An Ohio court can and should call Google Search a common carrier, the state argued Friday. "Ohio common carrier law needs no expansion … Google Search meets each and every criterion with no need to resort to the creative interpretation that Google proposes." In a separate opposition brief, Google protested that it’s nothing like a common carrier: "Google is not a 'dumb pipe' or 'mere conduit.' Ohio and Google responded to each other’s January cross-motions for summary judgment in case 21-CV-H-06-0274 at the Ohio Court of Common Pleas, Delaware County (see 2401260074). Reply briefs are due March 15 and trial is set for Sept. 3 under the court’s schedule. Judge James Schuck refused to dismiss Ohio’s lawsuit in May 2022, ruling that Ohio “stated a cognizable claim” that Google could be a common carrier (see 2205260057). The Ohio Chamber of Commerce supported the company in a Thursday amicus brief, arguing that Ohio’s attempt to regulate the search company would be “anti-business.” Concerns about how a big tech company participates in public discourse "provide no basis for making a novel exception to well-established common carrier tenets,” wrote the chamber.
Notable CROSS rulings
The Ohio Public Utilities Commission revised retail telecom service rules as part of a five-year review. All four commissioners supported the Ohio PUC order Wednesday. Staff had proposed nonsubstantive changes clarifying language and updating cross-references (see 2311010060).
NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson and FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez used speaking slots at the State of the Net conference Monday to press Congress to allocate additional money for the commission’s affordable connectivity program. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, also at the conference, urged that the commission investigate Apple’s purported blocking of cross-platform messaging service Beeper Mini “to see if it complies” with the agency’s Part 14 accessibility rules under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act.
The FTC will coordinate with Asia Pacific law enforcement partners on privacy and data security-related investigations, the agency said Wednesday as it signed the Global Cooperation Arrangement for Privacy Enforcement (Global Cape). The agreement supplements the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross-border Privacy Rules (APEC CBPR), which “facilitates cooperation and assistance in privacy and data security investigations among APEC’s Asian Pacific countries,” the FTC said. The new agreement allows coordination with countries outside the immediate region, it said. Nine countries have signed the APEC CBPR: U.S., Mexico, Japan, Canada, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Chinese Taipei and the Philippines.
The Insurance Marketing Coalition is seeking a review by the 11th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court of the FCC’s Dec. 18 order implementing rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to target and eliminate illegal robotexts (see 2312190032), said IMC’s petition Thursday (docket 23-14125). The order exceeds the FCC’s statutory authority and was adopted “without observance of procedure required by law,” said the petition. IMC wants the 11th Circuit to vacate the order, which imposes several measures, including codifying that the national do not call registry’s protections apply to unlawful text messages. IMC is filing a "protective" petition for review now "out of an abundance of caution," it said. It will file a second petition for review when the order is published in the Federal Register, it said. In an unrelated Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rulemaking earlier this year, IMC described itself as representing a cross-section of insurance industry stakeholders, “promoting compliant best practices in insurance marketing and services.” Covington & Burling represents IMC in its 11th Circuit petition for review.
EU privacy law doesn't need tweaking at present, the European Data Protection Board said in response to a European Commission report on how well the general data protection regulation (GDPR) is working. Following its Dec. 15 plenary, the board said it "considers that the application of the GDPR in the first 5 and a half years has been successful. While a number of important challenges lie ahead, the EDPB considers it premature to revise the GDPR at this point in time." It urged the European Parliament and Council to quickly approve procedural rules relating to cross-border enforcement of the measure. Moreover, it said, national data protection authorities and the board need sufficient resources to continue carrying out their duties. The EDPB said it's convinced that existing tools in the GDPR will lead to a "common data protection culture" if they're used in a harmonized way. In a Q&A with Communications Daily, European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiorowski said he expects discussions about changes to the GDPR to begin in 2025 to deal with AI, among other items (see 2312010002).
The Cross-Sector Resiliency Forum, formed after Hurricane Michael in 2018, is proving useful as a liaison between the power and communications industries, but it's probably best left alone as a voluntary effort, without formal FCC rules, speakers said Wednesday during an FCBA Homeland Security and Emergency Communications Committee lunch. During an FCC forum last year on lessons learned during disasters, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called for greater coordination between communications providers and power companies (see 2211170079).
Early-termination fees for canceling cable or direct broadcast satellite service are joining "all-in" video service pricing in the FCC's cross-hairs for elimination with an NPRM on the agency's December agenda, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Tuesday. Also on tap for the Dec. 13 meeting are further efforts to crack down on robotexts, an area that could prove controversial and an update to data breach notification rules. In her note, Rosenworcel wrote the agenda would also include an NPRM about requiring smartphone compatibility with hearing aides, an order implementing provisions from the 2023 Low Power Protection Act to create a window to allow some LPTV stations to transition to Class A status, rules aimed at streamlining the approval process for pole attachment applications and administrative improvement to the Rural Health Care Program.
ARRL sought a waiver of the FCC’s Part 97 rules to allow cross-band communications with stations authorized to use federal government frequencies, during an event commemorating the Pearl Harbor attack. “Tests such as those proposed provide opportunities to train operators and test two-way communications capabilities between military communicators and radio stations in the Amateur Radio Service,” said a filing posted Monday: “Such tests challenge the operators to demonstrate individual technical skills in a controlled exercise scenario.”
The Biden administration withdrew its support for World Trade Organization provisions on cross-border data flows and data localization to allow flexibility for domestic policy debate, an Office of U.S. Trade Representative spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday. USTR responded after nearly 50 organizations on Tuesday asked the White House to reverse its decision to withdraw support for WTO provisions on cross-border data flows, data localization and source code. Many countries are “examining” approaches to data and source code and the impact of trade rules, said USTR: “In order to provide enough policy space for those debates to unfold, the United States has removed its support for proposals that might prejudice or hinder those domestic policy considerations. The [Joint Initiative on E-Commerce] continues to be an important initiative and the United States intends to remain an active participant in those talks.” Groups including CTA, CTIA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, TechNet, BSA|The Software Alliance, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and the Entertainment Software Association said Tuesday they have “profound concern” about U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai withdrawing support for “disciplines that protect cross-border data flows; prohibit data localization mandates; preclude discrimination against American made digital products; and safeguard sensitive source code from forced disclosure mandates that enable malicious cyberactivity.” These “core disciplines” advance U.S. innovation and competitiveness, they said. This “sudden and perplexing decision of USTR to abandon its global leadership by pulling back from negotiating key digital rules at the WTO must be revisited,” CCIA Vice President-Digital Trade Jonathan McHale said in a statement.