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March 2017

Rep Blackburn Unveils Broadband Rule Smackdown Resolution

Republicans are going after the Federal Communications Commission's broadband privacy rules with both barrels. House Communications Subcommittee Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has introduced her version of a Congressional Review Act resolution invalidating the FCC's Oct 27 order. That follows a similar CRA resolution introduced this week by Sen Jeff Flake (R-AZ). The CRA allows a simple majority of Congress members to invalidate recent regulations, in this case rules approved by the FCC back in October.

Like the Sen Flake resolution, HJRes 86 "provides congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission relating to "Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and Other Telecommunications Services." “The FCC’s decision last October to unilaterally swipe jurisdiction from the FTC by creating its own privacy rules for ISPs was troubling,"Rep Blackburn said March 9. "The FTC has been our government’s sole online privacy regulator for over twenty years. A dual regulatory approach will only serve to create confusion within the Internet eco-system and harm consumers. This is a bi-partisan issue, as Democrats have also voiced concerns about the potential for consumer harm resulting from the FCC’s overreach. We look forward to rolling back these anti-consumer rules and returning jurisdiction to the FTC.”

Landmark privacy rules are going to get killed because internet providers asked nicely

Your internet provider can see bits and pieces of almost everything you do online: the sites you visit, the apps you use, the services you connect to. It’s an unpleasant reality for anyone concerned with their privacy, since this information can reveal a whole lot about you. But it’s stayed that way because that’s how internet providers want it — and government regulators feel compelled to listen.

Net neutrality hurts health care and helps adult content, Sen Johnson claims

Republican Sens March 8 claimed that network neutrality rules are hurting broadband network investment and urged Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to overturn them. Sen Ron Johnson (R-WI) agreed that net neutrality rules harm Internet service provider investment and offered a lengthy analogy to explain why.

Sen Johnson said he wants to cut through the “rhetoric, slogans, and buzzwords,” before saying that enforcing net neutrality rules is like letting too many people use a bridge and ruin people’s lawns. Net neutrality rules, he said, also give adult content the same level of network access as remote medical services. The net neutrality rules passed in 2015 when the FCC was controlled by Democrats prevent fixed and mobile ISPs from blocking or throttling lawful Internet traffic or giving priority to Web services in exchange for payment. Sen Johnson seems to be mostly concerned about an alleged inability of doctors and healthcare organizations to pay for priority over illegal and adult content. Net neutrality protections apply only to lawful Internet content, so the FCC rules do not prevent ISPs from blocking the illegal content that Sen Johnson is worried about.

After escaping net neutrality probe, Verizon expands data cap exemptions

Just a few weeks after escaping a network neutrality investigation into data cap exemptions, Verizon has decided to let its FiOS mobile video stream on its wireless network without counting against data caps. Customers who have Verizon FiOS TV at home and a Verizon Wireless smartphone plan can watch TV outside their homes without using up the data allotments on limited mobile plans.

Just two months ago, the Federal Communications Commission accused Verizon Wireless of violating net neutrality rules by letting its Go90 video service stream without counting against customers' data caps as the company charged other video providers for the same data cap exemptions (also known as "zero-rating"). But the FCC's new Republican leadership rescinded that claim and ended the investigation last month, giving carriers the green light to expand data cap exemptions. Verizon's Go90 mobile video service hasn't been a smashing success, and 155 employees were reportedly laid off as a result in January. But Verizon has 4.7 million FiOS TV subscribers, and the data cap exemptions might make them more likely to pay for Verizon's mobile service as well.

US Digital Service Co-Founder to Stay On

A senior tech leader under the Obama administration is staying on under President Donald Trump. Haley Van Dyck helped create the US Digital Service, a White House tech trouble-shooting team that tackles large-scale federal IT projects. It was founded as a continuation of the team that helped salvage the HealthCare.gov rollout.

Though Van Dyck resigned toward the end of the Obama administration, she is reportedly re-joining USDS. Until recently, it was unclear whether Trump's administration planned to maintain tech efforts including USDS. Trump's pick for White House chief digital officer, Gerrit Lansing, tweeted support for the group in January, stating: "FYI: USDS is here to stay with the new administration. Period." But less than a month later, Lansing left the White House because he was unable to pass an FBI screening.

FCC Mobility Fund Plans Call For Two Year CETC Support Phase-out

Wireless carriers, known as competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (CETCs), who currently receive Universal Service funding in areas that will no longer be eligible for support will have that funding phased out over a two-year period beginning one month after completion of an upcoming mobility fund reverse auction. Details about the CETC support phase-out are included in an Federal Communications Commission order adopted Feb 23 and released to the public this week.

Areas are ineligible for funding if at least one company offers LTE service in the area at speeds of at least 5/1 Mbps without CETC support. The FCC estimates that about $300 million of the $483 million in USF funding that currently goes to wireless carriers, excluding Alaska, is for areas that will not be eligible for support. The FCC was not persuaded to extend the phase-out period to five years, despite concerns expressed by some wireless carriers that failure to do so could leave some areas without service, at least for some time. That would occur if the winning bidder does not currently offer service but instead must build a new network and if current carriers opt to pull out of the market when funding is cut back or cut off. The Rural Wireless Association also argued that, based on previous FCC documents, CETCs had expected to continue to receive funding for a longer period. Companies subject to the two-year CETC support phase-out will receive two-thirds of their traditional support level in the first year and one-third in the second year.

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