FCC staff eliminated a rule requiring opt-out notices for faxes sent with a recipient’s prior consent. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau order Wednesday in docket 02-278 responded to a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision that the rule “is unlawful to the extent that it requires opt out notices on solicited faxes." The 2017 Bais Yaakov majority opinion was by now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh (see 1703310018). The bureau also dismissed as moot 10 pending petitions for retroactive waiver of the rule and two petitions to reconsider orders enforcing the rule under 2005 Junk Fax Prevention Act amendments to the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Meanwhile, consumer advocates said, "Americans overwhelmingly hate receiving unwanted robocalls," but the advocates agree with the D.C. Circuit's ACA International March ruling (see 1803160053) that the definition of legally restricted "automatic telephone dialing systems" shouldn't encompass ordinary smartphone use. Having consulted further with technology experts, "we now understand that smartphones as manufactured and delivered to consumers do not have the present capacity to dial multiple numbers simultaneously or send mass texts," filed the National Consumer Law Center and other groups. "They do not come from the manufacturer already configured to be an ATDS." The American Cable Association lobbied an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger and other staffers on ACA's proposal to affirm voice service providers' ability to offer robocall blocking tools to customers "on an informed opt-out basis."
The FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council meets Dec. 13, says a Federal Register notice for Wednesday. The group gathers 1-5 p.m. in the FCC Commission Meeting Room.
APCO told the FCC direct access to the network outage reporting system and the disaster information reporting system by 911 emergency communications centers (ECCs) would be “helpful.” It's "more important that ECCs receive timely, actionable information regarding any outage that affects 9-1-1 service, including directly from communications service providers,” APCO filed Tuesday in docket 15-80 on a call with Public Safety Bureau staff. “ECCs should receive outage information in an easily accessible format that provides situational awareness with regard to the timing, nature, and scope of any impacts to 9-1-1.”
The FCC circulated drafts last week on the Connect America Fund and its Mobility Fund, plus draft maritime accounting authority and Enforcement Bureau orders, and a draft on an Iowa Network Access Division (Aureon) Tariff No. 1, said the updated list. The CAF draft is an order on Mescalero Apache's petition for reconsideration (see 1805310032) of a "Tribal Opex Relief Order" adopted April 5, emailed a spokesperson Tuesday. He said the Mobility Fund draft is an order on issues raised in an Aug. 21 combined NPRM and orders, and the Aureon draft is an order on an AT&T petition to reconsider a previous tariff.
Comments are due Nov. 23, replies Nov. 30 on a Q Link Wireless FCC waiver petition to use alternatives for Lifeline national verifier confirmation of low-income consumer eligibility, absent an application programming interface. The request seeks to “permit Q Link in ‘hard launch’ states to submit eligibility documentation to the National Verifier via bulk transfer” until its previous API petition is resolved, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 17-287 Friday. The NV launched Nov. 5 in Colorado, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming (see 1811020058). Q Link made its case for both petitions in Tuesday meetings with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioners Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel, their aides and bureau staffers, said filings (here and here). "As 'hard launch' progresses, more and more rural, suburban and mobility challenged consumers, including veterans and seniors, will lose meaningful access to Lifeline without a carrier API, or at least a bridge that allows bulk transfer of consumer certifications and eligibility information from a carrier to the National Verifier," it said. The National Association of American Veterans Friday called Lifeline "vital" for up to 1.3 million veterans and noted a recent filing. "The Commission is considering changes -- including a restrictive budget cap, higher minimum standards that would shrink available service, and limitations on the enrollment through the National Verifier System for Lifeline -- that could end up seeing many or even most vets being forced out," NAAV said.
Comments are due Dec. 7, replies Dec. 24 on Sprint's petition for FCC rulemaking on a new ratemaking methodology for IP Relay Service after a three-year price-cap period ends in 2019 (see 1811020051). "Sprint proposes a hybrid rate methodology that is based on a combination of the Multistate Average Rate Structure (MARS) and provider costs to set future rates," said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice Wednesday in docket 03-123.
The FCC sees robocalls as a growing problem, said Mark Stone, Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau deputy chief, on a Wednesday FCC podcast. The cost is low so “we see a proliferation of the calls,” he said. Stone said ID spoofing is increasingly a concern. “I'm talking to people all the time who say, 'If I see a number that has my area code in my neighborhood, I'm not picking it up. I assume that it's fraud,'” he said. “It's a rapid change over the past few years.”
Capital One said the FCC should develop clear, reasonable rules on the definition of automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) and “called party,” and provide a clear standard to “govern consent revocation when it comes to automated text message programs” to limit litigation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, meeting Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau staff. "Confirm that: (1) if the sender of a text message transmitted through an ATDS clearly and conspicuously discloses that a ‘STOP’ reply will revoke a recipient’s prior express consent to receive such messages, then a recipient’s attempt to revoke his or her consent through other means is per se unreasonable," it filed, posted Tuesday in docket 18-152 "(2) if a ‘STOP’ reply is received in response to such a text message, and that message is part of a program that transmits different categories of messages, then the sender can clarify the scope of the recipient’s consent revocation without" a violation.
AT&T is against giving state commissions and others access to network outage reporting system (NORS) data, it told FCC Public Safety Bureau staff. “Public disclosure of the location of network outages and their root cause analyses may have significant implications for national security," it filed, posted Tuesday in docket 04-35. “Other network outage information (e.g., the number and severity of outages) is of a highly competitively-sensitive nature, and ... we would similarly oppose the public disclosure.” In a Friday call with FCC staff, the California Public Utilities Commission stressed public safety benefits of the state collecting outage data from providers. The CPUC requires carriers provide copies of NORS reports in major service interruptions and "treats these Major Service Interruption reports as confidential, consistent with the FCC’s treatment of NORS reports,” it said. “CPUC must be able to meet that obligation by collecting data that is specific to California’s needs.”
Broadcom completed its takeover of CA Technologies, the buyer announced Monday. The deal was worth almost $19 billion and got antitrust clearance (see 1810150043). Citing the importance of mainframes to large enterprises and the computers processing 30 billion transactions daily and $7 trillion of credit card payments annually, it said it's a "stable market opportunity."