The FCC pushed back comment deadlines in its broadband deployment inquiry to Sept. 15 and Sept. 30, the Wireline Bureau said in an order issued Thursday in docket 15-191. The bureau wants to ensure the public has "sufficient time to respond to the numerous and complex issues" raised in a notice of inquiry the FCC recently adopted and released (see 1508060049 and 1508100054). Under Section 706 of the Telecom Act, the commission must determine if advanced telecom capability is being rolled out to all Americans in a reasonable and timely way, and if it's not, take immediate actions to remove barriers to deployment.

A U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles vacated a hearing scheduled for Monday (see 1508130050) in Human Rights Watch's case against the Drug Enforcement Administration claiming the DEA illegally collected the group's international phone call records, a notice issued Thursday evening said. The DEA asked the court to dismiss the case because the data collection was stopped and the database holding the information has "been purged of the collected data," the agency's motion said. Judge Philip Gutierrez said in the notice that the DEA's motion to dismiss will be considered based on submitted pleadings and that no appearance by counsel is necessary.

Payments are to be made from the Telecom Relay Service Fund to Sprint for provision of Web CapTel service, an IP-captioned telephone service, from Jan. 1, 2014, to the present, the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said Friday. "The compensation at issue was withheld by the TRS Fund administrator, Rolka Loube, pending a determination as to whether the service was provided in compliance with the Commission’s emergency call handling requirements," the order said. "We find that there is no valid basis for a finding of noncompliance, and thus, direct Rolka Loube to release all compensation withheld and otherwise owed for the period specified." The bureau directed Sprint to provide Rolka Loube with calling information during the specified period, if it hasn't already done so, to allow for proper payments.

Both sides sought more time to file briefs in Neustar's challenge to an FCC order giving Telcordia conditional rights to the next local number portability administrator (LNPA) contract (Neustar v. FCC, No. 15-1080). Neustar (the incumbent LNPA), the FCC and the Department of Justice filed a joint motion Thursday asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to move back briefing deadlines by a week to two weeks to accommodate "competing work demands." They said that intervenors CTIA, Telcordia and USTelecom, which back the FCC, consented to the motion. Under the proposed new schedule, Neustar's brief would be due Sept. 21, the FCC/DOJ brief would be due Oct. 28, intervenors' brief would be due Nov. 12, Neustar's reply brief would be due Nov. 25 and final briefs incorporating an index would be due Dec. 17. The D.C. Circuit recently set the current schedule (see 1508050023).

The Electronic Frontier Foundation plans to urge a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Monday to allow Human Rights Watch (HRW) to proceed with a lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration, EFF said in a news release Thursday. HRW, represented by Mark Rumold, EFF staff attorney, is pursuing a lawsuit against the DEA for its collection of records of the group's phone calls to particular foreign countries. The DEA has asked the court to dismiss the case because the phone record collection program is over, the release said. The hearing will be Monday at 1:30 p.m., EFF said.

Qualcomm Global Trading, a Qualcomm subsidiary, completed its acquisition of semiconductor and software provider CSR, the company said in a news release Thursday. The $2.4 billion acquisition will complement Qualcomm's current offerings by adding products and customers in the Internet of Everything and automotive sectors, it said.

Former MIT and Harvard students are releasing One-Touch-911 to act as a data pipeline from any connected device to first responders as a part of the RapidSOS project that was originally developed to revolutionize emergency medical services, said a news release from the new company. RapidSOS is a technology platform that predicts emergencies before they occur, dynamically warns people in harm’s way, and ensures that first responders are always accessible. The One-Touch-911 system interfaces with dispatch centers in more than 135 countries -- transmitting data from a user’s phone directly to dispatchers in an emergency, the release said. The project received $5 million in financing from Highland Capital Partners, it said.

The FCC NPRM proposing to end a requirement that importers of radio frequency devices file certifications with Customs and Border Protection that their imports meet FCC import requirements (see 1412310022) appeared in Thursday's Federal Register. Comments are due Sept. 8, replies Sept. 21 in docket 15-170. The proposal would junk a requirement that importers file information associated with FCC Form 740 with CBP for RF devices imported into the U.S. The item was approved last month, a step toward implementing the E-Label Act (see 1507210072) and described as a way to ease the way for more IoT devices.

The FCC announced a $2.96 million fine against Tampa-based Travel Club Marketing for making or initiating at least 185 unsolicited, prerecorded robocalls to more than 142 consumers, a news release said Tuesday. Those consumers hadn't consented to the robocalls and the majority of them had placed their phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, the FCC said. This is the largest forfeiture order the commission has issued for robocalling violations. “It is unacceptable to invade consumers’ privacy by bombarding them with unwanted and intrusive robocalls,” Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said. “All companies, and their owners, who thwart the Do-Not-Call list should expect to face severe consequences.”

Harvard Law School professor Larry Lessig, an active voice in tech policy, is weighing a run for the Democratic nomination for president. “Today we've launched a kickstarter-like campaign, to raise the funds necessary to make a run plausible,” Lessig said in a Huffington Post column Tuesday. “If we hit our target of $1 million by Labor Day, then I will give this run every ounce of my energy.” His campaign would prioritize campaign finance overhaul, as he highlights on his 2016 website. “President [Barack] Obama should get Congress to shut down the FCC and similar vestigial regulators,” Lessig proposed in a December 2008 column for Newsweek. He has backed the net neutrality protections of the FCC under Title II of the Communications Act. “Title-II-light is the right regulatory home,” Lessig said in a different Huffington Post piece in February, lauding the White House for its advocacy and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for his interpretation of the statute. “Unlike the old days with utility regulation, the FCC will not regulate rates, or impose tariffs, or undue administrative burdens.”