Congress should enact data breach notification legislation, said a letter signed by 22 trade groups representing tech, telecom and other industries, sent to House Commerce Committee leaders Thursday. The bill should include a flexible, scalable data protection standard that can be adapted to companies of varying size and complexity; a timely notification regime; consistent enforcement provisions, including ability for the FTC to impose penalties for violations of the new law; and pre-emption of existing state law, said the letter. Those supporting the effort include banking, insurance and retail stakeholders and ACT|The App Association, BSA|The Software Alliance, CTIA, Internet Commerce Coalition, TechNet, 21st Century Privacy Coalition and USTelecom.

ISPs have made “an ironclad commitment” to maintain net neutrality protection and will keep their promises, USTelecom President Jonathan Spalter said in an interview on C-SPAN’s The Communicators, set to be telecast this weekend. USTelecom was a leading proponent of the FCC order that largely scrapped the 2015 rules (see 1712140039). But Spalter counseled against hysteria after the FCC’s vote: “We need to take a step back from … fear. We live in a very contentious environment and very contentious political moment.”

Legal challengers to FCC net neutrality deregulation face some tough tactical calls, including whether to seek a court stay and their preferred circuit venue, attorneys told us. It's tempting to seek a stay that would block the "internet freedom" order from taking effect while the case is heard on the merits, but such a request must clear a high bar and the prospects for success are dim, several said. On the venue, the calculus is complicated, given the past open internet rulings of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the attorneys said. The Republican-majority FCC commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines Dec. 14 to jettison Title II net neutrality regulation under the Communications Act (see 1712140039).

The FCC asked a court to keep a procedural hold on a tech transition case involving the prior commission's regulation of copper retirement and telecom service discontinuances under Communications Act Section 214. The agency said its recent wireline infrastructure order reversed key decisions being challenged by telcos in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in USTelecom v. FCC., No. 15-1414, but noted the new order is being challenged in the 9th Circuit (see 1712080057). The FCC believes "it would be prudent for the Court to continue to hold this case in abeyance until any legal challenges to the Infrastructure Order are resolved," said a commission status report (in Pacer) Friday to the D.C. Circuit. "If a court were to vacate the Infrastructure Order, such a ruling could have the effect of reinstating the FCC’s prior interpretations of section 214. Given that possibility, it would be appropriate for the Court to preserve petitioner’s ability to challenge the Commission’s previous interpretations of section 214 by continuing to hold this case in abeyance pending the disposition of any petitions for review of the Infrastructure Order." The agency said USTelecom agreed with the request.

The FCC is in a strong position to defend its Title II net neutrality repeal in court, said Chairman Ajit Pai, as well as attorneys and observers sympathetic to or neutral about his cause. They said the "internet freedom" order's broadband reclassification as a lightly regulated Communications Act Title I information service is backed by clear Supreme Court precedent.

The FCC identified almost 1 million locations eligible for a Connect America Fund auction of up to $2 billion in aggregate broadband-oriented subsidies over 10 years. The residential and small-business locations are in census blocks traditionally served by major telcos. Participants can bid on those locations in the reverse (low bids favored) CAF Phase II auction of support for fixed broadband and voice services with data speeds of at least 10/1 Mbps. The commission also listed census block groups (and their reserve prices) on which bids can be placed, and made available a map showing the eligible blocks within those groups, said a news release and public notice Tuesday. Industry parties welcomed the developments, some noting continuing issues.

USTelecom hires Hawley Stanton, ex-office of House Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta, R-Ohio, as manager-government affairs ... U.K. government names Terry Burns, ex-Channel 4, Ofcom chairman, effective Jan. 1, succeeding Patricia Hodgson, stepping down ... Newsmax TV hires Jeff Lewis, ex-Ovation, as chief revenue officer ... New maker of ultra-small satellites AST&Science, started by Abel Avellan, ex-Emerging Markets Communications, as founder-chairman-CEO ... Arrow Electronics names Steven Gunby, FTI Consulting, to the board, from which John Hanson retires ... Open Compute Project Foundation elects Mark Roenigk, Facebook, as chair, succeeding that company's Jason Taylor.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vowed Friday to "force" a floor vote on a planned Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to counteract the FCC order to repeal 2015 net neutrality regulation. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., are leading the CRA push and will file their respective resolutions in the Senate and House once the order is promulgated (see 1712110050, 1712120037 and 1712140044). Industry lawyers and governance experts noted diverging opinions on the procedural timeline for bringing up CRA resolutions on the net neutrality repeal. The precise timetable for court challenges to the order is also somewhat murky due to the item's structure, attorneys told us.

With lawsuits coming and protests occurring outside the FCC meeting where net neutrality rules were changed, advocates for keeping the status quo said they will press on. And those for and against the regulatory rollback reacted in droves, with dozens of statements issued shortly after the 3-2 party-line vote. Free Press Senior Counsel Jessica Gonzalez said her group will sue the FCC. President Craig Aaron told us he anticipated lawsuits by a variety of other groups. And the FCC's chief technology officer had raised concerns, which he said have been addressed.

The FCC draft "restoring internet freedom" order cites studies to show the 2015 net neutrality order hurt the economy. Such arguments have been disputed, but court watchers agree for the most part that when legal challenges are filed, judges are likely to give the analysis little scrutiny. NCTA CEO Michael Powell told reporters Wednesday consumers will see no change due to the order. The National Hispanic Media Coalition said it expects to take the regulator to court, and states may as well.