French Regulators Fine Google €50 million for GDPR Violations
The Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) announced the imposition of a financial penalty of 50 Million Euros under new financial sanction limits granted by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for a cited lack of transparency, inadequate information, and lack of valid consent regarding ads personalization. CNIL received two separate complaints in May 2018, from public interest groups which initiated this process.
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Topics:
Electric Coop,
broadband services,
CNIL,
GDPR,
Google,
General Data Protection Regulation,
Mississippi Senate
Online Data Privacy Bill Introduced by Senators Kennedy and Klobuchar
U.S. Senators John Kennedy (R-LA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) announced the introduction the Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act. The legislation is intended to protect the privacy of consumers’ online data, improve transparency, strengthen consumers’ recourse options when a breach of data occurs, and ensure companies are compliant with privacy policies that protect consumers.
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Topics:
Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act,
US Senator John Kennedy (R-LA),
US Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN),
Equipment Authorization System
Court Denies Motion to Delay Oral Arguments in Net Neutrality Challenge
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has denied the FCC’s motion to postpone oral arguments in the challenge to the agency’s Restoring Internet Freedom (RIF) order. In a previous filing the FCC cited that the lapse in its funding as well as the Department of Justice were the reasons why the arguments should be postponed. The Court stated that oral argument is still scheduled for February 1, 2019. The Court’s website states that oral arguments on the calendar for the month of January and February will go on as scheduled in spite of the government shutdown.
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Topics:
Net Neutrality,
American Data Dissemination Act,
ADD Act,
Privacy Act of 1974,
Robocall,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,
TRACED Act,
Senator Edward Markey,
Senator John Thune,
Senator Marco Rubio,
US Court of Appeals
Texas Releases Competition Report
The Texas PUC released its 2019 Scope of Competition Report. The Report examines the state of competition in Texas since the last report was released in 2017. According to the report, three trends continue to define the competitive telecommunications marketplace in Texas: (1) decreases in the number of traditional analog telephone lines; (2) substitution of wired service by wireless service; and (3) adoption of highspeed broadband services and other IP-enabled services like VoIP, which requires a broadband connection.
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Topics:
Texas Scope of Competition Report,
analog telephone lines,
wireless service,
VoIP services,
ILECs,
CLECs,
911 Outages,
Nebraska 911 service outage
What has changed in the Form 477 process or timing?
The FCC’s Form 477 is designed to gather location-specific information about the availability of broadband access across the United States. The same report is also used to track the geographic penetration of competitive options for local services, including traditional landline voice services, VoIP and wireless. This data is gathered from all providers of these services twice a year.
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Topics:
landline voice,
VoIP,
wireless,
FCC Form 477,
March 1, 2019 Deadline,
Rate of Return (ROR) carriers,
Facilities-Based Broadband ,
Facilities-Based Mobile Telephony,
broadband access
US Congresswoman Introduces Legislation to Restore Local Control of 5G Deployment
US Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo (CA-18) introduced H.R. 530, the Accelerating Wireless Broadband Development by Empowering Local Communities Act of 2019, legislation to overturn FCC regulations limiting the ability of local governments to regulate the deployment of 5G wireless infrastructure.
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Topics:
FCC Restoring Internet Freedom,
H.R. 530,
Accelerating Wireless Broadband,
Wireless location sharing practices,
US House Energy and Commerce Committee
Information Technology & Innovation Foundation Report Calls for National Data Privacy Law
A new report by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation calls for a new privacy framework that expands and simplifies consumer data privacy rights, reduces compliance costs from existing state and federal regulations, and paves the way for more data-driven innovation.
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Topics:
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation,
Consumer Data Privacy,
HIPAA,
GLBA,
Unblocking Via Biometrics,
California District Court
California PUC Announces Public Forums on Proposed Sprint/T-Mobile Merger
The California PUC (CPUC) announced it will hold three public forums for customers of Sprint and T-Mobile to give their perspective and input to the CPUC regarding the proposed merger by the telecommunications companies, as follows:
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Topics:
Sprint T-Mobile Merger,
FirstNet,
Congressional Research Service,
FCC’s universal service program,
Rural Utilities Service grant and loan programs,
broadband deployment,
wireless broadband services
New Report Addresses 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Communities of Color
A new paper published by the Brookings Institution addresses the potential impact of 5G deployment on communities of color. It says that, for communities of color that often lack reliable broadband access, 5G represents increased economic opportunity through improved access to social services, such as health care, education, transportation, energy, and employment.
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Topics:
5G,
IoT,
broadband,
Small Cell Wireless,
ATIS,
SHAKEN protocol,
caller ID,
STI-PA,
Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions,
Secure Telephone Identity Policy Administrator,
Brookings Institution,
robocalling
FirstNet Adds 50,000 Square Miles of LTE Coverage
FirstNet announced that it has increased LTE coverage area for the AT&T network and FirstNet public safety communications platform by more than 50,000 square miles nationwide, covering an additional 1 million individuals. The added LTE coverage is a result of their ongoing network build initiatives to expand and enhance connectivity for consumers and first responders in both urban and rural areas – on both indoor and outdoor sites.
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Topics:
Oregon Retail Service Quality,
ILECs,
CLECs,
service rules for telecommunications providers,
Oklahoma Rulemaking,
Universal Service Fund,
Utah Rural Telecom Association,
Utah Universal Service Fund,
FirstNet
