Data broker Spokeo was handed a partial victory Monday when the Supreme Court ruled that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals used incomplete analysis in deciding whether Virginia resident Thomas Robins, who filed a class-action lawsuit against the company for publishing incorrect information about him, suffered any "concrete" harm (see 1509090002). In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court sent Spokeo v. Robins back to the lower court, saying it "failed to consider both aspects of the injury-in-fact requirement." Justice Samuel Alito said in his majority opinion that a plaintiff is required "to allege an injury that is both 'concrete and particularized.'" The 9th Circuit focused on particularity but "overlooked" concreteness, and needs to consider both, he wrote. But Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented, with Ginsburg writing, "I ... see no utility in returning this case to the Ninth Circuit to underscore what Robins' complaint already conveys concretely: Spokeo's misinformation 'cause[s] actual harm to [his] employment prospects.'" Robins sued "people search engine" Spokeo for publishing inaccurate information about his profile, "alleging that the company willfully failed to comply with the" Fair Credit Reporting Act, which requires that consumer reporting agencies reasonably follow procedures to provide accurate data, the opinion said. Failure to do so results in penalties for a company. The 9th Circuit ruled Robins had legal standing to sue, but Spokeo appealed to the high court. Privacy and consumer groups sided with Robins, saying individuals shouldn't be limited in their ability to file claims since credit reports could affect loans and employment eligibility. "While we are disappointed in today's ruling, the Court has preserved the ability of citizens to protect their privacy rights under federal law,” said G.S. Hans, Center for Democracy and Technology policy counsel, in a statement. “The Court definitively recognized that intangible injuries, like those that implicate privacy rights, can be protected by private parties in federal court, which is a positive result. In practical terms, this is a punt -- one that privacy advocates will likely debate for the foreseeable future.”

In a federal effort to resolve the ongoing Verizon strike, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez gathered Verizon, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for a weekend meeting in Washington, the Labor Department said in a news release Sunday. Verizon Chairman Lowell McAdam, CWA President Chris Shelton and IBEW President Lonnie Stephenson discussed ways to resolve the dispute and agreed to meet again Tuesday, the department said. “The best way to resolve this labor dispute is at the bargaining table, and I am heartened by the parties’ mutual commitment to get back to immediate discussions and work toward a new contract,” Perez said in a statement. “I was singularly impressed by the parties’ appreciation that time is of the essence, and their strong commitment to use the collective bargaining process to reach a mutually beneficial resolution.” Before the strike began April 13, Verizon said it sought mediation by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, but CWA disputed that ever happened (see 1605020044).

Satellite operators raised “aggregate interference concerns” for fixed satellite service receivers from carrier operations in the 28 GHz band, in a meeting with FCC officials. Representatives of EchoStar, Inmarsat, Intelsat, O3b Limited, OneWeb, SES Americom and ViaSat participated, a filing in docket 14-177 said. The FCC is looking at the band for sharing as part of a spectrum frontiers rulemaking (see 1603090057). Satellite companies have assured FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler they won’t obstruct use of the band for 5G. But the satellite companies said aggregate equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) density limits are critical. “We continue to work with Nokia as a representative of [5G] proponents,” the filing said. “In light of the Chairman’s announced intention to address this issue at the Commission’s open meeting in July, we will reach out to Nokia and other vendors in order to schedule meetings during the week of May 16, to better model the interference scenario and arrive at a more precise definition of aggregate EIRP density limits.” AT&T, Nokia, Samsung, T-Mobile and Verizon officials met with officials from the Wireless and International bureaus and the Office of Engineering and Technology to offer early Nokia test results, a second filing in the docket said.

Public Knowledge asked the FCC to block Verizon's proposed buy of XO Communications and address issues in a related spectrum leasing deal involving XO subsidiary Nextlink Wireless. "Because of the potential harm to competition from Verizon’s proposed acquisition of XO, and because of the important issues raised by Verizon’s associated lease of the Nextlink spectrum, the applicants have failed to meet the threshold requirement to demonstrate that the proposed transactions will serve the public interest," PK said in a petition to deny posted in docket 16-70. "The Commission cannot approve these transactions unless the concerns raised by these combined transactions are properly addressed." The Competitive Carriers Association, New America's Open Technology Institute and Windstream also filed comments in the docket citing various concerns with the deals. Dish Network and Incompas previously filed petitions to deny (see 1605040021). Transbeam, a provider of Ethernet over copper, supported the Incompas petition. The new filings were posted Thursday and Friday.

The LNP Alliance and New America's Open Technology Institute pressed an FCC official for more time to review the local number portability administrator contract proposed by North American Portability Management for Telcordia (iconectiv). The groups also countered arguments by NAPM and Telcordia for quick FCC approval of the LNPA master services agreement, said a filing Thursday in docket 09-109 on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai.

The FCC is beginning work on modernizing its Universal Licensing System, the agency said in a blog post Friday by Wireless Bureau Chief Jon Wilkins and Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson. ULS is used to license wireless radio services, and the commission will transition the system to an “integrated, cloud-based platform” that will allow for more “consistent performance, easier access to information, and enhanced functionality” and information gathering, the blog post said. “Modernization of this system will be a multi-year project and will require considerable planning, commitment, and patience.” The project will begin by moving three services to the new platform: general mobile radio services, 3650-3700 MHz, and point-to-point microwave. “Additional wireless radio services will be sequenced over the life of the project, and transition of additional licensing systems for non-wireless services will be considered in the future as well,” Simpson and Wilkins wrote. The modernization effort also could involve ways to make ULS more useful for users as well, by including Geospatial Information System functionality and integrating ULS with other FCC programs, they said. “We will engage licensees throughout our process and will solicit input so we can address concerns and ensure a smooth transition.”

Verizon rejected union claims that the company does “massive” offshoring in the Philippines. The Communications Workers of America said Friday it sent four representatives on a four-day visit to the Philippines after call center workers there contacted the union about Verizon facilities there. The CWA reps found “numerous call centers” that pay workers $1.78 an hour and force workers to do overtime without compensation, CWA alleged. “When our members uncovered how Verizon is padding its incredible profit margins by replacing good paying American jobs with poverty-wage jobs abroad, Verizon sent armed guards and a SWAT team after them,” CWA President Chris Shelton said. The police allowed union representatives to leave because they did nothing illegal, CWA said. A Verizon spokesman disputed the union claims. “Yet again, this is another page straight out of the CWA’s fictional playbook. The real question is why would CWA president Chris Shelton spend tens of thousands of dollars in union dues on a vacation to the Philippines at a time when 36,000 of our employees are lucky to get $200 a week from a union strike fund?” But Shelton said it has been no holiday for union workers. “Let’s be clear: being on strike, exposing Verizon’s lies about off-shoring and being harassed by Verizon armed security guards is no vacation.” Earlier this month, police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, arrested for obstructing traffic 15 union workers protesting outside Verizon’s annual shareholder meeting (see 1605050047). The East Coast strike started April 13.

The FCC Incentive Auction Task Force plans a public workshop May 24 on participating in the reverse auction, said a public notice in Thursday's Daily Digest. An online tutorial will be available before the workshop that includes an overview of bidding software and a review of the bidding procedures, the task force said. “We strongly encourage all participants to view the online tutorial before the workshop.”

Hughes Network Systems sought a "competitively and technologically neutral bidding process" in the FCC's planned Connect America Fund reverse auction of broadband-oriented support. Hughes also said the commission should include a Remote Areas Fund framework in a CAF Phase II auction order on the tentative agenda for its May 25 meeting (see 1605050036). A Hughes filing Wednesday in docket 10-90 summarized its meetings with FCC officials, including aides to all five commissioners. Hughes talking points said "satellite broadband covers America successfully" and decreases the number of Americans without broadband access to less than 1.5 million, but "satellite capacity limits will impose constraints on actual bidding." Hughes said a competitively and technologically neutral CAF auction would maximize participation and promote market efficiency. Any FCC fiber preferences would violate such principles and result in higher costs and fewer households served, it said. If the commission doesn't hold a "completely open auction," it should set "reasonable criteria for evaluating competing bids from different types of providers," recognizing factors such as data speed, latency, capacity and economic efficiency, said Hughes, and it proposed a bidding credit or point system to balance the factors. On satellite buildout duties, it said: "Satellite providers will always be able to serve very rural customers more quickly than terrestrial providers. How much more quickly depends on the extent to which funding allows for the reservation of capacity for customers that do not currently take service.”

CTA and its broadcast industry partners on the petition at the FCC for authorization of the physical layer of ATSC 3.0 (see 1604200051) plan no comments on the commission’s public notice by the May 26 deadline (see 1604260064), Julie Kearney, CTA vice president-regulatory affairs, told us at the ATSC Broadcast Television Conference Wednesday. CTA and its petition partners -- the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance, America's Public Television Stations and NAB -- may well file reply comments when those are due June 27, Kearney said. “We’re really excited about the petition,” she said. “We’re excited about the innovation” that broadcasters are bringing forth through ATSC 3.0, Kearney said. The petitioners agree “to stay together as much as possible” in comments at the FCC on the petition and the ATSC 3.0 rulemaking to follow, “but we don’t plan to file comments in the comment round,” she said. “So we will file joint replies, if necessary. We are working together as a cohesive group, as a cohesive unit. We feel really good about it.”