Commissioners approved ISP privacy rules Thursday in a party-line FCC vote, as expected, largely as proposed by Chairman Tom Wheeler (see 1610260065). ISPs lost in their attempts to get the agency to drop a plan to classify web browsing and application use history as sensitive data, requiring opt-in consent. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn was unsuccessful in her push for restrictions on ISPs inserting mandatory arbitration clauses in service contracts, though the majority did commit to seeking comment on that issue in early 2017.
Google’s decision to scale back its fiber push shows why municipal broadband remains critical to spreading high-speed broadband, community broadband advocates told us Wednesday. Google Access CEO Craig Barratt said that Google Fiber will pause operations in exploratory cities where it hasn’t begun construction, cutting jobs as the company refines its strategy. Barratt will depart as CEO but will stay at Google parent Alphabet as an adviser. The moves follow fiber build delays in California and speculation that Google Fiber was reconsidering its technology strategy (see 1609070026).
HOUSTON -- The FCC may soon launch a rulemaking on easing local barriers to small-cell deployments, said Wireless Infrastructure Association CEO Jonathan Adelstein in an interview at WIA's HetNet Expo. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said last month at a CTIA conference (see 1609070033) the agency will drive 5G growth by working with local governments to speed siting of new wireless facilities. On a Tuesday panel in Houston, Wheeler aide Edward Smith said the FCC wants to move quickly and is considering what authorities it may use to address the issue, but hasn’t made a decision.
A big gray area in AT&T's proposed buy of Time Warner is whether the FCC will have a direct role in regulatory oversight of the $108.7 billion takeover (see 1610210043), but some observers said TW has commission licenses beyond just that for its sole TV station. Our review of International Bureau filings show TW has earth satellite stations for its CNN operations (for example, here and here). A lawyer with cable clients and deal experience said it's highly unlikely the FCC would have no role since CNN and other TW subsidiaries such as HBO and Turner probably have commission licenses.
ISPs apparently failed in their attempts to get the FCC to drop web browsing and application-use history from the list of types of data to be treated as sensitive, requiring opt-in consent to use or share, as the ISP privacy rules head for a commissioner vote Thursday, we're told. Meanwhile, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn isn't expected to press for provisions that would ban plans that allow subscribers to sign up for cheaper broadband in return for reduced privacy protections (see 1610200044). But Clyburn is pushing for a rule change that would block ISPs from inserting mandatory arbitration clauses on privacy violations in service contracts, informed sources said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the FCC, academics, and consumer protection and civil liberties groups filed amicus briefs Monday supporting an FTC request for an en banc rehearing to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court rejected the trade commission's lawsuit that alleged AT&T Mobility failed to adequately disclose its data throttling policy to customers with unlimited data plans (see 1610140038 and 1608290032). Blumenthal said (in Pacer) he supports a rehearing because if the opinion is allowed to stand, it "will create a regulatory gap that will allow unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent behavior to go without redress, harming consumers." The FCC said (in Pacer) the ruling would "undermine the agencies' successful partnership and harm consumers." The communications agency also said the decision would restrict the FTC's oversight of companies like AT&T, Comcast, Dish Network, Google and Verizon that have started to offer both common carrier and non-common carrier services. A dozen consumer and civil liberties groups -- including the Center for Digital Democracy, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America and the Electronic Privacy Information Center -- said (in Pacer) the ruling "could immunize from FTC oversight a vast swath of companies that engage to some degree in a common carrier activity." The result is "deeply disruptive to the market, and at odds with Congress' intent," they said, adding companies could commit deceptive and unfair acts as well as violate 70 other consumer protection laws. Companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Twitter could soon even engage in common carrier activities to "shed FTC oversight," they said. Georgetown University Law professor Paul Ohm and University of Minnesota Law School professor William McGeveran jointly filed an amicus brief (in Pacer) in support of FTC. Public Knowledge (in Pacer) also filed backing the commission as did New America's Open Technology Institute and two others groups jointly.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler anticipates the Enforcement Bureau tiger teams “should be up and running” by early 2017, he told House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. That was one of the many written answers Wheeler supplied in a 40-page document sent to the House Commerce Committee this month. He and the other four commissioners were responding to questions for the record that lawmakers submitted after a July 12 FCC oversight hearing.
Stage 3 of the incentive auction reverse auction will get underway Nov. 1, the FCC said Tuesday. After the first two stages faltered, the agency will offer 108 MHz, or eight 10 MHz blocks of usable spectrum, in the eventual Stage 3 forward auction. With Saturday's announcement that potential bidder AT&T is buying Time Warner for $108.7 billion, some wonder if that may depress the carrier's spending in the auction.
Cox Communications said it will support the California Public Utilities Commission's request for an extension to the FCC Dec. 2 LifeLine implementation deadline. A CPUC spokeswoman confirmed Monday her agency will file at the FCC for an extension but hasn't yet. In replies posted Sunday, the operator said it “understands that the Commission will be filing a petition with the FCC requesting an extension of time to comply with the FCC rules concerning only eligibility criteria and the benefit portability freeze.” Cox heard that at the CPUC’s Oct. 14 LifeLine workshop, which went over federal changes to add broadband as a supported service, it said. “Cox supports the Commission seeking this extension and remains hopeful that the FCC will act promptly to grant the Commission’s petition well in advance of the December 2, 2016 deadline.” Industry and some states separately supported a USTelecom petition seeking a waiver of the deadline in 25 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. (see 1610210046). The D.C. Public Service Commission declined more time in comments posted in FCC docket 11-42 Friday: “Should unanticipated events prevent the DC PSC from amending its rules by December 2, 2016, the DC PSC will inform the Commission of this fact.” New York PSC comments to the FCC joined Michigan, Missouri and Puerto Rico regulators in supporting the USTelecom petition. In the Cox CPUC replies, the cable ISP urged the commission to “promptly adopt rules to align the California LifeLine eligibility requirements with the federal requirements.” AT&T told the CPUC any diversion from federal rules is risky and the commission shouldn’t adopt exceptions proposed by consumer groups (see 1610180028). “The potential for consumer confusion is too great for the Commission to go its own way on eligibility criteria,” AT&T said. Likewise, exceptions to FCC port freeze requirements “will be complex to implement and will ultimately only harm and confuse customers,” it said. The Office of Ratepayer Advocates supports aligning rules but worries about doing it too fast, it said. “An immediate transition will likely result in significant disruption and displacement of customers from the LifeLine program, particularly at a time when details of the FCC’s implementation have not been fully worked out. A gradual transition over a longer period is preferable because it will allow the Commission to better care for the needs of customers impacted by changes in eligibility requirements.”
The Signaling System Number 7 (SS7) protocol “exemplifies” the vulnerabilities of communications tech transitions, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., in a letter released Friday and dated Oct. 14. Lieu is a member of the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Information Technology. The agency “continues to scrutinize our numbering initiatives and the increased concerns regarding robocalling to identify how underlying SS7 vulnerabilities may contribute to risks,” Wheeler said. “We continue to work with our federal government and communications sector partners to bring about meaningful solutions and risk mitigation strategies that will address the SS7 problem and continue the Commission’s mission of ensuring that communications networks are secure, reliable and resilient.” He cited work being done by a Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council working group (see 1606220058), which gave an initial risk assessment last month and expects a final report with recommendations in March.