The campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden, Democrats’ presumptive 2020 presidential nominee, backed universal broadband and 5G access for all Americans in a Tuesday proposal. “Millions of households without access to broadband are locked out of an economy that is increasingly reliant on virtual collaboration,” the campaign said. “As the COVID-19 crisis has revealed, Americans everywhere need universal, reliable, affordable, and high-speed internet.” The digital divide “needs to be closed everywhere. ... Just like rural electrification several generations ago, universal broadband is long overdue and critical to broadly shared economic success.” Biden’s “unity” task force with former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., cited universal broadband access among several telecom policy recommendations earlier this month (see 2007080068). A spokesperson for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign called the broader proposal “more like a socialist manifesto” that shows Biden “is beholden to the radical socialist ideology” of Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Policy fixes for tackling the 20 million or more "digitally invisible" Americans who lack digital access include universal broadband service, continuing to lift the regulatory restrictions and providing telehealth services, said Nicol Turner Lee, Brookings Institution director-Center for Technology Innovation, Monday on a panel. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, organizer of the event about communications technology ways of addressing Black mental health needs, said "internet inequality ... has exacerbated other long-standing social gaps in every aspect of American life." Telehealth service provision surged during the pandemic, but Black communities disproportionately lack access to telecom services that allow access to telehealth, he said, according to prepared remarks.
The Transportation and the Commerce Departments -- which held a series of meetings in June with other FCC officials about Ligado concerns (see 2006300069) -- now have held similar such meetings with Commissioner Brendan Carr, per a docket 11-109 posting Monday. DOD and Commerce officials also met with Carr and Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology representatives about classified material involving Ligado, the agencies said.
The telecom industry has put forward "a reasonable transition path" for rolling out the 988 suicide hotline given the 10-digit dialing transition and translations work needed to make it universal, and a phased-in approach is the only route that works, CenturyLink representatives told aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, per a docket 18-336 posting Friday. The draft order and its two-year deadline "grossly underestimates" the complexity of numerous simultaneous 10-digit dialing transitions, it said. CenturyLink -- which services all but one of the 87 numbering plan areas (NPA) that will have to transition to 10-digit dialing -- said more than 1,100 of its rate centers will need 10-digit dialing conversions, each taking up to 80 hours of work. It said the draft order is wrong to suggest the ongoing IP transition will speed up or coincide with 988 implementation. "Nothing in the record suggests a two-year timeline is possible, and to the contrary, much in the record plainly states a two-year timeline is not possible," it said. If commissioners go ahead with a two-year timeline at Thursday's meeting, that clock should start ticking only once the North American numbering plan administrator has developed a transition schedule for the 87 NPAs, or require the administrator develop an implementation schedule with the two-year deadline starting after a final FCC order explaining the criteria for wireline providers to get waivers, CenturyLink said. In calls with aides to Pai and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, USTelecom said waivers might be necessary. The National Institute of Mental Health backs the FCC efforts, NIMH Director Joshua Gordon tweeted Friday. "A 9-8-8 three-digit number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline will help callers quickly and simply access help in times of crisis."
The FCC is considering expanded exemptions to ex parte rules to cover some discussions with tribal nations and with the toll-free numbering and reassigned numbers database administrators, said a draft NPRM in Friday's Daily Digest. It also seeks comment on a proposed requirement that all written ex parte presentations be submitted before the sunshine period begins and that replies to them be filed by the first day of the sunshine period. The commission said it still encourages tribal nations to file comments and replies into the record, but it understands their interest in consulting on a government-to-government basis without concern about documenting such consultations on the rulemaking record in every case. The proposed exemption would be limited to consultations with tribal leaders or their representatives, and not individual tribal members or tribally owned businesses. The agency asked for input on whether any information a tribal government presents during an exempt consultation would need to be disclosed on the record for the FCC to rely on it when making a decision. The proposed program administrators exemption would extend to them the same exemption covering consultations between FCC staff and the interstate telecom services fund administrator, Universal Service Administrative Co. and administrators for the North American numbering plan, local number portability, telephone relay services numbering and pooling involving their administrative functions. The role between the FCC and the toll-free numbering administrator or reassigned numbers database administrator "is substantially the same" as it is between the agency and those other administrators, thus the exemption extension would harmonize the rules, it said. The FCC said the current sunshine period rules have meant staff difficulty at times evaluating all relevant filings in the limited time before an agency meeting. Free Press Vice President-Policy Matt Wood tweeted he's "not too alarmed" by the proposal because the intergovernmental and administrative privileges the FCC has are expanding but also harmonizing. "Sure, I'd like to know what USAC says to the FCC [but] I worry more about what this FCC says to USAC, not the other way round," he said. He said speeding up filings for meetings on the day before sunshine starts is "pro transparency." Smaller filers and nongovernmental organizations might find it harder to comply than big companies, but the latter meet more often with the FCC and the staff review time rational "is pretty compelling," he said.
About a fifth of federal agencies, including the FCC, have moderate or lower quality spending data, GAO reported Thursday. The Digital Accountability and Transparency (Data) Act (HR-2061) (see 1204260112) requires inspectors general at federal agencies to issue reports on spending data quality. GAO analyzed 51 agencies, 11 of which reported moderate or “lower quality” and 37 “higher quality." The FCC was one of the “lower” scoring agencies, and the FTC scored in the “higher” category.
The Supreme Court Thursday granted Facebook a petition for a writ of certiorari in Facebook v. Duguid, after the company was sued for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (see 1908220030). Facebook seeks clarity on what an autodialer is. Davis Wright attorney Ronnie London expects the FCC to wait for a Supreme Court ruling, not likely before 2021, before deciding whether to issue a rule defining an autodialer. The FCC declined comment.
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly wants to explore the 12 GHz and 7 GHz bands as the commission seeks 500 to 800 MHz of additional spectrum for licensed commercial purposes in the next three to five years, he said on a Thursday webinar by the New York State and New Jersey wireless associations. O’Rielly is talking to manufacturers, providers, academia and others about those two and other bands, he said: “There are also a couple other bands being privately discussed but are not necessarily ready for prime exposure just yet, or maybe they never will be.” He would welcome suggestions about “any magical bands previously not discussed.” Spectrum between 3.1 and 3.55 GHz is at the top of O’Rielly’s list of next bands, he said. “I know the upper 100 [MHz] can be repurposed without much heartburn, and we can work through the second 100 the same way,” he said. The “bulk” of the remaining 250 MHz in the lower part of the band must be shared, he said. O’Rielly earlier this week said NTIA was too conservative in a report that highlighted only the top 100 MHz as a “good candidate” for sharing (see 2007070062). O’Rielly slammed New York and New Jersey state governments for diverting 911 fees for unrelated purposes (see 2004020064). “Your leaders are unwavering in their commitment to steal these vital fees. They can’t be swayed by underfunded call centers or outdated technology. They don’t seem to care they are no longer eligible for certain federal monies.” O’Rielly lashed into New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) for a Tuesday plan to redirect $87 million from the New York Police Department as part of $157 million to add internet options for underserved New Yorkers. About 22 million people in the U.S. “have nothing, and he wants someone to have a fourth or fifth ... broadband provider,” said O’Rielly. De Blasio's office didn’t comment.
Facebook has made “painful decisions over the last nine months” resulting in “real world consequences” and “setbacks for civil rights,” independent auditors said Wednesday in a long-awaited civil rights audit. Former American Civil Liberties Union Director Laura Murphy and civil rights law firm Relman Colfax noted the audit led to “significant” platform improvements. Voter suppression, hate speech and fact-checking were ongoing areas of concern the report highlighted. Auditors called CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s October speech at Georgetown University a setback, saying he voiced support for free expression “even where that has meant allowing harmful and divisive rhetoric that amplifies hate speech and threatens civil rights.” Vice President-Global Affairs and Communications Nick Clegg's September speech also was cited as a setback. He said Facebook “doesn’t subject politicians’ speech to fact-checking, based on the company’s position that it should not ‘prevent a politician’s speech from reaching its audience and being subject to public debate and scrutiny,’” auditors wrote. The report criticized Facebook for not moderating a post from President Donald Trump that Twitter censored (see 2006160059). The platform “has taken harmful steps backward on suppression issues, primarily in its decision to exempt politicians’ speech from fact checking, and its failure to remove viral posts,” the report said. Facebook is making progress but has a long way to go, said Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg: “Being a platform where everyone can make their voice heard is core to our mission, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable for people to spread hate.”
PSSI Global Services faces no imminent or certain harm from the FCC's C-band order in the form of interference or too-little capacity in the band, the Wireless Bureau said in an order Wednesday denying the company's ask for a stay (see 2006190058). It said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's expedited schedule to hear PSSI's challenge to the order will let it handle the challenge long before satellite operators clear the lower portion of the band and wireless broadband providers begin operations there. It said PSSI's alleged injuries are “speculative.” The company didn't comment.