NTIA could require states to include public utilities commissions as they decide how to use federal infrastructure funds, said Doug Kinkoph, associate administrator, NTIA Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth, at NARUC’s partially virtual conference Tuesday. Earlier in the day, the NARUC Telecom Committee axed overbuilding language from a proposed resolution about the coming billions of dollars.
SpaceX faces a new wave of calls for the FCC to reject its proposed second-generation satellite constellation. NASA also raised red flags about the SpaceX plans. A lawyer involved in the proceeding told us it would be surprising if the FCC were able to process the second-gen application in time for SpaceX to commence launches in March, as it targeted (see 2201100004). The FCC and SpaceX didn't comment.
Nebraska can’t wait for the FCC to get good broadband maps, said state Sen. Bruce Bostelman (R) at a livestreamed hearing Tuesday in the unicameral legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. But the telecom industry poo-pooed having the Nebraska Public Service Commission draw its own map as proposed by Bostelman’s LB-914.
The FCC will soon adopt rules that "crack down on revenue sharing” and exclusive access arrangements between broadband providers and building owners in multi-tenant environments said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel during an Incompas policy summit in Washington Tuesday (see 2201210039). The record the FCC received last year on broadband access in MTEs “made one thing very clear,” Rosenworcel said: “The agency’s existing rules are not what they could be.” Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington encouraged NTIA to prioritize unserved areas in its new broadband programs. Other panelists urged the FCC to revise the USF.
Lawmakers are frustrated that interagency spectrum policy infighting that became endemic during the Trump administration continues to be an issue one year into Joe Biden’s presidency, despite early hopes for a shift (see 2010260001). Some on and off Capitol Hill believe the Biden administration’s handling of the high-profile C-band aviation safety fracas that preceded delays last month in AT&T and Verizon rolling out commercial 5G use on the frequency (see 2201180065) has stirred an increased appetite for enacting a legislative solution. Others want to hold off on legislation for the time being in hopes recently installed NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and other officials will be able to quickly nip the squabbling.
Some broadcasters could be open to expected FCC proposals to require that political advertising data in online public files be machine-readable if it leads to more clarity on the rules for political ad filings, industry lawyers and officials told us. Others expect NAB and others to unequivocally oppose such a move.
AARP warned members of the risk of AT&T’s pending shuttering of its 3G network, and the later shutdown of Verizon’s and T-Mobile’s, in a Thursday webinar. Carmen Group’s Bill Signer, lobbyist for the Alarm Industry Communications Committee (AICC), asked viewers to contact the White House and ask the administration to pressure AT&T to delay the sunset. The California Public Utilities Commission would pass the buck to DOJ on Dish Network’s dispute with T-Mobile over its March 31 3G shutdown, under a proposed decision released Wednesday in docket A.18-07-11.
The Alarm Industry Communications Committee (AICC), concerned about AT&T’s Feb. 22 shutdown of its 3G network, is asking the White House for help, hoping for a delay or other concessions. Members of the group asked the National Economic Council and the Domestic Policy Council to get involved, officials said.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., reintroduced the Earn It Act Monday, as expected (see 2105180041). The bill removes “blanket immunity” under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for violations of law on online child sexual abuse material. The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed the bill in 2020 (see 2007020050). Asked about committee consideration for the reintroduced bill, Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told us Tuesday: "Soon." Tech platforms would no longer have immunity from federal civil, state criminal and state civil child sexual abuse material laws. The bill establishes a national commission headed by leaders of DOJ, the FTC, DHS and other congressionally appointed members. The commission would establish voluntary best practices. Reps. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., and Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, are introducing companion legislation. The bill would restore victims’ privacy, said the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. CEO Dawn Hawkins said tech companies don’t currently have “incentive to prevent or eliminate CSAM.” Section 230 isn’t a barrier to federal prosecution of companies that fail to combat illegal material, said Computer & Communications Industry Association President Matt Schruers: “Enforcing existing criminal statutes in known cases would prevent more crime than placing a federal committee in control of how Internet services police content.” The bill, as originally written and reintroduced, “threatens encryption, privacy, and the Constitution,” said NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo: It gives a “get-out-of-jail-free” card to those “credibly accused of child exploitation,” and its sponsors haven’t addressed “serious Fourth Amendment problems that would give criminal defendants yet another means to challenge their CSAM convictions.”
Consumer and prison inmate advocates urged the California Public Utilities Commission to regulate video calling and other non-voice services used by incarcerated people to communicate with their families. But big inmate calling service (ICS) providers said Friday the CPUC can’t regulate those products because they're Title I information services under the 1996 Telecom Act.