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.
NTIA, the FCC and other federal agencies have made “substantial progress” toward the goal the administration set in 2010 of making 500 MHz of spectrum available for wireless broadband in 10 years, NTIA said in its Fifth Interim Progress Report, released Tuesday. Between October 2010 and September 2014, NTIA and the FCC recommended or identified for study for potential reallocation up to 589 MHz of spectrum, NTIA said. NTIA highlighted AWS-3 spectrum and the AWS-3 auction, the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band and unlicensed use of 5 GHz spectrum. The report sets out goals for the year ahead, including the evaluation of actual federal spectrum use in five bands covering 960 MHz of spectrum. “In cooperation with the FCC and other stakeholders, NTIA will develop sharing options to accommodate new and innovative broadband applications and devices in the 5 GHz bands,” NTIA said. “With the benefit of public comment, NTIA and the FCC will further refine the definition of the Model City concept to promote innovative spectrum-sharing technologies. The FCC will continue efforts toward making spectrum above 24 GHz available for mobile services.”
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly questioned what he said is a growing practice of calling in guest speakers at agency meetings, in a Friday blog post. O’Rielly doesn’t cite examples. At the FCC February meeting, at which the net neutrality order was approved, Chairman Tom Wheeler invited net neutrality supporters Chad Dickerson, CEO of Etsy, and TV producer Veena Sud, whose show The Killing survived with the help of Netflix, to address the meeting before commissioners started their lengthy discussion (see 1502260043). “I am not convinced that adding guest speakers is beneficial or appropriate,” O’Rielly said. “While witnesses may provide valuable insight into issues the Commission is considering, these presentations come far too late in the process to inform the outcome of an item. Indeed, they fall within a no-mans-land where they are practically too late to be ex partes but technically too early to be congratulatory.” The main propose of inviting witnesses seems to be to “further promote the viewpoint championed in the item about to be adopted,” he said. “The more controversial the item, the more likely we are to receive such presentations.” If speakers are still allowed at meetings, as a matter of fairness they should have to provide their testimony at least 48 hours in advance, O’Rielly said. Currently, no text is provided before the meeting, he said. Witnesses also should be subject to questioning if they join FCC staff at the presentation table, he said. O’Rielly also said he will no longer provide questions that he may ask staff to the various offices bureaus and offices before an item is presented. “I suggest that we can improve the discourse and relevance of an Open Meeting by allowing unscripted questions and answers,” O’Rielly said. “Accordingly, I serve notice that I no longer plan to provide questions to staff in advance of an Open Meeting. I promise that I have no intention of blindsiding or embarrassing staff by asking questions. There should be no gotcha moments.”
Frontier Communications is committed to maintaining and expanding broadband in rural areas if the FCC approves the proposed transfer of Verizon LEC operations in California, Florida and Texas to the company, Frontier and Verizon executives told FCC officials, said an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 10-90. Frontier Executive Vice President-External Affairs Kathleen Abernathy and Verizon’s Kathy Grillo, senior vice president-federal regulatory and legal affairs, and Alan Buzacott, executive director-federal regulatory affairs, met with Daniel Alvarez, aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler, and Deputy Wireline Bureau Chief Carol Mattey April 7, said the filing. Bryan Tramont and Patrick Halley, of Wilkinson Barker, were also at the meeting.
Public Knowledge and 27 other groups and legal scholars sent a letter to the International Trade Commission Friday “opposing a recent decision that the Commission has authority to block internet data transmissions,” a Public Knowledge news release said. The decision giving ITC the authority to “block the importation of copyright- and patent-infringing products extends to an ability to block Internet data transmissions into the United States,” the release said. “By declaring that all digital data transfers are subject to the ITC’s purview, the Commission forces every business, small and large, who exchanges data over the Internet to contemplate the possibility of being brought before the ITC,” said Public Knowledge Director-Patent Reform Project Charles Duan. “Our concern was starkly heightened when we learned last December that the MPAA intends to use this ruling to force Internet Service Providers to perform website blocking,” Duan said. The letter “asks the ITC to rethink its position on blocking Internet content,” Duan said. ITC had no immediate comment.
Following a public comment period, the FTC’s settlement with Focus Education, maker of a children’s computer game that claimed to permanently improve kids' attention spans and memory, was approved, the agency said Thursday. The FTC brought charges against the game maker claiming violations of the FTC Act by making false or unsubstantiated claims about educational benefits the game Jungle Rangers provides children (see 1501200039). The commission voted unanimously in favor of the settlement, which requires Focus Education to cease unsubstantiated claims about its products and services such as claims Jungle Rangers could improve a child’s performance in school, including children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and attention deficit disorder, unless there is scientific evidence backing the claims.
Federated Wireless Chief Technology Officer Kurt Schaubach and others assured FCC officials that a spectrum access system (SAS), a key part of the agency's proposed rules for the 3.5 GHz band, will work. Federated Wireless develops systems to allow more sophisticated sharing of spectrum. “There is tremendous interest in unlocking the value of this spectrum, including among carriers, and moving forward with innovative uses of the band,” the company said in meetings with FCC officials, according to a filing in docket 12-354. The WInnForum, a multistakeholder SAS working group, “is already hard at work addressing the functional and performance requirements for SASs that will achieve the Commission’s goals for the Citizens Band,” the company said. “There should be no doubt that skepticism about how SASs will work, and requests for static PAL licenses, are rooted in the same place -- conventional notions about the value of licensed spectrum.” The skepticism is because the proposed use of the 3.5 GHz band is a “new paradigm,” Federated Wireless said. “The Citizens Band, with SASs, sensing technologies, and spectrum sharing, is not intended to replicate spectrum use as it exists today in licensed bands.” The company also stressed the importance of interoperability of devices designed for the band. Federated Wireless said it hopes “to ensure not only that there is technology neutrality, but also that devices for the band work for all users of the band, and that any technology used in the band will not favor one class of users (e.g., carriers) over all other users of the band.” The FCC is to vote on rules for the band next Friday (see 1503270052).
In response to the FTC’s announcement that it settled with TES Franchising for not complying with safe harbor laws (see 1504070026), TES Project Manager Marissa Ruderman said the company had not complied with the safe harbor laws because information about renewing the safe harbor subscription had been sent to an individual who was no longer with the company. Once Ruderman was notified TES was out of compliance, she said, she contacted safe harbor officials and resolved the issue within a week or two. Ruderman said the settlement with the FTC is not monetary, but rather involves the company acknowledging it missed the deadline to renew its safe harbor subscription and pledging to not let it happen again.
The FCC gave final approval to several hundred licenses purchased in the AWS-3 auction, including many bought by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. “Thanks to the FCC license grants today for AWS-3 spectrum, T-Mobile now has additional bandwidth in key markets that will strengthen our data network even more for our customers,” said T-Mobile Senior Vice President Andy Levin in an emailed statement Wednesday. Levin said T-Mobile’s focus is now on the TV incentive auction: “Now we are on to the next challenge — winning low-band spectrum in the auction next year. That will improve our service to customers everywhere, whether they are deep inside an urban office building or alongside a road in rural America. The next auction will make or break the future of wireless choice.”
NCTA’s proposal to cut Connect America Funds from ILECs that don't meet the new FCC 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload standard (see 1501290043) is “baseless,” Frontier Communications said in reply comments on a notice of inquiry on ways to increase broadband deployment. NCTA had said in initial comments that the funds should be shifted to any broadband provider able to meet the standard (see 1503060064). Frontier called the proposal a “last-minute attack” and said pursuing the change would “severely delay the deployment of broadband to rural areas.” NTCA and the American Cable Association, in replies posted Tuesday in docket 14-126, also urged the agency to enact reforms to curb increasing programming costs. An ACA study took particular aim at “'Cablization’ of the Internet,” in which content providers charge ISPs fees on a per-subscriber basis to permit the broadband providers’ customers to access the content, said ACA's filing. Should “content providers pursue this business model, the effect on broadband deployment will almost certainly be immediate and grave,” ACA said. Among other reforms, the association urged the agency to monitor for “cablization” and address commercially unreasonable actions. Using Telecom Act Section 706 to deal with the costs of programming would not “present the challenges” of using the provision to pre-empt state anti-municipal broadband laws, the cable association said. Making video content available at affordable rates and under reasonable terms and conditions “spurs rural broadband investment,” NTCA said. It urged changes to USF to support smaller rural companies. Frontier noted that CAF Phase II is “specifically targeted to the areas that most need funding.” By requiring only 10 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload speeds for CAF, the agency is recognizing “a tradeoff between the number of households reached and the speeds achieved,” Frontier said.