Court Denies Motion to Delay Oral Arguments in Net Neutrality Challenge

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has denied the FCC’s motion to postpone oral arguments in the challenge to the agency’s Restoring Internet Freedom (RIF) order.  In a previous filing the FCC cited that the lapse in its funding as well as the Department of Justice were the reasons why the arguments should be postponed.  The Court stated that oral argument is still scheduled for February 1, 2019.  The Court’s website states that oral arguments on the calendar for the month of January and February will go on as scheduled in spite of the government shutdown. 

See the Regulatory Mix dated 1/16/19.

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The Regulatory Mix Today: Court Denies Motion to Delay Oral Arguments in Net Neutrality Challenge, US Senator Introduces Privacy Legislation, US Senators Reintroduce Robocall Bill

US Senator Introduces Privacy Legislation

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)  announced the introduction of the  American Data Dissemination (ADD) Act, legislation that would provide a national consumer data privacy law that protects both consumers and the innovative capabilities of the internet economy.  By using the Privacy Act of 1974 as its framework, the bill provides overdue transparency and accountability from the tech industry while ensuring that small businesses and start-ups are still able to innovate and compete in the digital marketplace. 

Specifically, the bill does the following: 

• Not later than 180 days after enactment of the ADD Act, the FTC is required to submit detailed recommendations for privacy requirements that Congress can impose on covered providers. These requirements would be substantially similar to the requirements applicable to agencies under the Privacy Act of 1974.
• Not earlier than one year after the date on which the Commission has submitted detailed recommendations (18 months after enactment), the FTC will publish and submit to the appropriate committees of Congress proposed regulations to impose privacy requirements on covered providers that are substantially similar to the requirements applicable to agencies under the Privacy Act of 1974.
• To ensure Congress acts in a timely manner, if the Congress fails to enact a law based on the recommendations provided by the date that is two years after enactment of this bill, the FTC would promulgate a final rule, not later than 27 months after the date of enactment to impose privacy requirements based on the narrow, congressionally mandated course of action created through this bill.

This bill takes important precautions to ensure that it does not entrench large, incumbent actors in this space. The FTC is required to establish criteria for exempting certain small, newly formed covered providers from the requirements under the regulations, which take into account certain factors including the period of time the provider has been operating, the annual revenue of the provider and the number of individuals about whom the covered provider collects records. It also provides consumers with rights to access and correct records maintained by a covered provider that are not accurate, relevant, timely, or complete as defined by the FTC, and a process for deletion of a record.

US Senators Reintroduce Robocall Bill

Senators John Thune (R SD) and Ed Markey (D MA) announced the reintroduction of their Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act (S. 151). 

“Robocall scams are more than just a nuisance to folks, they’re a shameful tactic to prey on the vulnerable,” said Thune. “The TRACED Act holds those people who participate in robocall scams and intentionally violate telemarketing laws accountable and does more to proactively protect consumers who are potential victims of these bad actors.”

“As Americans continue to suffer an endless stream of harassing spoofed calls and robocalls, the bipartisan TRACED Act will provide every person with a phone much needed relief,” said Markey. “To address the scourge of calls, we need a simple formula: call authentication, blocking, and enforcement, and this legislation achieves all three. I thank Chairman Thune for his continued partnership on this effort, and look forward to seeing this legislation through to its passage.”

Summary of the TRACED Act:

• Broadens the authority of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call on people who intentionally flout telemarketing restrictions.
• Extends the window for the FCC to catch and take civil enforcement action against intentional violations to three years after a robocall is placed. Under current law, the FCC has only one year to do so, and the FCC has told the committee that “even a one-year longer statute of limitations for enforcement” would improve enforcement against willful violators.
• Brings together the Department of Justice, FCC, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Commerce, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other relevant federal agencies, as well as state attorneys general and other non-federal entities to identify and report to Congress on improving deterrence and criminal prosecution at the federal and state level of robocall scams.
• Requires voice service providers to adopt call authentication technologies, enabling a telephone carrier to verify that incoming calls are legitimate before they reach consumers’ phones.
• Directs the FCC to initiate a rulemaking to help protect subscribers from receiving unwanted calls or texts from callers.

 See the Regulatory Mix dated 11/19/18.

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.