The FCC proposed extending for an additional six years its freeze on federal-state jurisdictional separations of telecom costs and revenue. The current freeze is set to expire Dec. 31 (see 1812170049). The proposed extension would let the commission continue working with the joint board on jurisdictional separations to "determine next steps" in amending the rules "in light of sweeping technological and regulatory changes since these rules were initially adopted," according to an NPRM Monday. Comments are due 30 days after Federal Register publication, replies 45 days after, in docket 80-286.
A Mississippi social media law requiring age verification may not be enforced while litigation continues, the U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi decided Monday. The state law requiring parental consent for minors younger than 18 (HB-1126) was to take effect that day. But the court said NetChoice showed a high likelihood of success in its complaint (see 2406070059) against Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R).
Industry lawyers continue to assess the potentially seismic implications of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and the other Chevron case decided last week (see 2406280043). Yet the after-effects are being seen already. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday directed parties in the net neutrality challenge to file not later than July 8 supplemental briefing material addressing the effect of the Chevron decision “on our analysis” of a motion to stay the order (see 2406280060).
The First Amendment protects social media platforms’ ability to moderate content, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday, sending the tech industry’s lawsuits against Florida and Texas laws back to the lower courts (see 2402270072). All nine justices agreed on remanding, but Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch disagreed with First Amendment-related aspects of the majority opinion, which Justice Elena Kagan wrote (dockets 22-555 and 22-277).
California telecom service quality standards could expand to more types of providers and carry new penalties under a California Public Utilities Commission staff proposal released last week. Current enforcement for plain old telephone service (POTS) hasn’t improved service, CPUC staff found. “In addition, the light-touch approach for VoIP and wireless services has not yielded improved service quality for those customers.”
The statute authorizing the federal TikTok ban -- the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act -- is unconstitutional, and it isn’t even “a close case,” four professors’ amicus brief said Thursday (docket 24-1113), urging that the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit reject it.
The commercial space industry widely objects to the FCC's proposed "object-years" approach for space safety, with numerous operators in comments last week calling it ineffective and more than one deriding it as "simplistic" (docket 18-313). Those comments were part of a record refresh in the FCC's orbital debris mitigation docket (see 2405020048). The FCC's object-years proposal would cap at 100 the number of years failed satellites in a constellation could remain in orbit. It has placed 100 object-years conditions on several non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellations in the past year (see 2406120006).
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority surprised no one Friday, issuing a decision decided on ideological lines that overrules the Chevron doctrine. Chevron gave agencies like the FCC and FTC deference in interpreting laws that Congress approved. On the penultimate day of its term, the court released a decision that wraps together Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Commerce. Both cases concern fishing regulations but were used as a vehicle for overturning Chevron.
The House Commerce Committee on Thursday canceled its scheduled privacy bill markup amid tensions with Republican leadership over the viability of a bipartisan bill from Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J.
5G fixed wireless access will experience continuing growth in the U.S. and expand globally, panelists said during an Opensignal webinar Thursday. While FWA took off in the U.S. first, led by T-Mobile and Verizon, it’s spreading worldwide.