Agenda

Thursday, Feb 22, will be the red letter day for court and congressional challenges to the Federal Communications Commission's Dec 14 decision to roll back network neutrality rules and reclassify Internet service providers out from under Title II common carrier regulations. The FCC Has delivered the final Restoring Internet Freedom order to the Federal Register, which has just signaled it would be publishing that order on Feb 22. That means the repeal will take place on or about April 23. But the lawsuits to overturn the repeal can get started in Feb or in early March.

Apparently, the Federal Communications Commission is slated to publish on Feb 22 its order scrapping network neutrality rules. The official publication of the measure in the Federal Register will start the clock on the 60-day window that Congress has to pass a resolution reversing the FCC’s order to get rid of net neutrality rules. The order’s publication will open the door for state attorneys general and advocacy groups to launch lawsuits aimed at preserving the rules.

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Thursday, February 22, 2018.

[Commentary] Four years ago, the Obama Administration rolled out the Cybersecurity Framework from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It has proven to be an essential and indispensable roadmap for companies to review their cybersecurity risk and preparedness. Recently, NIST updated the document to reflect supply chain risk and additional security insights. The anniversary of the NIST Framework should be a time to celebrate the federal government’s preparation for the cyber threats to the critical infrastructure of our communications networks.

New Street Research managing partner Jonathan Chaplin said the cable business is going to look vastly different in the next five years. “Today the wireless and cable industries have completely separate networks. In five years, those networks will be as one.

Rep. Mike Coffman’s position that using a Congressional Review Act resolution to restore Obama-era network neutrality rules is a “non-starter” because it defers to agency rulemaking is not sitting well with net neutrality advocates.

In April 2017, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, led the charge for his agency to approve rules allowing television broadcasters to greatly increase the number of stations they own.

The Senate Commerce Committee convened a hearing for the president’s nominees to serve as Federal Trade Commissioners:

The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee's (BDAC) membership -- and, therefore, the recommendations and discussion drafts currently under consideration -- do not reflect balanced viewpoints between industry and state and local interests. Previous efforts to meaningfully engage state and local members have been ignored or actively discouraged.