May 2016

FCC MEETING

FCC TAKES NEXT STEPS IN EXPANDING RURAL BROADBAND ACCESS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Continuing its push to expand access to broadband in rural areas, the Federal Communications Commission took important steps toward investing an additional $2 billion in rural networks over the next decade. The item adopted by the Commission establishes rules of the road for an auction that will harness market forces to expand broadband in targeted rural areas. The item also seeks comment on a number of issues surrounding the auction so that it can deliver support to unserved communities as equitably and efficiently as possible. The item builds on the substantial progress the FCC has made in recent years connecting rural America to broadband. Last year, the nation’s largest carriers – known as “price cap” carriers – accepted $9 billion over six years from Phase II of the Connect America Fund to expand broadband in their rural service areas. And in March, the FCC reformed its broadband support for the nation’s smallest carriers, providing $20 billion over the next decade. The auction seeks to expand service to census blocks unserved by broadband delivering speeds of 10 Mbps downloads/1 Mbps uploads in 20 states where the price cap carriers declined last year’s Connect America Fund offer. Also included in the auction are locations across the country with extremely high deployment costs.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-takes-next-steps-expanding-rural-broadband-access | Federal Communications Commission | Wheeler Statement | Clyburn Statement | Rosenworcel Statement | Pai Statement | O'Rielly Statement | telecompetitor
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

FCC IMPROVES AND PROPOSES UPDATES TO ITS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK OUTRAGE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission took action to improve and update its communications network outage reporting requirements so that the agency can maintain awareness of network disruptions and promote reliable communications for consumers and businesses. In a Report and Order adopted May 25, the Commission made targeted refinements to its current reporting requirements to enhance the information it receives on outages related to legacy networks and reduce burdens on industry. In addition, in an accompanying Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Commission proposed updating its reporting requirements to keep pace with technological change. The Commission noted that communications providers are transitioning from legacy to IP-based networks, and the nation’s 911 services are already increasingly reliant on broadband technology. However the current outage reporting requirements are largely centered on legacy networks and services. The Commission is therefore seeking comment on a proposal to update its reporting requirements to address broadband disruptions. The Commission also proposed updates to its current reporting requirements for interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers to ensure greater usefulness and consistency of information, as well as proposed changes to better reflect wireless outages in rural areas.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-improves-and-proposes-updates-its-communications-network-outage-reporting-requirements | Federal Communications Commission | Wheeler Statement | Clyburn Statement | Rosenworcel Statement | Pai Statement | O'Rielly Statement
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

FCC PROPOSES TO ELIMINATE TWO PUBLIC INSPECTION FILE REQUIREMENTS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission proposed to eliminate two public inspection file rules. These rules currently require: (1) commercial television and radio broadcast stations to retain, and make available to the public, copies of correspondence from viewers and listeners; and (2) cable operators to maintain and allow public inspection of the location of a cable system’s principal headend. The Commission adopted online public file rules for broadcast television licensees in 2012, moving television public files that previously were retained at stations’ local main studios to an online, Commission-hosted database. TV broadcasters completed their transition to the online file in July 2014. Modernizing the filing process made it easier for consumers to access information about their broadcast services without having to travel to the station’s main studio and reduced the cost of broadcaster compliance. Last January, the Commission expanded the move to online filing to cable, radio and satellite operators. The proposal furthers the Commission’s recent progress in modernizing its public inspection file rules. The proposed elimination of these rules will reduce regulatory burdens on commercial broadcasters and cable operators without adversely affecting the general public. Removing these requirements also would enable broadcasters and cable operators to make their entire public inspection file available online and permit them to cease maintaining local public files. While it appears that the general public does not need access to it, principal headend information must be made available to certain entities, including the FCC and local television stations. The proposal asks for comment on how this information should be collected and made available to entities that need it.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-proposes-eliminate-two-public-inspection-file-requirements-reducing-regulatory-burdens | Federal Communications Commission | TVNewsCheck | B&C | The Hill
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

LEGISLATION

GOP BUDGET BILL WOULD KILL NET NEUTRALITY AND FCC'S SET-TOP BOX PLAN
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Republican Reps released a plan to slash the Federal Communications Commission's budget by $69 million and prevent the FCC from enforcing network neutrality rules, "rate regulation," and its plan to boost competition in the set-top box market. The proposal is the latest of many attempts to gut the FCC's authority, though it's unusual in that it takes aim at two of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's signature projects while also cutting the agency's budget. The plan is part of the government's annual appropriations bill. The bill contains $315 million for the FCC—a cut of $69 million below the fiscal year 2016 enacted level and $43 million below the [agency's] request," said an announcement by the House Appropriations Committee Chaired by Rep Hal Rogers (R-KY). "The legislation prohibits the FCC from implementing the net neutrality order until certain court cases are resolved, requires newly proposed regulations to be made publicly available for 21 days before the Commission votes on them, prohibits the FCC from regulating broadband rates, and requires the FCC to refrain from further activity of the recently proposed set-top box rule until a study is completed."
benton.org/headlines/gop-budget-bill-would-kill-net-neutrality-and-fccs-set-top-box-plan | Ars Technica | Public Knowledge
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

OWNERSHIP

MEDIA OWNERSHIP RULING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John McKinnon]
A federal appeals court rebuked the Federal Communications Commission over the agency’s yearslong delay in updating its media-ownership rules. In a sharply worded ruling, the Third US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia threatened to toss out the government’s ownership rules altogether if the FCC doesn’t get its effort on track. The opinion came in a broad legal challenge by broadcasters and others to the FCC’s handling of media-ownership rules. Throwing out the rules would be “the administrative-law equivalent of burning down the house to roast the pig, and we decline to order it,” said the opinion written by Judge Thomas Ambro. “However, we note that this remedy, while extreme, might be justified in the future if the Commission does not act quickly to carry out its legislative mandate.” The three-judge panel’s ruling is likely to accelerate the FCC’s efforts to update its rules, some of which are 40 years old.
benton.org/headlines/court-rebukes-fcc-over-long-delay-updating-us-media-ownership-rules | Wall Street Journal | CommLawCenter
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

INTERNET/BROADBAND

COMCAST LIMITS DATA CAP OVERAGE FEES TO $200 A MONTH
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Starting June 1, Comcast customers who face data caps will not be able to rack up more than $200 worth of overage charges in a month. Comcast will continue to charge an extra $10 for each 50GB allotted to customers beyond the standard data plan. But prior to this change, there was apparently no limit on how many times per month a customer could be charged the extra $10. Comcast is also raising the monthly cap from 300GB to 1TB beginning June 1. To accumulate $200 in overage charges, customers would have to use an additional terabyte. Comcast will also let customers purchase unlimited data for an extra $50 a month starting June 1, up from the current $30 or $35. When Comcast introduced the unlimited data option in 2015, it was only available in some cities and towns. But with the June 1 change, it appears every customer in one of the data cap trial markets will be able to buy unlimited data. Customers who are signed up for unlimited data will pay the extra $50 each month even if they don't go over the cap. According to the letter posted on DSLReports, customers already paying for unlimited data will keep their current pricing until the end of 2016; after that, they will pay $50.
benton.org/headlines/comcast-limits-data-cap-overage-fees-200-month | Ars Technica
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND ENCRYPTION
[SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Sara Sorcher, Joshua Eaton]
The national debate over the growing use of encryption on consumer devices is often framed in stark terms: Silicon Valley versus Washington in a bicoastal battle over privacy. But inside the Obama Administration, a vigorous debate over the merits of widespread encryption is playing out, with many key government figures quietly advocating against any government policy decision or legislation that would force tech companies to weaken privacy-enhancing products to allow greater government access to communications. “This sort of government versus tech narrative is a mischaracterization,” says a senior administration official, who would only speak under condition of anonymity. “This issue has engendered robust debate in our discussions within the administration.” The diverse views within the administration – and lack of consensus – appear to have contributed to a delay in an expected formal announcement of administration policy.
benton.org/headlines/what-us-government-really-thinks-about-encryption | Christian Science Monitor
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

STATE DEPT IG REPORT SHARPLY CRITICIZES CLINTON'S E-MAIL PRACTICES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Rosalind Helderman, Tom Hamburger]
The State Department’s independent watchdog has issued a highly critical analysis of Hillary Clinton’s e-mail practices while running the department, concluding that she failed to seek legal approval for her use of a private e-mail server and that department staff would not have given its blessing because of the “security risks in doing so.” The inspector general found that Clinton’s use of private e-mail for public business was “not an appropriate method” of preserving documents and that her practices failed to comply with department policies meant to ensure that federal record laws are followed. The report says Clinton, who is the Democratic presidential front-runner, should have printed and saved her e-mails during her four years in office or surrendered her work-related correspondence immediately upon stepping down in February 2013. Instead, Clinton provided those records in December 2014, nearly two years after leaving office. The report found that a top Clinton aide was warned in 2010 that the system may not properly preserve records but dismissed those worries, indicating that the system passed legal muster. But the inspector general said it could not show evidence of a review by legal counsel.
benton.org/headlines/state-dept-inspector-general-report-sharply-criticizes-clintons-e-mail-practices | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

STORIES FROM ABROAD

EU DATA TRANSFERS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Duncan Robinson]
Irish authorities have warned that a crucial data transfer arrangement relied on by Facebook, Google and Amazon potentially falls foul of European Union rules on privacy — threatening an “Armageddon of global data flows”, according to one lawyer. So-called “model contract clauses” are now used by thousands of multinational companies to allow them to transfer personal data — whether payslips or pictures — outside the EU, without breaching the bloc’s strict data protection rules. Many of the world’s biggest businesses turned to them in 2015, after the EU’s top court ruled against a similar transatlantic data transfer deal called “Safe Harbour”. For US technology groups in particular, transferring data across the Atlantic is a quicker and cheaper option than building a wholly independent operation within the EU. However, the model contract clauses they have adopted to make their transfers possible now potentially face a similar fate to Safe Harbour. Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner has said it is passing on its concerns about them to the Irish courts — with a recommendation that the case is settled at the European Court of Justice. Irish regulators suggest that the clauses — in effect, boilerplate legal text approved by the European Commission — do not offer EU citizens suitable redress if they feel their rights have been impinged.
benton.org/headlines/facebook-data-transfers-threatened-eu-ruling | Financial Times | Wall Street Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

Benton

Search

Benton

Daily Digest

Analysis

May 2016

NTCA: Average Rural Telecom Provider Paperwork Consumes 587 Hours Yearly

Federal CIO on IT Upgrade Fund: ‘The Bigger Risk Is Not Doing Anything’

Newspaper Association of America takes ad blocking fight to Federal Trade Commission

San Jose to Vote on Google Fiber Ultrahigh-Speed Internet Service

Canton, Ohio, Passes Resolution to Explore Broadband Utility

T-Mobile pockets Chicago 700 MHz license from AT&T Leap subsidiary

Google Steps Up Pressure on Partners Tardy in Updating Android

May 26, 2016 (Media Ownership and More)

Court Rebukes FCC Over Long Delay in Updating US Media-Ownership Rules

DC Weighs In on FCC JSA Smackdown