House Commerce Committee Republicans are likely to file “several” amendments to the Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill for consideration at the committee's Wednesday markup but see virtually no chance to defeat the bill outright given prospects for uniform support from panel Democrats, said ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., in an interview. HR-1644 and Senate companion S-682 would add a new title to the Communications Act that reverses the FCC order rescinding its 2015 rules. The bill retroactively would restore reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service (see 1903060077).
As frustrated stakeholders watch an FCC drafting process that they want to be more transparent for an NPRM circulating on USF budgets, concerns about the document's details (see 1903270042) are mounting (see 1903280050). All stakeholders we interviewed this week and last wish the rulemaking had been set for consideration at a monthly commissioners' meeting, so it would be public three weeks beforehand. Or, they wanted it released another way in advance.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks faced questions on the outlook for the Mobility Fund Phase II program in a closed-door meeting with the House Rural Broadband Caucus, said attendees. Work on the fund has stalled since last year when the FCC launched an investigation of potential wrongdoing in MF-II and scheduled an auction.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s call to regulate online content moderation is a “bad idea,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told us Monday, calling it “outsourcing of censorship to government.” The Zuckerberg proposal drew mixed reaction from lawmakers, industry groups and consumer advocates.
New York lawmakers are ready to move forward on net neutrality bills, after language to codify limits on state procurement didn’t make the final cut of the FY 2020 budget passed Sunday, their offices said Monday. Striking open-internet rules from the budget sets up a public debate on net neutrality in a state where Democrats with a political trifecta have introduced at least five bills.
The FTC is “very nervous” that overly stringent privacy regulation will entrench tech “monopolies,” Chairman Joe Simons said Friday. “If you get too much privacy, you might get a situation where it becomes hard for small companies, new entrants potentially, to compete with the more established, bigger platforms,” Simons said at an American Bar Association event.
Industry lined up behind AT&T's BellSouth in a dispute with four Alabama 911 districts over what constitutes interconnected VoIP and whether the FCC should prohibit state and local governments from requiring interconnected VoIP customers pay more in total 911 fees than comparable non-VoIP customers. Madison County, Alabama, warned that requested relief would bring "chaos" to already short 911 funding, in comments posted Friday in docket 19-44. The Wireline Bureau sought comment, citing U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama’s primary jurisdiction referral on a dispute between BellSouth and the Alabama districts (see 1902260072).
Former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn made headlines in February when she became part of the growing team supporting T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint (see 1902040064). The move was a surprise since Clyburn is best known for working on such issues as curbing prison calling rates and preserving the Lifeline program. Clyburn said she's doing no lobbying in Congress and ethics rules bar her from outreach to the FCC (see 1903050071). Industry officials said she has likely had a net positive effect.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) have seen rapidly growing volumes of calls and any move to a three-digit national suicide prevention hotline will likely mean those growth rates accelerate, meaning such a hotline needs to be paired with increased capacity to deal with the calls. That's according to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Department of Veterans Affairs officials at Thursday's North American Numbering Council (NANC) meeting.
FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson ripped proposals to break up big tech platforms, as suggested by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and some others (see 1903180058). “I reject attempts to short-circuit the traditional process and simply assume a problem and impose a preordained solution,” Wilson said at a Computer and Communications Industry Association event Thursday.