Wiley Rein hires David Frolio, ex-GSM Association, as consulting counsel, Communications Practice ... Comcast promotes to also be executive vice presidents General Counsel and Secretary Arthur Block, Chief Communications Officer D’Arcy Rudnay and Chief Accounting Officer and Controller Lawrence Salva ... Shutterstock hires Craig Felenstein, ex-Discovery Communications, as senior vice president-investor relations Globecomm names Jason Juranek, ex-Harris CapRock, chief financial officer ... Inrix hires Steve Banfield, ex-Rightside, as chief marketing officer ... Dish Network hires Scott Skurnick, ex-Sears Holdings, to lead digital marketing as vice president-digital acquisition ... Globecast hires Rick Horrow, Horrow Sports Ventures, as "key industry advisor on a consultancy basis."
Consumer groups are optimistic the FCC is moving toward adding new hurdles before providers can retire copper phone lines, attorneys representing the groups told us. Some critics of the proposed change, including former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell and Free State Foundation President Randolph May, also said changes to Section 214 discontinuation rules may be coming, citing the commission’s controversial decisions on net neutrality (see 1502260043) and municipal broadband (see 1502260030). Those orders “do not bode well for a forward-thinking modernization approach to the IP transition,” McDowell told us Friday, as Monday’s deadline for reply comments in the IP transition rulemaking approached (see 1411210037). The rulemaking involves an array of issues, including setting requirements on backup battery power.
FCC staffers, in particular in the Enforcement Bureau, are expected to play a big role in determining what business practices are permissible under the commission’s new net neutrality rules. Provisions in the rules that leave decisions to staffers who otherwise don’t play a policy role at the commission are being questioned by net neutrality opponents.
Responding to attacks from net neutrality Communications Act Title II opponents, Netflix said Chief Financial Officer David Wells’ comments that the company would have preferred broadband service not be declassified were being mischaracterized. Title II opponents, including AT&T, the Free State Foundation and the Center for Boundless Innovation in Technology, had zeroed in on Wells’ statement: “Were we pleased that it pushed to Title II, probably not, right? I mean, we were hoping that there might be a non-regulated solution to it.” Wells made the comment Wednesday at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, according to a recording of the speech. Wells, according to the recording and a transcript posted on Netflix’s blog Thursday, also said he was pleased with the net neutrality order and said why he thought ISPs should be treated as utilities.
As the smoke clears from an initial flurry of reaction, privacy advocates and some lawmakers applauded President Barack Obama's push to protect privacy, with the release of a draft of the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights (CPBR) last week, (see 1502270052), calling the first draft a step in the right direction. Consumer privacy advocates, industry -- with the exception of Microsoft -- and Democratic and Republican lawmakers initially criticized the draft. Privacy groups said in a letter that they were shown a rough draft of the bill a week before its public release and asked several changes be made, some of which were implemented, including changes to "maintain longstanding privacy protections under the Communications Act.” Privacy groups said that if other changes are adopted, the bill could protect consumers. Industry groups, however, maintain the draft is a step backward, with many expressing concerns about innovation, and some saying the bill distracts from critical data security legislation that's needed.
ISPs and other industry players won’t have certainty for many months, possibly several years, on whether the FCC’s order imposing new net neutrality rules will survive a court challenge, FCC and industry officials tell us. While Verizon and MetroPCS led the fight in the courts against the 2010 rules, industry officials predict this time the major trade associations may end up filing the key challenges, especially since Comcast and AT&T both have major transactions pending before the FCC.
Republican FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly continued their attack against net neutrality rules approved by the FCC Thursday (see 1502260043), speaking at a Friday event hosted by TechFreedom. Pai said the order was all about politics and not about protecting the Internet. “The issue has been largely fact free for the better part of a decade,” he said.
NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling replied to challenges by Senate Commerce Committee members about the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition’s purpose and political viability Wednesday. The hearing was the first on the IANA transition this Congress. Strickling told us it signaled a shift in opinion on Capitol Hill about the transition, one that’s moved from rejection to cautious acceptance. Also testifying were ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade and attorney David Gross of Wiley Rein on behalf of the Internet Governance Coalition, as expected (see 1502240059). Chehade said last year’s proposal (see 1408210028), which would have required a two-thirds vote by the ICANN board to reject advice from the Governmental Advisory Committee -- rather than the current simple majority -- has been “taken off the table.”
The FCC’s expected vote Thursday to reclassify broadband as a Communications Act Title II service has the potential to unintentionally expand its regulatory authority on communications sector cybersecurity, ex-agency officials said in interviews. They conceded it’s unlikely the commission has any plans to exercise that authority in the near future given the strong likelihood of legal challenges to new net neutrality rules. Industry lawyers have said the FCC can claim authority on cybersecurity at least via Title I, and could stake a claim via Title II and Section 706 (see 1406240037). FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has been championing improving cybersecurity risk management within the communications sector since last year via voluntary private sector-led work in the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council’s (CSRIC) Working Group 4 and the Technological Advisory Council (see 1406130056).
Zero rating remains one of the most controversial issues heading into a vote on FCC net neutrality rules Thursday, industry and agency officials said in interviews. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn has been particularly concerned about prohibitions on zero rating because of the possible negative implications for some of the poorest U.S. wireless subscribers, the officials said. The Multicultural, Media, Telecom and Internet Council has opposed rules against zero rating (see 1411140046), highlighting why the issue is tricky, especially for FCC Democrats, officials said.