Minority Groups Want FCC Reversal of Sunshine Exemption for Blog
Civil rights advocates lambasted the FCC’s defense for waiving sunshine rules in October only for blog comments. Last month, FCC Associate General Counsel Joel Kaufman told the civil rights group that differences between blog comments and ex parte filings made waiving sunshine restrictions appropriate for only the Open Internet blog in advance of the FCC’s Oct. 22 meeting on network neutrality (WID Dec 11 p7). In an application for review Tuesday, the League of United Latin American Citizens said the waiver unfairly locked out people without Internet access. “This is not just a question of some members of the public being relegated to ’steerage’ while others are given priority in first class; rather, it is about the Commission leaving members of the public at the dock while the net neutrality ship sails away."
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Kaufman said last month the FCC didn’t waive sunshine for traditional filings because interested parties might not have had a chance to respond. In contrast, blog comments may be responded to instantly, he said. Kaufman said the FCC will review sunshine prohibition rules as part of its “general reexamination of the ex parte rules as part of its FCC reform initiative."
The associate general counsel “fundamentally misperceives the role of the Sunshine period -- which is to cut off all public comment completely for one week leading up to the adoption of an item to give the Commissioners a quiet time for deliberation,” the League said in its filing. “It is not, contrary to the OGC’s apparent misunderstanding, simply a means of preventing last minute filings where responses would not be possible.” Also, the FCC was wrong to try to “duck legal accountability” by waiting to respond to the League’s original emergency petition until after the sunshine period passed, and then calling the petition “moot,” the League said. Previously, in the same proceeding, the FCC “concluded that the close of Sunshine does not moot questions over whether comments were submitted in violation of the Sunshine period rules,” it said.
The FCC is required by law to respond to the League’s application for review. In an interview, Minority Media & Telecommunications Council President David Honig didn’t rule out future court action, but said the group will “wait and see” until the FCC responds. The League has no ex-parte meetings scheduled with the commission, but will come in if called, he said. Although the October meeting has come and gone, the FCC could still reverse the decision by excluding the specific blog comments or including all written comments from the sunshine period in the record. The FCC should additionally commit not to issue a similar waiver in the future, and “look inwardly” to reassess its policy approach for the underserved, he said.