Oral argument in the consolidated challenges to the FCC's C-band order (see 2005050047) will be Oct. 28 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, according to a clerk's order Thursday (docket 20-1142, in Pacer).
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks sent letters to AT&T and Verizon asking how they collect and make money off sensitive consumer data “generated for advertising placement purposes,” said a Wednesday news release. Starks asked about the two companies’ “participation in real-time bidding exchanges for mobile advertising, including through the advertising technology companies they have acquired in recent years,” the release said: “The letters also request details on each provider’s policies and procedures to prohibit or minimize tracking of Americans to protests, including the Black Lives Matter protests, and other sensitive locations, including places of worship and medical providers.” AT&T is "reviewing the letter and will respond appropriately," a spokesperson emailed. Verizon didn’t comment.
The FCC’s citizens broadband radio service auction (see 2008030064) hit $1.8 billion Wednesday after 25 rounds. That translates to 9 cents MHz/POP nationwide.
The FCC unanimously approved orders eliminating dated rules for telephone relay services and broadcast antenna siting, before Thursday's commission meeting, said orders and a deletion notice Wednesday. Early approval for the items -- considered noncontroversial -- was expected (see 2008040063). The TRS order eliminates requirements on separate long-distance plans -- no longer commonly used by the phone industry -- and ends a requirement that state TRS certifications be published in the Federal Register. The broadcast antenna siting order eliminated decades-old, little-used rules requiring stations share unique antenna locations.
DOJ urged a federal court to stop California from enforcing its net neutrality law to “avoid ongoing, irreparable harm to the United States and its interests.” DOJ filed an amended complaint and motion (both in Pacer) for preliminary injunction Wednesday in resumed litigation at the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of California (see 2008030043). The department argued the state law is preempted under the Constitution’s supremacy clause and fails a conflict preemption test. “California has imposed stringent regulation on interstate broadband communications in a way that directly contradicts" the FCC's "validly adopted regulatory scheme" and the Communications Act principle “that the Federal Government -- not individual States -- has exclusive regulatory authority over interstate communications," it said in case 2:18-cv-02660. California is trying to overwrite FCC policy for the nation, the department argued. ISPs “cannot apply two separate and conflicting legal frameworks to Internet communications -- one for California and one for everywhere else. This impossibility means that California’s rules effectively are the only ones that matter.” ISP associations that sued California over the same law filed their own motion and amended complaint (in Pacer) Wednesday. The California law "is preempted under principles of field, express, and conflict preemption," said ACA Connects, CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom, saying their members "would be irreparably harmed if subjected to that unconstitutional law during the pendency of this litigation." A California Justice Department spokesperson said, "We are reviewing the complaint and look forward to defending California’s state net neutrality protections."
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday evening that makes permanent for rural communities an expansion of Medicare recipients’ eligibility to receive 135 types of services via telehealth. The EO rolled back permanently for rural Medicare recipients some restrictions on eligibility enacted in March as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act and other laws (see 2003250046). Congressional Telehealth Caucus co-Chair Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and four other caucus members filed the Protecting Access to Post-Covid-19 Telehealth Act last month to make this permanent (see 2007160077). White House officials told reporters the EO is intended to signal Trump wants Congress to expand all Medicare recipients’ eligibility for telehealth. “I’m taking action to ensure telehealth is here to stay,” Trump said during a news conference. American Telemedicine Association CEO Ann Mond Johnson Tuesday said the EO will “ensure individuals receive the care they need during." There's “more work that needs to be done, on both the Federal and state levels, to cement these gains and make permanent the waivers,” Johnson said in a statement. “We have an unprecedented opportunity to modernize our healthcare system.” Connected Health Initiative Executive Director Morgan Reed wants "legislation to ensure that the Medicare patients will have access to digital health services regardless of where they live or where they happen to be when they conduct a virtual visit."
Dish Network picked network services provider Tucows as a “technology partner” for its retail wireless business, said the companies Monday. Most U.S. Ting Mobile subscribers became Dish customers Saturday. Tucows positioned Ting for “easy to use services” and “simple value pricing,” said a March 4 annual report. Tucows finished 2019 with 289,000 Ting customers, down from 296,000 in 2018, it said. Dish said the agreement will speed its “digital and operational capabilities in wireless.” Transferring the Ting Mobile subs to Dish frees Tucows to focus on its mobile services enabler business of which Dish becomes the first customer. The Boost acquisition from Sprint thrust Dish “into the retail business in a way we didn’t expect,” said Chairman Charlie Ergen on a recent investor call (see 2005070049).
House Commerce Committee Republicans on Monday requested a classified State Department briefing on TikTok, days after President Donald Trump threatened to ban the Chinese social media platform from the U.S. Microsoft is continuing talks to buy TikTok, after CEO Satya Nadella discussed it with Trump, it said Sunday: “Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the President’s concerns." It's committed to acquiring TikTok "subject to" a complete review, it said. House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, Ore.; House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, La.; and House Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Wash., raised concerns about the video app and alleged ties to a Chinese company doing secret face recognition and data harvesting. Walden and Rodgers cited previous complaints about TikTok on children’s privacy, corporate governance and COVID-19. Banning TikTok would threaten U.S. jobs and the livelihood of American content creators reliant on the app, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Vice President Daniel Castro said: “In a week where many policymakers have called for more competition in the tech sector, undermining one of the fastest-growing social media platforms would be a step in the wrong direction.” ACT|The App Association said it's encouraged by ongoing negotiations for Microsoft to buy TikTok: “While this is an ongoing negotiation with no guaranteed outcome, we strongly urge policymakers to avoid a government intervention in banning TikTok that could result in an unprecedented geofencing of access to an online service used by 50 million Americans a day and create significant disruption to the app economy.” The State Department didn’t comment. The Microsoft blog suggests Trump “at least tentatively blessed the deal,” said Cowen analyst Paul Gallant. The deal could strengthen Facebook’s argument against antitrust scrutiny, and it might invite more attention on Microsoft from policymakers in Washington, he said.
The FCC seeks comment on NTIA’s petition asking for rules clarifying Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2007280053), Chairman Ajit Pai announced Monday. “Longstanding rules require the agency to put such petitions out for public comment ‘promptly,’ and we will follow that requirement here,” he said. “I strongly disagree with those who demand that we ignore the law and deny the public and all stakeholders the opportunity to weigh in on this important issue.” The agency should welcome “vigorous debate,” not curtail it, he said: “The American people deserve to have a say." The "feedback" is "over the next 45 days." Commissioner Geoffrey Starks suggested Congress is the proper venue: “I’m sure this Public Notice will generate a spirited discussion. Perhaps when comments are in we can package up the whole docket and send it over to Congress -- where this debate belongs.”
Reverse the FCC Public Safety Bureau’s July designation of Huawei and ZTE as a national security threat to communications networks and the communications supply chain and terminate the designation proceedings (see 2006300078), the Chinese companies told the FCC separately. “The Bureau had no authority to enter the final designation or even conduct these proceedings,” said a Huawei filing posted Friday in docket 19-351: The bureau “violated Commission precedent and the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to support its final designation by a preponderance of actual, reliable evidence in the administrative record. ... The Bureau largely ignored or failed to meaningfully address extensive evidence that Huawei is a leader in developing and implementing cybersecurity measures, and that it is not controlled or unduly influenced by the Chinese government.” The designation was “infected by unconstitutional congressional pressure and the Commission’s unconstitutional prejudgment against Huawei,” the company said. “The Bureau erred in its overly-broad application of the Supply Chain Security Order, contradicting the intent of Congress as codified in the Secure Networks Act,” ZTE said in docket 19-352: It “erred in not considering all available evidence and in concluding that ZTE did not dispute its assertions.”