AARP said benefits of the 2015 FCC net neutrality order far outweigh "de minimis," costs. The group said a May NPRM proposing to roll back broadband regulation under Communications Act Title II pointed to the costs of alleged harms to broadband ISP investments as a primary factor. The "broadband ISPs and their supporters do not deliver any convincing evidence that broadband investment has been harmed in any way by the 2015 Title II Order," AARP replied Wednesday to initial comments (see 1707180009), the original deadline before it was extended to Aug. 30. Noting a June NCTA post, AARP cited surging U.S. data speeds, "innovation and aggressive" broadband deployment, which required investment; yet NCTA tells the FCC "a completely different story" about Title II's "chilling effects." Leaving aside that ISPs focus exclusively on broadband and ignore edge fallout, AARP finds "ISP 'harmed investment stories' are based on weak theoretical expositions and deeply flawed empirical studies." But rule benefits are clearly "substantial and growing," said the group, lauding comments in docket 17-108 from internet engineers, pioneers and technologists, including Vint Cerf. Among others filing recent replies supporting less regulation were Citizens Against Government Waste, a coalition of 83 groups and individuals, and German University of Passau professor Jan Kraemer; while the Software & Information Industry Association, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Washington State Access to Justice Board, Metropolitan Libraries of Ohio and three academics generally supported the 2015 order.

The White House “will not move forward” with the rollout of its Presidential Advisory Council on Infrastructure amid controversies that resulted in dissolution of the other two councils, an official told us. The White House was still seeking representatives for the 15-member council, which President Donald Trump created in a July executive order (see 1707200064), the official and a telecom lobbyist separately said. The White House had aimed for the group to study the efficacy of existing federal funding and support for infrastructure projects, including broadband deployment. It would have also worked on recommendation on prioritizing U.S. infrastructure needs and other development matters. The council’s halt comes amid planning for a White House-backed infrastructure legislative package, which has been anticipated to include a broadband title. The move follows the Wednesday dissolution of two White House councils dominated by CEOs. The Manufacturing Advisory Council and Strategic and Policy Forum disbanded amid fallout over President Donald Trump’s response to a weekend white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left one dead (see 1708140044 and 1708160068). But the White House does plan for its American Technology Council to continue meeting on modernization of the federal government’s IT systems, the official said. The ATC, formed earlier this year (see 1705110058), is dominated by federal government members but engages tech sector stakeholders as advisers. Private sector members dominated the dissolved CEO groups. Oracle said it will continue to be involved in ATC meetings, and some other companies indicated they're open to remaining as participants.

CTA President Gary Shapiro took President Donald Trump to task for comments Trump made Tuesday blaming “both sides” for last weekend’s violence during a white supremacists’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia (see 1708150020). “Generally I do not comment or write about social issues (other than those involving the LGBT community),” Shapiro emailed us Wednesday. “But I think it is fair to say that American businesses and especially the tech industry believes that our economy is best served by a president who unites us,” said Shapiro. By most “objective measures,” Trump is “fulfilling his famous campaign promise to ‘Make America Great Again,’" Shapiro wrote last week (see 1708110003).

The FCC should do a comprehensive review of its regulations, axing those that no longer serve consumers, and Congress should rewrite the Communications Act "to eliminate most of the FCC's current duties," the Competitive Enterprise Institute said. The small-government public policy group's Shrinking Government Bureaucracy report Wednesday recommended Congress consider "folding a much smaller FCC" into a different arm of the U.S. government, such as the Commerce Department. "With a handful of exceptions, the FCC continues to regulate as if it were 1996 -- or, in some cases, 1934," CEI said, pointing to media ownership rules. CEI said that instead of relaxing legacy cable-TV rules in the face of cord cutting, the agency did the opposite with its set-top box and over-the-top-as-MVPD rules proposals. It said due to FCC rules, "many of the most valuable airwaves cannot be licensed by wireless providers." The report recommended changes to or abolishing Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Labor Relations Board, the SEC and some others. The FCC didn't comment.

The White House’s Manufacturing Advisory Council (MAC) and its Strategic and Policy Forum (SPF) disbanded Wednesday amid continued fallout over President Donald Trump’s response to a weekend white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left one counterprotester dead (see 1708140044). Trump said during a Tuesday news conference in the Trump Tower lobby on his executive order to streamline the environmental review and permitting process for infrastructure projects (see 1708150067) that both the white supremacists and “alt-left” counterprotesters were to blame for the Charlottesville violence. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich resigned from the MAC Tuesday after an earlier Trump response to the incident (see 1708150020). “Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople” on MAC and SPF, “I am ending both,” Trump tweeted. Dell CEO Michael Dell was still on the council at the time of dissolution. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and other SPF members decided prior to Trump's tweet to disband that group, with Rometty saying in a memo “this group can no longer serve the purpose for which it was formed.”

Two international officials criticized possible FCC repeal or weakening of net neutrality rules prohibiting internet traffic blocking, throttling and paid prioritization, requiring transparency, and imposing an internet conduct standard. "We express serious concern with the proposed rule changes, which may significantly roll back protections for net neutrality and unduly interfere with freedom of expression online in the United States," said the comments Wednesday of David Kaye, U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, and Edison Lanza, special rapporteur for freedom of expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States. "We urge the Commission to take all steps necessary to conduct a comprehensive review of its proposed rule changes, and ensure their compliance with applicable international standards as outlined in this submission." Some substantive reply comments were filed in recent days despite the commission's move to extend the Wednesday deadline to Aug. 30. Antitrust enforcement provides a "more reasonable framework for net neutrality regulation," said Josh Wright, a former FTC commissioner now associated with the Free State Foundation, in an FSF piece. There appears to be "confusion about the appropriate role of antitrust and its domain in broadband markets. Some even go so far as to claim relying upon antitrust law amounts to no regulation at all," wrote Wright, noting the FCC's proposed repeal of Communications Act Title II classification would return broadband jurisdiction to the FTC. "Antitrust law has developed a sophisticated 'rule of reason' framework to determine whether vertical agreements are procompetitive or anticompetitive. The rule of reason approach examines vertical agreements on a case-by-case basis by weighing costs and benefits and recognizing possible losses from enforcement errors that go in either direction. Despite the 2015 Order ban on vertical agreements by Internet service providers, rule of reason analysis would not similarly result in a total ban on vertical agreements because economics literature clearly indicates that while vertical agreements are capable of harming competition in the manner contemplated by net neutrality proponents, more often than not they are beneficial to consumers."

Verizon plans to build and operate a private network core dedicated to public safety communications fit the company's playbook of working with localities even as their states may pursue FirstNet deployments, industry officials told us Wednesday. The carrier said Wednesday it's reacting to requests from its millions of public safety clients. Early on, Verizon was widely seen as a likely contender for the FirstNet contract, in part because FirstNet’s Band 14 spectrum fits well with spectrum the carrier has in its portfolio. Industry officials said in 2016 that Verizon instead could opt to compete with FirstNet by offering its services to local governments without the requirements the carrier would face as a partner to the network (see 1601220053), the course it's now adopting. “The dedicated public safety core will operate separately from our commercial core and provide first responders with access to the company's 2.4 million square mile 4G LTE network,” Verizon said: It will “make priority access and preemption services available to public safety when necessary and at no charge.” Verizon emphasized the service will be a competitor to FirstNet, not a replacement. The offering “does not require that states opt-out of FirstNet, does not require access to any federal funding provided to FirstNet, and does not require any financial commitment from states to support network deployment,” Verizon said. “Creation of this dedicated public safety network core will be fully funded by Verizon. We will also make available multi-band devices that will provide access to Band 14 spectrum and enable full interoperability with any Band 14 radio access networks (RANs) deployed by FirstNet.” FirstNet "has consulted closely with public safety as a partner to develop this network,” a FirstNet spokesman said. “Thanks to their input, we are now delivering first responders a compelling network solution they’ve never had before -- which includes true priority today -- and we will deliver them ruthless preemption, a dedicated and encrypted public safety core network with local control capabilities, a dedicated FirstNet Public Safety Security Operations Center and public safety grade customer care. These services are unmatched and unique to public safety, and that is why we are seeing so much momentum with the FirstNet Network in the states and territories.” AT&T also fired back. “What we’re offering to public safety through our private-public partnership will exceed anything they’ve previously been offered in the marketplace," a spokesman said. "FirstNet is bringing public safety a superior network and ecosystem with specialized features, including increased coverage and capacity along with priority and preemption, so first responder subscribers can be confident that the network will be there when and where they need it.”

Chalk up over-the-top services from Disney, ESPN and other programmers in part to the FCC net neutrality order, since it blocks cable ISPs from denying, degrading or deprioritizing Disney access even when it competes with their cable services, former Chairman Tom Wheeler blogged for the Brookings Institution Tuesday. He said AT&T, one of the biggest champions of the Communications Act Title II regulation rollback, benefits since its DirecTV, which competes with cable, can't be discriminated against on a cable system's broadband capacity. AT&T didn't comment. Wheeler also said reports the GOP House leadership warned edge providers that net neutrality activism could hurt them in other policy issues (see 1708110054) was akin to mob extortion. He likened the open internet rule, including general conduct language, to Disney's Jiminy Cricket character in Pinocchio, "sit[ting] on the shoulder of broadband providers to make sure they do the right thing."

Emergency alert system participants must register with the EAS test reporting system and file ETRS Form 1 by Aug. 28 to be ready for the required Sept. 27 nationwide test (see 1707180042), said FCC Public Safety Bureau reminder public notice in Tuesday's Daily Digest. Participants have until the day of the test to update information and correct errors on their Form 1 filings, and 24 hours from the 2:20 p.m. EDT exercise to file day of test data, the PN said. Detailed post-test data must be filed within 45 days afterwards.

Uber settled with the FTC over allegedly deceiving consumers by failing to oversee employee access to sensitive consumer data and reasonably securing such information stored in the cloud. Commissioners voted 2-0 Thursday to issue the administrative complaint and accept the consent agreement. Comments are due Sept. 15. Acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen said in a conference call with reporters that the investigation began after media outlets in November 2014 reported that Uber employees accessed personal consumer data. The order requires the company to create "culture of privacy sensitivity," she said. Under the settlement, Uber must avoid misrepresenting how it internally monitors access to customers' personal data and how it protects their data. The company must implement a comprehensive privacy program addressing risks from current and new products and services and the confidentiality of the personal data collected. Within 180 days and every two years after that for the next 20 years, Uber must get independent, third-party audits certifying the privacy policy meets or exceeds the order's requirements. Ohlhausen said no financial penalty was imposed because the agency can get money only when it can point to financial losses. She said if Uber violates the order, the FTC can pursue a civil penalty. A spokesman said the company has "significantly strengthened our privacy and data security practices since [2015] and will continue to invest heavily in these programs." Uber hired its first chief security officer at the time and "now employ hundreds of trained professionals dedicated to protecting user information." Uber has been under FTC scrutiny in other cases. Consumer Watchdog in April lodged a complaint that the company deceptively tracked its app users after they deleted the app from their iPhones (see 1704270014). The FTC has said it doesn't comment on investigations. In January, the agency over allegations Uber misled prospective drivers about potential earnings and overstated favorable terms for car financing (see 1701200002).