The FCC appears to be split 3-2 on the 5G Fund NPRM, scheduled for a vote Thursday. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks are said to be concerned about Chairman Ajit Pai's proposed approach. Rosenworcel questioned that approach when it was unveiled earlier this month (see 2004010065).
Internet regulation has a good shot following the COVID-19 pandemic, said California Public Utilities Commission officials Friday on a Santa Clara University High Tech Law Institute webinar. The virus forcing people to stay at home shows the internet is a “basic utility” that “needs to be regulated,” said Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves. Sen. Scott Wiener (D), author of California’s still-unenforced net neutrality law, rallied supporters to keep fighting despite litigation.
There’s wide consensus COVID-19 tracing apps should be voluntary, and developers should follow guidelines for collecting, retaining and deleting data. The American Civil Liberties Union (see 2004160047) and the European Commission released similar proposals Thursday for protecting data. Privacy attorneys we interviewed largely agreed.
The FCC-proposed satellite operator indemnification requirement that has been challenged by operators (see 2004140052) is likely moving from the orbital debris draft order on commissioners' Thursday agenda to the accompanying Further NPRM, satellite officials told us. An FCC official said calls for the order to be delayed instead of being part of this week's agenda seem like a long shot, however.
The FCC and the Office of the Solicitor General took aim at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’s longtime oversight by the same three-judge panel (see 1909230067) over the commission’s quadrennial review process. The government's petition for certiorari was filed with the Supreme Court Friday, as expected (see 2004170050). “Intervention is necessary to restore the Commission’s discretion to regulate in the public interest,” the government told SCOTUS. A similar petition from broadcasters was also filed.
Commissioners are expected Thursday to approve 5-0 an order and Further NPRM allowing unlicensed sharing throughout 6 GHz, FCC and industry officials said in interviews last week. A few tweaks are anticipated, but no material changes, despite widespread concerns raised by many groups about harmful interference from indoor devices that don’t use automated frequency control (AFC). Chairman Ajit Pai said agency engineers fully vetted the technology and believe sharing doesn’t pose a risk to the huge number of incumbents across the 1,200 megahertz (see 2004060062).
The FCC should investigate reports that carriers disconnected customers after pledging to the FCC they wouldn’t do so during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a tweet Thursday. “Investigate these complaints. Stat.” The agency is “powerless” to enforce the Keep Americans Connected pledge (see 2003130066), said Gigi Sohn of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. The commission “abdicated" authority to do so when it reversed itself on net neutrality, she said. Hundreds of ISPs have taken FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's pledge.
Warning letters are the “most rapid and efficient means” for addressing bogus online claims about COVID-19-related products, FTC Chairman Joe Simons wrote, in documents we obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Several members of Congress wrote in March asking how the agency is addressing the flood of deceptive and fraudulent activity related to the pandemic. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked about warning letters from the FTC and Food and Drug Administration.
Meetings continued on sharing the 6 GHz band with Wi-Fi, a week before a commissioner vote on an order and Further NPRM. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai spoke with National Spectrum Management Association officials this week about their concerns, said a filing posted in docket 18-295. The filing was among more than a dozen that popped up Thursday as parties made closing arguments.
T-Mobile/Sprint got its final OK, as California Public Utilities Commissioners voted 5-0 Thursday for a revised proposal that reasserted the agency’s authority to review the deal and adjusted some conditions (see 2004150058). The Utility Reform Network (TURN) said it's disappointed the CPUC didn’t punish carriers for closing their deal two weeks before the scheduled vote.