January 2013

FTC Chairman Leibowitz to announce departure

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz will announce plans to leave the agency, sharpening an already spirited succession battle and probably heralding an awkward transition period for an agency on the forefront of consumer protection, said people familiar with his plans.

The departure of Chairman Leibowitz, a Democrat who joined the FTC in 2004 and became its chairman in 2009, has been widely rumored for months. Two other Democrats on the commission, Julie Brill and Edith Ramirez, are among several leading candidates to fill the chairmanship after Chairman Leibowitz steps down in the coming weeks, said people who have been briefed on the plans and spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. The transition to a new chairman — whether from within the commission or from outside — will create at least a temporary partisan split, with two Democrats, two Republicans and one seat empty until President Obama can gain confirmation for a nominee. Such 2-2 splits on the five-member commission are not uncommon during transitions, but they can make it difficult to chart a forceful path for the FTC. Aside from Brill and Ramirez, the list of potential new chairmen includes the FTC’s director of the Bureau of Economics, Howard A. Shelanski, Department of Justice lawyer Leslie C. Overton, University of Colorado Law School Dean Philip J. Weiser and Leibowitz’s former general counsel, Willard K. Tom. Another possible scenario would have Brill or Ramirez rising to the chairmanship, which could happen without a confirmation hearing, and one of the group of outside candidates being appointed as the fifth commissioner. That new commissioner would require Senate approval.

Sen Klobuchar takes over antitrust panel

The Senate Judiciary Committee selected Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to chair its subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. The committee oversees efforts by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to preserve competition and combat monopolization. Chairman Klobuchar succeeds Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), who retired at the end of last term. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) will stay on as the panel's ranking member. “Protecting our consumers while promoting innovation and competition is what keeps this country strong,” Sen Klobuchar said. “During my time in the Senate I have fought tirelessly on behalf of consumers and worked hard to advance innovation to move our economy forward, and that is what I will continue to do as chair of the Antitrust Subcommittee.” Sen Lee said he looks forward to remaining active on the subcommittee to ensure the antitrust laws are faithfully enforced.

The Judiciary Committee also announced that Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) will stay on as chairman of the Privacy, Technology and the Law Subcommittee, with freshman Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) as the top Republican. Sen Franken is expected to push legislation that would require companies to get a customers' consent before collecting or sharing their mobile location data. Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL) will remain as chairman of the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights Subcommittee, and freshman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will serve as the ranking member.

Sen Carper anticipates White House will release cyber order after State of the Union

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) said the White House has signaled that it will likely release the cybersecurity order it's crafted over the last several months in the second half of February, following President Obama's State of the Union address.

After the White House releases the order, Chairman Carper said he plans to hold a joint hearing with the Commerce and Intelligence committees to discuss the measures included in the order with Administration officials, as well as to hear stakeholders' feedback on it. "The administration is going to proffer next month an executive order, we think in the second half of February," said Chairman Carper. "I think the smart thing for us to do would be to receive it, to read it, and I raised this as a possibility with [Commerce Committee] Chairman Sen. Jay Rockefeller [D-W.Va.] today: Maybe the relevant committees do a joint hearing ... and invite the administration to come in, explain the executive order, and invite other folks to come in and react to the executive order," Chairman Carper said.

The Future of Communications is Dynamic and IP-Based

Verizon filed comments at the Federal Communications Commission with recommendations for how the FCC should approach the ongoing transition from the legacy, voice public switched telephone network of the past.

The industry is already moving towards the all-IP, all-broadband future that consumers want, but as always there are some in our world who want to look backwards rather than forwards. To its credit, the FCC recognizes the importance of moving to broadband and IP. Recently, Chairman Genachowski challenged the industry to bring at least one gigabit-speed internet community to each state by 2015. The FCC has also taken important steps to help facilitate the transition by reforming the universal service and inter-carrier compensation systems. The FCC now has the opportunity to consider additional steps that can further the transition, as recommended in the National Broadband Plan. The FCC has already paved the way for this with the creation of the Technology Transitions Task Force, and there are some straightforward steps the Commission can take to help accelerate the transition, as we’ve detailed in our comments. But let’s not kid ourselves – transitions like this can be unsettling.

Chinese Hackers Targeted Wall Street Journal Computers

The Wall Street Journal said its computer systems had been infiltrated by Chinese hackers for the apparent purpose of monitoring the newspaper's China coverage.

The infiltration at the Journal, along with reports of computer network breaches at the New York Times and other news outlets, indicate that Chinese spying on U.S. media has become a widespread phenomenon. Chinese hackers for years have targeted major U.S. media companies with hacking, repeatedly penetrating deep inside some newsgathering systems, according to several people familiar with the response to the cyberattacks. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has been probing these media incidents for more than a year and considers the hacking a national-security case against U.S. interests, people familiar with the matter said.

FCC Adopts Sweeping Changes to Experimental Rules

The Federal Communications Commission made significant changes to its Part 5 Experimental Radio Service (ERS) by creating a more flexible framework to support the rapid pace of technological innovation and to further implement the recommendations of the National Broadband Plan.

These changes add three new types of experimental licenses and revise and streamline existing rules and procedures for experimenting, testing, and marketing radio frequency (RF) devices, while protecting incumbent licensees from interference. The Report and Order (R&O) expands upon and complements the existing ERS structure, in which the FCC issues individual licenses for each experiment. The new licenses will provide innovators greater flexibility in how they conduct research and development by permitting them to modify existing experiments and conduct new experiments within a broad range of frequencies, emissions, and power levels at defined geographic locations under a single license. By eliminating the process of applying and waiting for approval of each individual experiment, these new licenses will reduce the regulatory burden on licensees. This flexibility will promote creativity and accelerate the introduction of new products to the marketplace.

Specifically, these new licenses are:

Program experimental license: This license will allow colleges, research laboratories, health care institutions, and manufacturers that have demonstrated experience in RF technology to conduct ongoing series of research experiments and tests.
Medical testing license: This license will be available to health care facilities with RF expertise to assess newly developed RF based medical devices for patient compatibility, electromagnetic compatibility and to conduct clinical trials at patients’ homes or in other geographic areas that are not within the health care licensee’s control.
Compliance testing license: This license will provide FCC-recognized laboratories the flexibility to undertake RF product compliance testing under the FCC’s equipment authorization procedures.

Wireline Competition Bureau Issues Final Report On Lifeline Program Savings Target

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau reports that the FCC exceeded its $200 million Lifeline program savings target goal, generating over $213 million in savings to the Universal Service Fund in 2012 compared to projected distributions to Eligible Telecommunications Carriers. Additional savings from these reforms will accrue in 2013 and later years.

FCC Appoints New Members to Joint Boards and Joint Conference

The Federal Communications Commission appointed FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai to serve on the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service (Universal Service Joint Board) and the Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations (Separations Joint Board). In addition, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, and fellow Commissioners Robert McDowell, Mignon Clyburn, Rosenworcel, and Pai are members of the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services (Joint Conference) by virtue of their positions on the FCC. Commissioner Rosenworcel shall further serve as the federal chair of the Universal Service Joint Board, the Separations Joint Board, and the Joint Conference.

FCC’s International Bureau Personnel Announcements

Federal Communications Commission International Bureau Chief Mindel De La Torre announced that Robert Nelson will become Chief Engineer for the International Bureau.

Nelson was most recently the Chief of the International Bureau’s Satellite Division. Fern Jarmulnek, Deputy Chief of the Satellite Division, will serve as Acting Chief of the Satellite Division. Nelson will be responsible for leading the Bureau’s work on key technical issues, including, satellite communications and cross-border technical issues. He will also play a significant role in the Bureau’s preparations for major international conferences and meetings. Prior to serving as the Chief of the Satellite Division, Nelson was the Chief of the Satellite Division’s Engineering Branch. Before joining the FCC, Nelson held various engineering positions in the private sector where he was involved in the design, manufacture, and implementation of domestic and international satellite networks. He has participated as a member of several International Telecommunication Union (ITU) working parties, both as an FCC official and as a private sector representative. He holds degrees in engineering and management from the University of New Hampshire and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Time Warner Cable’s modem fee cost it today, but should pay off tomorrow

Remember that $4 per month modem fee time Warner Cable implemented — the one that had Wall Street all excited about its potential boost to revenue? Well, it seems that people were miffed enough about the charge to affect how many subscriptions the nation’s second largest cable company added during the quarter — 75,000, which is less than the 129,000 Wall Street anticipated. But before feeling vindicated, know this — the fee generated about an extra $1.83 per month from each subscriber. And in the long term, analysts think it will pay off for the cable giant. Especially as consumers find themselves stuck between Time Warner Cable’s modem fee and slower DSL-based service offering.

Benton

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