press release

The Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), and Public Citizen filed a complaint at the Federal Trade Commission asking for an investigation and enforcement action against Google (a subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc.), Disney’s Maker Studios, DreamWorks-owned AwesomenessTV, and two other companies for the unfair and deceptive practice of targeting “influencer” marketing toward children. The complaint documents how several marketing companies—Collab Creators, Wild Brain, Maker Studios, and AwesomenessTV—produce and distribute ads and other commercial material targeting children that masquerade as content.

It also details how Google encourages and benefits from the production of child-directed influencer videos and distributes these ads to children on its YouTube and YouTube Kids platforms. These “influencer” ads take unfair advantage of kids, who do not have the ability to recognize that companies use social media and YouTube celebrities to pitch toys, junk food, and other products. The groups also called on the FTC to release policy guidance that makes clear that using influencers to persuade children to buy a product or urge their parents to buy a product is unfair and deceptive.

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Thursday, October 27, 2016:

Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and Other Telecommunications Services Alerts (WC Docket No. 16-106): The Commission will consider a Report and Order that applies the privacy requirements of the Communications Act to broadband Internet access service providers and other telecommunications services to provide broadband customers with the tools they need to make informed decisions about the use and sharing of their information by their broadband providers.

Locus Telecommunications, Inc., Lyca Tel, LLC, Touch-Tel USA, LLC, NobelTel, LLC: The Commission will consider a Memorandum Opinion and Order that dismisses and denies a Petition for Reconsideration of a Forfeiture Order issued by the Commission for the deceptive marketing of prepaid calling cards.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau announced that T-Mobile will pay a fine and provide benefits to consumers totaling at least $48 million as part of a settlement resolving an investigation into whether the company adequately disclosed speed and data restrictions for its “unlimited” data plan subscribers.

The FCC’s investigation found that company policy allows it to slow down data speeds when T-Mobile or MetroPCS customers on so-called “unlimited” plans exceed a monthly data threshold. Company advertisements and other disclosures may have led unlimited data plan customers to expect that they were buying better and faster service than what they received. The Commission’s 2010 Open Internet transparency rules require broadband Internet providers to give accurate and sufficient information to consumers about their Internet services so consumers can make informed choices. The settlement includes $48 million in total financial commitments from T-Mobile. This includes a $7.5 million fine in addition to $35.5 million in consumer benefits offered to T-Mobile and Metro PCS customers with “unlimited” plans and at least $5 million in services and equipment to American schools to bridge the homework gap facing today’s students. Eligible subscribers will be offered discounts on accessories and additional data. T-Mobile will update its disclosures to clearly explain the “Top 3 Percent Policy,” who may be affected by it, what triggers its application and the impacts on data speeds.

T-Mobile will also be required to notify individual customers when their data usage approaches the threshold. The company will also adopt the FCC’s “Consumer Broadband Label” to provide more information and clarity on service terms, including speed, reliability and cost, such as fees and other add-on charges. Under the settlement, T-Mobile is required to update and improve its disclosures regarding its “unlimited” plans. It must either: provide clear and conspicuous disclosures about all restrictions on the amount and speed of data provided for “unlimited” data plans; cease the use of the term “unlimited” to label such plans; exclude “unlimited” data plan customers from the “Top 3 Percent Policy” or any similar practice; or limit any speed reductions for “unlimited” data plan customers to the minimum speed advertised for that plan.

In addition to the $7.5 million fine to be paid to the U.S. Treasury, the settlement requires T-Mobile to fund a $35.5 million consumer benefit program for T-Mobile and MetroPCS “unlimited” mobile data customers. Eligible T-Mobile and MetroPCS customers will be offered both:

• Discounts of 20 percent off (up to $20) of the regular price for any in-stock accessory.
• 4 GB of additional data if they have a mobile Internet data line – specifically T-Mobile’s “Simple Choice MINT” plan – or a tablet plan under the MetroPCS brand.

The growth and competition in ultra-high speed broadband services in your area may mean more money in your pocket — and better services across the board.

Using data on broadband plans — including upload and download speeds, standard and promotional monthly prices, and other information such as installation charges and plans bundled with other services, such as telephone or television — for the 100 largest Designated Market Areas (DMAs), our partners at Analysis Group have analyzed what happens when new firms enter a market offering a broadband service. Here’s what they found:

• If a gigabit service is offered in your area, prices for high speed plans of 100 mbps or more are reduced by approximately $27 dollars per month — about a 25% drop from the standard price.
• If you just look at gigabit speed plans, the effect is particularly significant — one gigabit provider to two providers reduces prices by approximately $57–62 per month, or between 34% to 37%.
• Even when including plans with other speeds, there is a substantial effect. When looking across all broadband plans (with speeds of over 25 mbps), prices go down between $13 and $18 per month, or 14% and 19%.
• The more broadband providers you can choose from, the more prices drop. For example, an increase of one additional service provider is associated with approximately a $1.50 decline in the monthly standard broadband price for internet plans with speeds ranging from 50 Mbps to less than 1 Gbps. So, for example, if an area went from having one broadband offering to having six competitors, the price would decline by approximately $7.50. That’s equal to a reduction of 8% in the monthly standard price.
• Finally, if high-speed broadband is offered in a market, that increases the likelihood that other providers will introduce higher-speed plans to match the speeds being offered by the competition. In particular, they found that each additional competitor will increase the probability that other broadband providers in the market will offer broadband at those higher speeds by 4% to 17% per year.

A range of policy options are available to maximize access to broadband and to maximize its benefits. Policymakers must regularly review and revise regulatory frameworks to encourage the development of broadband and ICTs.

According to ITU’s Trends in Telecommunication Reform Report 2015, many countries have adopted or are in the process of adopting more flexible regulatory frameworks over the past decade. By now, a large majority of countries have moved to engage with market liberalization measures in their telecommunication sector. For example, by 2016, 151 countries had allowed private sector participation in their fixed-line sector, at least 147 countries had allowed private sector participation in their mobile (spectrum-based) operators, and there are now 164 regulatory authorities worldwide by 2016. As outlined in The State of Broadband 2016: Broadband Catalyzing Sustainable Development, today, regulatory frameworks should also include consideration of the emerging Internet of Things (IoT), data privacy and protection.

The Federal Trade Commission will host an all-day conference, “Planning For the Future,” examining the state of identity theft now and how it may evolve in the future. The event will take place on May 24, 2017, in Washington, DC.

2017 will mark the ten-year anniversary of the executive order creating the federal Identity Theft Task Force, which was co-chaired by the FTC. Despite numerous advances in combating identity theft, it remains a top consumer complaint each year to the FTC, and Department of Justice statistics show that millions of consumers are victims of identity theft. The conference will bring together academics, business and industry representatives, government experts and consumer advocates to discuss the ways in which identity theft affects consumers and how that has changed in the last decade. The FTC event will look at the full life cycle of identity theft, addressing how identity thieves acquire consumers’ information and what information they seek most often, as well as the cost and ease with which consumers’ data can be acquired. In addition, the conference will examine how identity thieves use information, and how they may attempt to use it in the future. Further, the conference will examine how to quantify the impact of identity theft, from financial and economic harms to the broader impact on public safety. The conference will also assess what resources are available to identity theft victims and their effectiveness in helping victims recover.

President Barack Obama is hosting a day-long White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh (PA) to encourage Americans to imagine our Nation and the world in 50 years and beyond, and to explore America’s potential to broaden participation and advance towards the frontiers that will make the world healthier, more prosperous, more equitable, and more secure. The Administration is opening the conference with more than $300 million in announcements that exemplify the critical roles that Federal investments, innovative policymaking, and multi-sector collaboration play in seeding prosperity:

• $165 million in public and private funds to support cities in using technology and data to tackle critical quality-of-life challenges, such as traffic congestion.
• Harnessing the power of data to improve the US criminal justice system, announcing that the Police Data Initiative and the Data-Driven Justice Initiative have each grown to over 100 communities nationwide.
• Releasing a White House report on preparing for the future of artificial intelligence (AI), outlining the issues that society will have to grapple with to unlock the possibilities of AI.
• $50 million in Federal funds to fuel a revolution in small-satellite technology that could provide capabilities such as ubiquitous high-speed Internet connectivity and continuously updated imagery of the Earth.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau announced that Comcast Corporation will pay a $2.3 million fine to resolve an investigation into whether the company wrongfully charged cable TV customers for services and equipment that those customers never authorized. The Communications Act and the FCC’s rules prohibit a cable provider from charging its subscribers for services or equipment they did not affirmatively request, a practice known as “negative option billing.” Negative option billing burdens customers with the responsibility of contacting a cable company to dispute the charges and obtain refunds. The Communications Act and the FCC’s rules prohibit a similar practice by telecommunications carriers when unauthorized charges are placed on customers’ phone bills, an abuse known as “cramming.”

The Commission received numerous complaints from consumers alleging that Comcast added charges to their bills for unordered services or products, such as premium channels, set-top boxes, or digital video recorders (DVRs). In some complaints, subscribers claimed that they were billed despite specifically declining service or equipment upgrades offered by Comcast. In others, customers claimed that they had no knowledge of the unauthorized charges until they received unordered equipment in the mail, obtained notifications of unrequested account changes by email, or conducted a review of their monthly bills. Consumers described expending significant time and energy to attempt to remove the unauthorized charges from their bills and obtain refunds. In response to these complaints, the FCC undertook an investigation of the company. Under the terms of the settlement, Comcast will pay the largest civil penalty assessed from a cable operator by the FCC and implement a five-year compliance plan.

To promote fairness, competition, and investment in this $45 billion marketplace, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated to his fellow Commissioners proposed rules to take necessary and overdue steps to reform a long-broken regulatory regime.

The Order provides a new framework for the Business Data Services (BDS or “special access”) market that strikes a balance between targeted regulation for legacy TDM (DS1 and DS3) services, where evidence of market power is strongest, and lighter-touch regulation of packet-based services, where there has been new entry and competition may be emerging. The Order also reaffirms that TDM and Ethernet BDS are both subject to the Commission’s Title II oversight. This framework supports the rapid deployment of innovative 5G mobile service by ensuring that wireless providers have fair access to BDS, including packet-based BDS, at just and reasonable rates, terms, and conditions. These requirements are enforced by strengthening our complaint process to expedite resolution of problems if they arise.

The Chairman is also proposing a Further Notice on packet-based BDS, which will provide the Commission with a vehicle to take further action on Ethernet pricing if that proves necessary. A Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would seek comment on how best to collect accurate data on market developments and what administrable means can be developed, if necessary, to deal with any concerns that may emerge with respect to pricing for packet-based BDS.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the October Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, October 27, 2016:

1. Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and other Telecommunications Services: The Commission will consider a Report and Order that applies the privacy requirements of the Communications Act to broadband Internet access service providers and other telecommunications services to provide broadband customers with the tools they need to make informed decisions about the use and sharing of their information by their broadband providers. (WC Docket No.16-106)
2. Deceptive Marketing: The Commission will separately consider four Memorandum Opinions and Orders that dismiss and deny Petitions for Reconsideration of four Forfeiture Orders issued by the Commission for the deceptive marketing of prepaid calling cards.

Separately, the FCC announced it has lifted the sunshine restrictions applicable to Expanding Consumers’ Video Navigation Choices (MB Docket No. 16-42); Commercial Availability of Navigation Devices (CS Docket No. 97-80) – an item that was deleted from the Commission’s Sept meeting agenda. So, talk amongst yourselves.