Consumer groups opposed a petition by DentalPlans.com seeking a declaratory ruling by the FCC that renewal notifications don’t constitute a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and that the language in the company’s online enrollment forms and also used by its customer service representatives satisfies TCPA disclosure requirements. “The determination the Petition asks the Commission to make is highly fact-dependent, but the necessary facts are not in the record, and it is quite likely that if the Petitioner placed its version of the facts in the record those facts would be disputed,” consumer groups said in a filing posted Monday in docket 02-278: “Contrary to the assertions made in the Petition, the text of the prerecorded calls in question … show that they are ‘advertising’ and ‘telemarketing,’ as defined by the Commission’s regulations, necessitating prior express written consent.” The filing was made by the National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, Public Knowledge and U.S. PIRG. “DentalPlans’ renewal ‘notifications’ are clearly telemarketing,” said Deborah Bradley, a Maryland consumer who sued the company alleging TCPA violations in federal court in Maryland. “DentalPlans quite tellingly omitted the text of its prerecorded message robocalls from its Petition; the messages themselves easily illustrate that they are designed to encourage the purchase of property, goods or services,” Bradley commented. The Professional Associations for Customer Engagement (PACE) supported DentalPlans’ arguments. Congress and the FCC have recognized that not every call made using an automatic dialer or prerecorded voice “should be presumptively unlawful,” PACE said. “If the purpose of the TCPA was to curb unsolicited telemarketing calls, it is sensible that non-marketing calls be excluded from the TCPA’s restrictions,” the group said.
Consultant Karen Peltz Strauss, former deputy chief of the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, discussed the status of the agency’s Disability Advisory Committee and other “disability access priorities” before the FCC, in a meeting with Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Strauss also discussed the status of rules on wireline real-time text, the recognition of American Sign Language “as an essential form of communication for people who rely on this as their primary language, including when calling business and government call centers,” and “the need for functional equivalency in telecommunications relay services,” among other items, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-40.
As net neutrality celebrated its 20th birthday, the concept, first proposed by Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu in a 2003 paper, may no longer be relevant, American Enterprise Institute experts blogged Thursday. The internet today “is very different from that in 2003,” wrote Bronwyn Howell, AEI nonresident senior fellow, and Petrus Potgieter, professor in the Department of Decision Sciences at the University of South Africa. “Most significantly, the application base has changed from when ISPs alone monetized internet traffic flows (Phase I),” they wrote: “We are now in Phase III where the bulk of the traffic is of subscription content, for which the end-user pays the content provider (for example, Netflix) directly. The ISP delivers traffic to the end-user, the value of which (to the end-user) the ISP cannot fully capture since the end-user has already paid the content provider.” In 2023, traffic volumes are “enormous and growing at a swift rate through increased time spent in front of a networked screen and steadily higher resolution and quality of content,” they said.
The FCC reauthorized its Intergovernmental Advisory Committee and sought nominations by April 7, said a notice in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The IAC’s most recent term expired Nov. 22, the FCC said. Two-year terms on the committee start with the group’s first meeting. Because this committee consists of only state, local and tribal elected officials, it’s not subject to the procedures in the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the agency said.
The American Library Association and the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition asked the FCC to ensure community anchor institutions are included as serviceable locations in the commission's broadband availability maps. The groups met with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Broadband Data Task Force staff and Office of General Counsel staff, per an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 19-195. The "presumption" should be that community anchor institutions in rural areas "purchase mass-market service and should be designated as broadband serviceable locations in the next version of the map’s underlying fabric," the groups said, saying providers should have the ability to "prove otherwise." The current map and broadband serviceable location fabrics "make the inaccurate assumption" that community anchor institutions "purchase custom-tailored broadband service" and aren't classified as serviceable "simply because E-rate program participants are required" to issue an request for proposal for service, the groups said.
The FCC announced Wednesday an in-person workshop on tribal issues on Feb. 27, hosted by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in Solvang, California. The workshop is “designed to provide information that will help Tribal Nations identify and evaluate opportunities to develop more robust broadband infrastructure and services in Tribal communities,” the FCC said: “It is also designed to provide information about the FCC and how it conducts its regulatory responsibilities, and to encourage Tribal participation in the regulatory process.” NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service were invited to participate, the FCC said. The workshop starts at 9 a.m. PST.
NTIA awarded $500,000 to Passamaquoddy at Pleasant Point, Maine, through the tribal broadband connectivity program Tuesday, said a news release. “Our tribal communities badly need better connectivity to thrive in the modern digital economy,” said Administrator Alan Davidson. The grant will "help the more than 240 Native households connect to telehealth, apply for jobs and access educational opportunities.”
NTIA awarded more than $33.5 million in Connecting Minority Communities Pilot program support to 12 minority-serving institutions Monday, said a news release. The Commerce Department is "committed to seeing investments from initiatives like the Connecting Minority Communities program create opportunities for good jobs supported by equitable hiring, fair compensation, safe workplaces, and the tools and training needed for long-term success," said Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves. The grants went to universities in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The Cross-Sector Resiliency Forum updated staff for FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr on their work, after providing a similar update to the Public Safety Bureau last week (see 2301250039). “Recently, over 40 member companies … reconvened to look back at 2022 and review the efforts of communications providers and electric companies to respond to disaster events, including wildfires and hurricanes (Hurricane Ian, in particular), as well as opportunities to enhance our coordination and collaborative efforts in future disaster events,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 11-60.
The Rural Utilities Service wants comments by March 31 in docket RUS-22-Telecom0056 on a final rule updating the ReConnect program's definition of non-funded service area and audit submission requirements, said a notice for Monday's Federal Register. The rule is effective May 1.