An FCC order transitioning wireless radio service licensing systems to all-electronic filing is effective June 29, says Tuesday's Federal Register (see 2009170062). The order “eliminates existing exemptions to electronic filing in the FCC’s Universal Licensing System and require[s] electronic filing in the Antenna Structure Registration system; requires electronic filing (and delivery of service) of pleadings related to these systems; requires applicants, licensees, and registrants to provide an e-mail address on related FCC Forms; and shifts from paper to electronic delivery of Commission correspondence generated from these systems,” the notice said.
President Donald Trump signed the FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus bill (HR-133), which includes broadband funding and other telecom and tech policy provisions (see 2012210055). Trump’s signing Sunday came after he raised objections to parts of the measure last week (see 2012230078). He continued to criticize it in his signing statement, saying he’s “demanding many rescissions.” Congress “has promised” Communications Decency Act Section 230, “which so unfairly benefits Big Tech at the expense of the American people, will be reviewed and either be terminated or substantially reformed,” Trump said. “Big Tech must not get protections of Section 230!” It’s not clear what review Trump was referencing. Both chambers are to vote this week to override Trump’s veto of the conference FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395). He disapproved in part because it didn’t include language to repeal Section 230 (see 2012230081). The almost $7 billion in broadband funding included in HR-133 will promote "more ubiquitous deployment of secure high-speed broadband services," Free State Foundation Senior Fellow Andrew Long blogged Saturday.
GAO found that 11 surveyed DOD IT programs have reduced their cost estimates, while four others increased their life-cycle cost estimates, it said Wednesday. Ten of the programs reported schedule delays of up to five years, GAO said. Ten of the 15 programs reported using commercial off-the-shelf software, which reduces development time and costs, the report said. Fourteen programs use an “iterative software development approach” that “may help reduce cost growth and deliver better results to the customer. However, programs also reported using an older approach to software development, known as waterfall, which could introduce risk for program cost growth because of its linear and sequential phases of development that may be implemented over a longer period of time.” All 15 surveyed programs are “developing cybersecurity strategies, which are intended to help ensure that programs are planning for and documenting cybersecurity risk management efforts,” GAO said. But “only eight” reported “conducting cybersecurity vulnerability assessments.” DOD reported it “continues to evolve its acquisition processes to reduce software development time, allow for faster delivery of capabilities, and lower life-cycle costs,” GAO said. The department said "the report highlighted opportunities for continued improvement in its efforts to acquire IT capabilities,” and it believes “implementation and wider adoption of the software acquisition pathway will assist in reducing risks and challenges, as will continued implementation of the DOD Cyber Strategy, which includes a line of effort aimed at improving the DOD cyber workforce by investing in future talent, identifying and recruiting sought-after talent, and retaining the current cyber workforce.”
With the FCC closed Thursday for the Christmas holiday, all Dec. 24 filing deadlines move to Monday, and Dec. 24 won't count in computing filing periods of less than seven days, the Office of General Counsel said in a public notice Wednesday.
A judicial appeal and notice of review of the FCC's November decision denying SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless $3.3 billion in designated entity bidding credits in the AWS-3 auction (see 2011230062) were consolidated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in a clerk's order Wednesday (in Pacer).
Bids rose to $69.83 billion in the FCC’s C-band auction after two rounds Wednesday. Bidding starts again Jan. 4.
Nobody is forcing users to search on Google, the company said Monday. Google generally denied plaintiffs’ legal claims in an answer (in Pacer) to DOJ and states’ antitrust lawsuit at U.S. District Court in Washington (case 1:20-cv-03010-APM). “People use Google Search because they choose to, not because they are forced to or because they cannot easily find alternative ways to search for information on the Internet.” The court let California, Michigan and Wisconsin intervene last week and scheduled trial for Sept. 12, 2023 (see 2012210041).
The C-band auction soared to $66.4 billion Tuesday, up from $50.84 billion in provisionally winning bids the day before (see 2012210043) and surpassing the AWS-3 auction as the biggest in FCC history. The auction takes a holiday hiatus after two rounds Wednesday and restarts Monday.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s blog on the Jan. 13 commissioners’ meeting will be posted Wednesday, the day draft items are posted, rather than the usual practice of doing so the previous day, FCC officials said. Pai is expected to seek votes on several wireless and other items (see 2012210051).
It could be well into 2023 before the government faces Google in U.S. District Court in Washington. At a Friday telephonic hearing, Judge Amit Mehta set a Sept. 12, 2023, trial start date for DOJ and states’ antitrust lawsuit against Google. Mehta said he's “anxious” to get Thursday’s separate antitrust complaint against Google by 38 attorneys general (see 2012170063) on the same discovery schedule for efficiency. Google attorney John Schmidtlein agreed the new case should be assigned to Mehta and consolidated with the first case for discovery, but Google isn’t ready to take a position on whether trials should be combined. On states’ new case, Mehta asked Google to say by Jan. 8 if it will answer the complaint or file a motion to dismiss; the judge set a status hearing for Jan. 21 at 11 a.m. The parties proposed (in Pacer) a scheduling and case management order Dec. 11 and agreed (in Pacer) to a protective order last Monday. Google said (in Pacer) Thursday it doesn’t oppose California joining as a plaintiff in the DOJ case, which Michigan and Wisconsin on Thursday also asked to join. Texas and nine other states separately sued Google Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Sherman, Texas (see 2012160059).