A possible FCC compromise on the draft kidvid NPRM didn’t materialize and the item was approved with a 3-1 party-line split Thursday (see 1807110051). Though Commissioner Mike O’Rielly acceded to a request from Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to edit the item to be free of tentative conclusions, Rosenworcel said Thursday the two sides couldn’t come to agreement. She praised O’Rielly’s willingness to negotiate and didn’t identify any other concessions she requested. “I was informed that even with these edits it was not sufficient to garner a bipartisan vote,” O’Rielly said. The version approved Thursday contains the same tentative conclusions as the draft item, O’Rielly and Media Bureau staff said.
A heated dispute over FCC changes to informal complaint procedures overshadowed commissioners' 3-1 approval of an order to streamline formal complaint processes. Dissenter Jessica Rosenworcel said the order effectively removes the agency from working to resolve informal complaints against companies, forcing consumers unsatisfied by company responses to file a formal complaint costing $225. "This is bonkers. No one should be asked to pay $225 for this agency to do its job," she said at Thursday's commissioners' meeting.
Tech interests fear ripple-effect consumer harms that may result from the Trump administration’s newest proposals to impose 10 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports over intellectual property disagreements between the countries. The list of goods targeted for the 10 percent duties, released Tuesday in an Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice, doesn't include meaningful end-user consumer tech products like TVs. Some networking gear was included, drawing concern from Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, CompTIA, CTA, the Information Technology Industry Council and Telecommunications Industry Association.
The tech industry’s lack of disclosure to the federal government about computer processor design flaws was “baffling” and “inexcusable,” said Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., Wednesday during a hearing on Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities (see 1807100057). He told us later that Intel’s absence gives him little confidence industry will alert the government in a “timely fashion” on future vulnerabilities.
House Communications Subcommittee members focused as much during a hearing on how to shape privacy legislation to reflect changes in access to customer proprietary network information as they did on trading barbs over the Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval effort that last year abolished ISP privacy rules (see 1806110054). The hearing had been aimed at the CPNI issue, with a trio of witnesses offering legislative recommendations in written testimony (see 1807030041, 1807090015 and 1807100063).
Commissioners are expected to approve an order streamlining Part 22 rules 4-0 at their Thursday meeting, FCC and industry officials said. Based on filings, no one has been in to visit to push for or against the cellular service order. When members voted to streamline Part 20 rules in December, only then-Commissioner Mignon Clyburn dissented. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel voted yes (see Notebook 1712140054).
Eighth-floor officials were working toward a compromise Wednesday that could lead to a unanimous vote for Thursday’s draft kidvid item, FCC officials told us. Commissioner’s offices were negotiating on possible edits that would make the wording more palatable to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The compromise would involve changing the draft to remove language reaching tentative conclusions, leaving the NPRM closer to the notice of inquiry pushed for by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and advocacy groups.
The FCC will auction off three more high-frequency bands in the second half of 2019, Chairman Ajit Pai said Wednesday as he unveiled the items for an Aug. 2 commissioners’ meeting. Pai said the meeting will focus on 5G, with draft rules for the first high-band spectrum auctions targeted for a vote. Pai also tentatively plans votes on a draft order to adopt "one-touch, make-ready" pole attachments and bar state and locality moratoriums on network buildouts, a draft order on broadcast ownership diversification through incubators and a draft notice of inquiry on creating a $100 million telehealth pilot program.
Some aviation interests and allies remain largely unswayed Ligado's proposed power limits on use of the 1526-1536 MHz band (see 1805310069) for a terrestrial broadband service will effectively protect GPS receivers. That 9.8 dBW power level "is a first step" toward certified aviation GPS device protection, but helicopter interference issues remain unaddressed, Garmin said in a docket 11-109 filing posted Tuesday. No, Ligado said, "The substantial analysis and testing in the docket" makes clear its proposed ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) operations wouldn't cause harmful interference.
The FCC's proposed streamlining of authorizations for small satellite operators is raising issues of how best to define who falls in that smallsat category, with satellite interests not coming to a universal consensus. There also was disagreement on inter-satellite link bands. commissioners adopted the streamlining NPRM in April (see 1804170038), with docket 18-86 comments due Monday, replies Aug. 8.