Overnight Tech: Pressure builds ahead of TV box vote | Intel Dems warn about Russian election hacks | Spending bill doesn’t include internet measure

LEDE: The FCC is voting on its contentious set-top box proposal in a week and you can tell the pressure is mounting.

Letters are flying in both directions on Capitol Hill as the debate over how the commission should open up the market for the television boxes goes down to the wire. A group of 63 House Democrats, led by Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), called on Thursday for the commission to reexamine Chairman Tom Wheeler’s revised proposal.

{mosads}”We are writing to express our concerns with the Commission’s proposed September vote on new set-top box rules and urge the FCC to issue a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM),” they said. “We appreciate your effort to incorporate some of the suggestions you received during the comment period, however, the most recent proposal being voted on by the Commission is significantly different from the proposal that we had the opportunity to review and comment on.” They also say a formal notice could help prevent a legal challenge to the item on procedural grounds.

Meanwhile, Hill supporters of the proposal are launching their own offensive on the issue. Democratic California Reps. Anna Eshoo and Zoe Lofgren wrote a “Dear Colleague” letter on Wednesday decrying a key criticism of the proposal as a “fiction” and pushing their colleagues to support Wheeler’s plan. “We want to set the record straight about this proposal because it is imperative the FCC act without further delay,” they said. Click here to read more.

Please send your tips, comments and stray observations to David McCabe (dmccabe@thehill.com) and Ali Breland (abreland@thehill.com) and follow us on Twitter: @dmccabe, @alibreland and @HilliconValley.

INTEL DEMS’ WARNING ON RUSSIAN HACKING: The top Democrats on both the House and Senate intelligence committees say Russian intelligence services are trying to influence our election, and it’s coming from the top. “Based on briefings we have received, we have concluded that the Russian intelligence agencies are making a serious and concerted effort to influence the U.S. election,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). “At the least, this effort is intended to sow doubt about the security of our election and may well be intended to influence the outcomes of the election — we can see no other rationale for the behavior of the Russians. We believe that orders for the Russian intelligence agencies to conduct such actions could come only from very senior levels of the Russian government.” Our Katie Bo Williams has more.

THEN THERE’S THIS: Our colleague Julian Hattem reports that hackers, thought to be associated with Russia, have posted a picture that claims to be of Michelle Obama’s passport. They’ve also posted emails said to be from a White House advance staffer. The White House refused to get specific when reporters asked about the alleged breach on Thursday. “We take any reports about a cyber breach seriously, particularly if it contains some sensitive information,” said press secretary Josh Earnest. “Certainly, this is something we are taking a close look at.”

LAWMAKERS CALL FOR ROBOCALL REFORMS: The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s tech subcommittee held a hearing Thursday on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act — where members of both parties called for reforms to the landmark robocall law. Lawmakers voiced the concerns of both businesses worried about litigation under the statute and consumers irked by excessive robocalls. Lawmakers often channeled their constituents while talking about the latter issue. “Their sleep is interrupted, their day doesn’t belong to them,” subcommittee ranking member Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) said. “It’s a consistent form of harassment, the way they view it.”

I’M JUST HERE SO I CAN GET FINED: The FCC released a statement today saying that it was fining Siemens $175,000 for not disclosing corporate felony convictions. The FCC claims that these companies declined to disclose these convictions on their FCC wireless license applications, which is required. “A felony conviction is a serious offense that the Commission considers when deciding whether a company is fit to hold a license or other authorization,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc. “It is our duty to ensure that any person or company that fails to submit candid, complete, and accurate information about their background – criminal or otherwise – will be held accountable.”

WHATSAPP WITH THAT?: Privacy groups, predictably, are concerned with WhatsApp — formerly famed for its staunch stances on privacy — for sharing user information with its parent company, Facebook. “We urge the FTC to investigate this matter and to fulfill its obligation to prevent WhatsApp and Facebook from engaging in unfair and deceptive trade practices,” they wrote in a letter to the FCC.

BETTER THAN POLLS?: Northeastern assistant professor of political science Nick Beauchamp published a paper earlier this month on using Twitter to predict election outcomes. According to his paper he was able to predict all but two states in correctly in the 2012 election. “An examination of the most predictive textual features reveals the topics and events associated with opinion shifts, sheds light on more general theories of partisan difference in attention and information processing, and may be of use for real-time campaign strategy,” the paper’s abstract reads.

ON TAP:

At 8:30 a.m. The Telecommunications Industry Association will be hosting an Intel sponsored breakfast as a part of their internet of things week.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Busy looking up NFL lines and making last minute changes to your fantasy team? Here’s what you missed while you were doing that.

Bad news for opponents of the Obama administration’s internet transition plan. A provision blocking the transition was not included in the government funding bill unveiled in the Senate today.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) expressed disappointment at the decision..

Yahoo confirmed a security breach in which 500 million of its users accounts were hacked.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) was not pleased with how long it took Yahoo to reveal the breach.

The U.S. has been hitting up Twitter a bit more compared to the first half of last year for user account information.