Comments are due Aug. 19, replies Sept. 3, on a Further NPRM on the voluntary cyber-trust mark program FCC commissioners approved in March (see 2403180046), a notice for Thursday’s Federal Register said. Topics raised in the FNPRM include the format of cybersecurity label administrator (CLA) and lead administrator applications, filing fees for CLA applications, the criteria for selecting CLAs and the lead administrator and CLA sharing of lead administrator expenses. Comments should be filed in docket 23-239.
Comments are due Aug. 30 on the FCC’s tentative findings for its biennial report to Congress required by the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, a public notice (docket 10-213) listed in Wednesday’s Daily Digest said. The agency tentatively found that “accessibility of telecommunications and advanced communications services and equipment continues to improve; however, some accessibility gaps remain.” In addition, the agency found companies must improve how they provide information for those with disabilities about using their products, though a wide variety of customizable accessibility apps are increasingly available. Moreover, entities "have continued to include people with disabilities in product and service design and development,” it said. The FCC also said that "accessibility barriers persist with respect to new communications technologies, although the Commission and other groups are actively working towards addressing those barriers.” The barriers include an “inconsistent landscape of accessibility functionality” among videoconferencing platforms and voice-activated user interfaces that don’t recognize commands from those with speech disabilities, the PN said. The agency must submit final findings to Congress by Oct. 8.
The FCC should shift to a fair-notice enforcement policy or risk having the courts reverse enforcement actions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s SEC v. Jarkesy (see 2406270063) and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (see 2406280043) decisions, former FCC General Counsel and Harris Wiltshire partner Chris Wright wrote in a post on the firm's website Wednesday. Recent FCC enforcement actions –such as an April forfeiture order against major wireless carriers over personal data (see 2404290044) -- have evaded statutory limits on fines by treating single incidents as multiple acts of rule-breaking and penalized companies for actions that weren’t explicitly prohibited under the agency’s rules, Wright wrote. “Now that Chevron has been overruled," Wright anticipates "courts will review interpretations such as that without deference.” As such, “Courts will determine what the best reading of the statute is, and the Commission’s creative interpretations of the statute to generate higher penalty amounts will flunk that test.” To avoid that, FCC should propose forfeitures only when a company has violated a clear FCC rule and limit forfeiture amounts to conform to statutory requirements, Wright argued. This would also ensure the agency “has a sound basis for any forfeiture orders that it ultimately has to defend before a jury,” as it might be required to do in the wake of the Jarkesy decision. Wright was FCC general counsel in 1999 when the Enforcement Bureau was created, and is “disappointed that the Commission’s enforcement efforts have gone so far off-track.” The FCC “should correct itself sooner rather than later to avoid protracted legal challenges and judicially crafted remedies."
Communications Litigation Today is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
ISPs should ensure customers have up-to-date equipment and can receive faster speeds as they upgrade their networks, Ookla Vice President-Government Affairs Bryan Darr said during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Wednesday. Darr also emphasized the need to invest in the final yards of last-mile infrastructure, noting that it's "going to impact if [a consumer] bought a good level of service" regardless of a provider’s advertised speeds.
Stop Project 2025 Task Force founder Rep. Jared Huffman of California and 15 additional House Democrats asked FCC Inspector General Fara Damelin and other federal watchdogs Wednesday to investigate “potential ethics violations” by Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr related to his writing the telecom chapter of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 manifesto. Carr, seen as the front-runner to lead the FCC if former President Donald Trump wins a second term (see 2407120002), urged in the Project 2025 chapter to roll back Communications Decency Act Section 230 protections for tech companies, deregulate broadband infrastructure and restrict Chinese companies. Trump has disavowed Project 2025 and its proposals.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which overruled the Chevron doctrine (see 2406280043), and in SEC v. Jarkesy (see 2406270063) were “a good thing,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Wednesday during a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council webinar. Other former FCC officials disagreed sharply with the rulings that appear to expand judges' power while reining in regulatory agencies like the FCC.
It seems likely FCC commissioners will approve 3-2 a draft order and Further NPRM allowing schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services. FCC Republicans are expected to issue dissents. Some advocates hope the item will be tweaked to address fixed wireless access and partnerships with nontraditional providers (see 2406270068). Commissioners will vote at their open meeting Thursday.
The FCC on Tuesday released a draft NPRM that considers consumer protections against AI-generated robocalls and two other items scheduled for a vote at the commissioners' Aug. 7 open meeting (see 2407160064). In addition, it released drafts of an order creating an emergency alert system code for missing and endangered persons and an NPRM on procedural updates to the robocall database.
Both EchoStar and SpaceX are pointing to the record on SpaceX's reconsideration petition concerning the out-of-band power flux density limit in March's supplemental coverage from space order as backing their opposing positions. There is ample opposition to the recon petition in the record, EchoStar said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-65. SpaceX's lone supporter, T-Mobile, is partnering with it on SCS service and the carrier misunderstands how notice-and-comment rulemaking works, EchoStar said. The FCC wasn't obliged to put on notice in the SCS NPRM that it might adopt an aggregate out-of-band emissions limit, it added. SpaceX said the technical evidence in the record shows the need to reconsider the aggregate power limits. Band-specific limits "would respect fundamental physics," and there's no technical evidence supporting the arguments of backers of the aggregate limit, it said.