The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee moved forward Thursday on work left over from its July meeting (see 1807270020), approving more parts of its model code for states. BDAC will meet again Friday, getting the first update from its Disaster Response and Recovery Working Group. Parts of the code OK'd on divided votes remain controversial. BDAC went further than the FCC did in a September infrastructure order in clarifying that absent local action a facility is “deemed approved.”
The FCC without fanfare included its latest Measuring Broadband America reports in draft appendices to a draft communications market report -- mandated by Ray Baum's Act -- slated for a vote at commissioners' meeting Wednesday. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel criticized the "slow" release of MBA reports that she and others said were "buried" in a long document. They generally show the median consumer broadband speeds of ISPs participating in tests continue to rise, with cable companies at the top, followed by telco fiber and satellite, and telco DSL at the bottom.
Challenging DOJ on multiple fronts, the three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel hearing oral argument Thursday on the antitrust challenge to AT&T buying Time Warner showed skepticism. "You have to put in some evidence beyond just an economic theory," Judge Judith Rogers said. A former DOJ antitrust trial lawyer told us that since the decision likely will affirm U.S. District Judge Richard Leon's June decision allowing the merger (see 1806120060), it could come within a month or two.
Commissioners voted to approve Assistant Counsel-General Ethics Jane Hinckley Halprin as the FCC administrative law judge, replacing Judge Richard Sippel, who retired Dec. 1. Thursday's announcement followed mounting speculation on Sippel's fate as a major deal saw no ALJ action. The speed of the appointment suggests the agency is expecting Halprin to act soon on the stalled Sinclair/Tribune proceeding, broadcast attorneys told us. “I'm sure she has a bunch of things to act on,” said one, Jack Goodman. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly this week said Sippel didn't appear to have taken any action on Sinclair/Tribune (see 1812040034).
As more nations and commercial operators enter space, hazy international space norms and rules will start to crystalize, said State Department international space lawyer Gabriel Swiney at an International Institute of Space Law symposium Wednesday. The Outer Space Treaty's Article IX "due regard" provision -- requiring a party to consider the impact of its actions and refrain from behavior that doesn’t give due regard to interests of others -- could become the enforcement teeth for those norms, he said.
An FCC declaratory order to clarify wireless messaging as a Title I information service, rather than a more regulated telecom service, appears headed to a 3-1 vote Wednesday, with a dissent expected by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, industry officials said. Twilio sought Communications Act Title II classification for texting in 2015, after the FCC classified broadband as a Title II service (see 1510130040).
The administration will soon publish public comments on the update to the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan expected in early spring, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Assistant Director-Artificial Intelligence Lynne Parker said Tuesday. The administration is pleased overall with the strategic plan inherited from the previous administration, Parker told an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation event. The overwhelming majority of comments are positive, she said: “We don’t need to overhaul the original plan.” The federal government can’t ignore significant AI investment from industry and R&D gaps, she said.
Talks with the telecom industry could resolve a McAllen, Texas, lawsuit challenging the state’s small-cells law, local officials told us this week. Texas is defending the 2017 law pre-empting local governments in the right of way (ROW) from a state court challenge by McAllen and a federal court challenge by Austin (see 1710040044). A Michigan bill awaiting gubernatorial clearance could be the next state small-cells law to be challenged in court by localities, said Kitch local government attorney Mike Watza.
FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly wants to act on liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, possibly in a reassigned phone number draft order targeted for the Dec. 12 commissioners' meeting. He backed a draft order to classify SMS and other wireless messaging as Communications Act Title I information services, generally supported a draft order to increase rural telco USF funding and suggested he might soon push for changes to the agency’s administrative law judge process. He spoke to reporters after a Phoenix Center event Tuesday at which he discussed his municipal broadband speech concerns, kidvid efforts and broader process proposals. Also there, supporters of the FCC Title I reversal of Title II net neutrality regulation voiced confidence it will be upheld in court.
Defining "deferred transmission" is the key stumbling block in talks on a World Intellectual Property Organization treaty updating broadcaster protections against signal piracy, said Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights Chair Daren Tang during the Nov. 26-30 meeting. SCCR delegations need a "very, very firm discussion at the next round" of negotiations on deferred transmissions, said Tang, CEO of the Singapore Intellectual Property Office. He floated a revised consolidated document that for the first time gathers all proposals in one text. Stakeholders have some optimism but said more work remains.