Reclassifying broadband as a common carrier service under Title II of the Communications Act has extreme, negative implications for the Internet outside the U.S., said Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter in a letter Friday to the FCC. “Specifically, the Title II approach, which could insert the government into the regulation of the broadband Internet more robustly than ever before, could embolden despotic and unfriendly regimes to assume additional powers in their nations,” Spalter said. “There is also a belief among some in the Administration that there is a distinction between internet access and the content and services delivered over the internet, and that leaders in Russia and China, among others, will respect that distinction when they interpret American policy. Even for most Americans, there is no such distinction.”
Security vulnerabilities in hotel Wi-Fi networks are being exploited by hackers to steal people’s passwords and other sensitive information, Carol Kando-Pineda, counsel for the FTC's Consumer & Business Education Division, wrote in a blog post Wednesday. If using a public network is necessary, Kando-Pineda recommended taking precautions such as ensuring personal information or login information is used only on websites that are fully encrypted, using a different password on different websites, logging out once leaving a website, paying attention to Web browser alerts and keeping browser and security software up to date. “If you regularly need to access online accounts through public Wi-Fi networks, you may want to use a virtual private network,” she wrote.
The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association asked the FCC to delay a vote on net neutrality rules, citing the negative economic impact on small ISPs, in a filing in docket 14-28. The FCC is expected to vote on the order at its Feb. 26 meeting, and Wednesday Chairman Tom Wheeler revealed some details (see 1502040055). “WISPA remains concerned that the significant economic impact of any new open Internet regulations has not been given full, fair and appropriate consideration by the Commission,” the group said. “In the absence of any assessment of the impact new rules would have on small businesses, WISPA respectfully asks the Commission to defer action on the Open Internet item.” WISPA said the light touch rules in the FCC’s 2010 order “have stimulated tremendous innovation and growth of broadband adoption and edge services.”
It's “hard to imagine” Comcast's planned buy of Time Warner Cable getting regulatory approval in the current political climate, said BTIG in an email to investors Wednesday. Also that day, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler revealed some details of the draft net neutrality order set for a vote later this month (see 1502040055). Cable ISPs told us they worry about the effects a Title II Communications Act net neutrality regime will have on their broadband businesses (see 1502040054). “A populist groundswell in favor of net neutrality” has brought “a whole new level of scrutiny” to the deal that makes it unlikely regulators will consider it in a favorable light, BTIG said. “The odds are now in favor of the government formally opposing/blocking the Comcast Time Warner Cable transaction -- we put approval odds now at 30 percent, at best,” BTIG said. Predictions that the deal would be approved were partly based on widespread belief that regulators would look at competition in the broadband market at the local level, where the two cable companies don’t compete, the stock analysis firm said. The current political climate makes it more likely that the deal will be looked at in terms of competition on the national level, BTIG said. Comcast’s own filings say that in “63 percent of their footprint post-Time Warner Cable, they were the only consumer choice for 25 Mbps broadband (we suspect even higher now),” BTIG said. “How can the government approve Comcast and Time Warner Cable?” Comcast declined to comment.
The FTC settled a lawsuit against two individuals for alleged involvement in a multi-million dollar international telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted U.S. senior citizens. Defendants Marc Ferry and Robert Barczai allegedly withdrew money from the accounts of seniors without authorization, while claiming to sell fraud protection, legal protection and pharmaceutical benefit services for $187 to $397, the complaint said. As part of the settlement, Ferry and Barczai are barred from using remotely created checks, are required to obtain consumers’ consent before debiting accounts and are prohibited from misrepresenting any goods or services. They also must turn over proceeds from the scheme, which the FTC estimates are around $11 million. “Scammers thought they could cover their tracks by operating across borders, but law enforcement caught up with them,” said Jessica Rich, Consumer Protection Bureau director. “We’ve shut down their scheme of lying to older people and stealing their money.” The settlement announced Tuesday is part of a complaint issued against Ari Tietolman and his associates who “established a network of U.S. and Canadian entities to carry out their scam,” the FTC said.
The FCC has an outstanding staff, but some issues are too big to be handled on "delegated authority" and the should be decided by a vote of the members, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Monday in a blog post. O’Rielly proposed new guidelines for the use of delegated authority. “Over the past few years, it seems more and more work has been delegated and it now appears that there is a renewed effort to push even more of the Commission’s work to its staff,” he wrote. This may be, in part, to speed things along, he said: “While that’s a worthy goal, I stand ready to act quickly on any matters presented to the full Commission.” Among his proposed guidelines is that any commissioner can request that an item be “bumped up” to the full commission for a vote. “In fact, some people already thought this was in the Commission’s rules or customary FCC practice but recent items have proven otherwise,” he said. The FCC should also require that all bureaus notify commissioners 48-hours ahead of taking action on delegated authority, O’Rielly said. Some parts of the FCC follow that, but others provide only 24-hours notice or none at all, he said. “The 48-hour time frame should become standardized across the Commission to allow Commissioners time to decide whether they would like to request an item be decided by the full Commission,” he said. The FCC should also have rules for what can be decided by staff without a vote, he said. “In the past, some controversial issues that were decided on the quick consisted of rough frameworks or outlines (e.g., term sheets),” O’Rielly said. “It cannot be acceptable to punt an item’s entire fate to a bureau. That is no way to operate an agency that has so much impact on the American economy.”
ViaSat again asked the FCC to reverse its summary rejection (see 1501060026) of the company’s application for the rural broadband experiments (RBE) auction and its summary denial of the company’s waiver request, ViaSat said in a reply comment filed in docket 10-90 Monday. The Wireline Bureau denied its application on Dec. 5 and denied 16 other petitions in a Friday order. ViaSat's bid was rejected because it "allegedly did not satisfy the 100 millisecond latency standard," but the company’s application stated that it would fulfill the RBE program requirements, it said. ViaSat said the bureau didn’t conduct the RBE reverse auction in a fair manner by failing to give its application a "hard look" and seeking comment for other waiver requests, but not its own. ViaSat argued against NTCA’s assertion that the company submitted its application improperly and ignored the legal significance of voice telephony service. The FCC declined to comment.
Many broadband innovations could help people get and stay healthier, Chris Gibbons, FCC distinguished scholar in residence, said Friday in an agency blog post. Gibbons highlighted wearables, like watches that track pulse rate and other vital signs. “Beyond medical monitoring, such wearables may also help improve athletic performance, track fitness goals or help prevent dangerous falls in the elderly,” he wrote. Gibbons mentioned “ingestibles,” including smart pills that use wireless technology to help monitor internal reactions to medications. Digital “embeddables” also offer a bright future, he said. “In the future, embeddables may use nanotechnology and be so tiny that doctors would simply ‘inject’ them into our bodies. Some promising applications in this area could help diabetes patients monitor their blood sugar levels reliably and automatically, without the need to prick their fingers or otherwise draw blood.”
Comment is sought on the Alliance of Rural Broadband Applicants’ Jan. 27 petition for a waiver from letter of credit requirements to receive rural broadband experiment funding, the FCC Wireless Bureau said in a public notice Friday in docket 10-90. Oppositions are due Feb. 6, replies Feb. 13. The alliance represents 40 percent of the experiment’s funding and 60 percent of the census blocks to be served, said the waiver request. FCC requirements that applicants maintain a letter of credit for 100 percent of the funding over the course of the 10-year funding period are “extremely burdensome,” the alliance said. It said the 10-year period is “too long for banks.” Because banks require cash collateral equal to 100 percent of the letter of credit, the alliance said the requirement would “tie up much-needed capital” that can't be used for “network build-out, equipment, maintenance, acquisitions or other assets to enhance and expand broadband deployment.”
Craig Brittain, creator of an alleged “revenge porn” website, isanybodydown.com, is banned from publicly sharing nude videos or photographs of people without obtaining consent, as part of a settlement announced Thursday with the FTC. Brittain also agreed to destroy the images and personal contact information he collected for more than 1,000 individuals while he ran the site. “The illegally collected images and information will be deleted, and this individual can never return to the so-called ‘revenge porn’ business,” FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich said. Brittain obtained many of the images by posing as a woman on Craigslist and offering nude photos to women in exchange for nude photos of the women, the agency said. He asked viewers of his site to “anonymously submit nude photos of people,” the FTC complaint said. Photos posted included personal information about the people in the photos such as their full name, town and state, phone number and Facebook profile. Women who discovered their photos and information were posted on the site and contacted Brittain to remove the information were ignored or asked to pay between $200 and $500 for the removal of the images and content, the complaint said. The commission voted unanimously in favor of the proposed consent order. A description of the agreement will be available for comment until March 2.