While the American Civil Liberties Union disagrees with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to deny a motion for a preliminary injunction (see 1510290070), the group said all Americans should celebrate that bulk collection of call records ends in a few weeks. The injunction would have barred the government from collecting call records under the phone metadata program, required it to quarantine call records already collected under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, and prohibited it from querying metadata obtained through the program using any phone number or other identifier associated with them. It’s now “up to the district court to address to what extent the government must purge the call records it collected unlawfully,” ACLU attorney Alex Abdo, who argued the case, said in an emailed statement to us. “In the meantime, the government still needs to rein in other overreaching NSA spying programs," he said.
Smartphone shipments in Q3 came in under forecast, due to an iPhone miss and pricey Android models, an IDC report said. Vendors shipped 355.2 million units in Q3, said the preliminary report. Shipments grew 6.8 percent from a year ago to 355.2 million, for the second-highest quarter of shipments on record, IDC said. The 3Q shipments were “slightly below” IDC's previous forecast of 363.8 million units, largely due to “slightly lower than expected iPhone shipments” and flagship Android launches from several top-tier original equipment makers with price points “outside the consumer sweet spot,” it said Wednesday. Apple’s 48 million iPhone shipments (see 1510280033) were short of IDC’s 50.4 million unit forecast, analyst Ryan Reith told us. Consumers are becoming more aware of “alternative buying options” when buying a smartphone, Reith said. In Q3, vendors tried to “outclass each other in both features and design," leading to "fierce competition" at the high end as companies try to challenge market leaders Samsung and Apple, analyst Anthony Scarsella said. IDC expects the bulk of volume and growth to come from low-end to midrange phones, particularly in emerging markets, he said.
Smartphone shipments in Q3 came in under forecast, due to an iPhone miss and pricey Android models, an IDC report said. Vendors shipped 355.2 million units in Q3, said the preliminary report. Shipments grew 6.8 percent from a year ago to 355.2 million, for the second-highest quarter of shipments on record, IDC said. The 3Q shipments were “slightly below” IDC's previous forecast of 363.8 million units, largely due to “slightly lower than expected iPhone shipments” and flagship Android launches from several top-tier original equipment makers with price points “outside the consumer sweet spot,” it said Wednesday. Apple’s 48 million iPhone shipments (see 1510280033) were short of IDC’s 50.4 million unit forecast, analyst Ryan Reith told us. Consumers are becoming more aware of “alternative buying options” when buying a smartphone, Reith said. In Q3, vendors tried to “outclass each other in both features and design," leading to "fierce competition" at the high end as companies try to challenge market leaders Samsung and Apple, analyst Anthony Scarsella said. IDC expects the bulk of volume and growth to come from low-end to midrange phones, particularly in emerging markets, he said.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday denied a motion for a preliminary injunction brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation. The groups asked the 2nd Circuit to bar the government from collecting call records under the phone metadata program, to require the government to quarantine call records already collected under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, and to prohibit the government from querying metadata obtained through the program using any phone number or other identifier associated with them. The opinion said that the “appellants’ claims are not moot at this time, we decline to disturb the decision by Congress to provide for a 180-day transition period to put an orderly end to the telephone metadata program.” The court remanded the case, ACLU v. Clapper to district court. Congress’ Nov. 29 shut-off deadline “should be respected” since it “balanced privacy and national security by providing for a 180-day transition period” in the USA Freedom Act, said Judge Gerard Lynch in the 2nd Circuit’s ruling. “Its intent in passing the Freedom Act was clear.”
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday denied a motion for a preliminary injunction brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation. The groups asked the 2nd Circuit to bar the government from collecting call records under the phone metadata program, to require the government to quarantine call records already collected under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, and to prohibit the government from querying metadata obtained through the program using any phone number or other identifier associated with them. The opinion said that the “appellants’ claims are not moot at this time, we decline to disturb the decision by Congress to provide for a 180-day transition period to put an orderly end to the telephone metadata program.” The court remanded the case, ACLU v. Clapper to district court. Congress’ Nov. 29 shut-off deadline “should be respected” since it “balanced privacy and national security by providing for a 180-day transition period” in the USA Freedom Act, said Judge Gerard Lynch in the 2nd Circuit’s ruling. “Its intent in passing the Freedom Act was clear.”
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website Oct. 28, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at http://adcvd.cbp.dhs.gov/adcvdweb
Smartphone shipments in Q3 came in under forecast, due to an iPhone miss and pricey Android models, an IDC report said Wednesday. Smartphone vendors shipped 355.2 million units in Q3, IDC’s preliminary report said.
AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier and Verizon asked the FCC to modify special-access rulemaking protective orders to allow parties to use confidential industry data from that proceeding in the Wireline Bureau’s recently opened tariff investigation into ILEC contract terms and conditions. Meanwhile, Fred Campbell, executive director of the Center for Boundless Innovation in Technology, suggested FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had opened the bureau tariff investigation to gain more control over the special-access process than in the commission-level rulemaking. But an FCC spokesman said the commission would have to vote on the bureau investigation to act. In opening the tariff probe, the bureau used the data "to draw preliminary conclusions related to this investigation,” the four large incumbent telcos said in a motion posted Monday in docket 05-25. But they said the protective order terms prevent parties from using the rulemaking data in the tariff investigation despite the data likely including "relevant information about the state of competition" and the relationships to ILEC contract terms. “These data are therefore necessary to the ILECs’ defense in the tariff investigation, and the Commission should accordingly modify the protective orders,” the four incumbent telcos said. ILEC critics Incompas and Sprint didn't comment. In a Forbes commentary, Campbell said, “The FCC claims ‘a more systematic inquiry’ into telephone companies’ pricing plans is necessary to determine their reasonableness. But the FCC’s framework for this tariff investigation is so sloppy and unsystematic that the outcome appears to have been predetermined.” Instead of examining all the issues in one proceeding, Campbell said, the use of a tariff investigation gives Wheeler “the power to exercise unilateral control over the FCC’s approach to regulating special access” while “obscuring the agency’s discriminatory approach to such regulation.” Campbell said the rulemaking will require a commission majority to adopt an order, but the bureau “has delegated authority to issue orders involving tariffs, and the chairman controls” the bureau. Wheeler's authority to act unilaterally on telco tariffs "gives him leverage to control the outcome of the broader rulemaking,” Campbell said. The FCC spokesman said the bureau won't decide the investigation and pointed us to the first paragraph of the order, which said the bureau "intends to gather sufficient information to enable the full Commission to decide whether and how to resolve these allegations." In response, Campbell said intent was not the same as a binding order. "If they’re absolutely going to stand behind a commission-level vote 100 percent, OK, but until there’s something unequivocal to that effect, I don’t think it changes my analysis at all,” he told us.
The documents the FCC is poring over in its review of Charter Communications buying Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable give snapshots of everything from interconnection policies to plans of a number of ISPs and cable companies. The released versions of the filings in docket 14-159 -- in response to Media Bureau document requests (see 1510130063) -- are in most cases heavily redacted. However, they illuminate some video and broadband strategic directions and policies.
The documents the FCC is poring over in its review of Charter Communications buying Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable give snapshots of everything from interconnection policies to plans of a number of ISPs and cable companies. The released versions of the filings in docket 14-159 -- in response to Media Bureau document requests (see 1510130063) -- are in most cases heavily redacted. However, they illuminate some video and broadband strategic directions and policies.