Programmatic advertising firm Direct Digital Holdings and three of its executives made false or misleading statements and failed to disclose material facts about the financial impact of a “'cookie-less’ advertising environment,” alleged a securities fraud class action Thursday (docket 4:24-cv-01940) in U.S. District Court for Southern Texas in Houston.
Despite expectations that the affordable connectivity program (ACP) will run dry in days, telecom companies continued arguing in comments last week that the California Public Utilities Commission should take its time forming its response. However, while larger ISPs slammed consumer advocates' proposal, small local exchange carriers said they would work with the advocates on a compromise that quickly expands California LifeLine support to broadband.
Frontier Communications operates “nationally in a ‘one-size fits all’ manner with no regard for state regulations or rules," Communications Workers of America (CWA) claimed in Tuesday comments at the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA). PURA received comments from Frontier and the Office of Consumer Counsel in its service-quality investigation (docket 24-01-15) on Friday (see 2405200053). CWA raised concerns about job cuts, customer service issues and employee grievances during the past several years. “While there is currently a significant effort to deploy fiber … there has been much negligence as it relates to copper plant,” the union said: “The use of contract labor has created inferior service issues resulting in the need for second and follow-up visits by skilled technicians” and fewer job openings. PURA should “act swiftly to hold Frontier accountable to … Connecticut.”
Petitioners iFixit, Public Resource and Make Community “seek to dramatically rewrite federal law and agency rules by destroying the copyright” to the standards development organizations’ standards, said 17 SDOs in an amicus brief Tuesday (docket 23-1311) in the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit in support of the FCC.
The top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked the U.S. trade representative to upgrade its trade negotiations with Kenya so that it's working toward a goal of a comprehensive trade agreement.
The FCC will take a series of steps aimed at addressing cybersecurity challenges during the commissioners' June 6 open meeting (see 2405150042). A draft NPRM released Thursday would seek comment on a proposal to impose specific reporting requirements on nine service providers as part of the agency's effort to increase border gateway protocol and resource public key infrastructure security, which assist routing traffic across the internet.
House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee members questioned FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday on the commission's funding request for increased staffing across the agency and the affordable connectivity program. During the hearing on the FCC's FY 2025 budget proposal (see 2403110056), some legislators raised concerns about the FCC's work on combating illegal robocalls and its spectrum authority.
The Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday voted along party lines to pass two bills aimed at combating AI-driven manipulation of election content such as deep fakes and synthetic audio.
All three 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges hearing oral argument Wednesday on Gray Television’s appeal of a $518,000 FCC forfeiture order seemed skeptical of the agency’s rationale for the penalty amount but split on Gray’s arguments against the FCC’s authority over deals for TV station network affiliation.
A possible $2 billion clawback "would keep broadband as a key state priority," California Assembly Communications Committee Chair Tasha Boerner (D) said this week. With the state facing a tough fiscal situation, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) Friday announced a May budget revision that included taking back promised additional funding for the state’s middle-mile network and eliminating a broadband fund for local governments. However, some digital equity advocates are sounding the alarm with state legislators.