State net neutrality actions show a strong public rebuke of the FCC December order that took effect Monday (see 1806110054), consumer advocates said on a National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI) webinar Wednesday. But a Montana commissioner and broadband industry officials dismissed efforts as politically driven and probably not effective. A Rhode Island net neutrality bill cleared a key Senate committee Tuesday and lawmakers could pass restrictions on state ISP contracts by the end of next week, said sponsor state Sen. Louis DiPalma (D) in an interview. California lawmakers plan more hearings next week.
The shift to online public files for radio and TV made it easier for the FCC to catch broadcasters in violations, and is expected to lead to increased disclosures of late or misfiled documents when license renewals come around next June , broadcast attorneys said in interviews. Broadcasters saw online public files as a way to increase convenience and pave the way for eliminating the main studio rule, but the increased scrutiny of fillings is an unintended consequence, said Fletcher Heald's Steve Lovelady. “Given that the contents of the online public file can be viewed by anyone, anywhere, just by launching an Internet browser, we would expect more complaints about incomplete files, and more scrutiny by the FCC,” blogged Wilkinson Barker's David Oxenford.
A Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee hearing on NTIA oversight turned into a venue for members to criticize President Donald Trump's telecom policy-related actions. They also peppered Administrator David Redl with questions on agency priorities ranging from spectrum reallocation aimed at bolstering 5G to NTIA's stance on the 2016 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition. Much of the criticism of Trump centered on his recent push to lift the Department of Commerce-imposed seven-year ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1806130070). There were also questions about a much-maligned National Security Council proposal to deploy a nationalized 5G network.
Whether DOJ will appeal a U.S. District Court rejection of its attempt to block AT&T's $108.7 billion buy of Time Warner isn't clear, with antitrust and law experts split. "DOJ would be crazy to appeal Judge [Richard] Leon's decision," emailed Nebraska College of Law assistant professor Gus Hurwitz. But, Larry Downes, Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy project director, said Justice is more likely than not to pursue an appeal, even one it thinks it can't win, because that gives Justice leverage it trying to force the companies to agree to conditions that would mitigate anti-competitive worries.
The Trump spectrum strategy is expected to build on rather than replace Obama administration policies, and industry officials hope this administration’s push will mean bringing all parties to the table. NTIA held a symposium Tuesday as it starts work on the strategy (see 1806120056). The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee is expected to play a big role on some of the challenges, officials said. A potential complication is Paige Atkins, NTIA associate administrator-spectrum, last week told staff she's leaving in July, officials said. NTIA confirmed the departure.
Trans-Atlantic personal data-sharing agreement Privacy Shield should be suspended if the U.S. fails to meet its commitments by Sept. 1, the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee said in a resolution approved Monday. By 29-25, lawmakers said the EU-U.S. deal doesn't offer strong enough privacy protections for Europeans, as shown by the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data breach. Given EU dissatisfaction with the agreement, and the entry into force of the general data protection regulation, there are questions whether the self-certification system is as relevant anymore.
Recent state enforcement activity for digital advertising transparency means Congress could potentially pass S-1989, the Honest Ads Act (see 1805080054) this year, said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. It’s “fascinating” Google announced last week it won’t run political ads in Washington state in response to a lawsuit from Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, said the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member at Tuesday's Open Markets Institute (OMI) event.
The FCC Technology Advisory Council Antenna Technology working group tentatively concluded that advances in antenna technology will require rule changes, said American Radio Relay League consultant and working group head Greg Lapin at the TAC’s meeting Tuesday. Smart antennas and those constructed of metamaterials are “showing promise” at increasing efficiency and avoiding interference, Lapin said. The TAC also discussed antenna aesthetics, drones, phone theft and the progress of 5G. New agency rules for antennas will need to be “flexible enough” to allow the new ones to make “creative use of the spectrum,” Lapin said.
ST. PAUL -- A federal circuit judge showed deference to FCC legal analysis but asked if there can be federal pre-emption of states regulating interconnected VoIP without a ruling on classification of such services. The question came at oral argument Tuesday at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Other judges asked if technical differences between Charter Communications’ VoIP service and traditional phone services make it an information rather than telecom service. Minnesota is challenging a lower court’s May 2017 decision that Charter’s cable VoIP is an information service exempt from Public Utilities Commission regulation (see 1705080048).
The Trump administration’s policies on spectrum and sharing may not be that different from those of the Obama administration, a top White House aide said Tuesday at an NTIA spectrum policy summit. The administration is looking more closely at developing a national spectrum strategy (see 1804250063), promised by NTIA Administrator David Redl in April. During the Obama years, Republicans sometimes criticized the emphasis on sharing over exclusive-use spectrum.