Expect a Senate Judiciary Committee markup on the Music Modernization Act (S-2823) as early as mid-June, with plans of moving forward with the copyright package as originally introduced, despite an alternative bill floated by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., industry observers told us (see 1805230068). Broad support for the original package means the bill should move quickly, bill sponsors said (see 1805110056).
CTA, the National Retail Federation and 50 other trade groups from various industries want the U.S. Trade Representative’s office to “immediately make public” the details of the Trade Act Section 301 "process" it will use to add more Chinese-sourced products to the proposed 25 percent tariffs list, if it heeds the suggestions of "several stakeholders” to do so, they said in comments posted Thursday in docket USTR-2018-0005. “We strongly believe there needs to be additional public input for any products that USTR is considering adding to the proposed list,” said the comments, which also were signed by the Information Technology Industry Council, the Internet Association and the Telecommunications Industry Association.
With less than two weeks before the June 7 commissioners’ meeting, how the votes will shape up on the high-band Further NPRM (see 1805160051) remains unclear. The draft NPRM proposes to eliminate the pre-auction limit of 1250 MHz on the amount of millimeter-wave spectrum in the 28 GHz, 37 GHz and 39 GHz bands that any party can buy at auction. FCC Democrats historically favored aggregation limits, usually opposed by Republicans. FCC Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel is still studying the draft and has reached no conclusions, industry and FCC officials said Friday. The item is one of 12 on one of the biggest agendas in a long time for an FCC open meeting.
Artificial intelligence algorithm bias is one issue the FTC will potentially address in upcoming public hearings on emerging consumer protection and competition issues, said Consumer Protection Bureau Senior Attorney Tiffany George Thursday. Chairman Joseph Simons recently testified the agency plans a series of hearings throughout the country on consumer protection (see 1805170073). A spokesman said Thursday the agency is working through details on timing and scope.
An FCC draft proposal to cut the IP captioned telephone service compensation rate on an interim basis could concern providers, based on a look at their advocacy. The commission would reduce the IP CTS rate by about 10 percent each of the next two years while it further reviews the issues under a wide-ranging draft order, declaratory ruling, Further NPRM and notice of inquiry on the tentative agenda for the June 7 monthly meeting (see 1805170060). At least three of the five IP CTS providers argued against such an approach, though none commented to us this week. Advocates for deaf consumers did say they're concerned about certain draft proposals, especially to approve use of automated speech recognition (ASR) technology without detailed service-quality safeguards.
With Friday the rollout date for the EU general data protection regulation in Europe, the focus for many businesses now shifts from how to comply to when and how stringently the GDPR will be enforced, said speakers at various webinars and others we spoke with. All agreed enforcement would begin Friday, but there are questions about what the priorities of data protection authorities (DPAs) will be, they said. The Irish Data Protection Commission set out its approach in a Wednesday blog. Privacy experts urged companies to stay calm, but to act to show regulators they're committed to compliance. Civil society groups, however, said the level of scrutiny of U.S. and EU companies by privacy watchdogs and regulators "will be very high," and 28 advocacy groups Thursday pressed U.S. businesses to adopt GDPR rules. Meanwhile, ICANN's struggle to bring its Whois database into alignment with the new regulation continues.
Possible FCC action to raze state and local barriers to wireless deployment “sets the bookends” for national policy, while letting states write more detailed rules through individual small-cells bills, said Wireless Infrastructure Association CEO Jonathan Adelstein in a Wednesday interview at the WIA show in Charlotte. In keynotes, Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly backed aggressive federal action to win a global race to 5G (see 1805230031 and 1805220034). Local governments are cooperative and the federal government need not intervene, NATOA General Counsel Nancy Werner said Thursday: “We’re ready to go.”
Broadcasters need to move as quickly as possible to transition to ATSC 3.0 or they're in danger of losing their spectrum and market share to other industries, said FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly and Spectrum Consortium President John Hane in separate speeches Thursday to the ATSC Next Gen TV Conference. Through 3.0, broadcasters need to maximize the use of their existing spectrum, or it will be given to another industry, Hane said. Under the current technology, broadcasters provide a valuable service but take up too much spectrum to provide it, leading regulators to periodically pursue “progressive reclamation” of it as with the incentive auction, Hane said.
The House passed its version of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5515) Thursday 351-66 with several provisions that counter President Donald Trump's bid to reconsider the Department of Commerce's seven-year ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE. The Senate Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, agreed to attach to its version of NDAA the Banking Committee-cleared Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (S-2098) that would limit Trump's ability to alter the Commerce ban, as expected (see 1805220057 and 1805230058). Trump administration officials attempted to quell rising rancor over the controversy via meetings with top Republicans. Commerce announced the ban in April (see 1804170018)
The C-band clearing plan proposed by Intelsat/Intel/SES and Ligado's terrestrial low-power broadband service (TLPS) proposal both involve reallocating satellite spectrum, but the proceedings differ widely on the details, and FCC activity on the former doesn't necessarily mean anything forthcoming on the latter, said spectrum and satellite experts. Both are part of a broader trend of satellite spectrum being repurposed for terrestrial broadband use, with struggling satellite companies often at the forefront of that, said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Project at New America.