Adam Candeub will become acting NTIA administrator, the agency announced internally Monday. Candeub joined the agency as deputy assistant secretary of commerce in April (see 2005010060). Leadership has been fluid since David Redl left in May 2019. Doug Kinkoph had most recently been acting head and now returns to run the Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications. Having someone take charge at NTIA is “sorely needed,” said R Street Institute Resident Fellow-Technology and Innovation Jeffrey Westling. He noted Candeub’s strong background with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, though the agency hasn’t dealt extensively with the tech liability shield. Candeub previously sought a Section 230 update, suggesting Big Tech should follow the same rules as other regulated industries. NTIA’s role in President Donald Trump’s social media executive order is largely complete (see 2007280053), as it filed its petition for rulemaking with the FCC, Westling said. Candeub is on a leave of absence from Michigan State University, where he's a professor of law and director of the Intellectual Property, Information and Communications Law Program.

Comments are due Aug. 31, replies Sept. 14 on a Further NPRM approved by FCC commissioners 5-0 in July (see 2007160051) on implementing the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, says Monday's Federal Register.

Officials from DOD, the Transportation and Commerce departments and Office of the Director of National Intelligence met with FCC Wireless Bureau Associate Chief Charles Mathias and other commission staff “for a technical discussion of classified materials” about Ligado’s L-band plan, said NTIA Chief Counsel Kathy Smith in a filing posted Friday in docket 11-109. The FCC is considering petitions for reconsideration of its approval of the Ligado proposal and NTIA's request for a stay of the commission’s order (see 2005220055). Ligado opponents are continuing to lobby the FCC on the matter (see 2008060024). Other FCC participants in the Tuesday meeting included Office of Engineering and Technology Policy and Rules Division Chief Michael Ha, International Bureau Chief Engineer Robert Nelson, OET Senior Engineer Robert Pavlik and Deputy Associate General Counsel William Richardson. DOD officials included Deputy Chief Information Officer-Command Control and Communications Frederick Moorefield and Office of the Chief Information Officer Deputy Director-Spectrum Policy and Program Kenneth Turner. NTIA Office of Spectrum Management Associate Administrator Charles Cooper and OSM Spectrum Engineering and Analysis Division Chief Edward Crocella were among Commerce attendees. DOT participants included Director-Positioning, Navigation and Timing and Spectrum Management Karen Van Dyke. From ODNI: Strategic Capabilities Team Chief James Diffell.

FCC rules for the C-band auction had no substantial changes from the draft public notice, based on our side-by-side comparison. Commissioners approved the notice Thursday, with partial dissents by Democrats (see 2008060069). It was posted Friday. The auction starts Dec. 8. Officials also say it had remained unchanged.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed Friday a lower court’s dismissal of Lukas LaFuria lawyer Russell Lukas’ lawsuit against the FCC over a Freedom of Information Act request (see 2004030027). Lukas sued in 2019 after a FOIA request netted most of a Windstream filing with Universal Service Administrative Co., not a redacted exhibit. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled (in Pacer) in March in favor of FCC motions to dismiss. “The district court granted the FCC summary judgment on this claim, concluding that Lukas failed to overcome the presumption of good faith that attached to the FCC’s declaration concerning its invocation of” FOIA Exemption 4, the D.C. Circuit said in a summary ruling the FCC posted. “Lukas does not challenge this conclusion. He instead contends that the district court was required first to answer questions he posed: whether USAC is an agency for FOIA purposes and whether the records he sought were agency records. If they are, that leaves us with the district court’s unchallenged conclusion that Lukas failed to overcome the presumption of good faith. And if they are not, Lukas has pleaded himself out of court -- he would then not be entitled to seek these documents at all under FOIA.” The FCC and Lukas didn’t comment.

A lower court "got it just right" in its interpretation of federal statute allowing the federal judiciary to charge reasonable Pacer fees, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit panel ordered Thursday, rejecting interlocutory cross-appeals by plaintiff-appellants National Veterans Legal Services Program, National Consumer Law Center and Alliance for Justice and by DOJ. The ruling (docket 19-1081) by Judges Todd Hughes, Alan Lourie and Raymond Clevenger, penned by Hughes, rejected the government's argument for vacating the lower court's summary judgment order because of a lack of jurisdiction under the Little Tucker Act. And it rejected both sides' read of statutory limits on Pacer fees and concurred with the lower court interpretation that the Pacer fees are limited to the amount needed to cover expenses incurred in services providing public access to federal court electronic docketing information. It remanded the case to U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Counsel for the plaintiff-appellants didn't comment. Oral argument was in February (see 2002030021).

Oral argument in the consolidated challenges to the FCC's C-band order (see 2005050047) will be Oct. 28 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, according to a clerk's order Thursday (docket 20-1142, in Pacer).

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks sent letters to AT&T and Verizon asking how they collect and make money off sensitive consumer data “generated for advertising placement purposes,” said a Wednesday news release. Starks asked about the two companies’ “participation in real-time bidding exchanges for mobile advertising, including through the advertising technology companies they have acquired in recent years,” the release said: “The letters also request details on each provider’s policies and procedures to prohibit or minimize tracking of Americans to protests, including the Black Lives Matter protests, and other sensitive locations, including places of worship and medical providers.” AT&T is "reviewing the letter and will respond appropriately," a spokesperson emailed. Verizon didn’t comment.

The FCC’s citizens broadband radio service auction (see 2008030064) hit $1.8 billion Wednesday after 25 rounds. That translates to 9 cents MHz/POP nationwide.

The FCC unanimously approved orders eliminating dated rules for telephone relay services and broadcast antenna siting, before Thursday's commission meeting, said orders and a deletion notice Wednesday. Early approval for the items -- considered noncontroversial -- was expected (see 2008040063). The TRS order eliminates requirements on separate long-distance plans -- no longer commonly used by the phone industry -- and ends a requirement that state TRS certifications be published in the Federal Register. The broadcast antenna siting order eliminated decades-old, little-used rules requiring stations share unique antenna locations.