Parties anxiously await a court ruling on FCC Telephone Consumer Protection Act actions that were intended to help carriers and phone customers prevent unwanted robocalls but have stoked further controversy, said speakers at two FCBA panels Thursday. A decision is long overdue from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that heard oral argument Oct. 19, 2016, on challenges to the commission's 2015 TCPA declaratory ruling and order in ACA International v. FCC, No. 15-1211.
Despite a spate of programming blackouts coming with claims of cable operators violating the FCC's rule on 30-day notices of cable lineup changes, and Charter Communications pushes for clarity on that rule, it's not clear whether there's appetite or interest at the FCC, experts and insiders told us.
The FCC’s draft NPRM on mid-term equal employment opportunity reports is expected to receive broad support from all commissioners, and a draft item eliminating requirements for hard copies of FCC rules should be approved unanimously, possibly even before Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting (see 1801310065), FCC officials told us. Docket 17-105 has seen little activity on either issue since the items were put on the February agenda. Both are seen as minor and noncontroversial, said Wiley Rein broadcast attorney Greg Masters.
Google+ has made its platform more consumer-friendly but Twitter and Facebook must do more, the European Commission said Thursday. The EC and national consumer protection authorities asked the companies in March to align their terms of service with EU laws, but they have only partially done so, it said. Failure to comply could mean penalties, said Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Commissioner Vera Jourová. The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) said the platforms' slow response is worrying. Facebook said it plans further updates to its terms later this year. Meanwhile, EC efforts to cope with illegal online content was criticized for being overly hasty and not based on evidence.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., critically described IoT as the “internet of threats,” as he and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., pushed for a national certification process for such devices. Their Cyber Shield Act (see 1710270043) would establish an advisory committee of cybersecurity experts to recommend cybersecurity benchmarks for IoT devices. The bill would establish a voluntary certification program so that manufacturers could publicly verify that devices meet cybersecurity and data security benchmarks. Committee representatives would come from academia, industry, consumer advocates and the public.
Rollout of FirstNet's network for public safety is on track to meet an initial milestone and could be completed ahead of schedule, said CEO Mike Poth in Media Institute remarks Thursday. "Our biggest concern is we need to make sure it gets built out on time," he said, but he's "pretty optimistic." AT&T, FirstNet's wireless partner, is poised to meet a March deadline to finish deploying a network "core," he said, referring to a secure national backbone connecting public safety entities. The company will then have five years to meet buildout commitments (in four phases) within all states and territories, but hopes to finish in three, he told us afterward.
A draft NPRM on creating a new C4 FM class circulated to the eighth floor by Chairman Ajit Pai last week (see 1802060049) broadly seeks comment on the idea but contains few if any tentative conclusions, an FCC official told us. Though advocates see the idea as a way to help radio stations left out of AM revitalization, translator owner beneficiaries of revitalization and larger station owners are expected to oppose the new class, said broadcast attorneys and C4 advocates. “NAB will respectfully oppose this proposal,” said a spokesman.
The FCC is expected to follow up on recommendations from its Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, but the primary value of its work may be prove big picture, some BDAC members told us amid continuing controversy about whether the group is inclusive enough. With most reports finalized, officials said BDAC raised awareness of infrastructure impediments that loom as industry moves to a small-cell, 5G world. Accelerating broadband deployment is a top priority of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The panel has fractured over model codes for states and for municipalities (see 1801240033).
FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn remains strongly opposed to any changes to the rules for the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio services band, which would lead to larger license sizes for priority access licenses (PALs), said Louis Peraertz, her wireless aide, at a panel hosted by General Electric Wednesday. A GE executive said the band is critical to U.S. leadership of the industrial IoT. Tuesday, advocates of larger license sizes spoke at an AT&T-sponsored event (see 1802130041).
FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said USF contributions should assess broadband because subsidies target broadband and the current long-distance voice revenue base is unsustainable. The current approach is much like a game of Jenga, she said at NARUC Wednesday, tracking written remarks: "We keep removing pieces from the base, and keep adding more to the top. Eventually, that tower will come tumbling down." She hopes a federal-state joint board will propose changes, but if not, it could invite new, outside experts to analyze the situation and provide fresh ideas.