The FCC said its Oklahoma tribal guidance for Lifeline USF shouldn't be stayed, pending further review. In a June order, the commission announced that effective Feb. 9, it will view an 1870-1890 historical map of Oklahoma, "which is the most accurate available representation" of former tribal boundaries in the state, as the basis for identifying former reservations, while continuing to consult with Oklahoma tribal nations on the map, said the FCC's opposition to the partial stay request of Assist Wireless in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (Assist Wireless v. FCC, No. 15-1324). Petitioners don't "challenge the substance of the FCC’s interpretive guidance or the accuracy of the Oklahoma Historical Map; they instead challenge the Order on procedural grounds only," the FCC said. "But Petitioners’ legal arguments are insubstantial, and they have not shown that they are likely to prevail. Nor have they demonstrated that allowing the FCC’s interpretive rule to go into effect as planned would cause them any irreparable injury. And delaying implementation of this guidance would only harm the public by allowing public funds to subsidize areas that should not be eligible for enhanced Tribal Lifeline benefits." Carriers receive a higher monthly subsidy ($34.25) for serving low-income Lifeline users in tribal areas across the country, including former tribal areas in Oklahoma, than for serving those in other areas ($9.25).

FCC legal vulnerability on key net neutrality policies beyond Title II reclassification could help spur congressional broadband action, said Scott Cleland in a precursor.com blog preview of Friday’s oral argument at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. “Do not let the FCC’s likely unlawful means of broadband Internet regulation, i.e. Title II, distract you from the additional likelihood that two primary ends of supposed net neutrality ‘policy canon’ i.e. bans against ‘paid prioritization’ and ‘two-sided markets’ (only users should pay), are also likely unlawful, even under Title II, sans new legislation,” said Cleland, chairman of NetCompetition, an “eforum” he says is “supported by broadband interests.” The paid prioritization ban effectively forces broadband ISPs to carry Internet edge traffic for free, and while Title II of the Communications Act gives the FCC authority to ensure “reasonable” pricing, such free service “is not something tariff precedents have found ‘reasonable,’” he said Sunday, citing a Phoenix Center paper. Cleland said the ban on a two-sided Internet service market also was at odds with Title II precedent on “1-800 calls, yellow pages advertising, etc.”

The Professional Association for Customer Engagement filed the opening brief in its appeal (see 1507200058) of the FCC recent order (see 1507130039) interpreting the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in docket 15-1211, said a Monday news release from PACE. The FCC misinterpreted the law and concluded it applies to a broad array of common, beneficial dialing equipment, the brief said. In the brief, PACE, along with nine other businesses and associations, asked the D.C. Circuit to set aside these "unlawful aspects" of the commission's order.

Neustar said the FCC violated the Telecom Act and its own rules “when it took the unprecedented step of selecting the wholly owned subsidiary of a biased entity as a numbering administrator.” Congress had demanded strict structural impartiality and the commission prohibited any entity “aligned with any particular telecommunications industry segment” from being the local number portability administrator (LNPA), Neustar said in a reply brief Wednesday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The court is reviewing incumbent Neustar's challenge to a March FCC order giving Telcordia (iconectiv) conditional rights to become the next LNPA, which oversees the systems that allow consumers to keep their phone numbers when they switch carriers within a local market (Neustar v. FCC, No. 15-1080). The Commission never disputed and even acknowledged that "Telcordia's 100% owner, Ericsson, was aligned with the wireless segment” of the industry, Neustar said. “As Ericsson's wholly owned subsidiary, Telcordia shares the identical disqualifying alignment as a matter of law. The Commission's contrary conclusion was based on a fundamental misapprehension of Delaware corporate law and warrants no deference from this Court,” Neustar said. In its recent brief, the FCC defended its decision as satisfying the impartiality requirement for various reasons, including due to various safeguards imposed by the agency; it also said Neustar's bid was “substantially inferior” to Telcordia's (see 1510290029). Intervenors CTIA, Telcordia and USTelecom seconded FCC arguments and said Neustar's challenge relied on the “false premise” that Telcordia and Ericsson should be treated as one entity, when even Delaware law recognized differences between a corporation and a subsidiary, and regardless, the issue was a question of federal law (see 1511130007). In its reply, Neustar said the FCC and intervenors were wrongly ignoring “the dispositive Delaware authority” on "the critical point that the interests of a parent and a wholly owned subsidiary are indistinguishable under Delaware law.” Neustar said the FCC improperly refused to carefully evaluate the company's impartiality concerns under its own rules and precedent. The commission's “entirely ineffectual” safeguards “do nothing to alter the fact that Telcordia's corporate purpose is to serve Ericsson's economic interests,” said Neustar. It also charged the FCC with violating the Administrative Procedure Act's rulemaking requirements and said the agency “arbitrarily and capriciously miscalculated the costs of the competing bids.”

A Dec. 7 joint FCC-University of Colorado-Boulder summit in Boulder will focus on cybersecurity issues the telecom and public safety sectors face, the agency said Tuesday in a public notice included in the next day's Daily Digest. The summit will include panels on cybersecurity vulnerabilities in telecom infrastructure, public safety network security, cyber risk analysis and enhancing cybersecurity awareness among corporate executives, the PN said. Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson and Public Safety Bureau Associate Chief-Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Jeff Goldthorp are to speak, along with AT&T Assistant Vice President-Global Public Policy Christopher Boyer and CenturyLink Director-National Security Kathryn Condello, chairwoman of the Communications Sector Coordinating Council. The summit is to run 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at CU Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science’s Discovery Learning Center Bechtel Collaboratory.

The FCC seeks comment by Dec. 24 on proposed changes to two forms used by telcos and other providers to report telecom revenue, the Wireline Bureau said in a public notice in docket 06-122 Tuesday. The bureau proposed changes to a Form 499-A worksheet and instructions for reporting 2015 revenue in 2016, and to a Form 499-Q worksheet and instructions for reporting in 2016 projected collected revenue on a quarterly basis. The proposed changes were summarized in the PN and detailed in attachments.

The FCC Wireline Bureau approved a transition oversight plan for the anticipated shift from Neustar to Telcordia (iconectiv) as the local number portability administrator. A bureau public notice released in docket 07-149 Wednesday also announced a Dec. 9 transition outreach webcast, the first of its kind.

The FTC plans a one-day conference Feb. 9 in Seattle as part of its ongoing initiative to help companies, especially startups and early stage businesses, build security into their products, services and culture. Commissioner Julie Brill will keynote the third "Start with Security" event, which is to be at the University of Washington School of Law. The agency, which had previous events in Austin and San Francisco, has materials to help businesses understand data protection and cybersecurity (see 1506300049).

A 26-member Federal Aviation Administration-chartered task force recommended that owners of drones weighing between 0.55 pounds and 55 pounds register before operating their aircraft in the national air space. Owners as young as 13 years old would be required to enter their names and street addresses into a Web- or app-based system, recommended the report released Saturday. It said email addresses, phone numbers and serial numbers would be optional, but an owner's U.S. citizenship or residency status wouldn't be required. The process should be free for owners, the report said. Once owners fill out an electronic registration form, they would get an electronic certificate of registration and a personal universal registration number that they can use on all small drones they own. They must mark the registration number (or a registered serial number) on their drones in a readable and legible way before operating them outside. The FAA wanted the recommendations due to safety concerns as drones proliferate. About 400,000 consumer drones are expected to be sold this holiday season, the Consumer Technology Association said in a statement applauding the task force action. The FAA is expected (see 1511200055) to use the recommendations and other public comments to draft a rule, but hasn't said when it would be released. The task force -- which included representatives from companies like Amazon and Google, airline, pilots and hobbyist associations, and drone manufacturers -- decided it was beyond its scope to address or debate whether the Transportation Department had the legal authority to implement such a registration requirement for small drones. Michael Drobac, senior counsel at Akin Gump, which represents the Small UAV Coalition, said Monday the recommendations are a good step, though work remains before a final rule is issued. "While there is plenty here to cheer or quibble with, one thing in particular worth noting is that the task force’s recommendations represent a good example of government and industry coming together to try to develop solutions that are practical and thoughtful yet don’t constrain an industry that is poised for a great deal of success,” he said in a statement.

Warning of an uptick in cyberscams during the holiday season, Intel issued alerts in a blog post last week by Gary Davis, Intel Security chief consumer security evangelist. In addition to website and email security problems, he said cybercriminals can leverage weaknesses in Bluetooth to steal data. Some devices use default pairing passwords for Bluetooth, such as 0000 or 1234, allowing cybercriminals to pair and gain access to a device. Cybercriminals accessing a person’s user name and email address may use the data to launch spear-phishing attacks in which they pose as a familiar entity to try to steal sensitive data -- or even identities, Davis said. Using common Bluetooth passwords can make it easier for a criminal to pair with and gain access to a device, he said Thursday.