Bipartisan Senate legislation aimed at regulating online political advertising on sites like Facebook, Google and Twitter, similar to how broadcasters and others report such ads, will be unveiled at a Thursday 12:40 p.m. news conference by Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Mark Warner of Virginia, said a news release. After Facebook revealed Russian entities bought at least 3,000 political ads for about $100,000 to influence the U.S. presidential election (see 1709250058), the pair floated the legislative proposal nearly a month ago to get Republican support. The release said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is co-sponsoring the bill called the Honest Ads Act.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit ruled Tuesday that FCC policy of collecting information on multilingual emergency alert system notices without requiring such alerts is reasonable, denying (in Pacer) a petition for review from public interest groups including the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (see 1705110061). “If Congress intended to require multi-lingual communications in general, and multi-lingual emergency alerts in particular, we would expect Congress to have spoken far more clearly than it has done” said the majority opinion by Judge Brett Kavanaugh joined by Judge Karen Henderson. Judge Patricia Millett agreed with the majority in ruling the FCC hadn’t violated anti-discrimination provisions of the Communications Act, but said in a dissent the agency’s 11-year delay in deciding on multilingual EAS messages was arbitrary and capricious. “The problem of ensuring effective communication to the public during crises is too grave to be ensnared in seemingly interminable bureaucratic limbo,” Millett said. Despite ruling in the FCC’s favor, Kavanaugh needled the agency for operating on “bureaucracy standard time.” Communications Act provisions against discrimination don’t specifically compel the FCC to require emergency alerting in languages other than English, Kavanaugh said. The commission isn’t being arbitrary in not acting on multilingual alerts because there are legal and technical issues with enacting them, such as the lack of FCC authority over alert originators such as local governments, the majority said. It “would be reasonable for the FCC to flatly say that the alert originators (the federal, state, and local government entities) are the parties responsible for deciding whether and when to issue emergency alerts in languages in addition to English,” Kavanaugh said. The FCC plan to seek more information from EAS entities is a repeat of its previous information requests, and the court shouldn’t allow the agency to use it as a delaying tactic any longer, Millett said. “Choosing to repeat an inquiry that has twice been asked and answered, the Commission identified no reason to believe that round three of reporting would reveal new ways to address the multilingual problem.” The majority opinion suggested the agency cease delays. “The FCC should move expeditiously in finally deciding whether to impose a multi-lingual requirement on broadcasters, or instead to leave the issue with alert originators and others,” the opinion said. “At some point, the FCC must fish or cut bait on this question.” The League of United Latin American Citizens and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council said the decision wasn’t a total loss. “One point of agreement by all three judges is that the FCC has taken far too long to act,” the groups said in a news release. “Calling the FCC’s delay ‘bureaucracy standard time,’ the panel majority called on the FCC to ‘move expeditiously.’”
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai reassured the Disability Advisory Committee the agency is paying close attention to the communications needs and problems of those with disabilities. “The commission takes seriously its commitment to accessibility,” Pai told the group. DAC also got a briefing on communications for people with disabilities in the areas affected by the recent hurricanes.
NAB taps ex-Joint Board Chairman Steve Newberry, communications consultant, as executive vice president-strategic planning/special projects ... House Science, Space and Technology Committee's Jennifer Brown departs as chief of staff to manage federal affairs for the Texas Tech University System and is succeeded by Mark Marin, promoted ... Samsung Electronics CEO-Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun to resign, effective March, to allow company to “start anew with new spirit and young leadership”; no successor named ... Haug Partners names ex-Patent Trial and Appeal Board Judge Brian Murphy partner and chair, Post Grant Review practice group.
A tweet from President Donald Trump Wednesday condemning “NBC and the Networks” for airing “Fake News” and questioning whether it would be appropriate to “challenge their License” was seen as a possible threat to freedom of the news-media yet extremely unlikely to lead to any actual action, media scholars and communications attorneys told us.
The National Hispanic Media Coalition and other public interest groups urged the FCC to do more to address the communications meltdown in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (see 1710040046). Chairman Ajit Pai, meanwhile, said he appointed a staff task force on hurricane recovery. Addressed to Pai, the letter also was signed by the Center for Media Justice, the Color of Change, Free Press and Public Knowledge.
Larger, more sophisticated high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles will require a different approach from regulators than smaller UAVs have, said Jennifer Warren, Lockheed Martin vice president-technology policy and regulation, during a Silicon Flatirons spectrum conference late Wednesday. The challenge is which comes first -- the FAA has to set out performance objectives and the FCC needs to make spectrum available for command and control, Warren said. “It’s going to be an interesting timing scenario and the one has to be informed by the other,” she said. “There’s a little bit of collaboration that we’re hoping for between the FCC and the FAA” when we get beyond smaller drones, she said. The FAA and FCC don’t disagree, said Julius Knapp, chief of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology. The commission allocated 50.30-50.90 MHz for command and control of UAVs, he said. “There are so many different kinds of UAVs used by both federal and nonfederal.” Finding spectrum isn’t easy, Knapp said. “Most of the spectrum is spoken for in one way or another,” he said. “It generally comes down to there’s something there. Either you’re going to share without modifying it or it has got to be moved and that usually costs money.” Tom Hazlett, economics professor at Clemson University, said challenges presented by space-based and aerial communications technologies are “profound.” Hazlett sees a possible solution an Intel/Intelsat proposal for the 3.7-4.2 GHz band (see 1710020047). “They’re talking about incumbent licensees, including especially satellite licensees, being able to make deals with terrestrial in particular,” he said. Incumbents would be protected, but new entrants could “make deals, make bargains,” he said. The companies get it “just right,” he said. “There are rigidities in the system that can be overcome by allowing the rights to go into the marketplace, that allow bargains to be made.” The FCC wouldn’t have to make trade-offs on things that are “completely unknown” like “is a band better used for autonomous vehicles or Wi-Fi-delivery of cat videos,” Hazlett said. The FCC "doesn’t know the answer" to that question and neither does he, he said. “We want the opportunity costs to be visible, transparent,” he said. “We want users to make rational calculations and we don’t resources to go to low-valued uses when there’s something much better.”
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai acted on Puerto Rico in light of the near meltdown in communications because of Hurricane Maria, but some say there’s more the agency can do. Commissioners took about a day to approve an order (see 1710030057) making up to $76.9 million immediately available for the restoration of communications networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. “The FCC’s actions are intended to enable carriers to restore essential communications services as quickly as possible,” said a news release.
Federal, state and private sector stakeholders are expected to point to existing efforts to combat robocalls during a Wednesday Senate Aging Committee hearing, lobbyists told us and witnesses said in prepared testimony. The hearing is to begin at 9 a.m. in 562 Dirksen. Meanwhile, Senate Commerce Committee members urged the FCC Tuesday to continue work to create a database for reassigned numbers to help curb unwanted robocalls. The agency has been exploring creation of the database as part of its NPRM and notice of inquiry targeting “spoofed” robocalls (see 1703230035 and 1709270067).
Puerto Rican telco and media industry groups paint a grim picture of communications on the island after Hurricane Maria, with indications full resumption could be a long way off. Some said the FCC's information collection system continues (see 1709270061) struggling. Chairman Ajit Pai is proposing that carriers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands be allowed quicker use of their USF allocations for network rebuilding.