Google’s decision to limit political advertising microtargeting is a better approach than Facebook’s decision not to fact-check political ads, Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in interviews last month. Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; and John Kennedy, R-La.; said Google’s updated policy is a mistake.
Commissioner Brendan Carr spent nearly two weeks during Q1 outside the Washington area and away from the FCC, logging more time out of town than any of the other commissioners. That's according to analysis of travel receipts and commissioner calendars Communications Daily obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request, and of commissioners' Twitter accounts. The FCC FY 2020 budget estimate included roughly $1.9 million in travel line items, including $304,239 for the chairman’s and commissioners’ offices.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s Monday push for Congress to repeal a provision of the 2012 spectrum law that mandates public safety move off the 470-512 MHz T band by 2021 could help spur lawmakers, particularly Republicans, to address the longstanding issue, said stakeholders in interviews. Congressional T-band action isn't expected at least until after the start of 2020, given a backlog of other priorities and broader political issues, lobbyists said. The GAO recommended in June that Congress consider letting public safety incumbents continue to use the T band amid a lack of feasible alternative spectrum (see 1906210050).
As libraries, schools and nonprofits step up efforts to loan mobile wireless hot spots to those without residential broadband, demand is rising. Long-term, sustainable funding remains a challenge, said those interviewed last week. Anchor institutions offer free hot spot devices and accompanying wireless broadband access for checkouts that can range from a week or two up to a typical school year.
NARUC is forming a task force to find answers to close the broadband gap between rural and urban areas, said NARUC President Brandon Presley in an interview this week. Broadband's “one of the biggest challenges in rural America today” and will be a major focus of NARUC's “Bridging the Divide” theme over the next year, said Presley, elected president this month (see 1911210039). The Democratic chairman of the Mississippi Public Service Commission also seeks to tighten the working relationship between state and FCC officials, he said.
Refocus FCC efforts on shoring up Lifeline affordability and reaching out to all eligible consumers instead of setting up new barriers, stakeholders recommended in interviews this week and last. The FCC last week 3-2 denied a pause on a $2 monthly decrease in support for voice-only, while raising by 50 percent a monthly minimum for broadband to 3 GB (see 1911200015). The previous week, the agency issued a 3-2 order that would curb fraud and abuse, and a Further NPRM asks whether to ban free handsets with new signups (see 1911140064).
State attorneys general sparred with T-Mobile and Sprint ahead of the Dec. 9 trial on the carrier’s proposed combination that would also establish Dish Network as a national wireless carrier. Plaintiffs and defendants filed pretrial memos Tuesday at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. “We are proceeding as planned and will be going to trial in less than two weeks,” a spokesperson for New York AG Letitia James (D) emailed Wednesday.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is “OK” with permanently reauthorizing USA Patriot Act Section 215, except one provision: the call detail records program (see 1911120042), he told us. President Donald Trump signed a short-term funding bill through Dec. 20 on Nov. 21, extending the law through March 15, three months after the original December expiration.
Led by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, Wash., Senate Democrats Tuesday unveiled federal privacy legislation. It has a provision Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., regards as a nonstarter (see 1911250058).
Long the home of only one satellite operator, non-voice non-geostationary (NVNG) bands are getting increased commercial interest due to evolving small-satellite technology, satellite lawyers told us. The FCC completed an NVNG UHF band processing round last month and is expected to undertake a VHF one in response to a Myriota petition (see 1911190002), we were told.