Platforms should take on more civil liability for terror- and murder-related content, advocates said in interviews two days after Attorney General Bill Barr said Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act potentially blocks victims from seeking civil recovery (see 2002190056). The topic is gaining steam on Capitol Hill (see 2001280059).
Washington state’s privacy bill continues to face sharp criticism from the state attorney general and consumer advocates on enforcement language and its handling of facial recognition technology used by the private sector. Senators nearly unanimously voted for SB-6281 (see 2002180024), but communities that feel vulnerable disagreed sharply with Microsoft and other tech industry supporters at a House Innovation, Technology and Economic Development Committee hearing Friday. Without changes, the bill may “severely limit” her office’s ability to enforce the law, said Assistant Attorney General-Consumer Protection Andrea Alegrett.
Broadband industry stakeholders didn't request heavy edits to a draft public notice for docket 20-34 on FCC's proposed procedures for its upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction (see 2002060063), but will weigh in during the open comment period if commissioners vote to adopt the item at Friday's meeting, they told us. Enlarging minimum geographic bidding areas could cause concerns, some said. The Oct. 22 auction date was seen as doable.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai could face dissents on parts of the C-band order set for a vote Friday. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is considered the most likely to dissent, but Commissioner Geoffrey Starks also has concerns, industry and FCC officials said. Pai could push the most contentious parts of the order, including aggregation limits, to another order, to get a 5-0 vote on the key parts of the proposal. Approval is less of a question, with Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Brendan Carr indicating they support the plan.
Google's "verbatim copying” of Oracle computer code into a “competing commercial product” wasn’t fair use, the Trump administration said in a Supreme Court filing Wednesday (see 2002190058). Also siding with Oracle in separate filings were USTelecom, the Motion Picture Association, the RIAA, the National Music Publishers' Association and the Copyright Alliance.
The “time lag” will be shorter on the release of future form 323 ownership data, said FCC Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey at an FCBA brown-bag lunch discussion Thursday, after being asked about the bureau’s recent release of 2017 ownership data. Carey and other Media Bureau officials at the event also discussed the transition from the consolidated database system (CDBS), upcoming rulemakings and ATSC 3.0. Carey said the bureau is already working on the data collected from the 2019 forms but didn’t say whether the next such report would include the most recent information.
States are responding to reports Frontier Communications might seek bankruptcy protection in the next month, said commissioners and other officials from five states in Frontier’s territory. All have ongoing or recent probes of the carrier’s service quality. Frontier has a public service “obligation to serve in their home territory, even when it’s unprofitable, even when it’s inconvenient,” said West Virginia Public Service Commission Chairman Charlotte Lane in an interview.
Seams are showing with the C-Band Alliance (CBA) that could affect selection of C-band relocation coordinator. Rather than as one alliance, the FCC's draft order should treat Intelsat, SES and Telesat as separate companies, Intelsat said in a docket 18-122 posting Wednesday. Meanwhile, Alaska carriers are pleased and Hawaii doesn't have concerns about being carved out of the FCC's C-band plan for the continental U.S.
With FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks hosting a field hearing in Puerto Rico Friday about the need for telecom network resiliency after widespread damage from hurricanes in 2017 (see 1710030057) and more recent earthquakes (see 2002130056), scheduled witnesses hope the hearing will call attention to Puerto Rico's plight and help the telecom industry strengthen its communications infrastructure. The Wireline Bureau is moving ahead with plans to allocate millions in funding to help such efforts.
Despite the broader focus on the C band and other mid-band spectrum, the FCC doesn’t appear to be moving toward action soon on the L band, industry and FCC officials said. But Ligado isn’t going away. As a result of recent financial developments, the FCC has until late 2020 to reach a decision. A lawyer close to Ligado said the company reached agreement with creditors on refinancing its debt, which buys time: The amendments extend Ligado’s cash runway and allow Ligado to defer its Inmarsat payments. All the FCC action at this point is in Chairman Ajit Pai's office and the Office of Engineering and Technology, officials said.