Bitcoin-derived blockchain technology might improve an FCC Lifeline program that is ineffective and has seen "considerable fraud," said Mark Jamison, American Enterprise Institute visiting scholar and director of the University of Florida's Public Utility Research Center. "Studies consistently demonstrate" the low-income USF support program "has little impact and is costly," he blogged Tuesday. Blockchain transactions are conducted using "wallet" software that contains private and public keys to protect security, along with computer "miners" to verify transactions, he wrote. For Lifeline, "each person that is enrolled in one of the qualifying federal programs and that does not have a phone would be assigned a wallet suitable for the service for which the person wants to use the subsidy," he said. "The wallet might be an app on a secure smartphone if the person wants to use the subsidy for mobile service or on a piece of hardware that could plug into a smartphone, laptop, or tablet computer." Universal Service Administrative Co. each month "could transfer the Lifeline subsidy from a USAC wallet to the recipient’s wallet," he wrote. "The recipient could then use the currency to pay all or part of the service fee, depending on how much the person is paying for service. This payment would be made from the recipient’s wallet to a wallet designated by his or her service provider."

The recent tax overhaul will boost AT&T and Verizon cash flow by billions of dollars, Moody's said Monday. The changes "will result in an increase in operating cash flow by about $3 billion for AT&T and by up to $4 billion for Verizon," said Mark Stodden, senior vice president. "The extra cash will increase both companies' flexibility to continue investing in capex and modestly reduce leverage, while sustaining high dividends." The higher cash flows are unlikely to affect the pace of telecom consolidation or materially change AT&T's or Verizon's level of capital investment, he added.

Iconectiv said it transitioned law enforcement, public safety agencies and businesses that must comply with the Telephone Consumer Protect Act to its phone number identification and porting services. It's "a significant milestone and marks the start of the final phase of this transition effort," said CEO Richard Jacowleff Monday. "Access to number portability data via a new, modern and highly secure system is crucial to the daily operations of law enforcement and public safety agencies and to ensuring regulatory compliance for businesses." Iconectiv is taking over local number portability administrator functions from Neustar.

A broad group of trade associations said the FCC should change policies for the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, especially its interpretation of the statutory definition of an “automatic telephone dialing system.” The groups reported on a meeting with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff. “The Associations explained that many of the Commission’s existing TCPA interpretations impair the ability of the Associations’ members to use efficient dialing technologies to contact their customers with important messages,” said a filing in docket 02-278. Among those represented at the meeting were the American Bankers Association, the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management, the Consumer Bankers Association, the Edison Electric Institute, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform.

Representatives of the National Consumer Law Center and Consumers Union pressed in a meeting with FCC officials from the Enforcement and Consumer and Governmental Affairs bureaus their proposal for a centralized system for evaluating call unblocking requests on robocalls. “The party submitting an unblocking request should be required to verify that their caller ID information is accurate, to ensure that callers are not engaging in caller ID spoofing to evade blocks,” said a filing in docket 17-59. “If an unblocking system is established before caller ID authentication technology has been fully implemented, that an alternative means to confirm the accuracy of the caller ID information may be used.”

The FCC partially granted a Telrite request to extend a temporary waiver of Lifeline USF "recertification and non-usage rules in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands through May 31," citing lingering hurricane disruption. "Because of these compelling and unique circumstances, we find good cause to temporarily waive for 30 days sections 54.405(e)(3), 54.405(e)(4), 54.407(c)(2), and 54.410(f) of the Commission’s rules for all eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) serving Lifeline subscribers residing in Puerto Rico or the USVI," said a Wireline Bureau order Thursday in docket 11-42. Telrite's petition sought a waiver extension until the FCC determines it's in the public interest to be lifted. A PRWireless petition posted Thursday sought an "emergency waiver of the Lifeline recertification rules to prevent loss of critical wireless telephone service by thousands of low‐income inhabitants of Puerto Rico who face severe challenges in the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria."

FCC staff took two video relay service actions responding to concerns about implementation of a telecom relay service user registration database (TRS-URD). "We clarify the meaning of 'verification check' for purposes of determining when [VRS] providers may seek compensation for calls placed by users whose verification process has not been completed," said the docket 10-51 order Wednesday of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and the Office of the Managing Director. "We extend for 31 days, through March 31, 2018, the deadline for VRS providers to submit registration data for their registered users." Three of the five providers -- Convo Communications, and ZVRS jointly with Purple Communications -- filed temporary waiver petitions seeking relief from deadlines, including one Wednesday for submitting data to the TRS-URD.

The FTC settled with PayPal over allegations Venmo customers weren't adequately informed about balance transfer procedures, preventing them from being able to pay bills. PayPal failed to tell customers Venmo balance transfers to external bank accounts could be subject to review, potentially resulting in frozen or removed balances, the agency announced. Its complaint said consumers say “Venmo delayed the withdrawal of funds or reversed the underlying transactions after initially notifying them that the funds were available.” The agency alleged Tuesday Venmo misrepresented information about the amount of protection for consumer accounts from “bank grade security systems,” violating the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. No fine was levied, said a PayPal spokeswoman. “This brings to an end the investigation that primarily focused on Venmo platform issues and practices prior to acquisition by PayPal.” She said her company has strengthened privacy and data security practices. PayPal bought Venmo in 2014. “Consumers suffered real harm when Venmo did not live up to the promises it made to users about the availability of their money,” said acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen.

Industry and government representatives have been “handicapped” in defending global digital infrastructure, and USTelecom and the Information Technology Industry Council “stand ready” to create “new solutions,” their executives wrote Monday. The organizations last week announced the Council to Secure the Digital Economy (CSDE) (see 1802230054). USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter and ITI CEO Dean Garfield co-authored an opinion piece in the Morning Consult saying industries most often targeted for cyberattacks are those with the most to lose, including government and critical infrastructure. They said government and industry made “significant advances” in applying security measures in the U.S., Europe and Asia, but there hasn't been adequate strategic and operational coordination across sectors and countries. Garfield and Spalter cited some positive developments, including President Donald Trump’s executive order in 2017 and other executive branch measures on botnets and automated threats.

The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council will have its first meeting of the year March 28, 1-5 p.m., in the Commission Meeting Room at FCC headquarters. CSRIC last met in December (see 1712120036). The meeting is the fourth of CSRIC VI, said a notice set for publication Monday in the Federal Register.