Today:  FCC December Open Meeting, Dueling Fact Sheets Net Neutrality, FTC Informational Injury Workshop

FCC December Open Meeting

The FCC announced the tentative agenda for its December 14, 2017, Open Meeting.  It includes: 

• Restoring Internet Freedom:  A Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order that will reclassify broadband Internet access service as an information service and reinstate the private mobile service classification of mobile broadband Internet access service.
• Twilight Towers:  A Public Notice seeking input on a draft Program Comment addressing the historic preservation review requirements for collocating wireless communications facilities on certain communications towers.
• Rural Health Care Support Mechanism:  A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order to strengthen the Rural Health Care Program and improve access to telehealth in rural America.
• CMRS Presumption:  A Report and Order to eliminate the CMRS presumption.
• Electronic Delivery of Cable Communications:  A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on ways to modernize certain notice provisions governing multichannel video and cable television service.

The FCC will also consider a Report and Order that would amend the Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules to add a dedicated event code for Blue Alerts and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the national television multiple ownership rule reach cap.  Watch for our next Checking In @ The FCC blog for more information.

Dueling Fact Sheets Net Neutrality

Both Commissioner Clyburn and Chairman Pai issued facts sheets about the potential impact of the Internet freedom item on the FCC’s December agenda.  Commission Clyburn’s Fact Sheet, Understanding Chairman Pai’s Proposal to Dismantle Net Neutrality, reiterates her support for the existing rules, first adopted in 2015.  Among other things, she claims that the proposal would increase uncertainty for consumers; threaten innovation at the edge; enable offerings that favor vertically integrated broadband provider’s own content; prevent states and locality from adopting related consumer protections; and empowers the FTC, that has never enforced net neutrality protections, to manage consumer complaints and “ensures that there is no FCC recourse for wronged consumers or businesses.”  On the other hand, Chairman Pai’s Fact Sheet, Setting the Record Straight on Chairman Pai’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order, lists and rebuts certain “myths” about his proposal.  Among the “myths” he debunks are: “This is the end of the Internet as we know it,” “Startups will not be able to compete without Title II regulations,” “Broadband providers will charge you a premium if you want to reach certain online content,” “Title II regulations are good for innovation,” “Reversing Title II regulations will compromise consumers’ online privacy,” and “More than 22 million people have filed comments with the agency.  They overwhelmingly want the FCC to preserve and protect net neutrality.”

FTC Informational Injury Workshop

The Federal Trade Commission released the final agenda for its December 12, 2017, workshop examining questions about the injuries consumers suffer when information about them is misused.  The workshop will include panel discussions focused on the types of negative outcomes that can arise from data security and privacy incidents, the potential factors in assessing informational injury, and the methods and challenges in measuring informational injury.  It will also include a discussion of how businesses and consumers evaluate the benefits, costs, and risks of information collection and sharing. 

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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.