Technology stakeholders will take on Google and other major tech companies at a Tuesday hearing, according to written testimony we got in advance. Google’s self-serving search results give consumers objectively lower quality information, especially in the local search market, Yelp Senior Vice President-Public Policy Luther Lowe plans to tell the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Tuesday (see 2003020068). Google defended itself.
Don’t expect to see other nations to follow the FCC’s lead on how it’s repurposing part of the C band for terrestrial use, especially on satellite operator compensation, satellite experts said Monday at Satellite 2020. Morgan Lewis satellite and wireless lawyer Tim Bransford said other nations often can take a more unilateral approach, such as sunsetting the use of some spectrum, and compensation is typically less part of the process. Organizers of the trade show/conference said it was little harmed by COVID-19 worries.
As disagreement continues on enforcement and other sticky issues, Washington state’s privacy and facial recognition bills appeared to be headed to House-Senate conference Monday, with three days to work out differences. The privacy bill's fate is uncertain but odds for agreement might be better than last year, said some observers. The legislative session concludes Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
Negotiations continued Monday between House Communications Subcommittee Democrats and Republicans to see if they can reach a deal to smooth advancement of the Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-Band) Act (HR-4855) and the Reinforcing and Evaluating Service Integrity, Local Infrastructure and Emergency Notification for Today’s (Resilient) Networks Act (HR-5926), communications sector lobbyists told us. The two bills, which got pushback from Republican leaders, are among 11 measures House Communications plans to mark up Tuesday. The session begins at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
Chairman Ajit Pai plans to further deregulate voice service providers and "examine whether certain pricing and tariffing regulations that the FCC imposed on incumbent phone companies when they held a monopoly on local telephone service still make sense today," he blogged Monday, outlining his agenda for the March 31 commissioners' meeting (see 2003090044). The meeting will also have a vote on robocall/caller ID authentication, as Pai disclosed last week (see 2003060055). Three Media Bureau items also were tentatively scheduled, including related to ATSC 3.0.
The coronavirus is affecting more FCC-related events, with FCBA postponing all of its March gatherings (see 2003090055). An aide to a commissioner may quarantine herself due to possible exposure. For now, NAB's annual show in Las Vegas remains on, it said Monday (see 2003090030).
With public and highway safety groups staking out a hard line, it’s unclear when the FCC will act on new rules for the 5.9 GHz band, industry and commission officials said. Commissioners agreed 5-0 in December to examine revised rules for the band, reallocating 45 MHz for Wi-Fi, with 20 MHz reserved for cellular vehicle to everything and possibly 10 MHz for dedicated short-range communications (see 1912180019). Some observers said with the FCC poised to open the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi and unlicensed, Chairman Ajit Pai may be less inclined to continue the fight over 5.9 GHz while taking some actions to allow C-V2X. Comments were due at 11:59 p.m. Monday in docket 19-138.
Congress should do its job and legislate privacy, Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters Thursday, in response to a question about remarks from Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D. The Republicans said Wednesday there’s currently no path forward for privacy talks (see 2003040052).
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who has said the FCC would mandate secure telephone identity revisited standards and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Stir/Shaken) technology if major providers don’t move quickly enough, said Friday the agency plans to vote on that at the March 31 commissioners’ meeting (see 2003060019). Industry officials said the new rules implement at least some provisions in the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act, signed into law in January (see 1912310028). The exact details will be released when the draft is issued Tuesday. The act directs the commission to require providers to implement Stir/Shaken in their networks within 18 months of enactment.
The 25-year deadline for de-orbiting a satellite after its mission is becoming a central point of contention on how the FCC should incorporate new federal orbital debris mitigation standard practices (ODMSP) into an expected update of its orbital debris rules. Satellite Industry Association Senior Director-Policy Therese Jones said the expectation is the agency will have a draft orbital debris order out in the first half of this year.