The number of times federal agencies cited other federal laws as exemptions from Freedom of Information Act requests more than doubled from FY 2012 to FY 2019, as processed FOIA requests increased about 32%, GAO reported Thursday. Most commonly cited was a federal law making U.S. visa issuance records confidential, it said. 2010-19, 91 agencies used 256 different statutes as exemptions more than 525,000 times, it said. The report included the FCC and FTC. GAO said DOJ provided technical comments.

Major carriers disagreed on what the government should do to move forward based on a 5G Challenge notice of inquiry proposed by NTIA in cooperation with DOD (see 2101080021). Verizon didn’t comment nor did most major associations, we were told this week. Filings were due Tuesday and will likely be posted next week, an NTIA spokesperson said. The FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act instructed DOD to carry out a “demonstration project to evaluate the maturity, performance and cost of covered technologies to provide additional options for providers of fifth-generation wireless network services.” T-Mobile urged caution, noting efforts on open radio access networks underway. “Keep in mind the work that the wireless industry has already performed, and will continue to perform, to develop these technologies,” T-Mobile said: “Open network interfaces are already a part of 3rd Generation Partnership Project 5G protocols.” Rather than pursuing the challenge, the Pentagon could “accelerate 5G network diversity by taking advantage of the work that, among others, 3GPP has already performed to implement solutions unique to DoD,” the company said. “It can also work with Congress to seek funding for and implement the already-established 5G grant program intended to accomplish exactly what the NOI seemingly hopes to achieve through the Challenge,” the carrier said. AT&T said the challenge could help DOD fulfill requirements under the NDAA and “demonstrate the value” of ORANs. “Such action can send a strong signal not only to the U.S. marketplace and investment community but also to our international partners," the telco said: “Establish a true plug and play environment open to any vendor that is compatible and with published, open interfaces to ensure interoperability.” NTIA and DOD have a “unique opportunity to augment the progress and impact of related efforts across the federal government as part of a whole-of-nation 5G effort,” the Open RAN Policy Coalition commented: “The success of this Challenge, like the success of 5G itself, depends on engaging a broad set of diverse stakeholders.” Prioritize “real-world applications rather than basic research,” the coalition urged: “Clarify the terms, scope and goals of the challenge to support open and interoperable interfaces.”

The C-band relocation payment clearinghouse will have its website launched Feb. 22 and its handbook of claims and process guidance published April 1, said clearinghouse representatives in a call with C-Band Technical Working Group-2, per an FCC docket 18-122 posting Wednesday. It will be ready to start accepting claims May 14.

Staff plans a workshop on digital marketplace incentives and how to ensure the industry does "a better job” protecting privacy and consumer data, said acting FTC Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter Wednesday. The agency seeks input about “which remedies best address particular types of harm and feedback on the effectiveness of our existing orders,” she told a Future of Privacy Forum event. She said she asked staff to examine health apps, including telehealth and contact tracing apps, calling the pandemic her “first priority.” She asked staff to “actively investigate biased and discriminatory algorithms.” On artificial intelligence, the official wants staff to explore “the best ways to address AI-generated consumer harms.”

The federal court reviewing California’s net neutrality law asked how DOJ's withdrawing its challenge (see 2102080073) affects the separate lawsuit by ACA Connects, USTelecom, CTIA and NCTA. ISP plaintiffs and California should file a brief joint status report by Feb. 16 “stating their position as to whether the United States of America's voluntary dismissal in 18-cv-02660 affects this matter in any way, and, if so, how,” said Monday's minute order (in Pacer) in case 2:18-cv-02684 at U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of California. ACA opposition to the California law is unchanged, a spokesperson said. USTelecom didn’t comment Tuesday, and CTIA and NCTA declined to comment.

Satellite interests backed and wireless interests opposed a Satellite Industry Association call for a fixed satellite service (FSS) allocation in the 51.4-52.4 GHz band, in FCC comments Tuesday in RM-11871. Many satellite operators are developing networks and systems that would operate using feeder links in the V band, Boeing said in support of SIA. "Immediate action ... is warranted" since a global FSS allocation in the spectrum adopted at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference took effect Jan. 1, Boeing said. Amazon's Kuiper said a proposed rulemaking should be expanded to allow non-geostationary use of the spectrum, as well as geostationary, instead of initiating a second NPRM for NGSO use. NGSO and GSO providers can maximize their feeder link operations with access to the 51 GHz spectrum, it said. Hughes said the swath is domestically allocated as a shared federal and nonfederal band for terrestrial fixed and mobile wireless services, but it's largely unused by federal and nonfederal services. But CTIA said access to high-band airwaves is a major part of the U.S. 5G strategy, and the availability of such "is already heavily imbalanced towards satellite use." It said SIA's effort would "forestall steady progress that the U.S. has made in identifying and licensing high-band spectrum for mobile terrestrial use." SIA's petition said FSS in 51 GHz can share with other services while protecting passive services in adjacent bands.

Reclassify broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, advocates urged the FCC in a petition for reconsideration in docket 17-108 Tuesday. Petitioners are Common Cause, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, United Church of Christ, National Hispanic Media Coalition, New America’s Open Technology Institute and Free Press. Santa Clara County, California, and its Central Fire Protection District also filed a petition, arguing the commission "wholly failed to consider public safety" when it repealed net neutrality. Incompas and Public Knowledge filed similar petitions in the past week (see 2102080061). The FCC didn't respond to a request for comment.

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks hosts an online panel Thursday at 2 p.m. EST on black-owned businesses and the digital divide, the FCC said Monday. Representatives from the African American Mayors Association, Black Economic Alliance, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice, and U.S. Black Chambers will speak.

Thursday's Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment meeting hasn't been canceled and will continue as planned. See the FCC's announcement and our calendar here and here.

Carriers seeking funding to replace Huawei and ZTE gear in their networks face tight restrictions as part of the process to get money from the FCC under the 2019 Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, Wireline Bureau Legal Adviser Justin Faulb said during a Rural Wireless Association webinar Monday. The FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus bill (HR-133) provides $1.9 billion (see 2012220061). Applicants must maintain detailed records for 10 years of all costs eligible for reimbursement, Faulb said. The FCC has 90 days to act on requests and can extend that 45 days, he said. If an application has “material defects,” companies have 15 days to correct them or must wait for a second window, Faulb said: Now the FCC is considering only one filing window, to be open for 30 days. All applications will be reviewed equally. The FCC will then analyze the level of demand and allocate funds based on individual applications, he said. If demand exceeds supply, eligible telecom carriers are first in line, with priority given for changes to the core network, he said. Once awards are announced, an applicant has a year to file the first reimbursement claim, “so you can’t sit on it and wait,” he said. Faulb advised companies to prepare now, noting that work must be completed within a year of the initial disbursement. The FCC can issue a blanket six-month extension if it finds equipment and services aren’t adequate, notifying Congress, he said. The agency can OK multiple individual six-month extensions, he said. “There’s a lot of pressure to get this done quickly and remove this insecure equipment,” he said. After the year, companies have an additional 120 days to file a claim and can seek a 120-day extension, he said. Only equipment on the FCC’s covered equipment list obtained before Aug. 14, 2018, is currently eligible for reimbursement, he said. Congress doesn't allow any equipment replaced to be used elsewhere, and companies must document that it's destroyed, he said. Recipients face audits and inspections similar to those in the rest of the USF, he said. Anyone who violates the rules can be required to pay back the funds, be barred from the USF and face legal penalties, Faulb said: “Please don’t break the rules.” The biggest question members have is when the FCC will release the public notice announcing the filing window, said RWA General Counsel Carri Bennet. “We’re working closely on it” and seeking a third-party fund administrator, Faulb said. “We’ll have to follow the government’s procure schedule, which will take some time based on just the steps we have to jump through.”