Monday, July 1, 2024
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Supreme Court Overrules Chevron Doctrine
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Competitive Broadband Access in Multiple Tenant Environments
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Supreme Court Overrules Chevron Doctrine, Imperiling an Array of Federal Rules The foundational 1984 deci
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The Supreme Court reduced the authority of executive agencies, sweeping aside a longstanding legal precedent that required courts to defer to the expertise of federal administrators in carrying out laws passed by Congress. The precedent, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, is one of the most cited in American law. There have been 70 Supreme Court decisions relying on Chevron, along with 17,000 in the lower courts. The decision threatens regulations in countless areas, including the environment, health care, and consumer safety. The vote was 6 to 3, dividing along ideological lines. The conservative legal movement and business groups have long objected to the Chevron ruling, partly based on a general hostility to government regulation and partly based on the belief, grounded in the separation of powers, that agencies should have only the power that Congress has explicitly given them. Supporters of the doctrine say it allows specialized agencies to fill gaps in ambiguous statutes to establish uniform rules in their areas of expertise, a practice they say was contemplated by Congress.
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The US Supreme Court just overturned Chevron v. The Natural Resources Defense Council, a 40 year old precedent for how government works. This is big news for anyone interested in the way technology (and Big Tech) shape public policy, and vice versa. Why does Chevron matter? As ordained by our political system, Congress is supposed to set rules and regulations that protect our rights. In today’s world, no elected representative can be an expert on every topic where they are called to make a decision. That leads to the assumption in Chevron: where the laws enacted by Congress do not provide enough detail for specific regulatory decisions, agencies are empowered to clarify. Federal employees (and local public servants) provide critical subject expertise, which enables the law to be interpreted and implemented. So the question is, who will protect us now? Apparently not our government agencies, the only ones with any sort of rein on large corporations. Yet again, the public turns to libraries.
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Uncertainty breeds caution, especially when money itself costs more and is hard to get. But, with the $42 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) spigot set to turn on in about six months, deployments have actually slowed. Financing is indeed difficult, but not just because interest rates are high. The end of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in May ended a guaranteed cashflow that investors and lenders liked. Uncertainty about the fate of the ACP, in addition to concerns about some of the requirements of the BEAD program, are leading lenders to hold back on broadband funding.
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There are a lot of regulations other than the ones created by or enforced by the Federal Communications Council. Anybody who builds fiber networks can describe the litany of state and local regulations involved in constructing fiber. Following are some of the primary kinds of such regulations—and there are others in some places:
- National and State Codes: Fiber builders must meet various national and state codes related to electricity, safety, and specific fiber specifications.
- Safety: Work sites must comply with safety standards set by OSHA and States.
- Permits: Most jurisdictions have a formal permitting process. This is where a contractor will specify the planned construction of the network.
- Rights-of-way: Federal rules allow fiber to be constructed in any existing public right-of-way. However, many local jurisdictions require a fiber builder to pay fees and obtain a right-of-way agreement before undertaking construction.
- Easements: Contractors are required to acquire an easement from private landowners, which is permission to construct on private land.
- Financial Requirements: Some jurisdictions require that an entity that wants to cut into a street to satisfy specific financial requirements. This might mean obtaining a bond or providing a deposit before construction. There might be requirements for contractors to carry specific amounts of insurance and name the government entity as a covered entity under the policy. Some jurisdictions treat a fiber network like other infrastructure and charge property or related taxes on the asset.
Chairwoman Rosenworcel's Response Regarding Competitive Broadband Access in Multiple Tenant Environments
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On May 20, Rep Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) wrote to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to express concerns regarding the Chairwoman's proposal to prohibit bulk-billing arrangements in multi-dwelling units. On June 10, Chairwoman Rosenworcel responded, explaining that the proposed rulemaking has the potential to "empower consumer choice and boost competition." "As you note in your letter, the last time the Commission revisited this issue was in 2010, when it found that these arrangements can predominately offer benefits to consumers. I agree that it is important to take that last record into account. However, a lot can change in 14 years and, as is true with many policies in the telecommunications sector, it is often in the public interest to reexamine long-standing policies to ensure they have kept up with changes in technology and the marketplace, especially when it comes to consumer protection and choice. I believe that the draft Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking provides an opportunity to build a record on these matters that reflects the consumer experience today, and that is why it is important to have the public weigh in on these issues."
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The Federal Communications Commission has proposed new rules to reduce phone and video call rates for incarcerated people, a move that could dramatically reshape the business of prison telecom providers such as ViaPath Technologies and Aventiv Technologies. The proposed rules call for a drastic reduction in the cost of audio calls, impose brand-new caps on video services and prohibit providers from making commission payments to the jails and prisons in which they operate. The prospect of stricter regulation has been a major overhang for the industry. Bipartisan legislation that President Joe Biden signed into law in early 2023 gave the FCC broader authority to regulate the cost of audio and video communication services that are offered to inmates. Companies in the prison services industry have faced higher borrowing costs and narrowing options to refinance debt, in part because of increased regulatory risk, but also because several investors and major banks have been distancing themselves from the sector over environmental, social and governance concerns in recent years.
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Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has shared with her fellow commissioners draft final rules that, if adopted, would strengthen the security of the nation’s public alert and warning systems—the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts—against emerging cybersecurity threats. The Emergency Alert System delivers warnings to the public thorough radio and television. Wireless Emergency Alerts deliver warnings to consumers’ wireless phones. If adopted by a vote of the full Commission, the draft rules would require communications providers that participate in these systems to create, update, and implement cybersecurity risk management plans. The rules would also require Emergency Alert System participants, such as broadcasters and cable providers, to notify the Commission of equipment defects within 24 hours of discovery, which would provide the Commission with greater awareness of system availability and help identify persistent technical problems in this equipment. In addition, the rules would ensure that Emergency Alert System participants have contingency plans for delivering alerts to the public.
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You didn’t need testing equipment to measure the state of Purdue University’s Wi-Fi network. You just needed to look on Reddit, where complaints were flying. That was the situation Ian Hyatt walked in to when he took a job as CIO of Purdue University three years ago. Service for the Wi-Fi network, known as PAL—short for Purdue AirLink—was so hated that students put up a protest banner. Bad Wi-FI is a problem anywhere it happens, but it’s particularly bad for a college campus. Although Purdue’s Cisco networking equipment was out-of-date, Purdue was happy with the vendor and began work with them on a top-of-the-line upgrade. The upgrade increased network throughput fourfold and availability increased more than 20 percentage points, to over 99%. Purdue upgraded to Wi-Fi 6 and, using Cisco Meraki, students can build their own networks with custom network names.
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In 2020, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) convened a group of digital inclusion practitioners to establish a definition for the term “digital navigator.” The term described a model for digital inclusion built upon years of similar work, tailored for the new realities of the time. Together, NDIA and our community further defined the work of digital navigators, adapted and scaled the model, and produced resources to help organizations launch and manage digital navigator programs. As a result of how programs have adapted the digital navigator model to meet their community needs and organizational capacity, NDIA has worked with our community to update the definition of digital navigator and create a set of standards for digital navigators and digital navigator programs. These standards and the updated definition are designed to provide guidance on what NDIA and the digital inclusion community have learned over the past four years and to reflect the realities digital navigator programs see daily: Digital navigators are trusted guides who assist community members with ongoing, individualized support for accessing affordable and appropriate connectivity, devices, and digital skills.
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Rep Shontel Brown (D-OH) has introduced The Securing Elections from AI Deception Act, legislation to prohibit the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to deprive or defraud individuals of their right to vote and require disclaimers on AI-generated content. The legislation would be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and applies to federal, state, and local elections. The Securing Elections from AI Deception Act has 46 original cosponsors and is endorsed by the NAACP, the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. The Securing Elections from AI Deception Act:
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Prohibits the Use of Artificial Intelligence to Deprive or Defraud Individuals of the Right to Vote
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Requires Disclaimers on Election-Related Content Generated by Artificial Intelligence
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Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink, is facing stiff resistance from Indonesian internet service providers (ISPs). The Indonesia Internet Service Provider Association is asking the government to ban Starlink’s license to sell services to consumers because ISPs see satellite provider as a threat to their market share. The ISPs have invested heavily in setting up a terrestrial network. They believe that Starlink can make them redundant if it decides to reduce the tariffs to compete with the ISPs. As of now, Starlink is charging significantly more than a typical ISP in the country. According to media reports, Starlink charges monthly fees of 750,000 Indonesian rupiah (around $45) and an initial cost of 5.9 million rupiah for an antenna. On the other hand, local ISPs charge 200,000 to 400,000 Rupiah per month for connectivity. However, since Starlink does not have to invest in deploying base stations, it can bring down the tariffs, which is bound to impact the ISPs.
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org), Grace Tepper (grace AT benton DOT org), and Zoe Walker (zwalker AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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