A federal district judge upheld an FCC refusal to release the con...
A federal district judge upheld an FCC refusal to release the contents of a database on broadband deployment and local competition compiled from carrier reports. The FCC has the right to protect Form 477 data deemed confidential by submitting…
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companies, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle in the District of Columbia said Monday. The Center for Public Integrity sued last year seeking access to the material after the FCC denied a request under the Freedom of Information Act. Huvelle said most data that the FCC sought to shield are exempt from FOIA search. Carriers must file Form 477 twice yearly, tallying broadband users among other things. The agency stance was endorsed by telecom companies and groups, including USTelecom, AT&T, Verizon, the Wireless Communications Association, National Cable Telecommunications Association and CTIA, which intervened or submitted amicus briefs supporting the FCC’s refusal to produce the records. The judge required release only of a small portion of the data, entered where carriers make additional comments to explain part of their reports. At issue isn’t the comments themselves but the carriers’ references to the “part” and “line” of the report to which the comments relate. The judge said the parties generally had agreed that this material could be revealed. But the Wireless Communications Association objected to release of the “part” and “line” information as revealing “the existence of a non-zero response to that particular line and item, thereby indicating that a filer is providing a particular service,” the judge said, quoting from a WCA court filing. The judge called WCA’s argument unpersuasive.