technology companies would need to have a legal basis for their data use and describes consent, contractual necessity and legitimate interest as three possible bases. In addition, dominant technology companies would not be allowed to use unreasonably deceptive, abusive or dangerous designs, as described in Woodward Hartzog’s recent work. Furthermore, they would be required to satisfy enhanced duties of information fiduciaries as outlined in Jack Balkin’s work. The law would also impose restrictions on data sharing with service providers and affiliates and hold open the possibility of banning specific data uses. The law would put in the hands of an industry-specialist regulatory agency the authority to take into account the specified factors to determine when a technology company was dominant and so subject to enhanced privacy duties. The specialist agency would also be authorized to write and enforce implementing regulations in connection with the requirements specified in the legislation.