Arent Fox's This Week in Telecom - September 19, 2011
Welcome to the latest edition of Arent Fox’s This Week in Telecom, our weekly newsletter designed to keep you apprised of recent developments in telecommunications policy, legislation, and litigation. Follow our Telecom Group on Twitter! Click here.
Jump to a Topic:
FCC Announcements l The Mobile Market l FTC and Privacy Regulation l Intercarrier Compensation l Compliance Notes l Broadband News l In the Courts l Legislative Outlook l Events
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Announcements
- The final Agenda for the next FCC open meeting on September 22, 2011, has been released. It contains the same two items previously noticed: a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on accelerating the deployment of Next Generation 911 (NG 911) service; and a white paper from the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau on aerial communications infrastructure to facilitate communication among first responders. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 10:45 am Eastern. To view the final Agenda, click here.
- The FCC has commenced a 45-day public trial of the Spectrum Bridge, Inc. database for white space spectrum. The trial ends November 2, 2011. The database may be found here. To read the Public Notice about the trial, click here.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Alan Fishel, Michael Hazzard, or Jon Canis (contact information below) for further information.
The Mobile Market
- On September 13, 2011, in response to privacy concerns from European authorities, Google announced that individuals can remove their Wi-Fi routers from Google’s database of mobile access points. Google uses the database to locate a user’s cell phone, which in turn is used by a variety of Google products, but notes that it has used only Wi-Fi access points that did not identify names. This is not the first time that Google has offered an opt-out option as a means of diffusing privacy concerns – earlier this year it began allowing German businesses and individuals to black out their images from Google’s Street View product. The opt-out mechanism should be in place this Fall. To read the blog post by Peter Fleischer, Google’s Global Privacy Counsel, click here.
- Comments on the FCC Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the use of microwave links for wireless backhaul are due October 4, 2011, and Reply Comments are due October 25, 2011. For more information, click here. To view the NPRM, click here.
- Comments on the draft Mobile Medical Applications guidelines from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are due October 19, 2011. The draft guidelines are available here. Filing instructions are provided in the document.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Michael Hazzard, or G. David Carter (contact information below) for further information.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Privacy Regulation
- On September 15, 2011, the FTC announced it is seeking public comment on proposed changes to its Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule promulgated under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The proposed changes include updating the definition of “personal information” to include geolocation information and other types of persistent identifiers, such as tracking cookies used for behavioral advertising. The FTC also proposes adding new methods for obtaining verifiable parental consent, including electronic scans of signed parental consent forms and video-conferencing, and eliminating “e-mail plus” verification of parent consent which is considered less reliable. The FTC also proposes to strengthen oversight of self-regulatory “safe harbor programs” by implementing reporting and auditing requirements. Comments are due November 28, 2011. The FTC press release about the proceeding is available here. The text of the Federal Register notice is available here.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Alan Fishel, Stephanie Joyce, or Jason Koslosfky (contact information below) for further information.
Developments in Intercarrier Compensation
- Sprint Communications has appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals from the dismissal by a federal district court of its petition to review the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) ruling that Sprint must pay Iowa Telecom intrastate access charges on intrastate, VoIP-originated traffic. Sprint has argued that the IUB has no jurisdiction to regulate this allegedly federally regulated, or at least federally non-compensable, traffic. The district court invoked Younger abstention, dismissing the complaint because it “interferes with an ongoing state judicial proceeding,” namely, Sprint’s parallel state appeal from the same order. The Eighth Circuit will have to determine whether the district court properly abstained from hearing Sprint’s appeal. Sprint Commc'ns Co., L.P., v. Iowa Utils. Bd., No. 11-cv-183 (8th Cir.).
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Jon Canis, Michael Hazzard, Stephanie Joyce, or Adam Bowser (contact information below) for further information regarding intercarrier compensation matters.
Compliance Notes
- The Universal Service contribution factor for the Fourth Quarter of 2011 is 15.3%. A copy of the notice can be found here.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Jon Canis, or Michael Hazzard (contact information below) for further information regarding compliance matters.
Broadband News
- It was reported that the FCC Open Internet Rules have been approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget, which is an important step toward its publication in the Federal Register. Publication now could occur in the next few weeks. Once the Rules are published, parties will have 60 days to appeal them in a federal Court of Appeals. Verizon and MetroPCS filed challenges shortly after the rules were voted on by the FCC in December 2010, but the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia dismissed the challenges as premature.
- The deadline for submissions to the “Apps for Communities” challenge has been extended to October 3, 2011. The challenge is a joint initiative of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the FCC aimed toward increasing Internet accessibility for underserved populations. It offers up to $100,000 in prizes to the winning developers. Contest judges include Marc Andreessen, Mayor Cory Booker, Charles Best, and Tom Lee. More information is available here.
- Nominations for the FCC Open Internet Advisory are due October 1, 2011. For more information, click here.
- Reply Comments on the FCC Notice of Inquiry (NOI) for next year’s “section 706” report are due October 4, 2011. To view the NOI, click here.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Alan Fishel, Michael Hazzard, Jeffrey Rummel, or Jason Koslofsky (contact information below) for further information.
In the Courts
- On September 15, 2011, CommPartners and Paetec, principal parties to the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit over whether access charges apply to VoIP-originated traffic, jointly moved the appeals court to lift the automatic stay that was triggered when CommPartners filed bankruptcy in 2010. With the permission of the Nevada bankruptcy court, the parties seek to lift the stay and proceed to briefing the issue of whether the federal district court in D.C. correctly decided that the reciprocal compensation regime, rather than the access charge regime, provides the proper statutory framework for seeking intercarrier compensation on VoIP-originated traffic. Paetec Commc'ns, Inc. v. CommPartners, LLC, No. 10-8002 (D.C. Cir.).
- On September 8, 2011, the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky sided again with the Kentucky Commercial Mobile Radio Service Emergency Telecommunications Board (Board) by endorsing the Board’s method of calculating 911 fees owed by prepaid wireless carrier TracFone. The court rejected TracFone’s request to use a calculation methodology adopted in 2006 for fees incurred before that date. As a result, TracFone must pay approximately $4.7 million in unpaid charges, plus another approximately $450,000 in attorneys' fees and costs. Commonwealth of Kentucky Commercial Mobile Radio Service Emergency Telecommunications Board v. TracFone Wireless, Inc., No 3:08-cv-660 (W.D. Ky.).
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Jon Canis, Michael Hazzard, Stephanie Joyce, or Joseph Bowser (contact information below) for further information.
Legislative Outlook
- The Senate Antitrust Subcommittee will hold a hearing titled “The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?” on September 21, 2011, at 2:00 pm Eastern in 226 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
- Senator John “Jay” Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, released a statement praising the FTC for commencing its COPPA rulemaking (see FTC/Privacy above), stating “This important children’s protection law must meet the challenges of the 21st century. … I think everyone would agree that we need to do more to protect our children’s online privacy, and today’s proposal helps in that effort.” To read the full statement, click here.
Please contact Stephanie Joyce (contact information below) for further information.
Upcoming Events
- Jonathan Canis and Ross Buntrock, Partners in our Group, will speak at CompTel Plus in Orlando, Florida on October 3, 2011, on a topic titled “Mediation, Complaints and Referrals: What Does It Take to Get Disputes Resolved Before the FCC?” For further information, click here.
- The Mobile Internet Content Coalition (MICC), founded with the assistance of Michael Hazzard and other attorneys in our Group, will hold its first conference, the Mobilizing Mobile Summit, on November 15, 2011, at Georgetown University. MICC advocates free and fair development of mobile technologies, applications, and services. For more information about the event or to register, click here.
- Jeffrey Rummel, a Partner in our Group, will deliver a presentation titled “FCC Licensing/Regulation of the Manufacture, Development & Testing of Military Communications Systems” at the Military Wireless Conference to be held November 15-17, 2011, in Las Vegas. For more information or to register, click here.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Jonathan Canis, Stephanie Joyce, or Jeffrey Rummel (contact information below) for further information.
For further information, please contact any of our attorneys in the Arent Fox Telecommunications Group, including:
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Ross A. Buntrock |
Michael B. Hazzard |
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Jonathan E. Canis |
Stephanie A. Joyce |
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Alan G. Fishel |
Jeffrey E. Rummel |
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Adam D. Bowser |
Marcia Fuller Durkin |
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Joseph P. Bowser |
Jason A. Koslofsky |
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G. David Carter |
Katherine Barker Marshall |