The FCC Public Safety Bureau seeks comment on communications service outages caused by Hurricane Michael and the FCC’s response, said a public notice Friday. With 36 questions on several areas of focus, comments are due Dec. 17. The PN seeks comment on how service providers, 911 call centers and broadcasters prepared for and responded to the hurricane, and how FCC actions affected matters. The PN specifies areas of Florida that were slower to have their service restored, an issue previously highlighted by Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1810160056). “While the restoration of communications services in most areas affected by Michael proceeded at a normal speed, the recovery was much slower in Bay County and Gulf County,” the PN said. “One week after Michael made landfall, more than one-third of cell sites in those two counties were still out of service.” The PN asks if service providers implemented best practices, and for details about fiber cuts, and the wireless resiliency cooperative framework. The PN seeks comment on how the storm affected public safety answering points, and whether wireless and broadcast emergency alerts were effective. It asks about the agency’s use of the disaster information reporting system during the storm: “What DIRS information proved most useful to first responders? Are there extraneous or unnecessary data points contained in DIRS that detract from its overall usefulness?” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel previously sought hearings on the FCC’s hurricane response, and said in a statement that the PN is a good start, though not enough by itself. “Seeking comment is a correct first step,” Rosenworcel said. “We also need for the FCC to make a commitment to do a timely report. It took a year for this agency to issue a report on the 2017 hurricane season. That’s unacceptable,” she said. “We have to do better.” The FCC didn’t comment on that.

NTCA backs using "any or all of the three generally accepted" geolocation methods cited by Universal Service Administrative Co. for identifying actual locations to be served Connect America Fund Phase II auction winners. "To the extent there are other verifiable, proven methods, such as 911 data created by local or state authorities, NCTA supports allowing" their use, though they "must be derived from a well-established third-party resource, evidentiary based, and auditable," said its reply, posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. Calling initial comments "divided" on how to resolve location discrepancies, NTCA said that regardless of method, all locations "should ultimately be entered" into USAC's high-cost universal broadband portal. Replies were posted through Wednesday. The Wireless ISP Association said "the views of numerous commenters -- on topics including the need for flexibility in participant selection of location data methodologies; correctly defining 'relevant stakeholders;' and extending the timeframe for participants to reply to stakeholder challenges -- echoed" its comments. GeoLinks urged a flexible approach and backed commenters asking the FCC "not to require CAF II recipients to include prospective developments into the definition of 'actual location.'" It agreed with WISPA that recipients should be allowed to do so if they "provide information to show that specific prospective locations are more likely than not to be constructed and inhabited within the six-year buildout."

APCO told the FCC direct access to the network outage reporting system and the disaster information reporting system by 911 emergency communications centers (ECCs) would be “helpful.” It's "more important that ECCs receive timely, actionable information regarding any outage that affects 9-1-1 service, including directly from communications service providers,” APCO filed Tuesday in docket 15-80 on a call with Public Safety Bureau staff. “ECCs should receive outage information in an easily accessible format that provides situational awareness with regard to the timing, nature, and scope of any impacts to 9-1-1.”

NextNav executives urged the FCC to move quickly to adopt a Z-axis metric for accurate vertical location of wireless calls to 911, meeting Public Safety Bureau staff. “The public safety community has repeatedly made clear its desire for and need of accurate vertical location in urban markets, and a sufficient technical record exists for the Commission to immediately adopt a z-axis metric of 3 meters as an alternative to the dispatchable location requirement,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 07-114.

Verizon restored 911 service to landlines in parts of Philadelphia Tuesday after an outage that began Monday, said the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management . “Verizon will remain making repairs to underground wiring, which is believed to have been the cause,” OEM tweeted. The outage affected landline users in some west and northwest neighborhoods, the city tweeted Monday. An underground manhole fire caused the outage, a Verizon spokesperson said Tuesday.

Pending and potential leadership turnover on the House and Senate Commerce committees will be on the minds of many in the telecom sector as they follow results of Tuesday's elections. The top GOP seats on the House and Senate Communications subcommittees will be up for grabs after the election, with outgoing Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., showing interest in the latter. There's potential for turnover in the top Democratic seat on Senate Commerce. The Judiciary committees and House Digital Commerce Subcommittee could also see leadership changes (see 1810310025).

The Office of Management and Budget approved new FCC information collection under an order revising rules to ensure compatibility with enhanced 911 that addressed Richardson, Texas' petition of reconsideration. The order "adopted rules designed to facilitate the rapid implementation of E911 by addressing what constitutes a valid Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) request to trigger wireless carriers’ obligations to provide E911 service to a PSAP," says a rule in docket 94-102 for the Federal Register Friday, the effective date for the information collection requirements.

Oppositions are due Nov. 9, replies Nov. 19 to petitions to reconsider an FCC August order and ruling aimed at removing barriers to pole attachments for broadband deployment (see 1808020034), said a notice in Thursday's Federal Register. The Coalition of Concerned Utilities (here) asked the commission to revisit pole-attachment rate and process changes in the order (see 1810160031). Smart Communities and Special Districts Coalition (here), County Road Association of Michigan (here) and New York City (here) sought reconsideration of a pre-emption ruling, with the latter also targeting part of the order (see 1809110009). A proposed rule for Friday's FR sets comments for Dec. 10, replies Jan. 9 (timetable) on an NPRM proposing to ensure direct-dial 911 calling from centralized phone systems in multiline buildings and campuses under Kari's Law. It seeks comment on ensuring "dispatchable location" information is conveyed with emergency calls, under Ray Baum's Act (see 1809260047).

Maine Supreme Court justices asked if people have an expectation of privacy of real-time cellphone location information, in oral argument Tuesday on how the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Carpenter v. U.S. applies to Maine v. O’Donnell. It’s one of several state court cases that may determine the reach of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 summer decision that government collection of at least seven days of cellsite location information (CSLI) is a Fourth Amendment-protected search, requiring warrants (see 1810170043). “The real question is whether each of us -- most of us who I assume have a cellphone -- have a right to privacy in where we are that can be violated if there is no warrant to ping that phone,” said Chief Justice Leigh Saufley. The state conceded the officer should have obtained a warrant, but a lower court said the evidence was admissible, noted Justice Ellen Gorman. “So what remedy does Mr. O’Donnell or someone in his circumstances have when the state treads on his rights?” The Supreme Court found historical CSLI data to be sensitive and revealing information, and the automatic nature of such data’s exposure made it not subject to the third-party doctrine, which says people who voluntarily give information to phone companies and other third parties lack reasonable expectation of privacy, argued appellant attorney Adam Sherman: O’Donnell didn’t volunteer his cellphone information. A 2016 Maine Supreme Court ruling held real-time tracking of a cellphone is more troublesome to someone’s privacy interest than historical information, he said. Unless there are exigent circumstances, a warrant is required, he said. Maine counsel Paul Rucha disagreed: “Carpenter does not explicitly control this case and it does not address a limited request for records for CSLI of less than seven days. Since Carpenter does not apply, this court must determine whether to expand the Maine Constitution beyond federal protection or determine this case under Maine statutory law.” Rucha argued the U.S. Supreme Court’s concern with historical data had to do with its breadth, whereas real-time information is a request for a person’s information at one point. Rucha warned not to make it harder to find missing children or people who call 911 on a cellphone. Saufley said exigent circumstances would take hold and allow a warrantless search to find a missing kid.

After Disney acquires much of 21st Century Fox, the remaining Fox appoints from AMC Charlie Collier as CEO-entertainment; Dana Walden and Gary Newman, chairmen-CEOs, Fox Television Group, stay in roles until deal's close ... Viacom taps Lars Silberbauer, ex-Lego, as MTV Digital Studios senior vice president ... Disney Television Animation promotes to vice presidents Jay Francis, current series and diversity, and Angi Dyste, production and artist management ... Five9 hires Ryan Kam, ex-Salesforce, as chief marketing officer.