The FCC released a report and order and Further NPRM on outage reporting, approved by the commission Wednesday (see 1605250061). “We seek to ensure that the Commission’s outage reporting system keeps pace with technological change and the impact of evolving consumer preferences,” the FCC said in the document. “These specific amendments stem from our experience with outage reporting over the past twelve years, and will enhance the information we receive on outages relating to legacy communications networks.”

While taking FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn on a tour of Boeing's North Charleston, South Carolina, plant, company officials also talked up co-primary spectrum sharing in the 37.5-40 GHz band between very high data rate satellite communications systems and the proposed upper microwave flexible use (UMFU) service, the company said in an ex parte filing Thursday in docket 14-177. According to Boeing, its executives told Clyburn that designating 37.5-40 GHz solely for UMFU without nationwide spectrum sharing, including in urban areas, with co-primary, receive-only satellite user terminal operations, "would be exceedingly inefficient," since satellite communications in the band can provide universal coverage while UMFU proponents "have acknowledged that UMFU systems may never provide service to consumers outside of dense urban areas." Boeing executives also told Clyburn there's a need for more unlicensed spectrum in the 64-71 GHz band for advanced manufacturing and for use of the 67-71 GHz band for unlicensed in-flight services. Boeing officials on the tour included Audrey Allison, senior director-frequency management services, and General Manager Beverly Wyse of Boeing South Carolina.

AT&T Mobility and Consumer Operations CEO Glenn Lurie was at the FCC to discuss ISP privacy and other issues, said a filing in docket 16-106 and other dockets. The filing doesn’t elaborate on what Lurie said. It said he also discussed high-frequency spectrum, special access and multichannel video programming rules. Lurie met with Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel. “The discussions during each of these meetings were consistent with AT&T’s comments and other filings in these proceedings,” AT&T said.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Wednesday he has seen a Tuesday filing asking the agency to seek comment on zero-rating rules (see 1605240063). “The inquiry continues,” Wheeler said during the news conference after the commissioner meeting. “I’m aware of the recent filing. I think we will continue apace.” Wheeler said what the FCC might do is tied to the appeal of the net neutrality order, still before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. “Hopefully, we are moments away from the court’s decision,” he said.

Chairman Tom Wheeler said the FCC can't set deadlines for executive branch agencies conducting reviews of international deals that need commission approval, as sought by various industry parties (see 1605240048). Asked at a post-meeting news conference Wednesday about the possibility of such deadlines, Wheeler acknowledged complaints that "Team Telecom" reviews take too long, but, according to an FCC transcript, he said "they are something that happens outside of our hands with the national security apparatus." Noting a recent NTIA letter wanting more information upfront from certain FCC applicants, Wheeler said the FCC would work to get information quickly to Team Telecom. "After Team Telecom, we normally act -- bam -- like that. But we'll try, and what can we do here to give Team Telecom the tools so that they can move faster but that's something that happens elsewhere." Pressed on the deadline issue, Wheeler responded, "We're the ones that went to Team Telecom to say, 'Hey guys, can we do more about this?' We can't set deadlines for other agencies." Commissioner Mike O'Rielly disagreed "a little bit" with Wheeler's deference to other agencies: "We're not obligated by statute to give them such latitude. We do have the right to impose deadlines as we see fit. So I'm hopeful we'll have some kind of process to address some of those concerns ... and not just the timelines but the opaqueness" of the reviews. Parties sometimes don't know what's happening on reviews or who they should call to find out, he said.

Facebook didn't find any evidence of alleged bias against conservative political viewpoints in the website's trending news stories feature, but it said it "could not fully exclude the possibility of isolated improper actions or unintentional bias in the implementation of our guidelines and polices," Colin Stretch, the company's general counsel, said in a Monday blog post. A recent Gizmodo story kicked off the controversy against Facebook that also prompted Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., to send a letter to the company inquiring about its practices (see 1605100032). But Thune faced some backlash from media and First Amendment experts, who said that government had no business getting involved (see 1605110048 and 1605190029). Thune, who met with Stretch a week ago, released the 12-page response from Facebook Monday and told reporters on Tuesday that he saw a "good outcome" from his inquiry. “I thought Facebook was very straightforward with their response,” Thune told reporters. “They took it seriously. They’ve adopted some changes in their procedures. Our whole issue was to make sure the way that their description of what they were doing actually matched what they were doing. And I think what this revealed was, there were some issues that they needed to address, and I think they’ve made some modifications. We’re happy with the way it came out. I think it gave greater clarity to consumers and created more transparency for Facebook and I think they made some corrective changes.” Thune didn't foreclose possible further assessment: "We’re open to more information if somebody came forward with it." But he has said that he saw no reason for regulatory action against Facebook (see 1605170068). In his post, Stretch said his company is making several changes to the "Trending Topics" feature, including refresher training for reviewers, more controls and oversight of the review team and clearer terms in its guidelines (see 1605120058).

Telcordia disputed criticism of its proposed master services agreement (MSA) -- to be local number portability administrator -- from the LNP Alliance and New America's Open Technology Institute (OTI) in a letter (see 1605180046). "The letter does not raise any justification for disapproving the MSA," Telcordia said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 09-109. "In its March 2015 Selection Order, the Commission made clear that the purpose of reviewing the MSA was to determine whether it complies with the neutrality and security requirements of the Selection Order. The LNP Alliance fails to raise any substantial concerns with either. Nor could it: on both neutrality and security, the MSA fully complies with the terms of the Selection Order -- and its provisions on neutrality and security are significantly more stringent than the existing MSA between [North American Portability Management] and the incumbent. In short, the MSA negotiated between Telcordia and NAPM is stronger and more protective in all respects -- on neutrality, security, price, and performance -- than the current agreement with Neustar."

The government has an interest in fostering freedom of expression that, separate from market power questions, can and does help guide its regulatory and legal decisions, FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet said at a Media Institute lunch Tuesday. Saying he was giving his personal views and wasn't addressing pending FCC issues, Sallet cited numerous court decisions he said bolstered his point, with one noneconomic argument in the Supreme Court's 1997 Turner vs. FCC (II) decision. The FCC net neutrality NPRM asked questions about the effect a non-open Internet would have on free expression, Sallet said. He also noted how in the last broadcast ownership quadrennial review, the FCC kept some ownership restrictions to help foster media ownership diversity, and that in transaction reviews, the agency tries to promote competition more broadly than -- though informed by -- the antitrust analysis. He said the free flow and exchange of ideas that come with free expression is akin to the free flow of ideas in the scientific method, and it's no coincidence the Age of Enlightenment, the American Revolution and Adam Smith all followed the creation of the scientific method. Sallet took no questions. He more than once referred to the pending U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision on the net neutrality order. In the event of a D.C. Circuit decision Tuesday, he said to laughs, "I had another speech prepared."

Buyers, sellers and intermediaries in the digital advertising supply chain that meet stringent anti-fraud requirements can receive certification seals through a program launched Monday by the Trustworthy Accountability Group. More than 30 digital ad companies -- including comScore, Interpublic, News Corp., Omnicom Group, Publicis, WPP and Yahoo -- agreed to participate, TAG said in a news release. “Participants in the digital ad supply chain can now ask a simple question to tell if their partners have taken the necessary steps to fight ad fraud: ‘Are you TAG Certified Against Fraud?’ As more TAG anti-fraud seals are awarded, the cracks in our industry exploited by bad actors will also be sealed against their criminal endeavors," said TAG CEO Mike Zaneis. Direct buyers (advertisers and authorized ad agents), direct sellers (publishers and authorized publisher agents) and intermediaries (ad networks and indirect buyers and sellers) must go through a registration process, designate a TAG compliance officer and comply with the Media Rating Council’s invalid traffic detection and filtration guidelines to become certified, IAB said. Sellers also must adhere to domain list filtering, data center IP list filtering and publisher sourcing disclosure requirements, while intermediaries must follow the list filtering requirements and TAG's payment ID protocol. TAG was created in late 2014 by the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Association of National Advertisers and Interactive Advertising Bureau to fight ad fraud, malware and Internet piracy, and to promote transparency.

The FCC’s proposed privacy rules put too much emphasis on “opt-in approval,” which is “anachronous and ineffective,” said the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL), a think tank supported by industry, in comments filed at the FCC. “In the age of big data analytics, the IoT, cloud computing and other modern information practices and uses, overreliance on consent and individual control may result in significant impediments to putting personal data to beneficial and productive uses, thereby frustrating or slowing down economic and social advancements without countervailing benefits to privacy or to individuals, as other, more effective mechanisms and tools to protect individuals are available,” CIPL said. The think tank is based at law firm Hunton & Williams and is supported by about 40 companies, according to the filing. Meanwhile, the FCC posted more than 1,000 privacy comments Monday in docket 16-106. “Your so-called Internet privacy rules, which give a free pass to the Obama Administration’s biggest corporate supporter -- Google -- are a sham and an insult to my intelligence,” said one typical comment. “Google does more to stalk me than any company in the history of civilization. Google's Chairman even admits how little he cares about my online privacy.” Roger Reyes wrote that Google’s exemption from the rules is a “blatant example of cronyism.” Google didn't comment.