Industry Officials Hope FCC Will Put Documents Back Online
The Spartan nature of the FCC’s website post-shutdown caught many off guard when it went up Tuesday. “We regret the disruption, but during the Federal Government-wide shutdown, the FCC is limited to performing duties that are immediately necessary for the safety of life or the protection of property,” the revised site said. “FCC online systems will not be available until further notice.” Other government websites have been also taking themselves down, drawing criticism from some pro-transparency groups (CD Oct 2 p8).
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Lawyers can no longer look at filed comments on the FCC’s site or anything else on the electronic filing system or do research on spectrum bands. Broadcasters curious about selling their licenses in the incentive auction can’t explore the various documents put online by the FCC. All that is available is the agency’s shutdown plan and various shutdown-related documents.
The FTC, like the FCC a consumer-oriented agency, also took all of its information offline. Other regulatory agencies did not. The websites of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Justice are still up, though they won’t be updated while the shutdown continues. NTIA’s website is still functioning.
"Going out of your way to shut down automated systems that don’t require day-to-day manpower to operate is probably a bridge too far and unnecessary,” said former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, who left the agency in May. No FCC official would comment.
"It was a shocker to me,” said a broadcast lawyer and former FCC official. “I went to download filings and I didn’t realize they would take the whole thing down. They should have publicized it because lawyers would have tried to get the documents before the shutdown was going to happen, but now we're all locked out.” A former FCC legal adviser who represents telecom clients also was surprised to see the website changed so that documents are no longer available, he said. “Anything is possible, but it’s hard to believe that the lack of an appropriation requires them to alter the website, which is essentially what they did."