CTIA warned the FCC its ability to regulate data breaches of information beyond customer proprietary network information (CPNI) is constrained by law. Other provider groups' filings posted Thursday struck a similar tone. But the Electronic Privacy Information Center said it's time for the FCC to get tough.

Standard judicial deference to administrative agencies "provides no shield when an agency engages in a sustained pattern of hostility towards an entity it regulates and ignores basic principles of fairness and due process," tech industry interest groups said in an amicus brief Tuesday (docket 22-672) backing Northstar Wireless' Supreme Court cert petition. Northstar is challenging the appellate court's upholding the FCC's denial of bidding credits to Northstar (see 2301230007). The interest groups said Northstar fully disclosed its relationship with Dish Network before the AWS-3 auction, and the FCC never indicated anything was amiss when "it could have stopped the auction before the omelet was scrambled." The commission's actions raise "significant due process concerns" and the agency had no right under the Administrative Procedure Act to change its practices without notice "simply because [it] resented how 'slick lawyers' made the Commission look foolish," they told the Supreme Court. Behind the amicus brief are Phoenix Center, Computer & Communications Industry Association, the International Center for Law & Economics, New America's Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and Incompas. The FCC didn't comment Wednesday.

Industry groups urged Maryland legislators to remove a private right of action (PRA) from a comprehensive privacy bill. The Maryland House Economic Matters Committee considered two privacy bills by Del. Sara Love (D) at a livestreamed hearing Wednesday. Industry urged Maryland to follow Connecticut’s approach, but the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said to instead base the bill on a proposal by Congress. Internet groups slammed a separate bill to regulate social media platforms for children.

Another short-term extension of the FCC’s auction authority is the likeliest scenario amid a slow return to negotiations on a broader spectrum legislative package earlier this month and dwindling time left before the commission’s current mandate expires, lawmakers and other observers said in interviews. President Joe Biden signed off in December on a renewal of the FCC’s auction remit through March 9 that Congress enacted as part of the FY 2023 appropriations omnibus package after a deal to attach spectrum legislative language to the measure fell through at the last minute (see 2212300046).

The White House's directive that all construction materials used in federal infrastructure projects, including fiber cable, be American made shouldn't cause big delays in or cost run-ups for fiber for broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) projects, we were told. It's less clear whether the directive could cause challenges in obtaining the electronics -- typically made overseas -- used to light the fiber.

U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams for Southern New York granted the application of an attorney for defendant Food52.com to adjourn all deadlines because the parties reached an agreement in principle to settle plaintiff Ramon Fontanez’s inaccessible website claims against the online kitchenware store (see 2211100054). “The parties are working on the settlement papers now” and hope to be in a position to submit a proposed consent decree for court approval within the next 30 days, Peter Shapiro of Lewis Brisbois told Abrams by letter Thursday (docket 1:22-cv-09584). The consent decree would address the Americans with Disabilities Act website “access issues” raised in Fontanez’s complaint, said Shapiro.

As long as TikTok is subject to the whims of the Chinese Communist Party, the popular Chinese-owned social media app will remain a national security issue, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., told us Thursday. He said he shares concerns of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The consolidated amended class action filed Wednesday against Discovery, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and CEO David Zaslav and Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels (see 2302100015) “asserts strict liability and negligence claims” for false and misleading statements made in the run-up to Discovery’s April 8 WarnerMedia buy from AT&T. The false statements Zaslav and Wiedenfels made in earnings calls alone are “actionable” under Section 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act, said the complaint (docket 1:22-cv-08171) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York.

Pro se plaintiff Lee Cunningham must show cause by Feb. 28 why the U.S. District Court for Middle Alabama in Montgomery is the proper venue for his Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint against Southern Power, said an order signed Tuesday (docket 2:22-cv-00621) by U.S. Magistrate Judge Chad Bryan. Southern Power’s answer said Cunningham lives in Bibb County, which is in the Northern District of Alabama, “and therefore the alleged conduct at issue, which Southern Power denies, presumably occurred there.” Southern Power also said its principal place of business isn't within the Middle District of Alabama. Cunningham needs to “specifically explain” whether a substantial part of the conduct giving rise to his claims “occurred within one or more counties comprising the Middle District of Alabama,” said Bryan’s order. The show cause order is necessary amid the venue challenge raised in Southern Power’s answer, coupled with a lack of detail in the complaint about precisely where the unlawful TCPA conduct took place, it said.

FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson’s resignation “raises significant questions about the agency’s direction and operations,” Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us Wednesday.