SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell in a meeting with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel urged that the agency authorize commercial operations of its direct-to-device service, according to a posting Monday in docket 23-135. The agency's Space Bureau signed off late last year on SpaceX conducting limited supplemental coverage from space operations for testing purposes (see 2312050029).

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected most claims against AT&T by cryptocurrency investor Michael Terpin but instructed a lower court to consider a claim that the carrier had failed to adequately protect Terpin’s customer proprietary network information (CPNI) under Section 222 of the Communications Act. The 9th Circuit considered a case Terpin brought after a teenage perpetrator, Ellis Pinsky, allegedly bribed an employee at an AT&T authorized retailer to bypass the carrier’s security measures and “swap” Terpin’s phone number for a SIM Pinsky controlled. Pinsky was then able to find a document that contained Terpin’s cryptocurrency access credentials and use them to steal $24 million in cryptocurrency in 2017, the court said (docket 23-55375). “AT&T maintains that Section 222 protects only CPNI, not a broader category of customers’ ‘proprietary information,’” said the opinion by Judge Roopali Desai. Terpin “created a triable issue over whether, through the fraudulent SIM swap, AT&T gave hackers access to information protected” under the Communications Act, she wrote. Adopting AT&T’s “constrained view of CPNI would lead to absurd results,” the court found. “If Pinsky had walked into the AT&T affiliate store, asked" Jahmil Smith, an employee at an AT&T authorized retailer, "to print Terpin’s recent call log, and looked at the call log, AT&T would not dispute that Pinsky had access to CPNI,” Desai wrote: “Yet under AT&T’s view, Pinsky had no access to CPNI when he walked into the store, updated Terpin’s account to change the SIM associated with Terpin’s phone number, gained control over all incoming communications with Terpin’s phone number, and received confidential password reset messages sent to Terpin’s phone number.” Judges Richard Clifton and Holly Thomas also heard the case.

The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions updated the FCC on the status of a new volume control standard for handset makers to use to certify that handsets are hearing aid compatible. ATIS noted that the FCC required the update, which was provided by the Telecommunications Industry Association. TIA’s Volume Control Task Group (VCTG) has made “significant progress” in addressing concerns of the HAC Task Force, said a filing posted Monday in docket 20-3. The VCTG “expects the approval process to happen using only the minimum time required for approval of this standard by the American National Standards Institute and suggests that the Commission can provisionally incorporate the draft standard into its rules while the standard is pending ANSI approval,” ATIS said.

The National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Radio Frequencies (CORF) raised concerns about protecting scientific use of the lower 37 GHz band, one of five bands targeted for further study in the administration’s national spectrum strategy (see 2311130048). The band offers “an extensively used passive microwave window channel between the 22 GHz water vapor line and the 60 GHz oxygen line complex, with a continuous program of record stretching back to the 1970s,” CORF said in a filing Friday in docket 24-243: “It provides unmatched radiometric sensitivity to key Earth system variables, including precipitation and cloud liquid water, surface freeze-thaw conditions and snow cover, sea-ice concentration, and ocean vector winds.” CORF filed after the Sept. 9 deadline for comments. Making measurements, CORF noted, is complex work. “It is important to recognize that although a certain band might measure emissions associated with a particular physical process or molecular species, correct interpretation of this emission signal requires that data from many bands be analyzed together.”

The National Wireless Independent Dealer Association said Monday Snapfon Wireless joined the group as a mobile virtual network operator member. “Known for its easy-to-use phones like the Snapfon ez4G and ezFlip 4G, Snapfon has helped over 100,000 users stay connected while offering features like large buttons, hearing aid compatibility, and its life-saving sosPlus mobile monitoring service,” the association said.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation emailed FCC commissioners' staff, except that of Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, laying out its positions on an order finalizing rules for cellular vehicle-to-everything use of the 5.9 GHz band. Rosenworcel circulated the order in July (see 2404180050). “Finalization” of the order “will help address the ongoing regulatory uncertainty that has delayed the widespread deployment of this important technology,” said a filing Friday in docket 19-158. “C-V2X technologies and the use cases enabled by the technology continue to evolve and the technical rules” established “should be flexible enough to support that continued evolution,” the alliance said. The group also stressed the importance of protecting C-V2X from “harmful interference from unlicensed operations in the U-NII-4 band.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau on Friday extended comment and reply deadlines by 30 days on an August NPRM that asks about further rules changes for the citizens broadband radio service band (see 2408160031). The new deadlines are Nov. 6 for initial comments, Dec. 5 for replies, in docket 17-258. The bureau took the step following a request by the Wireless Innovation Forum, the OnGo Alliance and the Wireless ISP Association (see 2409200015). “We find that Joint Petitioners have established that additional time is necessary to enable commenters to adequately assess highly technical data and to produce studies in response to the complex technical, legal, and policy issues presented in the NPRM,” the bureau said: “Given the importance of receiving robust input from all of [the groups’] respective members on the questions raised in the NPRM, along with the Commission’s stated desire for detailed technical analyses, we find there is good cause to extend the deadlines.”

PTC-220 asked the FCC for special temporary authority to operate positive train control radio base stations using automated maritime telecommunications system (AMTS) spectrum covering Region 4, which takes in an area from the upper Midwest to the Gulf Coast. “Consistent with prior STA applications to operate on AMTS spectrum,” grant of PTC-220’s request “would permit the immediate deployment” of PTC, it said. PTC-220 represents the nation’s major freight railroads and wants to add 1,240 planned locations to the 12,853 locations previously authorized. “Since January 2020, PTC-220 has successfully conducted PTC and non-PTC rail safety operations in AMTS Region 4 and has received no reports of harmful interference from broadcasters,” said a filing posted Friday: “Importantly, whether operating under STA or permanent authority, PTC-220 will cure any instances of harmful interference caused by its transmissions.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau extended by 10 days the application deadline for CTIA and TUV Rheinland of North America to become cybersecurity labeling administrators (CLAs) or lead administrator under the FCC’s voluntary cyber-trust mark program (see 2409240063). The new deadline is Oct. 11. “The Bureau finds that the Parties’ request for an extension of time is warranted to ensure applicants have sufficient time to prepare full and informed responses,” said an order in Friday’s Daily Digest.

CTIA representatives spoke with an aide to FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez about the group’s 2019 petition seeking clarity of pole attachment rules under Section 224 of the Communications Act. “The requested clarification will serve the Commission’s goal of speeding broadband deployment,” said a Wednesday filing in docket 17-84: “The record on the Petition is thorough, and many commenters supported CTIA’s request.” CTIA also reported on meetings with aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington. The group previously spoke with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr (see 2409180013).