The Trump spectrum strategy is expected to build on rather than replace Obama administration policies, and industry officials hope this administration’s push will mean bringing all parties to the table. NTIA held a symposium Tuesday as it starts work on the strategy (see 1806120056). The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee is expected to play a big role on some of the challenges, officials said. A potential complication is Paige Atkins, NTIA associate administrator-spectrum, last week told staff she's leaving in July, officials said. NTIA confirmed the departure.
Trans-Atlantic personal data-sharing agreement Privacy Shield should be suspended if the U.S. fails to meet its commitments by Sept. 1, the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee said in a resolution approved Monday. By 29-25, lawmakers said the EU-U.S. deal doesn't offer strong enough privacy protections for Europeans, as shown by the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data breach. Given EU dissatisfaction with the agreement, and the entry into force of the general data protection regulation, there are questions whether the self-certification system is as relevant anymore.
Recent state enforcement activity for digital advertising transparency means Congress could potentially pass S-1989, the Honest Ads Act (see 1805080054) this year, said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. It’s “fascinating” Google announced last week it won’t run political ads in Washington state in response to a lawsuit from Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, said the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member at Tuesday's Open Markets Institute (OMI) event.
The FCC Technology Advisory Council Antenna Technology working group tentatively concluded that advances in antenna technology will require rule changes, said American Radio Relay League consultant and working group head Greg Lapin at the TAC’s meeting Tuesday. Smart antennas and those constructed of metamaterials are “showing promise” at increasing efficiency and avoiding interference, Lapin said. The TAC also discussed antenna aesthetics, drones, phone theft and the progress of 5G. New agency rules for antennas will need to be “flexible enough” to allow the new ones to make “creative use of the spectrum,” Lapin said.
ST. PAUL -- A federal circuit judge showed deference to FCC legal analysis but asked if there can be federal pre-emption of states regulating interconnected VoIP without a ruling on classification of such services. The question came at oral argument Tuesday at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Other judges asked if technical differences between Charter Communications’ VoIP service and traditional phone services make it an information rather than telecom service. Minnesota is challenging a lower court’s May 2017 decision that Charter’s cable VoIP is an information service exempt from Public Utilities Commission regulation (see 1705080048).
The Trump administration’s policies on spectrum and sharing may not be that different from those of the Obama administration, a top White House aide said Tuesday at an NTIA spectrum policy summit. The administration is looking more closely at developing a national spectrum strategy (see 1804250063), promised by NTIA Administrator David Redl in April. During the Obama years, Republicans sometimes criticized the emphasis on sharing over exclusive-use spectrum.
A Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing with NTIA Administrator David Redl will likely -- to varying degrees -- focus on the federal spectrum policies of President Donald Trump's administration (see 1806120056), improving national broadband map data accuracy and the 2016 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition, said lawmakers and communications sector experts in interviews. The hearing will begin at 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell. It's Redl's first before Senate Commerce since his November confirmation (see 1711070076, 1711070084 and 1711080015). Redl also testified during a March House Communications Subcommittee hearing.
The Senate Commerce Committee is gearing up to move quickly on FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks, including a likely June 20 confirmation hearing, communications lobbyists and Capitol Hill officials told us. The committee is eyeing a fast process for Starks, as expected (see 1804060049), in hope of also confirming Commissioner Brendan Carr to a full five-year term. President Donald Trump nominated Starks, Enforcement Bureau assistant chief, this month to succeed now-former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn for a term ending June 30, 2022 (see 1806010072).
Chiding the government's case being, in part, "gossamer thin," U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of Washington rejected (see 1806120002) DOJ's lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block AT&T buying for $108.7 Time Warner. Leon also urged Justice not to seek a stay of his ruling if it appeals, saying the department would suffer no harm if the deal were allowed to go through in the meantime. He said the companies -- in the form of a $500 million breakup fee and the looming June 20 deadline for consummating the deal -- would suffer "irreparable harm" and a stay would be "manifestly unjust."
Congress is unlikely to overhaul Team Telecom executive branch reviews of foreign takeovers of U.S. communications assets as part of pending Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act bills (HR-4311/S-2098), said Harris Wiltshire expert Kent Bressie at an FCBA event Monday. Noting FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly suggested lawmakers consider such Team Telecom process changes in FIRRMA (see 1805150068 and 1804260029), Bressie said it doesn't appear practical to do so in a bill focused on changes to the broader Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.