House Commerce Committee Republicans told the FCC to shut down its set-top box proceeding Wednesday, in a letter to new Chairman Ajit Pai. “Sounds good to me!” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly quickly agreed on Twitter. “Time to move past this discredited proposal.” Closing the proceeding would require a vote by the full commission, longtime communications attorney and Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman told us.
House Commerce Committee Republicans told the FCC to shut down its set-top box proceeding Wednesday, in a letter to new Chairman Ajit Pai. “Sounds good to me!” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly quickly agreed on Twitter. “Time to move past this discredited proposal.” Closing the proceeding would require a vote by the full commission, longtime communications attorney and Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman told us.
House Commerce Committee Republicans told the FCC to shut down its set-top box proceeding Wednesday, in a letter to new Chairman Ajit Pai. “Sounds good to me!” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly quickly agreed on Twitter. “Time to move past this discredited proposal.” Closing the proceeding would require a vote by the full commission, longtime communications attorney and Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman told us.
Cellsite simulators (CS), or stingrays, as used by local law enforcement, likely violate the Communications Act, said Georgetown University Law School Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman in a Tuesday blog post. “Even though state and local authorities frequently use federal grants to purchase and deploy CS simulators, it would seem that these officials may not lawfully use them,” Schwartzman wrote in the Benton Foundation post. “Section 301 of the Communications Act prohibits the unauthorized use of any radio transmission device, including CS simulators. Section 301 does not apply to federal officials but since no FCC regulation allows operation of a CS simulator, its operation by state and local authorities (and, most certainly, any non-governmental user) [is] unlawful.” By all appearances, at least some CS simulators jam the signals of licensed carriers, he said: “There is no exception to this requirement for state and local government.”
Cellsite simulators (CS), or stingrays, as used by local law enforcement, likely violate the Communications Act, said Georgetown University Law School Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman in a Tuesday blog post. “Even though state and local authorities frequently use federal grants to purchase and deploy CS simulators, it would seem that these officials may not lawfully use them,” Schwartzman wrote in the Benton Foundation post. “Section 301 of the Communications Act prohibits the unauthorized use of any radio transmission device, including CS simulators. Section 301 does not apply to federal officials but since no FCC regulation allows operation of a CS simulator, its operation by state and local authorities (and, most certainly, any non-governmental user) [is] unlawful.” By all appearances, at least some CS simulators jam the signals of licensed carriers, he said: “There is no exception to this requirement for state and local government.”
Political shadows and fog are obscuring the view of what DOJ priorities are in its review of AT&T's proposed buy of Time Warner, with no clear consensus among experts we talked to, due largely to uncertainty about the approach of the incoming Trump administration. "It's very difficult to know what to expect" since the Trump transition team hasn't named key DOJ personnel, such as head of the Antitrust Division, ITTA President Genny Morelli said. Justice, the Trump transition team and AT&T didn't comment.
Political shadows and fog are obscuring the view of what DOJ priorities are in its review of AT&T's proposed buy of Time Warner, with no clear consensus among experts we talked to, due largely to uncertainty about the approach of the incoming Trump administration. "It's very difficult to know what to expect" since the Trump transition team hasn't named key DOJ personnel, such as head of the Antitrust Division, ITTA President Genny Morelli said. Justice, the Trump transition team and AT&T didn't comment.
A court asked AT&T to respond by Jan. 26 to a Bandwidth.com petition to rehear a panel ruling in November that vacated an FCC decision siding with CLEC and VoIP partners in an intercarrier compensation dispute. Absent further court order, no reply to the response will be accepted, said the brief order (in Pacer) Wednesday of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in AT&T v. FCC, No. 15-1059. The D.C. Circuit didn't ask for an FCC response.
A court asked AT&T to respond by Jan. 26 to a Bandwidth.com petition to rehear a panel ruling in November that vacated an FCC decision siding with CLEC and VoIP partners in an intercarrier compensation dispute. Absent further court order, no reply to the response will be accepted, said the brief order (in Pacer) Wednesday of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in AT&T v. FCC, No. 15-1059. The D.C. Circuit didn't ask for an FCC response.
The FCC Media Bureau admonishment Friday evening of Scripps Media and several other broadcasters for violating political advertising disclosure rules is likely to lead to other broadcasters taking care to more closely follow the rules, though no fines were levied, said broadcast and public interest lawyers in interviews. The admonishment orders included clarifications of bureau expectations for how forms disclosing the sources of funding for political ads should be filled out. Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman said that would make it harder for stations to use “evasive legal arguments” to avoid following the rules going forward.