FCC Chairman Ajit Pai hasn't ruled out extending his term into the next administration. He answered us during an Internet Innovation Alliance chat Thursday. Asked if he would stick around if President Donald Trump is reelected, or if former Vice President Joe Biden wins and asks Pai to remain, the chairman said he hasn't been able to think about what comes next, given the work the agency has before it now. Commissioners Brendan Carr and Mike O'Rielly are likely candidates to become next Republican chair if Trump is re-elected (see 2006230059). When IIA Founding Chairman Bruce Mehlman asked whether Pai might someday run for president himself, Pai couldn't rule that out, either, but said he's not sure what he would bring to the table "besides bad jokes and the occasional good tweet." Asked if he supports updates to the USF contribution mechanism, Pai said he didn't want to get in front of Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's work (see 1910250059). But Pai said because many consumers are struggling with their finances during the pandemic, "the last thing they would want to pay is a broadband tax." Pai said the agency released list of eligible bidding areas for the upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auctions Thursday. It follows the agency's evaluation of challenges to a draft list, he said. It should give potential bidders more certainty before applications are due.

Congress doesn’t have to wait to apply different protective thresholds to sensitive information in light of the Supreme Court’s Carpenter decision (see 2005130056), said Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Chairman Adam Klein Wednesday during a PCLOB virtual forum. Carpenter said the government’s collection of at least seven days of cellsite location information is a Fourth Amendment-protected search, meaning police must obtain warrants. Klein agreed with Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program. Goitein said Carpenter indicates Congress can apply that standard to other information collected under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. For instance, authorities can collect web browsing data without warrant using Section 215. Goitein said that’s one area Congress could legislate. The Senate recently rejected such a proposal (see 2005130056). PCLOB members Edward Felten, Jane Nitze, Travis LeBlanc and Aditya Bamzai asked how the board can better fulfill its mission and what authorities it should be scrutinizing. It could explore Section 215 to determine what intelligence value it's yielding, said University of Texas School of Law Associate Dean-Academic Affairs Robert Chesney. Goitein agreed Section 215 needs attention but disagreed the PCLOB should weigh intelligence value. The board’s focus is privacy and civil liberties so that should be the focus of any Section 215 review, she added. Nitze asked if the existence of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court lessens the incentive for congressional oversight of intelligence agencies. Goitein agreed but said removing the FISA court isn’t the answer. Bamzai asked what existing proposals the board should analyze. Georgetown University Law Center visiting professor Mary McCord agreed with the recently Senate-passed proposal requiring FISA court judges to appoint an amicus curiae in certain cases. The House requested conference on FISA reauthorization (see 2005280023). Davis Polk's Kenneth Wainstein warned against allowing amici to be too involved in court proceedings, saying it could impact national security. He recommended Congress pass the reauthorization and then consider a separate FISA revamp package based on DOJ inspector general findings detailing abuse (see 2003310068).

A statement by Catherine Creese, director-Naval Seafloor Cable Protection Office, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, on the potential for interference to submarine cable systems from wind energy deployment was misattributed (see 2006220043).

Arguments to stay the FCC's C-band order fall short of "the stringent requirements for a stay pending appeal," said U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Judges Thomas Griffith, Robert Wilkins and Gregory Katsas in a Tuesday order (in Pacer, docket 20-1142). They denied the stay sought by small satellite operators ABS Global, Empresa and Hispasat (see 2006150053). Outside counsel for the companies didn't comment. The ruling "is great news for American consumers and U.S. leadership in 5G," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said. "I am very pleased that the D.C. Circuit rejected this attempt by small satellite operators with no U.S. operations in the C-band to delay our efforts to repurpose critical mid-band spectrum. The FCC will continue to defend our order on the merits, and I look forward to our C-band auction beginning on December 8.”

The iPhone as a car fob, facial recognition in HomeKit webcams and an immersive sound experience on AirPods Pro were among the highlights of Apple’s virtual Worldwide Developers Conference keynote Monday launching iOS 14. Speaking from an empty Apple Park in Cupertino, California, CEO Tim Cook opened the event addressing racism, inequality and injustice. Apple announced its transition from Intel processors to its own chips for the Mac, for a common architecture across all Apple products, Cook said. The next major release of the macOS is Big Sur, which includes technologies that will “ensure a smooth and seamless transition to Apple silicon,” he said. The first Big Sur silicon will be available by year-end in what the executive called a two-year transition. Intel-based devices will be available “for years to come” and are “still in the pipeline,” he said. Apple engineers have been building and refining the company’s own SoCs as part of a scalable architecture custom-designed for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, the company noted. IOS 14 added home screen features and widgets designed to make it easier for users to get to apps more quickly. Scaled-down versions of apps, called App Clips, load a small part of an app experience within seconds using near field communication. Apple partnered with Amazon, Google and other companies to define an interoperability standard for the smart home. Any accessory using HomeKit or the new standard will work across all Apple devices, said Yah Yah Cason, software engineer. Cook didn’t mention Sonos. A report suggested Apple might buy the wireless multiroom audio company. Sonos shares closed 18% higher at $14.07. The company didn't comment.

A Team Telecom rejection of an international submarine cable system landing location comes late in the planning process and would send an applicant back to "square one," SubCom Managing Director-Sales David Robles told an FCBA CLE Monday. Finding a new landing location would require complex planning and negotiations, including re-engineering a submarine network and adjusting the needed length of fiber cable, he said to our Q&A: "It has huge implications for the cable system." The FCC opened a comment cycle Monday on Team Telecom recommendations on a submarine cable landing location application (see 2006220029). Scott Shefferman,Verizon senior managing associate general counsel-international legal, called such uncertainty a top challenge, along with overall uncertainty in changing executive branch review regulations (see 2006170055) and recent changes in FCC submarine cable outage requirements (see 1912270049). Katie Bristow Myers, senior attorney for Microsoft's Azure Networking, said national security changes at Team Telecom, plus broader cybersecurity threats, are among her top worries. She's concerned how quickly the company, a so-called hyperscaler, can replace the capacity it lit up with COVID-19. "We ate about two years of capacity in two months," she said, and that requires new plant construction, though she's pleased to see how stable networks in the U.S. have remained. Recently, traditional competitors banded together to build international submarine cable systems, she said. Ulises Pin of Morgan Lewis said the economic downturn could slow availability of securities financing long-term projects. Verizon's Shefferman said governance and maintenance agreements must last 25 to 30 years and should be written to survive any party's bankruptcy. Kent Bressie of Harris Wiltshire said the submarine cable industry must continue to educate governments, and protecting submarine cables requires support from fishermen. As climate change affects how and where fishing vessels operate, cables on the ocean floor face new risks, he said. Wind energy deployment can interfere with submarine cable systems without proper interindustry coordination, said Catherine Creese, director-Naval Seafloor Cable Protection Office, Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

Requests for confidentiality in response to FCC letters of inquiry "must cover only material warranting confidential treatment under the commission's rules," said an Enforcement Bureau public notice in Friday's Daily Digest. EB doesn't consider casual requests asking that an entire response be kept confidential or those that don't provide a substantive explanation for why particular portions should be treated confidentially. The bureau won't "grant a request that public information be withheld from public inspection," the PN said. It said staff has received too many casual or blanket confidentiality requests in recent years.

The FCC still hasn't explained how small satellite operators losing 60% of their C-band spectrum and getting new restrictions on the rest "is a mere 'modification,'" SSOs ABS Global, Empresa and Hispasat said Friday in a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reply (in Pacer, docket 20-1146) supporting their motion for a stay of the commission's C-band order (see 2005180036). They said the accelerated clearing payments already caused "significant competitive harm" with markets responding to the nearly $10 billion in payments the incumbent operators are to receive. The FCC didn't comment.

Stakeholders sought clear FCC guidance to Team Telecom, in comments posted through Friday in docket 16-155. In April, the FCC ordered a docket refresh on an 2016 NPRM (see 2004270017), after President Donald Trump issued an executive order formalizing the review process and setting up an executive branch committee (see 2004060071). The FCC should work with that committee to develop standardized questions along industry-specific lines "to promote transparency, certainty and prompt review of applications involving foreign ownership," NAB said. "Standard questions will reduce transaction costs to applicants and speed review at a time when access to capital is critical." T-Mobile warned if the FCC doesn't impose more certainty, problems associated with former interagency reviews "could continue forward with the new committee, potentially discouraging U.S. companies from accessing foreign capital or putting those that do at a competitive disadvantage," it said. "Make clear that only applications involving new or materially changed foreign ownership will be referred to this new Committee for review. The Commission should also establish mechanisms and deadlines around the commencement of the shot clock and broader review process to safeguard against extensive delay." International providers including GlobeNet Cabos Submarinos America and Hawaiki Submarine Cable USA asked for "predictable timeframes for Committee review of all Commission applications, particularly submarine cable landing license applications," and to "establish standard questions for the Committee’s initial review, and accelerate the process for entities in U.S. ally countries." The committee's first recommendation to FCC involved undersea cables (see 2006170055). Uncertainty and lack of transparency in the Team Telecom review process likely "delayed and deterred domestic and foreign investment in cables landing in the United States, and in the long run could contribute to decisions to land international submarine cables" in Canada or Mexico, Incompas said. Clarity and certainty has long been lacking in transaction reviews, CTA said. "Their assurance has become even more urgent in the current environment, in which the range and degree of national security threats have increased dramatically, potentially resulting in a greater number of transactions and applications requiring review."

USF could go further if the FCC eliminates the "mandatory, anachronistic ETC designation," Commissioner Mike O'Rielly blogged Thursday, referring to eligible telecom carriers. His priority is "ensuring that the Commission brings broadband access to as many unserved Americans as quickly as possible, and that means eliminating regulatory asymmetries, technology bias, and inefficiencies," he said. Competition in USF broadband programs could help cut costs, he said. Some providers aren't ETCs and don't seek the label (see 2005290048). ETC status hasn't proven to be a guarantee of providers’ ability to meet service milestones, O'Rielly said.