Today:  FCC's Clyburn on The Assault on Pro-Consumer Policies, NARUC 911 Resolution, NASUCA Pole Attachment Resolution, North Carolina FirstNet, US Senate Consumer Privacy Protection Act 

FCC’s Clyburn Says “The FCC Majority’s Assault On Pro-Consumer Policies Continues”

In advance of the Open Meeting, FCC Commissioner Clyburn issued a statement contesting various actions to be taken at the meeting.  She said, in part: “Tomorrow, the FCC majority will continue down its destructive path of adopting a series of actions that fail to put consumers first:  They will make it more difficult for low-income Americans to access affordable communications services; they will adopt a so-called ‘voluntary’ television standard that has even more outstanding and unanswered questions than the February Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; they will shred consumer and competition protections in times of technology transitions; and they will open the door to massive media consolidation at the expense of localism, competition, and viewpoint diversity.”

NARUC 911 Resolution

At its annual meeting this week the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) adopted a resolution on E911 Access and Enterprise Communications Systems (ECS).  The resolution supports federal and State actions to require ECS manufacturers, installers, and operators to design and configure ECS to allow direct dialing of 9-1-1, to route 9-1-1 calls to the proper PSAP regardless of the particular location of the extension used to call 9-1-1, provide the PSAP with location information specific and accurate enough for first responders to locate the caller, and to support on-site notification.  NARUC said that (1) any federal action should be mandatory for all ECS manufacturers, installers, and operators and (2) federal requirements regarding ECS must not preempt States from imposing additional requirements as they see fit, presuming that such additional requirements do not contradict or conflict with federal requirements.

NASUCA Pole Attachment Resolution

At its annual meeting this week National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) adopted a resolution Urging Federal Officials To Recognize State And Local Authority To Manage Telecommunication Pole Attachments To Ensure Safe, Efficient And Equitable Practices.  NASUCA urges federal, state, and local regulators to establish effective requirements and regulations to streamline and facilitate pole attachments and accelerate the deployment of advanced broadband internet services.  It believes that regulators should consider establishing effective requirements and regulations to authorize one-touch make-ready procedures allowing new attachers to use utility-approved contractors to perform make-ready work in situations where an attacher fails to comply with make-ready requirements. 

North Carolina Signs On To FirstNet Plan

Governor Cooper announced that North Carolina will opt in to the FirstNet plan.  “We must do all we can to make sure North Carolina is ready to respond to emergencies and keep the public safe,” Governor Cooper said. “Communication is key in times of crisis and this technology can help strengthen public safety by keeping our first responders connected.”

US Senate Consumer Privacy Protection Act

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), joined by six other senators, introduced S2124, the Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2017.  The Act would require companies to take preventive steps to defend against cyberattacks and data breaches and to quickly provide consumers with notice and appropriate protection when a data breach occurs.  The Act would require companies to meet certain baseline privacy and data security standards to keep information they store about consumers safe, and it requires that these firms provide notice and protection to consumers in the event of a breach.  Covered providers include any business entity that collects, uses, accesses, transmits, stores, or disposes of sensitive personally identifiable information, including a consumer reporting agency.  The Act would protect broad categories of data, including: (1) social security numbers and other government-issued identification numbers; (2) financial account information, including credit card numbers and bank accounts; (3) online usernames and passwords, including email names and passwords; (4) unique biometric data, including fingerprints and faceprints; (5) information about a person’s physical and mental health; (6) information about geolocation; and (7) access to private digital photographs and videos. Click here to see the full text of the bill. 

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The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily 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 a TMI Briefing.