Federal and state regulators should “make a goal-line stand” and block Comcast 's planned buy of Time Warner Cable, said the Sports Fan Coalition in a news release Tuesday. The coalition opposes the deal because both companies have a track record “of acquiring and hoarding the rights to sports programming, and then restricting fans' access to telecasts of local teams,” said the group. The deal would give Comcast “the leverage and incentive” to restrict the availability of over-the-top programming from competitors, said the group. "The facts and economics clearly show that this proposed merger would empower Comcast to engage in even more of the anticompetitive behavior sports fans have faced in markets throughout the country," said coalition Chairman David Goodfriend. The Department of Justice is giving close scrutiny to the deal (see 1504200049).
While 82.5 percent of homes with school-age children have broadband access, 5 million such households don't, Pew Research Center said in a report released Monday. “Low-income households -- and especially black and Hispanic ones -- make up a disproportionate share of that 5 million,” Pew said. “Roughly one-third (31.4 percent) of households whose incomes fall below $50,000 and with children ages 6 to 17 do not have a high-speed internet connection at home.” FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel flagged the report in a statement released Monday. “There was a time when doing basic schoolwork required no more than a little bit of quiet, a clear workspace, and a pencil,” she said. "No more. Today, 7 in 10 teachers assign homework that requires Internet access. Kids may be connected in the classroom, but if they are disconnected at home getting basic schoolwork done is hard.”
The FTC will host a workshop on competition, consumer protection and economic issues “raised by the proliferation of online and mobile peer-to-peer business platforms in certain sectors of the economy” on June 9, the FTC said in a news release Friday. “We are seeing a dramatic growth in products and services that are built on peer-to-peer platforms, such as ride-sharing and property rentals, as more entrepreneurs harness the power of technology to reach more consumers,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said. “Through our workshop, we want to better understand the competitive impact of these new business models, as well as their interactions with existing regulatory frameworks.” The FTC is seeking public comment in advance of and after the workshop on questions such as how state and local regulators can meet legitimate regulatory goals; how sharing economy platforms affect competition, innovation, consumer choice and platform participants; what consumer protection issues, including privacy and data security issues, are raised by these platforms; what particular concerns and issues sharing economy transactions raise; and how effective are reputation systems in encouraging consumers and suppliers to do business on sharing economy platforms. Comments intended for discussion at the workshop will be accepted by May 26. Comments for the record will be held open until Aug. 4.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he expected the “big dogs” to appeal the commission’s net neutrality order. It is “no surprise,” he said, during the press conference following the Friday FCC meeting. Allegations in the legal challenges that the FCC violated federal process also are no surprise, Wheeler said. “We feel very confident on both the processes that were followed and the conclusions that were reached,” he said. Wheeler also announced Friday that Gigi Sohn, who was a key player on net neutrality, is now counselor to the chairman. “Ms. Sohn will serve as the Chairman’s representative at a variety of public forums across the country,” the FCC said. “She will also continue her role as an advisor to the Chairman and a principal contact for third-party stakeholders in the Office of the Chairman.” Sohn was CEO of Public Knowledge 2001-2013. Also joining the chairman’s office is Emmaka Porchea-Veneszee, as special and confidential assistant. She was formerly executive assistant to the executive director of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board. Wheeler was on that board before becoming chairman of the FCC.
Time Warner Cable inadvertently submitted erroneous broadband speed data in several of its submissions to the FCC in connection with the Comcast/TWC transaction, TWC said in a letter posted online in docket 14-57 Thursday. The error affected data for some residential areas that were upgraded to TWC's higher-speed Maxx broadband offering in 2014, TWC said. “Legacy bandwidth tags in TWC’s billing database needed to be translated to accurately reflect upgraded speeds, but that translation inadvertently was not performed when TWC extracted data in preparing its responses,” TWC said. That caused the data submitted by TWC to understate the number of broadband connections “at certain speed thresholds,” TWC said. TWC submitted corrected data in a redacted attachment, the letter said.
The Wireless ISP Association and other groups and companies asked the FCC to extend by six months the deadlines for Part 15 devices in the 5725-5850 MHz band to meet new equipment certification requirements and marketing restrictions. “The Joint Petitioners believe that a brief six-month extension will enable the Commission, other federal agencies and commercial interests to consider the Joint Petitioners’ recent consensus proposal to amend Section 15.407 to help compensate for the elimination of the less-restrictive out-of-band emission requirements in Section 15.247, without increasing the potential for harmful interference to Terminal Doppler Weather Radar facilities,” said a petition for waiver, posted by the FCC Wednesday in docket 13-49. Petitioners include makers of 5 GHz point-to-multipoint and point-to-point equipment, WISPs and critical infrastructure providers, the petition said. Industry faces an initial June 2 deadline. “The Joint Petitioners strongly believe that the Consensus Proposal will promote the public interest by allowing consumers to continue to obtain robust fixed wireless service and by enabling critical infrastructure companies to continue to deliver existing services,” the filing said. Also signing off on the petition were Alcatel-Lucent, the American Petroleum Institute, Cambium Networks, Fastback Networks, Jab Wireless, Mimosa Networks and Zebra Technologies.
The Wi-Fi Alliance asked the FCC to “maximize” use of the TV spectrum for unlicensed operations as it finalizes rules for the TV incentive auction. The alliance said in a filing the FCC’s record demonstrates broad recognition of the importance of unlicensed spectrum. “Overly conservative requests to protect particular services, beyond what is necessary to reasonably guard against harmful interference, should not defeat the opportunity to create additional critical capacity for unlicensed applications,” the group said. There's disagreement about the protection licensed wireless services require from adjacent unlicensed devices, the group said. “On one side, V-COMM suggests that an out-of-band emission limit of -89 dBm/100 kHz into 600 MHz downlink spectrum and a 5 megahertz buffer is required for white space devices operating at the permitted 40 mW power level,” the alliance said. “These limitations would effectively eliminate the ability for white space devices to use the guard bands and duplex gap.” The filing was posted by the FCC Wednesday in docket 12-268. Also in the docket, representatives of wireless mic maker Shure said the company “reaffirmed” support for the FCC’s proposal to authorize wireless microphone operations in the 600 MHz duplex gap and guard bands, in a meeting with FCC officials. “Shure reemphasized that the duplex gap and guard bands would provide urgently needed spectrum for wireless microphone users given the looming repurposing of the broader 600 MHz Band,” Shure said.
The FTC took several actions to preserve competition in the technology sector and protect consumers from companies that misrepresent security features and privacy policies, and from mobile phone companies that engage in cramming, throttling and have hidden in-app charges, said the FTC’s 2014 Annual Highlights Report released Wednesday by Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. The FTC filed eight amicus briefs on issues including children’s online privacy and held 16 workshops and conferences on issues including big data and mobile device tracking, an FTC news release said. “With over 150 law enforcement actions taken and $640 million in consumer redress ordered, we marked the FTC’s centennial year with vigorous efforts to protect consumers and promote competition in a dynamic and continuously evolving marketplace,” Ramirez said.
The FTC has taken action and obtained settlements in more than 50 cases against businesses charged with failing to provide reasonable protections for consumer data, or misrepresenting the protections they provide, FTC Commissioner Julie Brill said Wednesday in testimony on IRS impersonation scams and identity theft before the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Brill talked about how the agency “collects, manages, and analyzes identity theft complaints in order to target its education efforts and assist criminal law enforcement authorities.” The FTC also “reaches out to businesses by distributing ... guides for data security and developing data security guidance for specific industries,” Brill said. The commission will “soon provide more guidance for businesses as part of its Start with Security initiative,” Brill said, which includes road shows, webinars and updating business guidance on data security. The “FTC develops data security guidance for specific industries,” Brill said, such as specific guidance for mobile app developers. Business guidance materials are also available on specific topics such as peer-to-peer file sharing programs and companies’ obligations to protect consumer and employee information, Brill said. The FTC “recently released guidance about ways to provide data security for Internet of Things devices, which includes tips such as designing products with authentication in mind and protecting the interfaces between devices connected to the Internet,” Brill said. In response to the President’s Executive Order last year on "Improving the Security of Consumer Financial Transactions," the “FTC is developing and implementing a plan to make the recovery process for identity theft victims quicker and less burdensome,” Brill said. The agency will unveil a new IdentityTheft.gov in the coming weeks, she said.
Free State Foundation President Randolph May urged Congress to hold hearings exploring ways to improve the U.S. Copyright Office, noting the March 31 GAO report on the Library of Congress's IT program, which GAO said needed a “clear direction.” The GAO also said the Library needed to “expeditiously” hire a chief information officer. Copyright stakeholders have used the Library's IT woes as a reason for removing the Copyright Office from its purview (see 1503310046). “The reality is that there appears to be much room for improvement in the functioning of the Copyright Office, especially with respect to implementing digital technologies,” May said in a Tuesday blog post. “In today's digital environment, there is no reason why the office's registration and recording functions -- the guts of a working copyright system -- should not employ up-to-date digital technologies in order to maximize efficiency and effectiveness. It may also be the case that the CO needs more personnel and funds in order to do its job.” Hearings on the Copyright Office should also focus on personnel resources, budget requirements and the overall location of the Copyright Office within the federal government, May said.