FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s blog on the Jan. 13 commissioners’ meeting will be posted Wednesday, the day draft items are posted, rather than the usual practice of doing so the previous day, FCC officials said. Pai is expected to seek votes on several wireless and other items (see 2012210051).

It could be well into 2023 before the government faces Google in U.S. District Court in Washington. At a Friday telephonic hearing, Judge Amit Mehta set a Sept. 12, 2023, trial start date for DOJ and states’ antitrust lawsuit against Google. Mehta said he's “anxious” to get Thursday’s separate antitrust complaint against Google by 38 attorneys general (see 2012170063) on the same discovery schedule for efficiency. Google attorney John Schmidtlein agreed the new case should be assigned to Mehta and consolidated with the first case for discovery, but Google isn’t ready to take a position on whether trials should be combined. On states’ new case, Mehta asked Google to say by Jan. 8 if it will answer the complaint or file a motion to dismiss; the judge set a status hearing for Jan. 21 at 11 a.m. The parties proposed (in Pacer) a scheduling and case management order Dec. 11 and agreed (in Pacer) to a protective order last Monday. Google said (in Pacer) Thursday it doesn’t oppose California joining as a plaintiff in the DOJ case, which Michigan and Wisconsin on Thursday also asked to join. Texas and nine other states separately sued Google Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Sherman, Texas (see 2012160059).

There's ample evidence of enough spectrum to serve small satellite operators' (SSO) likely future customers, despite SSO complaints the C-band clearing order left them spectrum to serve only existing customers, said a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit opinion (docket 20-1142) released Friday. The opinion explained the court decision earlier this month (see 2012080020) to reject challenges to the order brought by the SSOs and satellite truck operator PSSI Global. The FCC was reasonable in deciding C-band spectrum "would better serve the public interest if actively used by state-of-the-art 5G technology than if held in reserve by satellite operators unlikely to need it," said Judges Robert Wilkins, Gregory Katsas and Justin Walker in an opinion penned by Katsas. The court said there's also "substantial evidence" that mobile earth stations will be able to provide the same services to customers after the agency modifies their licenses. Counsel for the appellants didn't comment.

Expect to see more clashes between the FCC and DOD over spectrum for 5G, with the military the primary user of "beachfront" midband spectrum that's "an almost essential resource for nationwide 5G," attorney Joel Thayer of Phillips Lytle blogged Thursday. The National Defense Authorization Act passed last week (see 2012110055) adopts the FCC's harmful interference standard for DOD disputes with Ligado. Thayer complained it lets the secretary of defense refuse to contract or renew a contract with entities operating commercial terrestrial communication networks in frequencies near Ligado’s due to harmful interference with GPS devices.

With the 28th round of the C-band auction complete Thursday, gross auction proceeds stand at $21.5 billion, per the FCC Auction 107 public reporting system. The demand for C band relative to supply is larger than it was for the citizens broadband radio service, and this could be a protracted auction, Citi analyst Michael Rollins wrote investors Thursday. He said the three national wireless operators likely are active bidders, seeking 60 to 160 MHz each.

The FCC scheduled a virtual event Jan. 15 to provide resources and information on getting a job in tech to diverse high school and college students, parents and guidance counselors, said a public notice Wednesday. A Road Map to Tech Jobs will be hosted by the Diversity in the Tech Sector Working Group of the FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. Including speakers from large tech sector companies such as AT&T and Charter, the event will focus on the sorts of careers available, the experience needed, resume building, networking and education advice. Communications Daily released its Special Report on diversity in the communications industry Wednesday (see 2012160045).

Q1 USF revenue will be around $10.1 billion, and the contribution factor is projected to reach 31.8%, the FCC said in Tuesday's Daily Digest, as expected (see 2012020052). The Universal Service Administrative Co. projected collection for Connect America at $1.34 billion, E-rate at $611.3 million, Rural Health Care $166.9 million, Lifeline $262.3 million and the Connected Care pilot $8.3 million.

Quantum networks and communications are likely a decade away but have big implications for network security, Chairman Ajit Pai said Tuesday at the FCC’s virtual quantum internet forum. “By applying the laws of quantum physics to make calculations, we’re entering a place we’ve never been before and doing things computers have never done.” Quantum networks could facilitate “distributed quantum computing and giving us a level of computational clout far beyond what is possible with today’s internet,” he said. A quantum-secured communications link “could offer foolproof security for data communication,” Pai said: “If the link has been eavesdropped or tampered with, the sender will know.” Quantum physics “holds the potential to solve pain points in our everyday lives that we may not even recognize,” said Commissioner Brendan Carr. He compared it to moving from 3G to 4G: “Our job is to convene stakeholders to do what we can to help give this transition a better shot of taking place even more quickly.”

The FTC ordered nine social media and video streaming companies Monday to detail data practices and how they affect younger users. Commissioners voted 4-1, with Noah Phillips dissenting, for orders to Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Amazon, Twitter, ByteDance, Reddit, Snap and Discord. The agency issued the orders through Section 6(b) authority, which allows subpoenas. The companies have 45 days to respond. This “will lift the hood on the social media and video streaming firms to carefully study their engines,” said Commissioners Rohit Chopra, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Christine Wilson: “As concerns mount regarding the impact of the tech companies on Americans’ privacy and behavior, this study is timely and important.” Phillips called this “an undisciplined foray into a wide variety of topics, some only tangentially related to the stated focus.” The order will produce little valuable information and “divert scarce commission resources,” he said. The agency is seeking information about ad targeting, algorithm application to personal information and user engagement practices. The Internet Association didn’t comment. Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Mark Warner, D-Va., welcomed the 6(b) study. “Parents and policymakers alike are in the dark about how powerful websites and apps are siphoning kids’ and teens’ personal information, profiling users, and raking in profits while children get hooked on their devices,” said Markey. Warner called it “long overdue.”

New FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington was sworn in at 9 a.m. Monday by Chairman Ajit Pai via videoconference (see 2012140021), an agency spokesperson confirmed. Simingon’s oath of office officially ends the term of his predecessor, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, who noted the change on his Twitter account Monday: “Excitingly, I am a private citizen and not an FCC Commissioner.” The commission tweeted a photo with a split screen of Pai and Simington side by side, apparently in the midst of the ceremony. Simington’s name and photo also replaced O’Rielly's in the FCC’s online list of commissioners. He has a brief biography page on the FCC’s website, along with a link to his new email address. He didn’t respond to a request for comment directed there. The bio page also lists Simington’s new official FCC Twitter account, which doesn’t appear to have ever tweeted and by Monday afternoon was following only other official FCC accounts. Simington’s bio describes him as having "private and public-sector experience” with the NTIA and Brightstar and as an attorney in private practice. Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., Commissioner Brendan Carr and others tweeted congratulations to Simington Monday. “I know Nathan will follow in [O’Rielly’s] footsteps to champion rural broadband and support America in the race to 5G,” said Thune. The Senate confirmed Simington last week (see 2012080067).