The European Parliament nixed a plan to start immediate talks on a proposed copyright revision measure, seeking instead fuller debate in September. The 318-278 vote Thursday rejected a negotiating position proposed by the Legal Affairs (JURI) Committee, meaning the draft copyright directive won't go to "trilogue" discussions with the Council and European Commission but will be open to full legislative debate and amendment, parliament said. The JURI approach, by Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Axel Voss, of Germany and the European People's Party, supports the EC's controversial calls for a new right (Article 11, the "neighboring" right, also called the "snippet tax") for online news publishers, and for large platforms to filter users' uploads to prevent copyright breaches (Article 13) (see 1806200011).
The Supreme Court’s Carpenter decision is a victory for privacy advocates, said experts and observers in recent interviews, but the court didn't address some emerging police surveillance technologies in its narrow decision (see 1806220052 and 1806290064).
CTIA said the FCC is in no position to determine if any telecom companies are a threat to U.S. security, and it should work with the Department of Homeland Security, which has more expertise in the area. Other commenters also urged caution. The Rural Wireless Association said the FCC has already chilled investment in rural networks. Reply comments were posted this week in docket 18-89 on the NPRM approved 5-0 by commissioners in April (see 1804170038).
California state lawmakers said they restored net neutrality legislation to full strength after the Assembly Communications Committee controversially stripped major provisions including on zero rating and requiring neutrality at the point of interconnection. That committee’s chair, Miguel Santiago (D), joined state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) for a Thursday news conference to announce a deal that Wiener said revived those and other key components. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and other original supporters of SB-822 applauded the agreement.
Supreme Court prospect Brett Kavanaugh has made a mark in communications law in 12 years as a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit judge. In a dissent from a ruling affirming the FCC's 2015 net neutrality order, he argued the regulation lacked clear congressional authorization and violated the First Amendment. The agency shouldn't get Chevron deference on "major" rules and broadband ISP speech rights can't be restricted absent a market power showing, he wrote. He has also found programming rules violate cable operator speech rights, upheld partial telco forbearance relief decisions and ruled on many other FCC orders, giving him far more telecom and media legal experience than any other contender to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy (see 1806280018).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, see their recently introduced Streamlining the Rapid Evolution and Modernization of Leading-edge Infrastructure Necessary to Enhance (Streamline) Small Cell Deployment Act (S-3157) as a top committee priority for the July work period (see 1806290063). But local and state governments' ongoing opposition to S-3157 remains a significant hurdle to advancing it beyond Senate Commerce, some lobbyists told us. Capitol Hill's dwindling legislative calendar also could stifle the bill's prospects before the next Congress convenes in January, lobbyists said.
T-Mobile's buying Sprint is expected to face an uphill fight winning approval from regulators, despite what's seen as a positive Senate hearing last week with top executives from both companies, and AT&T’s win in federal court on AT&T/Time Warner. T-Mobile and Sprint have hired a small army of lawyers and former government officials to promote the deal.
AT&T voiced continued qualms about how rate-of-return telcos could opt into incentive-based business data service price-cap regulation. But incumbent and rural telco groups cited no opposition to a core FCC proposal for the option, seeking to reject AT&T and Sprint proposals. Replies posted Monday and Tuesday in docket 17-144 crystallized battle lines over an "all-or-nothing" rule, a competitive market test, and a targeted rate of return under price caps.
Facebook, under fire in the U.S. and U.K. for its role in the Cambridge Analytica breach, is also facing heat from EU lawmakers. The European Parliament Civil Liberties (LIBE) Committee held a third hearing on the matter Monday, focused on possible solutions.
The Lifeline national verifier should be rolled out quickly with application programming interfaces sought by carriers, said a NARUC draft resolution released Tuesday. Other proposed telecom resolutions up for votes July 15-18 in Scottsdale, Arizona, relate to separations, IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) and a precision agriculture bill pending in Congress.