The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Friday it’s reviewing how to respond to the FTC’s denial of 35 of 37 Freedom of Information Act requests it filed seeking “detailed information" on “zombie voting” -- votes by then-Commissioner Rohit Chopra counted after he left the agency -- and other practices that the group believes show the agency “manipulated its rules and procedures while potentially ceding its independent agency status to political interference” (see 2111190039). The FTC argued the size and scope of the Chamber’s requests created “unreasonable hardship for the agency to process.” The FTC said the records the chamber sought in two requests are already public. “The agency’s denial of our” requests “in less than 48 hours calls into question whether the FTC ever actually reviewed each submission,” said group Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley. The Chamber filed three more FOIA requests Thursday seeking full disclosure of documents the FTC “has no reasonable defense to deny.” Senate Republicans are eyeing legislation to ban further FTC zombie votes and make the law retroactive to the beginning of 2021 to nullify Chopra’s post-resignation votes.

Regulatory fees for unlicensed use will stifle innovation and contradict the FCC’s past efforts to increase connectivity, a collection of trade groups representing industries “heavily invested” in the industry, scientific and medical (ISM) unlicensed bands told Wireline Bureau staff in a call Nov. 17, according to an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-190. Representatives of ACT|The App Association, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, CTA, the Information Technology Industry Council and others said in the filing that ISM band equipment is important for precision agriculture, home energy management, and industrial automation. “Restricting innovation by increasing the costs for these services and the underlying research that leads to such innovations, via fees, would contradict the FCC’s investments,” the filing said.

Garmin representatives met with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and others from the FCC to answer questions on the interference risks 5G poses for radio altimeters (see 2111150071), said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-122. “The discussion included how radar altimeters used during Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute (AVSI) testing failed when subjected to simulated 5G interference sources,” it said: “While some radar altimeters were observed to fail by outputting a No Computed Data (NCD) status, many failed in a manner where a misleading height above ground was output without a simultaneous NCD status.” The Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics defended its now-updated report. The multistakeholder group report was “informed by detailed information made available by the commercial wireless and aviation industries regarding their respective systems and was therefore able to more thoroughly examine issues of compatibility between existing radar altimeters and prospective flexible use licensees than were the earlier preliminary analyses,” the group said: “The analysis found serious threats of harmful interference to today’s installed radar altimeters from anticipated flexible use licensed deployments, including from spurious emissions into the radar altimeter band.” Calls that the report be dismissed “have not been validated by hard science or engineering analysis,” RTCA said.

Coinciding with holiday shopping deals, the Consumer Product Safety Commission warned Monday of TV tip-overs that can lead to injury or death. Incidents most often involve children younger than 6 years old, it said. From 2017 to 2019, an average 11,100 children were treated annually in hospital emergency rooms for tip-over injuries, said CPSC. Parents and caregivers should install anti-tip kits that can be found online or in a hardware store, it said, giving its Anchor It! website as a resource. TVs should be placed on a sturdy, low base, the TV as far back as possible, with remote controls and toys stored in a separate area where kids aren’t tempted to climb to reach them, it said.

The FTC approved a final order requiring Broadcom to “cease its anticompetitive behavior,” said the agency Thursday. The chipmaker “illegally monopolized markets” for semiconductors used to deliver TV and broadband internet services “through exclusive dealing and related conduct,” it said. The order prohibits Broadcom from signing certain types of “exclusivity or loyalty agreements” to supply customers with “key chips” for traditional broadcast set-tops and DSL and fiber broadband internet devices, said the FTC. “Broadcom also must stop conditioning access to or requiring favorable supply terms for these chips on customers committing to exclusivity or loyalty for the supply of related chips.” The order also bars Broadcom from retaliating against customers for doing business with its competitors. Broadcom didn’t respond to requests for comment.

OMB OK'd for three years information collection requirements in revised rules for hearing aid-compatible handsets (see 2102220064), says Thursday's Federal Register. The rules are effective immediately.

A “substantial increase” in funding for DOJ’s Antitrust Division for FY 2022 is necessary to deal with the “skyrocketing” amount of merger filings, Attorney General Merrick Garland told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. DOJ requested a 9% increase in division funding from FY 2021, to $201 million. The department’s 2022 budget request totals about $35.3 billion. The number of division evaluators has decreased, said Garland, calling antitrust a “key focus” for DOJ: “We need help in that regard.” He cited the case against Google’s alleged exclusionary conduct, among other efforts. The number of attorneys in the division is down, and the department “needs an expansion,” he said.

Rethink proposed rules for secure telecom gear in U.S. networks (see 2106180039), Huawei said in reply comments posted Tuesday in FCC docket 21-232. “While Huawei shares the Commission’s stated interest in ensuring secure and reliable communications networks, the record demonstrates that the proposed rules would be an unlawful and irrational way to address purposed risks associated with RF equipment,” the company said: “Proposed rules are fundamentally flawed in seeking to preclude and revoke RF equipment authorizations of selected companies without considering whether the equipment poses any interference or security risk.” The rules are also “overly burdensome and costly, would be ineffective at best, and violate obligations of World Trade Organization members and fundamental principles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,” Huawei said.

A third of consumers who reported a business impersonator scam since July 2020 say the scammer pretended to be Amazon, blogged Maria Mayo, acting associate director of the FTC Division of Consumer Response and Operations. Reported losses from over 96,000 people contacted by Amazon impersonators totaled more than $27 million, said the FTC, with a reported median individual loss of $1,000. Some offer to refund consumers for an unauthorized purchase but “accidentally transfer” more, asking the consumers to send back the difference, said Mayo Wednesday. The scammer then moves the victims’ money from one of their accounts to another to make it look like a refund. Others are told hackers accessed their account and the only way to protect it is to buy gift cards and share the card number and PIN. Never call back an unknown number and only use information on Amazon’s website; don't pay with a gift card if asked by an unknown person; and don't give remote access to information to someone who contacts them unexpectedly, Mayo said. Report scams here.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology OK’d a waiver for Zebra Technologies to market its Dart system for precision tracking in NFL and other sports venues, operating at 7125-8500 MHz (see 2104260041). “This device operating under the specified waiver conditions poses no greater risk of causing harmful interference to communication services than those devices already permitted under the existing rules,” OET said Tuesday.