Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, if he wins the Nov. 3 election, is likely to be “very receptive” to coming legislation from House Antitrust Subcommittee members to implement recommendations from their Tuesday report on competition in the digital economy, subpanel Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., said Wednesday. The report called for bills to institute structural separation and line of business restrictions to address alleged abuse of market power by Google, Facebook, Amazon and other major tech companies (see 2010060062).
Recent Viasat and Hughes challenges to SpaceX's latency claims for its nascent Starlink constellation (for example, see 2009210012) are aimed at forestalling its being competition in the upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, we're told. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said it will be difficult for a low earth orbit constellation like SpaceX's to qualify (see 2006090031). An FCC official told us the qualified bidder list for the auction could be released as soon as Thursday. The FCC declined comment.
A possible switch from an elected to governor-appointed New Mexico Public Regulation Commission is dividing current and possibly future members. New Mexicans will vote Nov. 3 on that issue and on who will fill two commissioner seats at least until 2023, when the change would take effect. Nine other states also have utility regulator elections this year, with several candidates talking broadband.
The Supreme Court met arguments from Google and Oracle with skepticism Wednesday in a case that could decide whether programming code is copyrightable (see 2008070054). Oracle sued Google for its use of Java programming code. Google has a right to provide a “certain functionality to make a computer do something” under Section 102(b) of the Copyright Act, argued Google attorney Thomas Goldstein. If there were alternatives, that would be “another matter,” he said, but because there’s only one way, there’s no copyright protection.
COVID-19 pulled the telemedicine industry “forward by a number of years,” Doctor on Demand CEO Hill Ferguson told an Axios webinar Tuesday. “Overall patient demand has pulled in at least two or three years.” The “overall acceptance” of telemedicine by the “broader healthcare ecosystem has probably accelerated five to 10 years,” he said.
Disagreements surfaced in replies in the annual Communications Act Section 706 proceeding on whether broadband is now being deployed in a reasonable and timely manner, with a majority urging the FCC to back away from the conclusion, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, FCC Democrats also said the agency was wrong to draw that positive finding, given current deployment levels (see 2004240042). Replies were posted Tuesday in docket 20-269.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should grant the FTC’s request for en banc review in its antitrust case against Qualcomm (see 2009250068), tech groups, auto manufacturers, consumers and scholars told the court in briefs filed through Tuesday (in Pacer). The agency is appealing a three-judge panel’s decision in favor of Qualcomm (see 2008190043).
An FCC order on allowing AM stations to go all-digital wouldn’t codify a specific technical standard or impose additional interference restrictions on the fledgling service and would require a 30-day waiting period for stations to provide notice, said the draft Tuesday. The order was released with other drafts for the Oct. 27 commissioners’ meeting (see 2010060056).
None of the net neutrality order issues remanded to the FCC by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 1910010013) needs further consideration, concluded the draft order released Tuesday for commissioners' Oct. 27 meeting. Even if supposed harms the 2017 order had on public safety, pole attachment rights for broadband-only providers, and the Lifeline program could be substantiated, they're limited and hugely outweighed by the order's benefits, the agency concludes.
Congress should consider legislation including structural separation and line of business restrictions to address abuse of market power in the digital economy, House Antitrust Subcommittee Democratic staff recommended in a long-awaited report Tuesday. Republicans didn’t sign on but released their own report. Recommendations include prohibition of self-preferencing, portability requirements, mandating that platforms provide due process before taking action against market participants, and amendments to the Clayton, Sherman and FTC acts.