Agenda

Mounting security concerns surrounding the proliferation of wireless devices is renewing a long-running internet privacy debate. Traditional partisan rifts over regulation of private companies exploded at a hearing of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.

Democrats were still steaming about repeal in late March of Federal Communications Commission’s broadband privacy rules, passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, under the guise of the Congressional Review Act (CRA), aimed at eliminating regulations considered burdensome by Republicans. The FCC’s privacy rule did not outline specific security measures for ISPs but recommended they follow a cybersecurity framework set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and gave the FCC oversight over complaints of security breaches. “When Congress repealed privacy rules in the CRA, they also removed security measures,” said Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee. The since-repealed FCC privacy rules included a provision requiring that internet service providers take “reasonable” measures to protect user data, such as Social Security numbers and health information.

The Federal Communications Commission will allow Low-power Televisions (LPTVs) and translators a way to stay on the air if T-Mobile asks them to exit their spectrum before the first special displacement window for seeking new channels opens, likely in early 2018. LPTVs had said T-Mobile contacted some stations about possibly wanting to light up the spectrum they bought in the incentive auction by the end of the year, which they pointed out was before they were going to get a chance to try and find new channels. The LPTVs also threatened to try and block the repack if the FCC did not give them some help. Help, the FCC's Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau signaled, is on the way.

In what appears to be an unprecedented move, former Democratic Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel will also be future Democratic FCC commissioner if the Senate confirms her as expected. Shortly before midnight Tuesday, June 13, President Donald Trump signaled his intention to nominate Jessica Rosenworcel to a five-year term and a return engagement as a FCC commissioner.

The office of press secretary Sean Spicer announced the news in an email advisory. Rosenworcel, who served on the commission between 2012 and the end of 2016, was forced to exit at the end of 2016 after Congress failed to bring her renomination to a vote despite unanimous approval by the Senate Commerce Committee and support from both Democratic and Republican legislative leaders after Senate Republican leadership would not schedule a vote. President Trump withdrew Obama's renomination of Rosenworcel, which if she had been seated would have left the FCC at a 2-2 political divide once FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler exited.

Currently the FCC is down to only three members, two Republicans and a Democrat. The FCC can still render decisions on issues the lone Democrat disagrees with, and has on numerous occasions, most notably the decision to roll back Title II. But if Democrat Mignon Clyburn exits—her term is up at the end of June but she could serve until the end of 2018, the FCC will lack a quorum to vote on items. Rosenworcel would likely need to be paired with a nominee for the Republican seat—the Administration would not want to create a 2-2 tie, which would be the case unless Commissioner Mignon Clyburn exited. In that event, the Clyburn seat could be paired with the new Republican and Rosenworcel paired with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, whose term also ends in June. One name being floated for the third Republican seat is Brendan Carr, currently the acting FCC General Counsel and a former-staffer in the office of Chairman Pai.

As long as I’m Chairman, I can assure you that the Federal Communications Commission will continue to be an active and enthusiastic participant in the M-Enabling Summit. That’s because this Summit aligns perfectly with the FCC’s statutory mission and my personal priorities.

Since day one of my Chairmanship, I’ve said the Commission has no higher calling than extending digital opportunity to all Americans. Every citizen who wants to participate in our digital economy and society should be able to do so—no matter who you are. A big part of that is closing the digital divide in our country—connecting people who are being bypassed by the digital revolution. And the simple truth is, in too many instances, that divide persists, and is perhaps growing. That’s why I spent the past week on a road trip from Milwaukee (WI) to Casper (WY). Over 1,672 miles and nearly 20 stops, I personally heard from people in rural towns and Tribal areas about the need for high-speed connectivity in their communities. And I discussed ways the FCC could help.

This Public Notice serves as notice that, consistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has appointed members to serve on the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC). The CSRIC will hold its first meeting on Friday, June 23, 2017, beginning at 1:00 pm. Chairman Pai has designated Brian King, Senior Vice President, National Technology Service Delivery and Operations at T-Mobile USA, to serve as Chair of the CSRIC. A full list of CSRIC members is attached to this Public Notice.

I’ve made it a point to champion local broadcasting since I was appointed to the Federal Communications Commission more than five years ago. And I’ve doubled down on that commitment since becoming the Chairman of our great agency.

I’ll touch on a few of the initiatives we’ve been pursuing. Prior to becoming Chairman, it’s fair to say that one of my signature issues was AM radio revitalization. In May, the FCC launched a comprehensive review of our media regulations. Our goal is clear: We want to figure out how to update our rules to match the realities of today’s media marketplace. We want to modernize our regulations in order to better promote the public interest and to clear a path for more competition, innovation, and investment in the media sector.

We can all agree that what we could do with less is the pull and push between federal, state, and local policymakers. We are in need of and should strive for a new era of cooperative regulation, that recognizes the states as laboratories of democracy, and your federal partners as a uniform guide where and when appropriate. So allow me to take some time this morning, to outline areas where we can work together, and other areas I feel, where states and localities should take the lead when it comes to privacy, universal service, pole attachments, rights-of-way access, and inmate calling.

Attorneys general for the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland say they will sue President Donald Trump on June 12, alleging that he has violated anti-corruption clauses in the Constitution by accepting millions in payments and benefits from foreign governments since moving into the White House.

The lawsuit, the first of its kind brought by government entities, centers on the fact that Trump chose to retain ownership of his company when he became president. President Trump said in January that he was shifting his business assets into a trust managed by his sons to eliminate potential conflicts of interests. But DC Attorney General Karl Racine (D) and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh (D) say President Trump has broken many promises to keep separate his public duties and private business interests. For one, his son Eric Trump has said the President would continue to receive regular updates about his company’s financial health. The lawsuit alleges “unprecedented constitutional violations” by President Trump. The suit says Trump’s continued ownership of a global business empire has rendered the President “deeply enmeshed with a legion of foreign and domestic government actors” and has undermined the integrity of the US political system.

At Verizon, massive buildings that used to be filled with bulky computers, copper cables and other gear are sitting vacant, as advances in fiber-optics and computers cut down on the need for equipment space. The shift has rendered more than 80 percent of the company’s real estate footprint obsolete, spurring a $2 billion sell-off in property. Then someone in Verizon’s real estate department happen to take notice of the recent boom in co-working spaces, in which start-ups, freelancers and some larger companies pay to co-locate together in castoff office space or other underused buildings. The telephone company saw a connection.

The result is “Alley, powered by Verizon,” a co-working space slated to open on June 29 at 2055 L St. NW. The company hired local artists to bring a sense of hipness to rooms once filled with telecommunications equipment and even kept a retro feel by preserving a room full of ancient mainframe computers. Verizon is collaborating with Alley, a New York co-working space operator to run the space and share in the revenue.

Multichannel video programming distributors (pay-TV providers) have a July 10 deadline for making their TV Everywhere programming more accessible to the blind and visually impaired everywhere. The Federal Communications Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau was reminding those MVPDs this week that as of that date they are required to pass through a secondary audio stream of emergency information if they allow their subs to access linear (prescheduled) programming services via second-screen devices—laptops, phones—as part of their service, yet another step in the FCC's ongoing implementation of the Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) of 2010 requirement that emergency information in crawls and graphics that break into regular programming are accessible.

The definition of linear programming subject to the requirement is network programming that "can only be received via a connection provided by the MVPD using an MVPD-provided application or plug-in." So, it does not apply to programming that is only distributed via the internet (Netflix, Hulu) that is accessible by subs using either an MVPD-provided broadband connection or a third-party ISP connection.