House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and more than 50 other House Republicans sent a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Friday urging the agency to protect the privacy of consumers. The letter directs Pai to “continue ensuring that ISPs fulfill their promises to consumers regarding their use of data until the FCC remedies the [Communications Act] Title II reclassification, which incorrectly removed ISP’s from the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission,” said a committee news release. White House Director-Legislative Affairs Marc Short predicted last week the FCC will “take a fresh look” at ISP privacy rules once it has a full contingent of five commissioners (see 1704050027), after President Donald Trump signed a Congressional Review Act resolution repealing the rules (see 1704040059). “Protecting consumer privacy while allowing for innovation has been critical to American innovation,” the letter said. “Maintaining an environment that permits innovation without sacrificing consumer privacy is critical to our nation's future prosperity and the creation of new consumer services.”
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's efforts to take on net neutrality could start with an NPRM in a few months, we're told. Approving new rules could take as long as a year, current and former commission officials said Friday. Pai and staff have started talking to industry representatives about the process of taking on net neutrality and repeal of broadband classification as a Communications Act Title II service. A staff team within the FCC has been working on an NPRM, agency officials and others said Friday. The goal apparently is to seek a vote by the June 15 commissioners’ meeting, since Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s term expires June 30, they said.
An FCC draft rulemaking would seek to roll back ILEC technology transition duties in retiring copper networks and simplify the process for discontinuing telecom services under Section 214 of the Communications Act. The draft NPRM, which would also tee up potential actions to facilitate pole attachments, proposes "to remove regulatory barriers to infrastructure investment at the federal, state, and local level; suggests changes to speed the transition from copper networks and legacy services to next-generation networks and services; and proposes to reform Commission regulations that increase costs and slow broadband deployment."
State legislatures are adopting internet privacy protections on a bipartisan basis in response to President Donald Trump and Congress repealing FCC ISP privacy rules. Trump signed the Congressional Review Act (CRA) repeal Monday (see 1704040059) after votes last week. Wisconsin directly rebuked that action Tuesday and Minnesota responded last week by adopting ISP privacy amendments on major state bills.
The International Trade Commission should highlight foreign countries' data localization laws as a top barrier to digital trade in a forthcoming report, telecom and tech officials said Tuesday during an ITC hearing. The commission began an investigation in February at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's request into developments in the digital trade market and how laws in the U.S. and “key foreign markets” are affecting digital trade. The ITC is examining laws in the EU, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Russia. The commission is expected to release the first of three reports on the investigation by Aug. 29, with the other two reports to be released in 2018 and 2019.
The Trump administration appears increasingly likely to name a female economist to the open Republican slot on the FCC, industry officials said. Two names in particular have emerged -- Roslyn Layton, American Enterprise Institute scholar and member of the Trump FCC landing team, and Michelle Connolly, professor of economics at Duke University and former FCC chief economist under Republican Chairman Kevin Martin. Key senators Tuesday indicated no consensus formed around a single candidate.
LG Electronics filed a Tariff Act Section 337 complaint seeking a ban on imports of LTE wireless communication devices imported by BLU Products. LG said BLU’s Dash, Energy, Life, Neo, Pure, Speed, Studio, Vivo, Win and R1 HD mobile phone products infringe its patents, and are imported by CT Miami, a company related to BLU, on BLU’s behalf. As technologies essential to the LTE communication standard, LG committed to license use of the patents on fair terms, but BLU didn't respond to LG attempts to negotiate a fair and reasonable licensing deal, LG said. LG seeks a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing LTE mobile devices by BLU. The International Trade Commission is seeking comment by April 10, it said in Friday's Federal Register. LG also is pursuing BLU in court (see 1703270059). BLU didn't comment Friday.
A House Republican wants to modify FTC authority to revert to the status that existed prior to a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling on trade commission authority over ISPs. Observers told us such a legislative maneuver could be a key element of a broader strategy involving the FCC 2015 net neutrality order. Capitol Hill Democrats and public interest advocates argued in recent weeks that the 9th Circuit ruling would hamstring FTC authority over ISPs if the Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband is overturned and authority over privacy handed from the FCC back to the FTC. Some congressional Republicans and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai say they want such a privacy handoff to the FTC.
The FCC would loosen business data service regulation under a draft order released Thursday and placed on the tentative agenda for the April 20 commissioners' meeting, as expected (see 1703280050 and 1703290049). The 172-page BDS draft would establish "a new framework that minimizes unnecessary government intervention and allows market forces to continue working to spur entry, innovation and competition." The order "recognizes the presence of strong competition" in the BDS market and eases regulatory burdens on the providers, said an attached fact sheet.
Lifeline advocates knocked FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's plans to roll back the agency's process for designating Lifeline broadband providers (LBPs), which he said usurped state authority. Senior House Democrats blasted the decision and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn voiced disappointment. Some said Pai wasn't living up to his rhetoric to close the "digital divide," but others praised him, including a key Republican senator. Although Commissioner Mike O'Rielly didn't comment, he previously said he didn't believe the FCC could bypass state authority to designate USF-eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) for Lifeline. Pai announced he would begin a proceeding to scrap the LBP process and said he didn't believe staff in the meantime should approve pending LBP applications (see 1703290025).