University of Idaho law professor Annemarie Bridy said it's not clear what role notices from copyright holders would play in cases involving Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 512(A) providers like ISPs since they aren't subject to the notice-and-takedown framework that 512(C) providers are (see 1808020009).

The FCC Wireless Bureau denied a request by Communications Workers of America and others (see 1808170052) that the FCC pause its shot clock on consideration of T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Sprint. “We deny the Motion in all respects and decline to stop the clock or extend the current pleading schedule under which petitions to deny currently are due” on Aug. 27, said a Wednesday order by Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale in docket 18-197. “Although the Commission encourages the widest possible public participation and has a strong interest in ensuring that the record is complete and fully developed with respect a proposed transaction, the Movants have failed to establish any basis.” That this is a busy period of pending proceedings before the FCC and the FTC doesn’t support delay, Stockdale said. “If the Movants find the data submitted by the Applicants to be deficient, then they certainly may rely on that deficiency to support arguments in a petition to deny the proposed transaction.”

“Under no circumstances” should state 911 fee revenue be diverted for purposes unrelated to 911, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly wrote Tuesday to Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R). O’Rielly has mailed several states to condemn 911 fund skimming, but Tuesday’s letter appears to be the first to also carry Pai’s signature. Illinois diverted for several years but appeared to stop after 2015, they noted. “We urge you to continue the practice of 2016 and 2017 and devote these critical funds solely to the purpose for which they were intended: maintaining and improving public safety communications systems for the benefit of the people of Illinois.” Illinois Statewide 911 Administrator Cindy Barbera-Brelle told the commission the state won’t divert in the future so it may be eligible for next-generation 911 federal grants, the commissioners said. One Illinois county’s 911 director told them “upgrades have been put off and loans have been taken out to supplement the shortfall associated with past state diversion practices,” they said. National momentum to end 911 fee diversion appears to be growing, with Congress weighing a bill to discourage the practice (see 1808170023).

The FCC said E-rate support can meet $2.77 billion in school and library demand for funding year 2018 (which started July 1), as estimated by the Universal Service Administrative Co.: $2.025 billion for "category one" telecom and internet connections, and $745 million for "category two" internal connections. USAC is directed to fully fund all eligible requests, given an E-rate annual budget of $4.06 billion, plus $1.2 billion in unused funding carried forward from the past, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 02-6 and Monday's Daily Digest

Portions of the FCC's C-band order adopted at its July meeting (see 1807120037) took effect Monday with its publication the Federal Register. The published notice said earth station and satellite information collection requirements don't take effect until approval by the Office of Management and Budget and the FCC will publish in the FR the effective date of those requirements.

Oral argument was set for Oct. 25 on challenges to FCC Lifeline tribal limitations, said a brief order (in Pacer) of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Monday in National Lifeline Association v. FCC, No. 18-1026. A D.C. Circuit motions panel Aug. 10 stayed the FCC restrictions on enhanced tribal support in the low-income USF subsidy program (see 1808100027).

Errors and omissions in the Nominet White Space Database System must be addressed before the system can be put out for broader use, said NAB in comments filed last week in docket 04-186. The database didn’t provide correct channel information for TV stations during its testing period, NAB said. The system needs to be fixed to make sure operators using it don’t interfere with licensed users, NAB said. The TV white spaces database “remains dysfunctional, inaccurate and unpoliced,” NAB said. The FCC should “take a more proactive role” in overseeing it, NAB said. “The Nominet database serves as a timely reminder that until the Commission does so, the white spaces experiment will remain an ongoing failure.” The FCC didn't comment.

Net neutrality advocates were expected to file briefs late Monday on their challenges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to the FCC's "internet freedom" order undoing Title II open internet regulation under the Communications Act. Public Knowledge believes the commission "made multiple bad policy decisions" under Chairman Ajit Pai. "The FCC also broke the law," said a PK release on its expected joint filing with petitioners Mozilla, Vimeo, New America's Open Technology Institute, National Hispanic Media Coalition, NTCH, Benton Foundation, Free Press, Coalition for Internet Openness, Etsy, Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee, Center for Democracy and Technology, and Incompas. “For the first time, and contradicting every previous FCC to consider the issue, the FCC's current leadership has decided that the agency lacks jurisdiction over broadband entirely. Not only did this radical move violate the statute, but the FCC violated the Administrative Procedure Act by rewriting history and pretending that its latest move is a return to, rather than a rejection of, the bipartisan consensus on the proper role of the FCC with respect to broadband. While past Republican-led FCCs have expressed a preference for ‘light-touch’ regulation, the current leadership has opted instead for a ‘zero-touch’ approach." PK also said the FCC "cherry-picked investment evidence that supported its predetermined outcome and ignored evidence that classifying broadband as ‘telecommunications’ did not harm broadband deployment," among other things. A state and local petitioner brief was also due to file.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will travel 1,300 miles in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah this week “to highlight how expanding high-speed Internet access and closing the digital divide can create jobs and increase digital opportunity,” said a news release Friday. The trip includes visits to an Arizona ISP, cattle ranch, Colorado broadband provider, veterans hospital, and schools in New Mexico and Utah, the release said. Pai also will speak Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. at the Technology Policy Institute annual event in Aspen Colorado, tour Brigham Young University Broadcasting, attend an event hosted by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and hold roundtables on rural broadband with Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah.

A group of tech companies and SiriusXM are butting heads over a technical study on coexistence in the 6 GHz band. Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Marvell Technology, Microsoft and Qualcomm in docket 17-183 Friday said Sirius criticisms of the RKF Engineering study actually confirm the study in some parts and don't provide reasonable alternatives to the assumptions in others. Apple and the others said the RKF study -- looking at the 5925-6425 MHz band -- includes 12 times as many terrestrial links as the band, including Sirius feeder links, so that company confirms its uplink operations are even less vulnerable to terrestrial noise than the one with the representative system characteristics RKF analyzed. The tech companies dismissed Sirius claims the 6 GHz band will be used more heavily than the 5 GHz and 2.4 radio local area network, saying the satellite-radio provider doesn't understand how radio resource management algorithms of managed and unmanaged RLAN deployments work. Sirius outside counsel didn't comment Friday. The company has said satellite digital audio radio service in some parts of the country is subject to downlink frequency band interference, leaving it with no margin for tolerating additional interference, and big RLAN device deployments expected over the next seven years would just worsen the problem.