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October 2015

FCC Confirms Oct 22 Meeting Agenda

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Thursday, October 22, 2015. Here’s the agenda. The FCC will consider:

  1. A Report and Order and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would adopt comprehensive reform of intrastate, interstate, and international Interstate Inmate Calling (ICS) calls to ensure just, reasonable and fair ICS rates, and seek comment on additional measures the Commission could take to ensure that interstate and intrastate ICS are provided consistent with the statute and public interest.
  2. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would streamline the foreign ownership review process for broadcast licensees and applicants, and standardize the review process for broadcast, common carrier and aeronautical licensees and applicants.
  3. A Report and Order addressing when and in what areas 600 MHz Band wireless licensees will be deemed to “commence operations” for the purposes of establishing when the secondary and unlicensed users must cease operations and vacate the 600 MHz Band in those areas.
  4. A Third Report & Order and First Order on Reconsideration that adopts rules to govern interservice interference between broadcast television stations and wireless licensees in the 600 MHz Band following the incentive auction and sets out protection criteria for television stations and wireless operations in the band.
  5. A Second Order on Reconsideration to provide additional flexibility to broadcasters interested in the incentive auction channel sharing option by clarifying that “back-up” channel sharing agreements are permitted under the rules and providing more time for successful incentive auction bidders to transition to shared facilities after the auction.
  6. A Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on whether to modify, in part, the four-year compensation rate plan for video relay service (VRS) and whether to adopt measures that may enhance the functional equivalence of VRS. In the same item, the Commission will consider an Order to modify, in part, the currently applicable VRS compensation rates pending action on the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
  7. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to create new flexible use service rules in certain bands above 24 GHz to support multiple uses, including mobile wireless.

Altice Files Cablevision Deal With FCC

Altice has officially filed its application with the Federal Communications Commission to buy Cablevision, telling the FCC the deal has no anticompetitive issues, will reduce vertical integration of programming and distribution, and should get expeditious treatment.

The FCC will still have to establish protective orders for how to deal with sensitive information, and set a comment cycle, but the deal is now in front of the commission officially, including the public interest statement. Altice is also trying to buy Suddenlink, a deal it announced in June. The combination of Suddenlink's 1.5 million subs — Altice's first proposed U.S. broadband video play — combined with Cablevision's 3.5 million would make it the fourth largest cable operator in the US.

US Firms Fight Global Cyberweapon Deal

An international effort to prevent cyberweapons from reaching malicious regimes is at risk of coming apart amid objections from US companies who claim it would upend the way they use and sell legitimate spyware.

In the wake of the Arab Spring uprising, the US and 40 other nations decided that virtual weapons should be subject to the same export control rules that have been used on heavy or unconventional weaponry like tanks and chemical weapons. But as the rules are still being written, it appears that cyber arms control is proving even harder than the traditional kind. A central problem: Officials can’t agree on the legal distinction between nefarious computer programs that spy on networks and the software that helps companies avoid hackers. Some believe there is no distinction. The debate has become so tangled that US officials are considering whether to ask the 40 other countries involved—including Russia, France, and the UK—to rework the proposal, potentially delaying its implementation by at least a year.

Can social media change the way lawmakers connect with constituents?

The Congressional Management Foundation released survey results finding that on social media, a relatively small number of comments can grab the attention of lawmakers and their staff.

Less than 30 comments on a lawmaker’s own post on sites like Facebook and Twitter would prompt congressional staff to pay attention, 80 percent of staffers said. The key ingredient in prompting a response? Time. While 54 percent of the staffers said they would review comment posted 6 hours ago, only 23 percent said they would review a comment older than a week. Less than 10 comments would prompt action from 35 percent of the 116 House and Senate staff surveyed, buoyed by lawmakers’ growing use of social media. Twenty-five percent of those surveyed said it didn’t matter how old the comments were, they would still review them, though it’s unclear what action would result. The report’s authors pointed to the power of social media to connect lawmakers more directly with their constituents.

Advertisers admit it: ‘We messed up’ the Web

The Interactive Advertising Bureau, a top trade group for advertisers, is apologizing for having "messed up" the Web.

The systems that allowed marketers to track and target advertisements "have slowed down the public internet and drained more than a few batteries," said Scott Cunningham, senior vice president of technology at the Interactive Advertising Bureau. "We were so clever and so good at it that we over-engineered the capabilities of the plumbing laid down by, well, ourselves." As a result, companies such as Apple, Facebook and Google have developed their own coping mechanisms. Apple offers consumers news content in its Apple News app, bypassing the public Web. Facebook's Instant Articles, which allow publishers to partner with Facebook so their content loads more quickly, follows the same logic. And Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages project tries to strip Web sites of all but their most essential code, enhancing efficiency.

Many of these efforts have frightened publishers and other content companies that rely on advertising for revenue. And now that anxiety appears to be infecting advertisers themselves. In response, IAB says it's launching a LEAN ads program — for Light, Encrypted, Ad-choice supported and Non-invasive. Essentially, what IAB is promising are guidelines for friendlier, more secure advertisements. For beleaguered consumers who are looking for a respite from the barrage of low-quality ads online, this could be a promising first step.

Bipartisan Senate and House Tech Leaders Press Commerce Department, FTC on Need to Protect Data Flows in Wake of European ‘Safe Harbor’ Ruling

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) and Ranking member Bill Nelson (D-FL), House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ), along with 52 members of the Senate and House urged Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez to redouble efforts on finalizing a successor agreement to the now stricken “Safe Harbor” agreement to allow critically important trans-Atlantic data flows invalidated. The letter signers also urged officials to work with their European counterparts to quickly issue interim guidance while negotiations continue.

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