CenturyLink reached further into the cloud with an acquisition of startup ElasticBox. The deal closed Monday; no terms were disclosed, a CenturyLink spokesman said. ElasticBox, which has offices in San Francisco and Madrid, helps enterprises deploy and manage apps across a variety of cloud platforms, CenturyLink said in a news release. It "enhances CenturyLink's development and deployment of multi-cloud services management capabilities, as well as our ability to deliver end-to-end network and hybrid IT services to business customers globally,” said CenturyLink Chief Technology Officer Aamir Hussain.

Richard Bennett, free-market blogger and network architect, explained his concerns about FCC-proposed ISP privacy rules, in a meeting with an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler and others at the agency. “I reiterated my concern about the overly-concentrated nature of the Internet’s advertising market and how this has led to high prices and poor quality ads,” Bennett said in a filing in docket 16-106. “I stressed the importance of regulating on the nature of the sensitivity of information rather than on the nature of the industry that collects it.” A sharply divided FCC approved a privacy NPRM March 31 (see 1603310049).

The FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council will meet at 1 p.m. June 22 in the Commission Meeting Room at commission HQ, the agency said in a notice Monday. It said the CSRIC is to vote on reports on the emergency alert system, submarine cable resiliency, network timing, cybersecurity information sharing and the priority services framework.

The winners of the FCC chairman's fifth annual Awards for Advancement in Accessibility were announced Monday by Tom Wheeler. The awards honor innovations in communications technology that benefit persons with disabilities, said a commission release. “We can use today’s technologies to address so many of the communications barriers facing Americans with disabilities,” said Wheeler. “These innovative efforts help us move forward as a nation toward more accessible technologies.” The release said the six honorees were: SOS QR, an emergency record and alert notification app for people with cognitive disabilities; UnusTactus, an app for people with cognitive disabilities meant to simplify smartphone access; a Texas A&M wearable sign-language recognition system prototype; a Disney Movies Anywhere app for iOS devices that includes a sync function allowing users to access audio descriptions for a movie in progress; a Sesame Enable project that provides smartphones with modified Android OS installations for users who can't control smartphones with their hands; and an eSight Eyewear headset with a videocam to help people with low vision. The six winners and three recipients of honorable mention citations were being recognized Monday at a ceremony at the M-Enabling Summit in Arlington, Virginia.

The FCC granted a Somos petition to temporarily waive a "first-come, first served" rule for allocating the toll-free 800 numbers Somos has. Somos (formerly SMS/800) sought the waiver in order to restrict "Responsible Organizations," which manage toll-free numbers for others, to obtaining 100 numbers per day for a period of five days to prevent hoarding. "We agree with the Somos allocation proposal for 96,000 recently-available toll free numbers in the 800 code currently controlled by the Somos Help Desk," said a Wireline Bureau order in docket 95-155 listed in Monday's Daily Digest. "We therefore find good cause to waive section 52.111 for the first five days following the release of these 800 numbers." The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions and others backed the Somos petition (see 1604220038).

Several public interest groups plan to unveil their 2016 Internet Policy Platform Monday, they said in a news advisory Friday. “The platform is built around six guiding principles supported by the millions of Americans who have become forceful advocates for internet rights,” the release said. “These principles include: free speech, access, choice, privacy, transparency and openness. … The 2016 Internet Policy Platform has been endorsed by the internet rights, social justice and consumer advocacy organizations that have played leading roles in these campaigns, including 18 Million Rising, ColorOfChange, Demand Progress, Free Press, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge.” Several affiliated officials plan a call with journalists Monday, including Free Press President Craig Aaron, National Hispanic Media Coalition Executive Vice President Jessica Gonzalez and New America Open Technology Institute open internet policy director Sarah Morris.

Global PC shipments will decline 7.3 percent this year, about 2 percentage points higher than previous forecasts, IDC said in a Thursday report. The Q1 year-over-year decline was 12.5 percent, said the researcher. “Although growth rates for devices such as phones and tablets continue to fall, potentially reducing the competitive pressure on PCs, we have not seen this translate into stronger PC shipments.” Detachable tablets are another strong “challenge” to PC market stability because “specs and price increasingly compare favorably against notebook PCs,” IDC said. With the PC market having now experienced four consecutive quarters of double-digit volume declines, “this type of prolonged slump is unprecedented,” it said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers plans a local number portability administration transition webinar June 21, 3-4 p.m., said the FCC Wireline Bureau. Officials from PwC, which is managing the planned LNPA transition from Neustar to Telcordia, also will be available to meet with interested parties Monday and Tuesday at the Marriott Indianapolis Downtown hotel, next to where a National Emergency Number Association meeting is being held. Registration is needed for the webcast; it isn't needed for the in-person meetings, nor do parties have to schedule appointments, but they can express a time preference, said a Wednesday public notice in docket 09-109.

Comments are due July 7 and replies July 22 on Network Communications International Corp.'s (NCIC) petition for an expedited declaratory ruling, said the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. NCIC is seeking a ruling "that its use of a one-time informational text message to establish a billing relationship with a called party who does not answer or respond to a collect call from an inmate using NCIC’s inmate calling service (ICS) does not require prior express consent from the called party because: (a) such texts are covered by an exemption granted in response to another ICS provider’s request; (b) the text is initiated by inmate callers and not NCIC; and/or (c) the text is not sent by an automatic telephone dialing system (autodialer)," said a bureau public notice Tuesday in docket 02-278. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and FCC rules require express prior consent for nonemergency autodialed, prerecorded or artificial-voice calls to wireless phone numbers, said the PN, which noted the commission defines "calls" to include text messages under the TCPA. "NCIC asserts that allowing it to send a follow-up text message without the called party’s prior express consent when an inmate cannot complete a collect call is consistent with the Commission’s established policies that recognize the difficulties ICS providers face to facilitate calls from inmates," the PN said. "Moreover, NCIC claims that its texting protocol is virtually identical to another ICS provider’s calling protocol that the Commission exempted from the TCPA consent requirement."

The FCC proposed an E-rate eligible services list (ESL) for schools and libraries looking at participating in the USF discount program for the funding year starting July 1, 2017. Comments are due July 5, replies July 20, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Friday in docket 13-184. The program supports two types of eligible services: Category One covers services needed to provide broadband connectivity to schools and libraries, and Category Two covers internal connections. "The proposed ESL revises the description of eligible dark fiber service under Category One to read 'Leased Dark Fiber (including dark fiber indefeasible rights of use (IRUs) for a set term).' This revision is intended to further explain the distinction between leased dark fiber and self-provisioned fiber under E-rate program rules," said the PN. Among other possible updates, the PN proposes to include a new explanation on the treatment of connections between multiple buildings of a single school, classifying those located on a single campus as Category Two internal connections and those connecting buildings on separate campuses as Category One connections.