FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai sent a further Lifeline USF query to Universal Service Administrative Co. CEO Chris Henderson Monday. Pai said he appreciated Henderson's answers to previous queries (see 1606080062) about the waste, fraud and abuse that has "riddled" Lifeline since wireless resellers entered the low-income subsidy program. He asked the USAC administrator to answer a series of new questions by Aug. 15. "If American taxpayers are to have faith in the Universal Service Fund, they must know that the Lifeline program only supports actual, eligible subscribers, not phantoms," Pai said in a letter posted on the FCC website.

The Wright petitioners backed an FCC draft order to raise inmate calling service rate caps. The group, which advocates for inmates and their families, said the order is needed to reinstate caps on all domestic ICS calls after a court stayed rate caps from a 2015 order, which left only interim 2013 interstate rate caps in place. The FCC-proposed rate cap increases, which it plans to vote on Thursday (see 1607140087), would give ICS providers a windfall beyond their costs, but also would "eliminate any basis for ICS providers and correctional facilities to argue that any aspect of their cost to provide ICS to inmates and their loved ones will not be reimbursed," said a filing posted Monday in docket 12-375 by the group summarizing a meeting with agency officials, including an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler. The petitioners provided evidence they said showed ICS providers and correctional authorities had recently amended their contracts to preserve revenue -- which would otherwise be lost under the FCC's 2015 ancillary fee restrictions -- by raising uncapped intrastate rates and adopting new fees. "The information provided in Exhibit B highlight the extent to which the ICS providers and correctional authorities will go to ensure that their profit margins are untouched by Commission ICS reform," the Wright group said. "If Telmate, Securus and GTL [Global Tel*Link] are willing to propose amendments to their existing contracts to keep each party 'whole,' the Commission is correct in its decision not to ban site commissions. Instead, it is clear that, should the Commission ban site commissions as these parties suggest, ICS providers and their correctional partners simply will devise new attempts to divvy up the unjust, unreasonable and unfairly earned ICS revenue." Telmate, Securus and GTL didn't comment to us Monday. Telmate asked the commission "to pause before it imposes yet another set of new rates" on ICS providers. "If the Commission is concerned about the legal validity of its most recent Order, it should revisit that decision in an orderly fashion, on a full record and with a meaningful opportunity to comment," said a Telmate filing Friday summarizing meetings with FCC officials. Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a short order (in Pacer) suspending the briefing schedule in the current ICS litigation "pending disposition" of an FCC motion to hold the case in abeyance (see 1607200053).

Nebraska Rural Independent Companies urged a Federal-State Joint Board to recommend the FCC make USF contribution system changes similar to what NRIC has advocated in a state proceeding, said a filing in docket 96-45 on a meeting with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the joint board, and an aide. "NRIC supports implementation of a connections-based contribution mechanism applicable to residential consumers, and continuation of the revenues-based contribution mechanism for business/enterprise and special access at least for a transition period," said an attached summary of the group's state positions. "A connection would be defined as 'a wired line or wireless channel used to provide end users with access to any assessable service.' Assessable service would be defined as 'a service which allows a connection to other networks through inter-network routing as a means to provide the telecommunications.'” In other meetings it summarized, NRIC made the same pitch to Commissioner Chris Nelson of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission and Commissioner Ronald Brise of the Florida Public Service Commission, two state members of the board.

ISP privacy rules should track current rules for protecting customer proprietary network information, AT&T officials said in a meeting at the FCC. Aligning the rules with traditional rules for protecting CPNI “would allow providers to manage data security in line with prevailing industry standards by considering such factors as data sensitivity, cost and the seriousness of the threat or vulnerability,” AT&T said. Breach reporting requirements “should be limited to breaches of genuinely sensitive information that are likely to harm customers,” AT&T said. “A number of the proposed or suggested reporting requirements do not meet those criteria and would also likely lead to excessive noticing that would not be helpful to customers.” AT&T said the “clock” for notifying customers “should not begin running until the provider has determined with substantial certainty that a breach has occurred.” The AT&T officials met with Matt DelNero, chief of the Wireline Bureau, and other FCC officials, said a filing in docket 16-106. The FCC is considering privacy rules for ISPs, with a final order likely later this year (see 1607070052).

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton touted her planned infrastructure investment package, which will include a focus on broadband deployment (see 1607280047), both Thursday during her Democratic National Convention speech and Friday during a campaign speech, both in Philadelphia. “Within the first 100 days of my administration, we’re going to break through the gridlock in Washington and make the biggest investment in new, good-paying jobs since World War II,” she pledged Friday, saying “we’re going to do it in infrastructure, technology,” among other areas. Clinton would “work with both parties” to advance this package, creating jobs in “technology and innovation,” she said in her convention speech. “If we invest in infrastructure now, we'll not only create jobs today, but lay the foundation for the jobs of the future.” An American Enterprise Institute scholar criticized the broadband policy efforts the Clinton campaign laid out. “Clinton’s broadband plan is largely a subsidy program,” said Mark Jamison, visiting fellow with AEI’s Center for Internet, Communication and Technology, in a blog post Friday. “The agenda says it would grow broadband by expanding and extending to new government institutions the subsidies currently provided under the Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the FCC’s E-rate program, growing the FCC’s Lifeline program, continuing the Rural Utilities Service program for broadband, and providing broadband grants to governments from a $25 billion Infrastructure Bank that she intends to create. All of these elements of the plan allow significant political discretion regarding who receives money. If experience is any guide, these initiatives will be replete with failed and uncompleted projects, political favoritism, and little if any positive impact.” The path would “create waste,” Jamison argued.

The FCC should revisit its 2003 Equal Employment Opportunity Order that requires companies to use local newspapers to widely circulate job openings, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post. “It no doubt can be proven that, in today’s world, the circulation of online job sites is significantly greater than that of almost any newspaper.” Oxenford said. The issue was highlighted by an $11,000 EEO forfeiture handed down by the commission earlier this week (see 1607270063), Oxenford said. Revisiting the matter is likely to come up in appeals of decisions like that recent forfeiture, or in response to recent criticisms of the FCC's stance by Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, Oxenford said.

The FCC proposed to fine AT&T $106,425 for apparently violating a "lowest corresponding price" rule by overcharging two Florida school districts under the E-rate program, said an agency release Wednesday. Commissioners approved notice of apparent liability (NAL) 3-2, with Republicans Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly dissenting. The rule helps ensure school and library E-rate participants "get the best rates available," but the commission alleges AT&T for several years charged the Orange County Public Schools and Dixie District Schools telephone service prices "that were magnitudes higher than" what other Florida customers pay, said the release, which noted the commission also plans to order AT&T to repay $63,760 in apparently improper E-rate support. “Charging school districts among the highest rates in the state for telephone or broadband internet service is outrageous,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc. The NAL said AT&T offered no reason for repeated price increases, other than one reason that was blacked out in the text of the item. "We are left to conclude that AT&T sought to maximize profits at the expense of the Districts and at the expense of the publicly-funded E-rate program," the NAL said. Joan Marsh, AT&T vice president-federal regulatory, in an email Thursday said: "The allegations lack merit and we look forward to making that case in detail in response to the NAL. Among other deficiencies, the NAL proceeds from the flawed premise that AT&T should have ignored regulations issued by the State of Florida when selling intrastate E-rate services in Florida.” Pai said in a statement he agreed AT&T "may have violated" the rule, but he said the bureau's handling of the investigation had "fatally compromised" the FCC's ability to fine the company due to a one-year statute of limitations. The last relevant charges AT&T made to the school districts were on July 1, 2014, for Dixie, and June 1, 2015, for Orange, and its last related filing was on Oct. 27, 2014. "So even in the best-case scenario, the statute of limitations ran out 56 days ago, on June 1," he said. He disputed arguments in the NAL that the violations are continuing because the forms haven't been corrected and AT&T has retained excessive reimbursements. "That cannot be right." he said.

A Hillary Clinton administration would be committed to expanding the E-rate model to a new range of anchor institutions, said Sara Solow, domestic policy adviser to Hillary for America, Wednesday at a Philadelphia event pegged to the Democratic National Convention and hosted by eight tech trade associations including CTA, CompTIA and the Internet Association. “We want to replicate the E-rate concept to other anchor institutions, like airports” and train stations and the Department of Motor Vehicles, Solow said. “When you’re in these public places, you should be able to get online, you should be able to get Wi-Fi. … The federal government can show leadership in that.” She said the Clinton telecom agenda commits that by 2020, “every household in America has access to high-speed internet,” saying this will require more than just fiber: “We should look at wireless solutions, we should look at microwave wireless solutions, we should look at satellite solutions, too.” Cities and localities should be leaders and be “fiber ready” and “more open” to third or fourth broadband providers, she said: “We want cities to think about dig once policies.” Pole attachment policies are “boring but extremely important,” she said. Solow offered similar comments Tuesday (see 1607260037). Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, at the event, cited an ongoing focus on broadband access globally: “That should be an aspiration we have for the whole world.” Pritzker also cited the privacy shield with the European Union, a process that involved “a lot of bumps in the road” but “now we’re proceeding forward.” She called the process “dynamic,” with more changes of “regulation in Europe,” requiring ongoing adaptation without “throwing the whole thing out and having to start again.” She didn’t express any particular fears about certification: “I think we’re doing a lot to go out and speak with your businesses. … Anything that’s new, you’ve got to make sure it’s up and functioning.” She said the Commerce Department is "very much" pushing forward with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition. She pushed back against "the complete misperception" that the U.S. would be giving up control of the internet. "It's not intuitive to the average person," she said, noting "challenges" on Capitol Hill in this regard.

Correction: DJI Vice President-Policy and Legal Affairs Brendan Schulman said it's important that policymakers better understand technology because "my underlying concern is that the lack of knowledge about the technology could result in a policy outcome that overreaches and inadvertently curtails [its] benefits." (see 1607220035)

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has moved to begin a review of telecom regulations under Section 11 of the Communications Act, said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in a statement Wednesday. O'Rielly welcomed the action and said he hoped commissioners would "vote quickly on this rather clean procedural step" to start the process. "My staff and I have been at a loss as to why the Commission has failed to conduct this important task since 2012, despite the requirement that it occur biennially. Given that the Commission has already missed one opportunity to minimize our burdens for telecommunications carriers, it will be particularly important to seize this moment to really scrub off the cobwebs," he said. "To expedite the overall process, I’ve asked that we shorten our internal review from four months to two. It shouldn’t take individual Bureaus and Offices more than eight weeks to thoroughly examine rules under their purview and recommend candidates for elimination. With a little cooperation, this could be the most significant execution of section 11 to date.”