Lawmakers are seeking hearings, potentially with executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter, after reports a political data analytics firm connected to the 2016 Trump campaign allegedly misused private information of more than 50 million Americans. Facebook suspended the accounts of Strategic Communication Laboratories and its data firm Cambridge Analytica Friday, citing violations of guidelines for user data collection. The announcement followed reports from The New York Times and The Guardian about the organization’s alleged misrepresentation and harvesting of user data.
The Competitive Carriers Association urged the FCC to approve changes to wireless infrastructure rules at Thursday's commissioners’ meeting. But the agency also continues to receive filings from tribal, historic preservation groups and groups representing local governments slamming the draft order. Former Commissioner Michael Copps said the FCC should take a pause. “There is no compelling need for FCC to rush approval next week of new wireless infrastructure rules until it has met in good faith its trust and consultation obligations to affected tribal areas,” Copps tweeted Thursday. “Doesn’t appear that’s really happened yet.”
The FCC ruled vague phone fee descriptions may violate truth-in-billing rules and the Communications Act, with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly partially dissenting. Responding to questions raised by a 2010 order from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, an FCC declaratory ruling Thursday in docket 98-170 stressed "a final determination will require the court to apply our ruling to the facts at issue in the case," Gregory Manasher and Frida Sirota v. NECC Telecom, No. 2:06-cv-10749. Plaintiffs' petition to the agency alleged NECC violated the rules and the act "by billing, charging, and collecting monies" that "were unjustly, unreasonably, and deceptively billed as 'recurring fees' and 'other fees,'" the FCC said. "Plaintiffs also alleged NECC billed plaintiffs 'for amounts in excess of the actual cost for telephone services.'" NECC disputed the allegations. Both parties cited the Supreme Court's Global Crossing v. Metrophones, disagreeing whether the FCC had addressed whether a Section 64.2401 rule violation is unreasonable under the act's Section 201(b). The court referred the legal issue and eight questions on billing details to the FCC. The agency sought comment in 2012, drawing responses from two telco trade groups and consumer advocates. The commission ruling provided answers. O'Rielly said he's concerned the ruling could limit carrier discretion under 1999 truth-in-billing rules intended as "broad, binding principles" rather than detailed rules. "I disagree with the portions of this item that suggest that clarifying information must be contained on the bill itself," he said. He's "troubled" by the FCC action because the "flourishing voice market" is giving consumers various options: "This item should strike a more careful balance. Instead, its effort to explicitly or implicitly constrain billing practices could make compliance more burdensome for providers of legacy services or confuse consumers with more billing detail than helpful." NECC didn't comment.
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue told Senate Commerce Committee members he backs efforts to add dedicated broadband funding to a final infrastructure bill, amid ongoing debate about whether Congress can agree on a funding mechanism. Committee members spent significant time during a Wednesday hearing with Perdue and other cabinet secretaries on President Donald Trump's infrastructure legislative proposal debating funding, as lawmakers have done repeatedly. Trump's plan, released last month, proposes $50 billion in federal funding for rural infrastructure projects allocated via state block grants that could be spent for broadband. Democrats strongly pushed for direct broadband funding (see 1802120001, 1802140052, 1802140064 and 1803010050).
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue told Senate Commerce Committee members he backs efforts to add dedicated broadband funding to a final infrastructure bill, amid ongoing debate about whether Congress can agree on a funding mechanism. Committee members spent significant time during a Wednesday hearing with Perdue and other cabinet secretaries on President Donald Trump's infrastructure legislative proposal debating funding, as lawmakers have done repeatedly. Trump's plan, released last month, proposes $50 billion in federal funding for rural infrastructure projects allocated via state block grants that could be spent for broadband. Democrats strongly pushed for direct broadband funding (see 1802120001, 1802140052, 1802140064 and 1803010050).
American Indian groups criticized proposed changes to wireless infrastructure rules teed up for next week’s commissioners’ meetings but so far haven't been making their concerns known through lobbying at the FCC. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and some other groups representing tribal interests didn’t comment Tuesday, and representatives have said in filings that the regulator appears to be putting the interests of industry ahead of native groups.
Satellite operators need to be far more active in helping set 5G standards or risk being relegated to a tertiary niche role in providing 5G services, industry officials said Monday at Satellite 2018. Meanwhile, experts said the Intelsat/Intel/SES plan for freeing up some C-band spectrum for terrestrial use (see 1802090016) raises big questions about whether it's a smart way to monetize spectrum, or a bad precedent for satellite operators as a whole.
Satellite operators need to be far more active in helping set 5G standards or risk being relegated to a tertiary niche role in providing 5G services, industry officials said Monday at Satellite 2018. Meanwhile, experts said the Intelsat/Intel/SES plan for freeing up some C-band spectrum for terrestrial use (see 1802090016) raises big questions about whether it's a smart way to monetize spectrum, or a bad precedent for satellite operators as a whole.
A pair of Senate Commerce Committee hearings this week on President Donald Trump’s infrastructure legislative proposal will likely delve into thorny questions about how a final bill would fund broadband projects, and there will be interest in plans to streamline regulations viewed as impeding deployments (see 1803120049), communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. A Communications Subcommittee hearing Tuesday is to concentrate on broadband aspects of the Trump proposal. A full Commerce hearing that will include Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross is expected to touch on broadband and other infrastructure (see 1803060056).
A pair of Senate Commerce Committee hearings this week on President Donald Trump’s infrastructure legislative proposal will likely delve into thorny questions about how a final bill would fund broadband projects, and there will be interest in plans to streamline regulations viewed as impeding deployments (see 1803120049), communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. A Communications Subcommittee hearing Tuesday is to concentrate on broadband aspects of the Trump proposal. A full Commerce hearing that will include Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross is expected to touch on broadband and other infrastructure (see 1803060056).