February 2017

FCC Enforcement Reform

I am instituting an important process reform measure to enable Commissioners to become more fully involved in the agency’s enforcement activities.
One of the ways in which the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau resolves an investigation is by entering into a consent decree, in which the party being investigated agrees to comply with certain terms in exchange for the government closing its inquiry. But over the past few years, in cases in which the full Commission has previously voted to propose and/or impose a forfeiture, such consent decrees have generally not been presented to the Commissioners for a vote. Instead, they have simply been signed by the Chief of the Enforcement Bureau at the direction of the Chairman’s Office. Indeed, many times, Commissioners were barely given any notice of such consent decrees before they were publicly released by the Bureau.
That process ends now. If Commissioners vote to propose and/or impose a forfeiture, the Enforcement Bureau should not settle that matter without their approval. Therefore, I have instructed the Enforcement Bureau that starting today, any consent decree settling a Notice of Apparent Liability or Forfeiture Order issued by the full Commission must now be approved by a vote of the full Commission. This will help promote Commissioners’ involvement in and accountability for important enforcement decisions.
We are putting this reform into practice immediately. This afternoon, the Enforcement Bureau circulated a consent decree for the Commission’s consideration that would conclude an important investigation previously approved by the full Commission. I look forward to working closely with my colleagues on that matter and other consumer protection efforts in the months to come.

FCC Reform: Let's Start with the Enforcement Bureau

Federal Communications Commission reform is a topic of much discussion these days. Indeed, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has already initiated some important process reforms and we anticipate that more are coming. Clearer and more transparent processes will lead to better regulatory results. We have also been contemplating reform and will, from time to time, be posting our ideas for regulatory and structural reform at the FCC.

We start with some ideas for reforming process at the Enforcement Bureau – a Bureau that operated for many years with professionalism but whose recent practices have been marked increasingly by bad process, novel and tenuous theories of liability, and Notices of Apparent Liability (NALs) that languish after adoption. There are a number of areas where we believe the enforcement process can and should be significantly improved.

FCC Tweaks E-Rate Program

In this Order, the Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau grants two limited waivers of the requirement to comply with certain category of service classification standards established in the funding year 2017 E-rate Eligible Services List.

First, we waive the obligation to apply the FY 2017 ESL classification standards to connections provided under pre-existing multi-year contracts if doing so would change the eligibility of the connections from Category Two to Category One. Second, for funding year 2017 applications, we waive the requirement to classify connections between different schools and libraries sharing a single building as Category One services. Pursuant to this waiver, applicants may elect to seek Category Two funding for customer-owned or -controlled inside wiring that connects different schools and libraries within the same building

Needed: A Universal FCC Deadline Policy

For Federal Communications Commission rules and procedures to be truly effective, everyone needs to know with a certain level of confidence what will happen if applicable deadlines are missed. Not only does this not exist today, but the Commission’s inconsistency with how it responds to late filings borders on arbitrary and capricious. To rectify, I suggest it is time to establish a universally-applied policy that, from now on, everyone is expected to either comply with all applicable deadlines or face the consequences.

Let’s remove the ambiguity and wide disparity of approaches once and for all. As it stands now, the FCC is unintentionally favoring some parties over others through its disparate treatment of its deadlines. Moreover, combining a short amnesty window to rectify current instances where licensees may not be in compliance with the implementation of firm deadlines, going forward, would help restore administrative certainty, transparency, parity, and confidence in our enforcement process.

FCC Chairman Pai’s Alternative Personalities, Facts, Economics and Law—Part One

[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai has launched a charm offensive showcasing his commitment to transparency and regulatory restraint. However, behind the scenes, he ignores due process, the rule of law, FCC tradition, bipartisanship and fair play to shut down previous FCC initiatives of which he disapproves.

How FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Became a Rising Republican Star

Here are five things to know about new Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai.
1. He was an Obama appointee
2. He’s a longtime opponent of net neutrality
3. He isn’t afraid to explicitly criticize his predecessor, Tom Wheeler
4. He’s a former Verizon lawyer
5. He’s from Kansas

Gigabit Libraries Network: "Beyond the Walls" Awards

Tens of millions of people in the US rely solely or in part on public libraries to access Internet. Libraries are crucial in connecting communities. With TV WhiteSpace technology people can connect beyond library walls. The “Beyond The Walls” Awards will provide five $15,000 grants to libraries for the most innovative proposals to use TV WhiteSpace (TVWS) technologies to enable new library hotspots in the service of their communities.

TVWS uses the unused spectrum in the TV bands. It can deliver broadband to a hotspot miles away, even passing through trees, buildings or other obstructions. Installing TVWS hotspots can improve your community’s resilience by adding another communication capability for disaster preparedness. The first round of applications will be considered on a rolling basis with March 6 as the first round cutoff. If your library meets the necessary criteria, we will work with you to put together a project plan. Winners will be announced at the end of April 2017. The application will open February 6, 2017. You will be able to edit your answers at any time.

Code-Dependent: Pros and Cons of the Algorithm Age

The use of algorithms is spreading as massive amounts of data are being created, captured and analyzed by businesses and governments. Some are calling this the Age of Algorithms and predicting that the future of algorithms is tied to machine learning and deep learning that will get better and better at an ever-faster pace. To illuminate current attitudes about the potential impacts of algorithms in the next decade, Pew Research Center and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center conducted a large-scale canvassing of technology experts, scholars, corporate practitioners and government leaders. Some 1,302 responded to this question about what will happen in the next decade: Will the net overall effect of algorithms be positive for individuals and society or negative for individuals and society?

Intel, Trump tout new $7 billion investment to create 10K jobs

Intel Corp announced a $7 billion investment that the company projects will create 10,000 new jobs. The company will use the $7 billion to complete its Fab 42 factory in Chandler (AZ) Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said at a meeting at the White House with President Trump.

Krzanich said the decision to make the announcement with the White House was borne out of Intel’s support for Trump’s economic and trade policies. “We support the Administration’s policies to level the global playing field and make U.S. manufacturing competitive worldwide through new regulatory standards and investment policies,” Krzanich wrote in an e-mail to Intel employees. “When we disagree, we don’t walk away,” he continued. “We believe that we must be part of the conversation to voice our views on key issues such as immigration, H1B visas and other policies that are essential to innovation.” President Trump tweeted about the meeting, calling it a “great investment” in “American INNOVATION and JOBS!”

Cellphone Spy Tools Have Flooded Local Police Departments

Hundreds of documents obtained by CityLab from the country’s top fifty largest police departments over the last ten months reveal that cellphone surveillance devices have been quietly acquired by local authorities nationwide. The majority of these departments have at least one of two main types of digital-age spy tools: cellphone interception devices, used to covertly track or grab data from nearby mobile devices, and cellphone extraction devices, used to crack open locked phones that are in police possession and scoop out all sorts of private communications and content.

Access to such devices was once largely limited to intelligence agencies like the NSA and the FBI; their acquisition by local police departments is a relatively recent, less-discussed part of a wider police militarization trend. With only a few clicks, police can now map out individuals’ social networks, communication timelines, and associates’ locations, based on the data captured by these surveillance tools.

Benton

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