Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

The FCC disagreed with a letter from USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter urging the House and Senate Intelligence committees’ leaders to “pay special attention to the FCC’s mission creep into the cybersecurity space” because of the draft NPRM (see 2310160062). Although the commission “is already actively involved in federal interagency cybersecurity planning, coordination, and response activities, it has limited authority to incorporate updated cybersecurity standards into its network policies,” a spokesperson emailed us Monday. “A clear example of this is” the FCC’s Communications Act Section 214 authority, “which provides the agency with the ability to monitor and mitigate the existence of bad actors in telecommunication systems. That authority currently extends only to phone networks, not broadband. Similarly, the FCC has been closely working with other federal agencies on the best way to identify Broadband Gateway Protocol (BGP) vulnerabilities and mitigate risks, a process that would be strengthened through Title II reclassification by providing the agency with the clear and direct authority to act in close coordination with other agencies.”

Relative to the epic battles preceding the FCC’s last two votes on net neutrality rules, in 2015 and 2017, things have been relatively quiet on net neutrality since Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced she would seek a vote on an NPRM Oct. 19 (see 2309260047). There have statements for and against, but nothing compared with the fights of the past, industry observers told us.

FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington sat down with Communications Daily last week to discuss his new role as a minority commissioner, the agency’s relationship with the NTIA, and his thoughts on proposals to reopen the record on virtual MVPDs and increase the agency’s collection of EEO information from broadcasters. Following are Simington's lightly edited responses.

A current revamp of Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PDD-21), which could mean outer space being declared critical infrastructure, is expected to be done by year's end, infrastructure policy experts told us. Proponents of such a designation say it would be a path to streamlined space industry rules, while critics warn of potentially more regulation. Asked whether it has discussed such a designation with the Department of Homeland Security, the FCC didn't comment.

The FTC proposed new rules for junk fees Wednesday in an effort to "eliminate these unfair and deceptive charges," said a news release. The agency would ban companies from advertising prices that "hide or leave out mandatory fees." Companies would also be banned from misrepresenting fees known as bogus fees. "By hiding the total price, these junk fees make it harder for consumers to shop for the best product or service and [they] punish businesses who are honest upfront," said Chair Lina Khan: "The FTC’s proposed rule to ban junk fees will save people money and time, and make our markets more fair and competitive.” The agency said the proposed rule would save consumers "more than 50 million hours per year" on "searching for the total price in live-ticketing and short-term lodging alone." The agency wants comments 60 days after Federal Register publication. At the FCC, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel noted the commission's broadband consumer labels will "increase price transparency and reduce cost confusion." Consumers "deserve to know exactly what they are paying for when they sign up for communications services," Rosenworcel said. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce criticized the proposed rule. “Every minute of every day, Americans engage in close to 400,000 transactions, buying and selling goods and services," said Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley: "It is baffling that the administration believes it is going to help consumers by regulating how businesses price all of those transactions."

CTA urged the FCC to base its proposed voluntary cybersecurity labeling program for smart devices on existing National Institute of Standards and Technology guidance, in comments posted Tuesday (see 2308100032). Other commenters urged the FCC to proceed with caution and involve industry in developing the program. Products would be labeled with the "U.S. Cyber Trust Mark" logo, for which the FCC is seeking registration from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Comments were due at the FCC Friday on an August NPRM (see 2307180054).

Reclassifying broadband as a Title II service would give the FCC more authority to do national security and public safety oversight, said a commission fact sheet released Thursday. "Currently, no federal agency can effectively monitor or address broadband outages that threaten jobs, education, and public safety," the release said, and "while the FCC has acted on a bipartisan basis to secure our communications networks against companies controlled by hostile foreign governments, the lack of specific authority over broadband leaves open a national security loophole." The proposal would allow the agency to require providers to report and fix internet outages as it does for voice services, ensure the FCC can "deny companies controlled by hostile foreign governments access to our broadband networks," and support ongoing efforts to enhance the resiliency of broadband networks. A USTelecom spokesperson said extending Title II to "critical issues involving national security and cybersecurity is proof positive that this is a major question that must be dealt with by Congress.” Former Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, meanwhile, sees the draft NPRM, released last week, as “mostly old rhetoric.” The commission “is just going through the motions via a retread of stale arguments and disproven claims, parts seem almost lazy and unthoughtful,” O’Rielly emailed: “I am somewhat surprised by the bizarre add of [Section] 214, which brings a world of unnecessary messiness, and privacy/security, [over] which the agency has no authority left. It may be just an NPRM but biting off those issues and others while not fully closing the door to rate regulation are substantive and tactical mistakes. Overall, the text doesn't fill in the intellectual missing pieces.”

Commenters disagreed sharply on what the FCC should do in response to an August notice of inquiry on understanding nonfederal spectrum use. Some observers have questioned how much will be gained by the inquiry, especially because it doesn’t ask about federal use (see 2308020054). Comments were posted Wednesday in docket 23-232.

President Joe Biden’s forthcoming executive order on AI will direct federal agencies like the FTC to explore existing authorities for ways to regulate the technology, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said Wednesday.

A Pennsylvania House committee advanced a bipartisan bill on “ghost poles” Tuesday amid a push to increase telecom accountability by six Republicans from rural districts. The bills respond to constituents’ many complaints about Frontier Communications, state legislators said in interviews last week.