John Eggerton

House Commerce Ranking Member Walden: Time For Serious Debate About Breaking Up Edge

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) said that the goal of new internet regulation, which he says he generally supports, should be to prevent bad behavior by Internet service providers, not to re-enshrine the Title II telecommunication definition suited to monopoly telephone companies.

Assistant AG Delrahim, Commissioner O'Rielly Spar Over Roles in Antitrust Reviews

Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim and Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O'Rielly offered different perspectives on how the government should treat antitrust cases - especially in the media industry. Delrahim suggested that courts should "bifurcate trials," with one segment evaluating the transaction and another phase offering a remedy.

FCC Resolves White Spaces Issues

In a report and order adopted March 20, the Federal Communications Commission has sent the signal that allowing the so-called white spaces between TV channels to be used for fixed and mobile wireless devices are ready for prime time.

FCC Chairman Pai reflects on an impactful — and contentious — two years at the helm

A Q&A with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai.

T-Mobile's Legere: No Huawei Tech Going in 5G Net, Period

T-Mobile CEO John Legere told the House Judiciary Committee that his network does not now include technology from Chinese Telecom Huawei, that a new T-Mobile-Sprint 5G network would not contain such tech, and that he would even help others try to clear their networks of the technology. That was just one of many pledges he was making to help sell lawmakers on his plan to buy Sprint.

Internet Overbuilding Gets Rural Accent at Senate Hearing

The issue of overbuilding got a lot of attention in a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing on "The Impact[s] of Broadband Investments in Rural America." Overbuilding existing commercial service with government money has long been one of Internet service providers biggest issues with how government broadband subisidies are administered. Subcommittee Chairman John thune (R-SD) said with both the US Dept of Agricutlure and Federal Communications Commission providing broadband funding, he could see how the money could be "inadvertently used" to overbuild. He asked whether Congress should

Senate Judiciary Vets Privacy Protection Legislation Contours at Hearing

Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feintsein (D-CA) made it clear that her state's tough privacy legislation will have to be the floor for any federal privacy legislation. The hearing was on that California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as well as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation adopted by the European Union. Sen Feinstein suggested the California bill should be even tougher, make more privacy control decisions opt in, rather than the opt out in which CCPA is based.

'Net Neutrality' Remain Fighting Words at House Legislative Hearing

The House Communications Subcommittee held a hearing on the Save the Internet Act, which Democrats introduced recently in the House and Senate. But, the partisan bickering showed the net neutraltiy fight will continue regardless of the talk from both sides about the bipartisan agreement that Congress needs to step in to clarify government internet oversight. Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) warned Republicans at the outset that the new bill was what they were dealing with at the hearing, and that they could take up other topics at another time.

For AT&T and DirecTV Now, the Jig Is Up; Will Other vMVPDs Soon Cave, Too?

“This is for the first time 100-plus premium channels—not the junk nobody wants—purely over the top, a mobile-centric platform, for $35 a month.” And soon, it might be the last time. This was AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson describing the promise of DirecTV Now just 27 months ago, as the company launched what would become one of the video business’ fastest growing subscription over-the-top products.

Lawmakers introduce bipartisan bill for Internet of Things security standards

The Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2019, a bipartisan, bicameral bill introduced March 11, would require the government to make sure that any devices it purchases meet minimum security requirements.

Rep Brindisi (D-NY) Introduces FCC Reporting Bill, Slams Cable Broadband Providers on House Floor

Rep Anthony Brindisi (D-NY) has introduced the Transparency for Cable Consumers Act to make operators that have been fined by state public service commissions to have to report back to the Federal Communications Commission.

Love Triangle-Plus Results in Court Victory for Data Privacy

In a tail of not one but two affairs and emails between the philandering parties has come a victory for data privacy, a federal appeals court has ruled that “previously opened and delivered emails” stored 'in a web-based email client' are protected 'electronic storage' for purposes of the Stored Communications Act.

A Federal Data Privacy Framework?

The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing a federal data privacy law -- and displayed the same political divide that appeared in a House hearing earlier in the week. Republicans and industry witnesses warned against a "patchwork" of potentially conflicting state privacy regimes, perhaps most notably the California privacy law that takes effect in 2020. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) and various witnesses from the telecommunications and computer industries talked throughout about needing strong federal regulation, addressing concern that stronger state regulations

House Privacy Hearing Shows Representatives United on Privacy, Divided on Details

The House Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing on privacy showcased both the bipartisan call for federal legislation and the reason a bipartisan bill will be no slam dunk. Republican representatives talked about privacy, but also about the need to protect small businesses, the targeted-ad based internet economy, and talked up the wisdom of preempting state attempts to regulate privacy that veer into the feds lane.

GOP House Commerce Leaders Praise FCC Broadband Deployment Report

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) and Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-OH) agreed with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai that the FCC's latest Sec. 706 broadband deployment report shows "significant progress" in closing the digital divide. "This report shows that the FCC’s efforts to reduce regulatory burdens are helping more Americans gain access to broadband and bringing us closer to finally closing the digital divide,” Ranking Member Walden said.

NCTA Pitches FCC on 3-Step Method for Improved Broadband Mapping

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association has proposed a three-step method for improving the broadband availability data the Federal Communications Commission uses to direct Universal Service Fund subsidy money:

  1. Polygon shapefiles, instead of proposed address-based reporting, could be achieved  as early as 2020.
  2. FCC to use crowdsourcing to backstop the reported data
  3. Focus on pinpointing unserved areas, which the shapefiles will help do. 

 

GOP House Commerce Leaders Urge Bipartisan Engagement on Net Neutrality Bills

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-OH), and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Ranking Member Cath McMorris Rogers (R-WA) wrote to Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) to engage on three network neutrality bills the Republican Reps have offered up, describing them as a "menu of options to get started" on a "bipartisan solution." 

Congress Directs FCC to Review TV Market Modification Petitions

The recently passed 2019 Appropriations bill (the bill that avoided a second government shutdown) was a massive tome that included directing the Federal Communications Commission to provide a "full analysis" of its treatment of market modification petitions. Those are petitions by broadcasters or satellite operators or county officials to modify a market so that satellite viewers in a Nielsen market that crosses state lines can get local news and sports from TV stations from another Nielsen market in their own state instead.

House Communications Subcommittee Gets Wildy Divergent Views of T-Mobile-Sprint Impact

The major takeway from the House Communications Subcommittee hearing on the proposed T-Mobile-Sprint merger was that regulators are having to reconcile wildly divergent views of the impact of the deal. According to the various witnesses at the hearing on the deal:

American Cable Association: USF Needs Public Interest Fixes

The American Cable Association said a number of the Federal Communications Commission legacy regulations "frustrate the public interest by imposing anti-competitive burdens on smaller operators." That came in comments to the FCC on its latest biennial review of telecom regulations, which it is charged with reviewing and modifying or jettison ones that are not, or no longer, in the public interest. ACA is particularly focused on the regulations on implementing the Universal Service Fund.

House Republicans Offer a Trio of Net Neutrality Bills

Republicans signaled that they are offering up at least three versions of legislation that would reimpose network neutrality rules, but without doing so under Title II common carrier regulations they argue are a relic of the monopoly phone days. Democrats weren't jumping to embrace the bills while activist groups said those legislative efforts were, at best, woefully lacking and at worst fake efforts promoted by broadband industry lobbyist "shills." The bills are the Open Internet Act of 2019, introduced by Rep.

Senate Commerce Committee Hearing on 5G Network Security

The Senate Commerce Committee drilled down on the 5G rollout in a hearing titled "Winning the Race to 5G and the Next Era of Technology Innovation in the United States." It was the first hearing of the committee in the 116th Congress, and the shadow of Chinese tech in US telecom loomed large over the proceedings.

Former FCC Chairman Wheeler, Powell to Testify at Feb 7 Net Neutrality Hearing

Former Federal Communications Commission Chairmen Tom Wheeler and Michael Powell will be among the high-profile witnesses at the Feb 7 House Communications Subcommittee hearing on network neutrality. Others testifying include:

  • Jessica González, deputy director and senior counsel, Free Press & Free Press Action Fund
  • Denelle Dixon, COO, Mozilla
  • Ruth Livier, actress, writer, and UCLA doctoral student.

 

FCC Commissioner Carr Discusses 5G at State of the Net

At State of the Net, much of Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr's speech focused on 5G and on the "real challenge" from China, which he said has deployed 5G at five times the pace of the US -- a timely comment in the midst of the Huawei controversy. He stopped short of promising special consideration for US 5G projects, but he cautioned against establishing policy barriers. "I want to let the private sector compete" without restraints from local government agencies, on topics such as tower deployment, he said.