The FCC dismissed a pole attachment enforcement proceeding between Charter Communications and Georgia Power, the Enforcement Bureau said in an order Monday. Charter and the utility company said last month they had settled the dispute (see 1603290022).

NSA appointed Rebecca Richards, civil liberties and privacy director, to also be its first transparency officer, the agency said in a news release Monday. NSA said the appointment reflects a commitment to the recently established "Principles of Intelligence Transparency for the Intelligence Community," which is intended to make information publicly available unless disclosure would harm national security. Richards will sit on the Intelligence Transparency Council, which is a new forum where the intelligence community "will develop a strategic, coordinated, and proactive approach to increased transparency," NSA said. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper formalized the council a week ago to help advise him on the implementation of the principles.

FirstNet extended from May 13 until May 31 the deadline for companies, or groups of companies, to submit proposals for partnering with the authority to build the national broadband network for first responders. This was the second delay -- the original deadline was April 29 (see 1602190058). FirstNet released its request for proposals Jan. 13 (see 1601130046). “Our decision to extend the deadline for final proposals was driven by both the volume and nature of the capability statements as well as requests for extensions we’ve received from interested parties,” FirstNet CEO Mike Poth said in a news release. “We believe this date affords prospective offerors the opportunity to fine tune their proposals and finalize any teaming arrangements and/or subcontractors, and we remain on track to award by November 1.”

The FCC needs input on how to deliver an earthquake early warning (EEW) to the public in under three seconds using the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), a public notice said Friday. The commission has until Sept. 18 to deliver a report on “the regulatory and statutory framework” for delivering such warnings, under the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act. To put together the report, the commission is seeking comment on the technical aspects of IPAWS and other systems that could deliver an EEW in under three seconds, plus information on geo-targeted alerts, possible costs, and what statutes and regulations should be considered. Comments on the PN are due May 9, replies June 8.

Correction: The group that lobbied the FCC on toll-free numbers was the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (see 1604060048).

DOJ said in a filing it will continue trying to force Apple to help the government open a locked iPhone seized in a New York drug investigation. "The government's application is not moot and the government continues to require Apple's assistance in accessing the data that it is authorized to search by warrant," U.S. Attorney Robert Capers wrote (in Pacer) Friday to Magistrate Judge Margo Brodie in New York's Eastern District. About a month ago, the government resubmitted its application after a decision by Magistrate Judge James Orenstein, who ruled in favor of Apple in February, denying the U.S. government's motion to force the company to help it break into the iPhone in the drug case. Orenstein said the "government's interpretation of the breadth of authority the [All Writs Act] confers on courts of limited jurisdiction thus raises serious doubts about how such a statute could withstand constitutional scrutiny under the separation-of-powers doctrine" (see 1603010013).

A draft order to approve a proposed service agreement for Telcordia/iconectiv as the next local number portability administrator (LNPA) circulated at the FCC last week, according to the agency's circulation list updated Friday and an agency official. The agreement was negotiated with North American Portability Management, the industry consortium the FCC tasked with overseeing the planned LNPA transition from Neustar to Telcordia. The FCC also circulated a draft order that an agency official said would require outage reporting for undersea cables, growing out of an NPRM adopted in September (see 1509170047).

FTC will host a one-day conference June 15 in Chicago to help companies, especially startups and small- and medium-sized ones, get a leg up on securing their products, services and networks, the commission said in a news release Thursday. It's the FTC's fourth such Start with Security event, with other workshops hosted in Austin, San Francisco and Seattle (see 1602090057). Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen will open the event, which is co-sponsored by the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. No agenda was released.

The European Commission should reject the trans-Atlantic data transfer proposal since it doesn't adequately protect people's fundamental privacy and data protection rights, urged Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue, (TACD), a forum of 78 U.S. and EU consumer organizations, Thursday. In a resolution, the group said "Privacy Shield does not provide the necessary basis for a decision that the U.S. offers effective and meaningful data protection." The lack of an overarching U.S. data protection law means privacy of its own consumers "creates a barrier to any serious consideration on adequacy," said TACD, which counts the Center for Digital Democracy, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse among 26 U.S. members. The proposed Privacy Shield agreed to in February is expected to be legally challenged once the EC approves it (see 1602290003). The national data protection authorities and EU member states will comment on the proposal (see 1602100026) before it can be adopted (see 1604050065). In its resolution, TACD recommended that the EU delay proposal's adoption until the U.S. guarantees data protection that's essentially equivalent to the level in Europe, publish a detailed legal review of Privacy Shield, enforce current rules to stop unlawful information transfers to the U.S, and approve the proposed General Data Protection Regulation without delay (see 1512160001). TACD also urged the U.S. to approve a comprehensive privacy and data protection framework, support strong encryption, end mass surveillance, give rulemaking authority to the FTC to adopt privacy and data marketing and collection safeguards and update the 1974 Privacy Act of 1974. TACD also wants authorities on both sides to hold an annual and open privacy summit to improve the level of data protection.

ICANN engagement with China “does not suggest any level of support for the nation’s government or its policies,” ICANN Chairman Stephen Crocker said in a letter Thursday to GOP presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and two other Republican senators. Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, joined Cruz in increasing the pressure Monday on Crocker and former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé to fully answer the senators' questions about ICANN's relationship with the Chinese government. The senators had earlier raised concerns about Chehadé's involvement with the Chinese government-led World Internet Conference (see 1602040061, 1603030067 and 1604040056). Crocker compared ICANN's involvement in China with that of top U.S. tech companies like Cisco, LinkedIn and Microsoft. “These firms, like ICANN, do not endorse the policies, laws, and regulations of China simply by operating there,” Crocker said in his letter. “As long as the U.S. Government has a policy of engagement with China, U.S. firms operate there without the insinuation that doing so makes them complicit in China’s censorship.” The Chinese government and its citizens “have an understandable desire to participate at ICANN,” Crocker said: “They have done so constructively,” including the China tech community's role in introducing non-Latin Internationalized Domain Names. ICANN's involvement with China “will continue in the same way we engage with other countries,” he said. Chehadé's coming role as co-chairman of a high-level WIC advisory committee “is not coterminous with his position at ICANN” because he won't join the committee until “later this year,” Crocker said. Chehadé left ICANN in March. The ICANN board “is not aware of any conflicts of interest relating to his activities during his tenure that would require additional steps to be taken in order to remain consistent with ICANN’s policies in effect relating to conflicts,” Crocker said.