The House Digital Commerce Subcommittee expects to hear from e-commerce experts Wednesday on a range of consumer issues, including data security, consumer privacy and IoT technology, said Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and an executive in interviews Tuesday. The hearing is expected to examine how e-commerce altered retail and its impacts on supply chain, delivery and consumer expectations. This e-commerce trend has been made possible by modern payment methods like blockchain technology and convenient delivery options, enabled in part by emerging IoT technologies.
BALTIMORE -- FAA rules allow lots of flexibility for drone operators and manufacturers, but the key is safety and working within the current rules, said Earl Lawrence, executive director of the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Integration Office, at an agency event. “We have a plan for integration,” he said Tuesday. “We’re working to build a regulatory foundation. We’re on that path.” Regulations struggle to keep pace with change, he said.
A pair of MVPD reconsideration petitions against the ATSC 3.0 order aren’t considered likely to spur the FCC to rethink requirements for the new standard, attorneys and executives on the broadcast and MVPD sides told us. The order's effective date was Monday (see 1803050049).
Tech giants need to be more heavily regulated, said NCTA CEO Michael Powell. "Governments can no longer coddle and cater" to such large and heavily influential companies, he said Tuesday at Cable Congress 2018 in Dublin, according to prepared remarks. He touched on fake news, tech addiction, consumer concerns about privacy and other tech criticisms increasing coming to the fore in Washington (see 1803050040). Critics cast the comments as the cable ISP industry trying to shift regulatory focus away from itself.
House Communications Subcommittee members spent much of a Tuesday NTIA oversight hearing focused on the agency's spectrum management role, as expected (see 1803050053). Lawmakers also peppered Administrator David Redl with other questions about his views on the 2016 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, broadband mapping and public safety communications.
The House passed the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986) on a voice vote Tuesday, as expected (see 1803010056 and 1803050043). The bill includes a revised version of language from the Senate-passed Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless (Mobile Now) Act (S-19) spectrum bill, as part of an agreement announced Friday between the leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees (see 1708030060). HR-4986's path to enactment remained unclear. Backers on Capitol Hill told us they were working with members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees to attach the bill to the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai proposed $954 million to help Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands restore and upgrade their communications networks, which were damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria. The plan would create a $750 million Uniendo a Puerto Rico (Bringing Puerto Rico Together) Fund and a $204 million Connect USVI Fund, said a release Tuesday. It said the proposal would add about $256 million in new funds and repurpose other USF support currently directed at the islands. Pai had said previously that recovery efforts would require additional funds (see 1711070068)
The law is clearly on the side of Boeing and SOM1101 on transferring two pending Boeing non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) applications to SOM1101, that smaller entity's owner Greg Wyler said in an interview. He said Boeing and his SOM1101 wouldn't have sought the transfers (see 1712070055) if they weren't confident of the legal basis. An FCC staffer told us the International Bureau is still early in its evaluation of the Boeing/SOM1101 request, and of proposed NGSO application amendments by O3b and OneWeb.
An argument against concerns about the size of online platforms is that they're providing useful services consumers enjoy, and government intervention would damage the quality of products. That's not stopping tech critics from both parties from ratcheting up their scrutiny of major tech companies, a trend that some expect to continue.
Though Monday was the effective date of the ATSC 3.0 order, that milestone will have little practical effect because the technology that would let stations use the new standard is largely unavailable and the portions of the order that govern outlets’ transition to 3.0 are still being approved by the Office of Management and the Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act, said broadcasters, attorneys and FCC officials.