Satellite and terrestrial interests are lining up on opposite sides over whether increasing interference Globalstar says it's seeing in the 5.1 GHz band is attributable to sharing that band with outdoor Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure operations. That the FCC will act on Globalstar's call for a notice of inquiry on mobile satellite service sharing with U-NII (see 1805220006) has doubters. Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, told us the FCC isn't likely to reopen the 2014 sharing rules governing the band without more direct evidence of harmful interference.
Satellite and terrestrial interests are lining up on opposite sides over whether increasing interference Globalstar says it's seeing in the 5.1 GHz band is attributable to sharing that band with outdoor Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure operations. That the FCC will act on Globalstar's call for a notice of inquiry on mobile satellite service sharing with U-NII (see 1805220006) has doubters. Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, told us the FCC isn't likely to reopen the 2014 sharing rules governing the band without more direct evidence of harmful interference.
New York City and other commenters asked the FCC to preserve the 4.9 GHz band for public safety use. Comments were due Friday on a Further NPRM on the public safety band, approved 5-0 by commissioners in March (see 1803220037). Commissioners have been frustrated that 16 years after its use was approved for public safety, the band remains underused. The notice was the sixth by the FCC on the band. Comments were posted in docket 07-100.
Q Link Wireless asked the FCC to ensure application programming interfaces (APIs) are implemented by the Universal Service Administrative Co. in a USF Lifeline national verifier, to permit eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) "to exchange information with USAC, including information necessary to establish eligibility, on a machine-to-machine basis when consumers seek to enroll" in the low-income program. USAC’s current implementation "will be unnecessarily difficult and confusing for consumers, especially rural Americans; will expose consumers to phishing fraud by unscrupulous individuals; and will increase the National Verifier’s annual operating costs by tens of millions of dollars," said Q Link's emergency petition in docket 17-287 Thursday. "There are right ways and wrong ways to do things, and USAC’s current path is the wrong way."
The Supreme Court’s Carpenter decision is a victory for privacy advocates, said experts and observers in recent interviews, but the court didn't address some emerging police surveillance technologies in its narrow decision (see 1806220052 and 1806290064).
Supreme Court prospect Brett Kavanaugh has made a mark in communications law in 12 years as a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit judge. In a dissent from a ruling affirming the FCC's 2015 net neutrality order, he argued the regulation lacked clear congressional authorization and violated the First Amendment. The agency shouldn't get Chevron deference on "major" rules and broadband ISP speech rights can't be restricted absent a market power showing, he wrote. He has also found programming rules violate cable operator speech rights, upheld partial telco forbearance relief decisions and ruled on many other FCC orders, giving him far more telecom and media legal experience than any other contender to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy (see 1806280018).
Supreme Court prospect Brett Kavanaugh has made a mark in communications law in 12 years as a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit judge. In a dissent from a ruling affirming the FCC's 2015 net neutrality order, he argued the regulation lacked clear congressional authorization and violated the First Amendment. The agency shouldn't get Chevron deference on "major" rules and broadband ISP speech rights can't be restricted absent a market power showing, he wrote. He has also found programming rules violate cable operator speech rights, upheld partial telco forbearance relief decisions and ruled on many other FCC orders, giving him far more telecom and media legal experience than any other contender to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy (see 1806280018).
The Supreme Court’s Carpenter decision is a victory for privacy advocates, said experts and observers in recent interviews, but the court didn't address some emerging police surveillance technologies in its narrow decision (see 1806220052 and 1806290064).
A proposal to shift equal employment opportunity enforcement from the Media to the Enforcement bureau could indicate the FCC intends to get tougher on such violations, but could also be seen as gathering “low hanging fruit,” broadcast attorneys and civil rights officials told us Tuesday. Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a proposal to relocate EEO enforcement staff Tuesday morning, said a release then. The announcement was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the agency’s EEO rules, and will “improve the FCC’s enforcement of those rules and strengthen our commitment to fighting discrimination,” Pai said. The shift was one of a host of EEO reforms requested by the Multicultural Media Telecom and Internet Council and other civil rights groups.
The National Emergency Number Association said the FCC should address misrouting of 911 calls to public safety answering points. “Occurrence of 9-1-1 ‘misroutes’ is significant enough to merit action,” NENA said. Most industry players with replies in docket 18-64 urged caution and suggested the FCC wait for an industry-supported solution to emerge. In March, the agency released a notice of inquiry on ways to ensure wireless 911 calls are routed directly to the appropriate call center (see 1803230023). Initial comments were posted in May (see 1805080040).