Commissioners appear unlikely to vote on a business data service order at their Oct. 27 monthly meeting, FCC and industry officials told us Wednesday. That could change, because "we're not past the point of no return," said one FCC official, but that person and others don't expect Chairman Tom Wheeler to place a draft BDS order on the meeting agenda due out Thursday. A telco official said it appeared "90 percent" likely the draft wouldn't be on the agenda. Another telecom official said Wheeler is still committed to acting on BDS by the end of the year and plans to vote on the item at the Nov. 17 meeting, the preliminary agenda for which is due Oct. 27.

Commissioners appear unlikely to vote on a business data service order at their Oct. 27 monthly meeting, FCC and industry officials told us Wednesday. That could change, because "we're not past the point of no return," said one FCC official, but that person and others don't expect Chairman Tom Wheeler to place a draft BDS order on the meeting agenda due out Thursday. A telco official said it appeared "90 percent" likely the draft wouldn't be on the agenda. Another telecom official said Wheeler is still committed to acting on BDS by the end of the year and plans to vote on the item at the Nov. 17 meeting, the preliminary agenda for which is due Oct. 27.

As technology rapidly advances, approaches to regulation are changing. Agencies such as the Department of Commerce, Department of Transportation and the Food and Drug Administration are increasingly relying on a multistakeholder process -- or other informal approaches -- to bring a wide range of people to the table to quickly craft rules for technologies from autonomous vehicles to drones, experts said. On Wednesday, NTIA, which recently hosted wide-ranging collaborations on drone and facial recognition privacy, will convene a new multistakeholder process on how to upgrade IoT cybersecurity (see 1609160048). Some told us the approach keeps pace with technology without hindering innovation, while others say it leaves open questions about accountability.

As technology rapidly advances, approaches to regulation are changing. Agencies such as the Department of Commerce, Department of Transportation and the Food and Drug Administration are increasingly relying on a multistakeholder process -- or other informal approaches -- to bring a wide range of people to the table to quickly craft rules for technologies from autonomous vehicles to drones, experts said. On Wednesday, NTIA, which recently hosted wide-ranging collaborations on drone and facial recognition privacy, will convene a new multistakeholder process on how to upgrade IoT cybersecurity (see 1609160048). Some told us the approach keeps pace with technology without hindering innovation, while others say it leaves open questions about accountability.

CBP declined to investigate further an allegation of antidumping or countervailing duty evasion on steel pipe from China, the agency told Wheatland Tube, the Pennsylvania steel tube company that filed the allegation last month (see 1609150028). While Wheatland’s allegation reasonably suggested that an undisclosed company "imported merchandise from China that may be subject to AD/CVD order," the allegation didn't "reasonably suggest that merchandise was entered through evasion," the agency told the company, according to a Wheatland news release. "Evidence of importation, without more, is not sufficient to raise a reasonable suspicion of evasion," CBP said to Wheatland.

NARUC asked a court to reject an FCC motion to suspend review of a Lifeline order pending agency resolution of petitions to reconsider parts of its recent overhaul of the low-income telecom subsidy program. "The motion presents no justification for holding NARUC's appeal in abeyance," NARUC said in a filing (in Pacer) to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the case NARUC v. FCC, No. 16-1170. In its motion, the commission said it's common practice for a court, upon request, to hold its review in abeyance pending agency reconsideration of an order, something that's "especially weighty" in this case because the recon petitions implicate two questions that state challenges raise before the D.C. Circuit (see 1609300020). But NARUC said "the FCC posits no evidence and little more than one paragraph of flawed argument that mischaracterizes both the reconsideration petitions and the thrust of NARUC's Petition for Review. It does not even address the obvious prejudice to NARUC's members that would be cause[d] by granting the motion." NARUC and individual states challenging the order are concerned the FCC's new streamlined process for designating "Lifeline broadband providers" (LBPs) improperly bypasses state authority over USF eligible telecom carriers under federal law. "The rules are in effect and petitions seeking streamline[d] review using the disputed process are pending, and could be granted before briefs are filed in this appeal," the NARUC filing said. The FCC has until early December to act on various petitions for streamlined LBP review (see 1610040049).

NARUC asked a court to reject an FCC motion to suspend review of a Lifeline order pending agency resolution of petitions to reconsider parts of its recent overhaul of the low-income telecom subsidy program. "The motion presents no justification for holding NARUC's appeal in abeyance," NARUC said in a filing (in Pacer) to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the case NARUC v. FCC, No. 16-1170. In its motion, the commission said it's common practice for a court, upon request, to hold its review in abeyance pending agency reconsideration of an order, something that's "especially weighty" in this case because the recon petitions implicate two questions that state challenges raise before the D.C. Circuit (see 1609300020). But NARUC said "the FCC posits no evidence and little more than one paragraph of flawed argument that mischaracterizes both the reconsideration petitions and the thrust of NARUC's Petition for Review. It does not even address the obvious prejudice to NARUC's members that would be cause[d] by granting the motion." NARUC and individual states challenging the order are concerned the FCC's new streamlined process for designating "Lifeline broadband providers" (LBPs) improperly bypasses state authority over USF eligible telecom carriers under federal law. "The rules are in effect and petitions seeking streamline[d] review using the disputed process are pending, and could be granted before briefs are filed in this appeal," the NARUC filing said. The FCC has until early December to act on various petitions for streamlined LBP review (see 1610040049).

FCC Republicans are unlikely to support Chairman Tom Wheeler’s ISP privacy proposal, even though Wheeler did move the draft closer to the FTC’s privacy framework, focusing more on protecting sensitive data, industry and FCC officials said. The eighth floor’s review of the order is still in its early stages, but commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly are likely to have some concerns about the amount of data considered sensitive under the Wheeler approach, which is considerably more sweeping than the FTC’s framework, and about the legal underpinning of the order, some said (see 1610070053).

FCC Republicans are unlikely to support Chairman Tom Wheeler’s ISP privacy proposal, even though Wheeler did move the draft closer to the FTC’s privacy framework, focusing more on protecting sensitive data, industry and FCC officials said. The eighth floor’s review of the order is still in its early stages, but commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly are likely to have some concerns about the amount of data considered sensitive under the Wheeler approach, which is considerably more sweeping than the FTC’s framework, and about the legal underpinning of the order, some said (see 1610070053).

A month before November's general election, the campaigns for Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., and his Democratic re-election challenger Ro Khanna squared off in a federal court Tuesday over allegations from Honda that his rival pilfered proprietary donor information (see 1609220059) -- which Khanna denied. In a lawsuit filed Sept. 22, Honda said Khanna, his campaign and former campaign manager violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) by illegally obtaining the information -- but several experts disagreed whether Honda's campaign is using the anti-hacking statute appropriately.