The FCC appears likely to act soon on CenturyLink's planned buy of Level 3 now that other agencies signaled willingness to clear the deal subject to conditions, a commission official and an analyst said Tuesday. Another analyst doubted major FCC resistance and called DOJ-required divestitures light. Justice confirmed it would require CenturyLink and Level 3 to divest or effectively divest certain assets under a proposed settlement. Monday, CenturyLink reported the antitrust action and repeated its target of closing the deal this month. DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security ("Team Telecom") said they wouldn't object to the deal on national security and law enforcement grounds provided the FCC conditions it on CenturyLink compliance with commitments (see 1710020050).

With CBP regulations on new drawback procedures still not issued, software developers are growing concerned about whether they will be ready for the new system’s upcoming deployment in ACE. CBP has pledged to have capabilities in place for the new Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act drawback provisions on Feb. 24, but though the agency has found funding and begun its own programming efforts, software developers have been unable to start coding, leaving little time for testing before the deadline, several developers said in interviews.

Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, meeting with more FCC officials about fears on Sinclair/Tribune (see 1709290063), also raised concern about Comcast's programming carriage choices and asked the agency not to let ISPs block or throttle content providers including news outlets. Meeting last week with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the head of the conservative news outlet said of efforts to reclassify broadband back under Title I of the Communications Act that "network neutrality protections have been in place long before the Obama Administration reclassified broadband under Title II and have been affirmed by both Republican and Democrat Administrations." Newsmax said in a filing posted Monday in docket 17-179 that "even if" ISPs hadn't "engaged in anti-competitive activity," the agency is obliged "to take reasonable steps to implement safeguards." On "Comcast’s well-known political bias," Ruddy said the company acts "not only [to] benefit their owned and operated networks like MSNBC and CNBC, but prevent networks that do not share their political point of view" from carriage. The cable operator has at least 11 liberal-leaning news and information channels and "only one conservative-leaning news channel, Fox News," Newsmax said. On Sinclair's planned takeover of Tribune, "Ruddy questioned the apparent rush to approve the Sinclair merger before the ownership cap had been fully reviewed by the Commission or Congress." Comcast and Sinclair didn't comment.

Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, meeting with more FCC officials about fears on Sinclair/Tribune (see 1709290063), also raised concern about Comcast's programming carriage choices and asked the agency not to let ISPs block or throttle content providers including news outlets. Meeting last week with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the head of the conservative news outlet said of efforts to reclassify broadband back under Title I of the Communications Act that "network neutrality protections have been in place long before the Obama Administration reclassified broadband under Title II and have been affirmed by both Republican and Democrat Administrations." Newsmax said in a filing posted Monday in docket 17-179 that "even if" ISPs hadn't "engaged in anti-competitive activity," the agency is obliged "to take reasonable steps to implement safeguards." On "Comcast’s well-known political bias," Ruddy said the company acts "not only [to] benefit their owned and operated networks like MSNBC and CNBC, but prevent networks that do not share their political point of view" from carriage. The cable operator has at least 11 liberal-leaning news and information channels and "only one conservative-leaning news channel, Fox News," Newsmax said. On Sinclair's planned takeover of Tribune, "Ruddy questioned the apparent rush to approve the Sinclair merger before the ownership cap had been fully reviewed by the Commission or Congress." Comcast and Sinclair didn't comment.

Industry officials said it appears likely commissioners will consider a long-awaited NPRM on the shared 3.5 GHz band at their Oct. 24 meeting. That’s not a certainty since FCC Chairman Ajit Pai won’t circulate items until Tuesday. The FCC earlier moved up the date of the meeting by two days. Big-ticket items like net neutrality aren't expected at the October meeting, the officials said Monday. There's uncertainty about whether media ownership will get a vote.

The wireless industry welcomed Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo's (D) signing of the 13th state small-cells law pre-empting local authority for 5G infrastructure siting in the right of way (ROW). H-5224, signed into law last week, requires local authorities to charge a cost-based fee for processing small-cells applications and no more than $150 yearly for collocating small cells on poles in the public ROW. A small-cells application is deemed granted if the local government doesn’t act within 60 days of submission. It will help spur investment to bring 5G networks to Rhode Island, CTIA Senior Vice President-State Affairs Jamie Hastings said Friday. The Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns earlier raised concerns about the bill’s caps on annual pole attachment fees (see 1706210058). Friday, it declined comment. A similar bill in California awaits the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown (D). Mayors of five major California cities asked Brown to veto SB-649; the governor has until Oct. 15 to decide (see 1709220029).

Mattel's new artificial intelligence-enabled baby monitor raised privacy issues from Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in a Thursday letter to CEO Margaret Georgiadis. The device, called Aristotle, "appears capable of recording and transmitting personal and sensitive information about a child's development back to" the company, said a Friday news release. The product -- which can track feeding and sleeping patterns -- "has the potential to raise serious privacy concerns" because it can create an "in-depth profile of children and their family," said the lawmakers. They asked Mattel to provide information such as: Will Aristotle use facial recognition software or take videos and photos? Will audio files be recorded and saved and stored on Mattel's servers? Will the company encrypt data it collects and will it delete personally identifiable information? Does it plan to share or sell the data? Does Aristotle have a privacy policy and is it compliant with the Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act? The letter seeks responses by Oct. 18. The company didn't comment.

The wireless industry welcomed Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo's (D) signing of the 13th state small-cells law pre-empting local authority for 5G infrastructure siting in the right of way (ROW). H-5224, signed into law last week, requires local authorities to charge a cost-based fee for processing small-cells applications and no more than $150 yearly for collocating small cells on poles in the public ROW. A small-cells application is deemed granted if the local government doesn’t act within 60 days of submission. It will help spur investment to bring 5G networks to Rhode Island, CTIA Senior Vice President-State Affairs Jamie Hastings said Friday. The Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns earlier raised concerns about the bill’s caps on annual pole attachment fees (see 1706210058). Friday, it declined comment. A similar bill in California awaits the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown (D). Mayors of five major California cities asked Brown to veto SB-649; the governor has until Oct. 15 to decide (see 1709220029).

Mattel's new artificial intelligence-enabled baby monitor raised privacy issues from Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in a Thursday letter to CEO Margaret Georgiadis. The device, called Aristotle, "appears capable of recording and transmitting personal and sensitive information about a child's development back to" the company, said a Friday news release. The product -- which can track feeding and sleeping patterns -- "has the potential to raise serious privacy concerns" because it can create an "in-depth profile of children and their family," said the lawmakers. They asked Mattel to provide information such as: Will Aristotle use facial recognition software or take videos and photos? Will audio files be recorded and saved and stored on Mattel's servers? Will the company encrypt data it collects and will it delete personally identifiable information? Does it plan to share or sell the data? Does Aristotle have a privacy policy and is it compliant with the Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act? The letter seeks responses by Oct. 18. The company didn't comment.

Mattel's new artificial intelligence-enabled baby monitor raised privacy issues from Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in a Thursday letter to CEO Margaret Georgiadis. The device, called Aristotle, "appears capable of recording and transmitting personal and sensitive information about a child's development back to" the company, said a Friday news release. The product -- which can track feeding and sleeping patterns -- "has the potential to raise serious privacy concerns" because it can create an "in-depth profile of children and their family," said the lawmakers. They asked Mattel to provide information such as: Will Aristotle use facial recognition software or take videos and photos? Will audio files be recorded and saved and stored on Mattel's servers? Will the company encrypt data it collects and will it delete personally identifiable information? Does it plan to share or sell the data? Does Aristotle have a privacy policy and is it compliant with the Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act? The letter seeks responses by Oct. 18. The company didn't comment.