The Senate Commerce Committee and House Digital Commerce Subcommittee are planning robocall hearings next week. Senate Commerce's hearing, set for Wednesday, includes testimony from FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Rosemary Harold and FTC Associate Director-Bureau of Consumer Protection Marketing Practices Division Lois Greisman, among others. Both agencies have been active in combating robocalls, including the FCC creating at least one reassigned numbers database to help businesses avoid calling reassigned numbers (see 1803220028 and 1803230056). Also to testify are Marketing Strategy Leaders former president Adrian Abramovich, Wiley Rein lawyer Scott Delacourt speaking on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, USTelecom Vice President-Law and Policy Kevin Rupy and National Consumer Law Center Senior Counsel Margot Saunders. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. House Digital Commerce's hearing begins at 10:15 a.m. Thursday in 2322 Rayburn. “Last year, robocalls, caller ID spoofing, and telemarketing scams were the worst they’ve ever been,” subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, said in a statement. “As scammers continue to use malicious tactics to convince people -- often senior citizens -- to hand over their personal information, we need to make sure consumers can stay one step ahead.”
A court reversal of parts of a 2015 FCC robocalling order is likely to stand, said attorneys involved in or following the case on Telephone Consumer Protection Act regulatory restrictions. They said the current commission and most industry petitioners appear satisfied with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling Friday, which shot down two key agency decisions and affirmed two others in ACA International v. FCC, No. 15-1211 (see 1803160006). If some parties do appeal, the prospects the ruling will be overturned appear dim, they said. Continuing robocalling disputes are expected to play out at the FCC and in trial courts.
The U.S. government has taken initial steps to secure federal networks and critical infrastructure, but the process of securing the IoT has just begun, said White House tech policy adviser Kelsey Guyselman Tuesday. Speaking at an event hosted by the American Bar Association and the FCBA, Guyselman detailed the goals of President Donald Trump’s executive order from May. Botnets and other automated threats aren't problems that can be solved by a single entity, agency or sector, she said, urging a collaborative approach to securing the IoT. Guyselman spoke in place of NTIA Administrator David Redl, who couldn't attend due to a scheduling conflict. On a separate panel, DOJ Computer Crime-Criminal Division Deputy Chief Michael Stawasz opposed the EU's general data protection regulation potentially impeding criminal investigations abroad. While working full-time to gain legal access to private data, and balancing law enforcement and privacy concerns, Stawasz said he likes the U.S.’ current framework “just fine.” The GDPR could potentially conflict with warrant compliance, he said. Wiley Rein's Megan Brown said, based on discussions with industry and officials in Europe, there has been a “slow awakening” that the GDPR could interfere with surveillance.
Lead petitioner ACA International hailed partial reversal of an FCC 2015 robocalling order, under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday (see 1803160006). ACA "is extremely pleased by the court’s thoughtful and careful consideration of the arguments the credit and collection industry made," said CEO Mark Neeb: The ruling "supports legitimate, law-abiding businesses and recognizes that technological advancements in the ways people communicate are good for society.” The FCC's Republican majority and industry parties had also praised the unanimous court ruling overturning smartphone and reassigned-number decisions of the 2015 order while affirming an agency standard for revoking consumer consent and the scope of an exemption "for time-sensitive healthcare calls" (see 1803160053). A Wiley Rein blog post of takeaways (it also did a ruling overview) said the court "signaled that it would be receptive to an FCC construction of the TCPA’s autodialing prohibitions that potentially would exclude from TCPA liability calls made using a wide variety of technologies that the FCC’s prior approach had included, including predictive dialers, preview dialers, or other dialing mechanisms involving human intervention." Attorneys Scott Delacourt and Eve Reed said of the reassigned numbers reversal: "This ruling is also potentially significant, in that it rejects the idea that calling parties should be deemed to know that they have called a reassigned number even if a single call does not provide them with actual notice that reassignment has occurred. The Court suggested that the FCC has identified a path forward on reassigned numbers with its proposal for a reassigned number database." On a reasonable opt-out standard, they wrote: "Although affirming the FCC, the Court’s ruling should provide some protection to callers from consumers who choose 'unconventional' methods of expressing their desire to opt-out of receiving autodialed calls where user-friendly means are available." Mozilla Fellow Gigi Sohn tweeted the ruling "demonstrates mostly how outdated the law is. Does Congress have the guts 2 update it?"
FCC Republicans welcomed partial court reversal of a 2015 robocalling order that fleshed out regulations for the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's general prohibition against using automated dialing devices to make uninvited calls. Chairman Ajit Pai said he's "pleased" the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday rejected the prior commission's "misguided decision" and "regulatory overreach." Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who along with Pai dissented in 2015, said he's "heartened" by the ruling, and Commissioner Brendan Carr said the court "corrected" an error. They favored further FCC actions to combat illegal robocalling, as did Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, though she didn't extol the court decision. Some telecom industry attorneys also hailed the ruling while consumer advocates were wary.
FCC staff granted Puerto Rico Telephone Co. a hurricane-related waiver after denying a petition for a grace period on a Connect America Fund three-year buildout deadline. "This is a common sense decision that forgives PRTC from paying back CAF Phase I support that was spent on broadband equipment much of which was destroyed by hurricane Maria,” emailed PRTC counsel Tom Navin of Wiley Rein. PRTC in February 2017 asked the agency to clarify that recipients of CAF Phase I Round 2 incremental broadband-oriented subsidy support can receive the same one-year grace period for meeting buildout requirements as CAF II recipients do in certain cases, (see 1702230009). In April, PRTC suggested a waiver of a related rule. A Wireline Bureau declaratory ruling and order Tuesday in docket 10-90 denied both requests but on its own motion granted a "limited waiver of our rules such that no support will be recovered from PRTC for locations it served within a year of its Phase I incremental support deadlines." It cited devastation from hurricanes last fall: "Allowing PRTC to retain these funds will enable it to more speedily restore, improve, and expand its network to the benefit of Puerto Rico’s residents as the territory recovers from the storms."
The next U.S. ambassador to the World Radiocommunication Conference, set for Geneva Oct. 28-Nov. 22, 2019, likely won’t be named until almost a year from now, officials predicted. U.S. preparation is well underway, but the ambassador is generally designated late in the game. WRC-19 is widely viewed as perhaps the most important WRC ever because of its expected focus on 5G and harmonizing spectrum bands for the new generation of wireless. Robert Strayer, deputy assistant secretary of state-cyber and international communications and information policy, told a Wiley Rein conference last week that President Donald Trump plans to appoint an ambassador to head the U.S. delegation to the WRC (see 1803050054).
The Commerce Department strongly supports Doreen Bogdan-Martin as director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (ITU-D), NTIA Administrator David Redl said Thursday. Bogdan Martin has been campaigning for the post, running one of the three ITU sectors (see 1710230052) in an upcoming ITU election. But Bogdan-Martin likely faces an uphill fight, since the ITU-D job usually goes to someone from Africa, and Americans have never had an easy time getting elected to ITU positions.
The State Department remains focused on ITU modernization, Robert Strayer, deputy assistant secretary for cyber and international communications and information policy, told a Wiley Rein conference Monday. Strayer said it's critical for the U.S. to promote the election of an American, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, to a top leadership role at the ITU (see 1710230052). The U.S. also wants better oversight in general of the issues on which the ITU is focused, he said.
The FCC’s draft NPRM on mid-term equal employment opportunity reports is expected to receive broad support from all commissioners, and a draft item eliminating requirements for hard copies of FCC rules should be approved unanimously, possibly even before Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting (see 1801310065), FCC officials told us. Docket 17-105 has seen little activity on either issue since the items were put on the February agenda. Both are seen as minor and noncontroversial, said Wiley Rein broadcast attorney Greg Masters.