Ex-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said tech leaders at a presidential meeting this Thursday with "America's technology leadership" should help President Donald Trump see "the importance of keeping the internet fast, fair, and open." "We are on the cusp of another internet reinvention called Web 3.0, and its opening act, the internet of things," Wheeler said in a Brookings Institution blog post Tuesday. "Whether the promise of Web 3.0 is fully realized, however, will depend on the policy decisions we make today -- specifically, the kinds of policy decisions that will hopefully be discussed with the president. The promise of Web 3.0 is finished without open networks to connect it. Precisely, the kind of openness the Trump FCC is trying to remove by undoing the existing Open Internet Rules." Wheeler said Web 3.0 is different from 1.0, which made the internet available through browsers and search engines, and 2.0 which "democratized" the internet with user-generated content. "Today, the web is a platform for requesting and displaying existing information. In contrast, Web 3.0 is the orchestration of raw intelligence to produce something new. Embedded and connected microchips in everything from cars to coffeepots flood the network with a tsunami of intelligence that Web 3.0 channels to create new products and services," he wrote. McKinsey estimates 3.0's "transformation in business practices and models" could have an $11 trillion impact on the global economy, but the "benefits require being free of interference from those who run the networks that take us to the internet," he wrote. His comments echoed a speech he gave at a Silicon Flatirons event in February (see 1702130035).

The FCC denied a Freedom of Information Act request by Communications Daily for information about any death threats toward or safety concerns involving Chairman Ajit Pai. In a letter Tuesday, the Office of the Managing Director (OMD) said information about such threats would be exempt because it could be part of an ongoing investigation, "could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual," or both. We filed the FOIA request on threats Pai received and on security planning for commissioners' May meeting at which a reporter was manhandled (see 1705190031). About the security planning, OMD said that agency security "was operating under heightened awareness for potential disruptions and threats to the ... meeting," but there were no records of security procedures or correspondence specifically about that meeting. It also said the May 18 gathering was subject to general security directives, and those are exempt and their disclosure "would impair their effectiveness."

The fight between the Phoenix Center and Free Press intensified Tuesday, with a center paper refuting claims in a May Free Press study. Free Press said aggregate capital investments at publicly traded ISPs were 5 percent higher during the two-year period after FCC commissioners' 2015 net neutrality vote than in the previous two years (see 1705150061). “Recent releases of data from USTelecom and CTIA both reveal very large reductions in capital spending by telecommunications firms in 2016,” said the report by George Ford, Phoenix chief economist. “Even a recent report by Free Press -- a zealous proponent of aggressive Internet regulation -- backs up FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s claim that investment declined subsequent to reclassification.” Financial data “tells a consistent story about investment in 2016 -- capital spending is down, and way down,” Ford said. The center blames the 2015 order, which reclassified broadband as a Communications Act Title II service. Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood questioned in an email whether the Phoenix Center report makes sense. “Just look at their AT&T section,” Wood said. “They claim that we did not account for DirecTV, but in fact we did. Perhaps George didn't have the stamina or the brainpower to read our full report.” Free Press reported AT&T spending declined temporarily after the 2015 vote because the company completed a massive upgrade in 2014, Wood said. “We haven't accused the ISPs of misleading the FCC, because NONE OF THEM tell the FCC or their investors that Title II had any impact on their investment.” Free State Foundation submitted a filing Tuesday in docket 17-108 including recent papers by FSF Senior Fellow Theodore Bolema: “Too Much Unnecessary Regulation Is Impeding Telecom Investment” and "Allow Paid Prioritization on the Internet for More, Not Less, Capital Investment."

The White House Office of American Innovation hopes the American Technology Council’s inaugural meeting Monday will help “unleash the creativity of the private sector to provide citizen services in a way that has never happened before,” said Director Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, before the meeting’s official start: “We will foster a new set of startups” and “be a global leader in the field making government more transparent and responsive to citizens' needs.” The ATC meeting, which was to have gone past our deadline, was to focus on its primary goal of working on federal IT modernization, but smaller working groups also would look at a range of other sector-specific issues like big data, cybersecurity, H1-B visas and tech recruitment, a White House spokesman said. “We certainly know the problems,” said White House Director-Strategic Initiatives Chris Liddell in public remarks. “We have some of the ideas about what the solutions are. But we really want to engage your minds and get the best of the private sector applied to these problems.” The White House confirmed that the ATC meeting would include: MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, OpenGov CEO Zachary Bookman, Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Kleiner Perkins Chairman John Doerr, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger, Palantir CEO Alex Karp, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Akamai CEO Tom Leighton, SAP CEO Bill McDermott, Qualcomm CEO Steven Mollenkopf, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, Google parent Alphabet CEO Eric Schmidt, Accenture CEO Julie Sweet and Trump tech sector ally Peter Thiel.

Lifeline wireless providers proposed an "industry consensus plan" for the migration of subscribers to a national verifier of consumer eligibility for the low-income subsidy program. Subscribers should be migrated if their "income or program based eligibility can be confirmed" by the national verifier using an appropriate database, said the Lifeline Connects Coalition (American Broadband & Telecommunications, Blue Jay Wireless, iWireless and Telrite), Boomerang Wireless, Sprint, True Wireless, TerraCom and YourTel America. Lifeline eligible telecom carriers "can confirm the income or program based eligibility of subscribers not found in such databases either by providing previously obtained documentation (for end users enrolled after February 17, 2016) or evidence of a successful annual recertification (for end users enrolled prior to February 17, 2016)," said their filing Friday in docket 11-42. They said their proposal was "consistent with" a recent proposal of TracFone Wireless, which last week said current Universal Service Administrative Co. plans for reverifying Lifeline eligibility under the national verifier would "cause millions of qualified low-income households to lose their Lifeline-supported service" (see 1706130026). A TracFone representative Monday agreed the industry proposals were consistent with each other. Deloitte responded to a USAC request for proposals to be the Lifeline national verifier, said a filing Friday on a meeting it had with Wireline Bureau staffers.

Consumers Union supported a request by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and others that the FCC open a rulemaking to repeal a requirement that telcos retain toll-call data for 18 months (see 1508040027 and 1704240065). The rule is unnecessary for business purposes, no longer serves necessary law enforcement purposes and makes consumer data vulnerable to breaches, CU said. "Ninety-five percent of Americans own a cellphone of some kind. The high rate of cellphone use means that the Commission requires telephone companies to keep 18 months of call data on at least 95 percent of the population," said the group's filing posted Monday in docket 17-130. "Law enforcement and commercial justifications for this rule have significantly eroded. ... Section 42.6 necessitates that telephone companies keep a vast and detailed history of a consumer’s telephone use even in cases where the consumer is under no suspicion of wrongdoing." The group said "data minimization" is needed to protect against breaches as "the very existence of 18 months of detailed and personal call data" creates a "treasure trove for hackers" that's "vulnerable to attack." The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, which joined EPIC's 2015 request, expressed continued support. "We are particularly concerned with data breach risk and the inability for companies to compete for customers based on their privacy practices," said PRC. "The FCC’s existing rule counters the widely accepted best practice of data minimization." In a filing posted Friday, Media Alliance said retention of those records minus any allegations of wrongdoing is a privacy abuse that creates large tracking and targeting risks "and provides a literal gold mine for potential data breaches and cybersecurity intrusions, whose rate is growing exponentially."

A declaratory ruling approved by the FCC commissioners allowing cable operators to electronically send customers annual notices doesn't differ notably from the draft released earlier this month (see 1706010049), an official told us. The one tweak was in language on notices for customers opting out of email notification, we were told. The item -- responding to a 2016 petition by NCTA and the American Cable Association (see 1603080052) -- had been on the agenda for Thursday's meeting, but the agency said in a Monday public notice it was voted on circulation. The approved text wasn't posted Monday. The agency official said the item -- on circulation for some time -- was put on the agenda to force a vote, and commissioners then opted to deal with it on circulation for the sake of streamlining Thursday's meeting. Under the draft, cable operators' required annual notices to subscribers -- such as notices about services offered, pricing, and installation and service maintenance policies -- could be sent to a verified email address instead of delivered via hard copies. That verified email address is one cable customers gave to cable operators and that the customer has verified as the appropriate one for notice delivery, said the draft. The draft also specified that each notice had to come with a phone number for opting out of email notification at any time by choosing to receive paper copies of the annual notices. NCTA pushed for allowing electronic dissemination of other types of customer notifications, not just annual notices (see 1706130007), but that language wasn't incorporated in the ruling, the FCC official said. NCTA didn't comment.

NCTA supported an FCC effort to explore ways to promote broadband deployment in multi-tenant environments, but it proposed some additions to a draft notice of inquiry on the agenda for next Thursday's FCC meeting, which is aimed at "improving competitive broadband access" to MTEs. NCTA encouraged the FCC to expand some draft questions, including on: the state of MTE market competition, the extent to which restricting building practices "may adversely affect" broadband deployment and pricing, and the agency's statutory authority to regulate building-provider contracts. For example, the NOI should ask if there's "any evidence of a market failure" in MTE broadband, and under what circumstances, if any, should the government have a role in dictating contract terms, said an NCTA filing posted in docket 17-142 Thursday on meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Michael O'Rielly. The cable group also said the FCC should seek comment on "technical and operational challenges" to multiple providers using a single facility and "potential consumer harm" of such sharing.

The North American Free Trade Agreement should include provisions governing intellectual property, recognize the importance of the internet, and be free of impediments to U.S. companies operating in foreign countries, said industry associations in comments submitted to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Friday. “The U.S. approach to renegotiating NAFTA should reflect the increasing importance of Internet-enabled trade to the U.S. economy,” said CCIA. “For the Internet to serve its trade-enabling role, and for local entrepreneurs to drive crossborder economic activity, trade negotiators need to ensure predictable liability protections are in place across countries where users and content creators are sharing information on Internet platforms,” said CTA. The agreement should include principles consistent with an open internet, said Public Knowledge. PK also commented on the agreement’s provisions on intellectual property, though it said NAFTA may not be the correct place for such provisions. “When multiple bilateral and regional trade agreements address substantive intellectual property in detail, they run the risk of an inconsistent and complex patchwork of obligations,” PK said. If copyright provisions are part of NAFTA, they should preserve public interest balance and “require limitations and exceptions to copyright, which are essential in modern societies and economies,” PK said. North American trading partners should “maintain a balanced system of intellectual property regulation” said CCIA. NAB, CTA and the Satellite Industry Association said NAFTA shouldn't include rules that make it difficult for U.S. companies to work with Canada and Mexico. The agreement should address Canadian retransmission of U.S broadcast content and Canada’s “discriminatory tax treatment” of U.S. broadcasters, NAB said. The agreement “should require copyright limitations and exceptions like fair use that have been essential to U.S. innovation and the strength of the U.S. tech sector,” CTA said. “The absence of such provisions in Mexico leaves the U.S. tech sector vulnerable there -- particularly as Mexico strengthens other parts of its copyright system,” CTA said. NAFTA should “prohibit” the “trade barriers which create performance demands on U.S. satellite services in Canada and Mexico,” SIA said. The Communications Workers of America suggested a host of changes to the agreement to improve its effects on labor. “NAFTA has had a hugely negative impact on CWA members and other working families across this country,” CWA said. “The renegotiation of NAFTA must replace this deal written by and for multinational corporations with an agreement that is designed to create jobs and raise wages for working men and women."

Microsoft told the FCC that preserving a single UHF white-space channel in every market would have “virtually no impact on low-power broadcasters or translators.” Two years ago, the FCC proposed to reserve at least one blank TV channel in every market for white spaces devices and wireless mics after the incentive auction and repacking (see 1506160043). Microsoft said it completed a report that focused on the effect on New Mexico, Utah, and North Carolina, “markets NAB’s pre-auction comments identified as potentially problematic.” The study also looked at Cleveland as a more typical urban market. One thousand simulations were conducted for each market, Microsoft said. “Microsoft’s analysis predicts no [effect] at all in three out of these four markets,” it said. “In Salt Lake City, the impact is minimal.” Microsoft representatives met with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O'Rielly and other FCC officials. “The record is clear that this white space channel is critical to ensuring that the United States has the minimum three white space channels needed to support investment by semiconductor and device makers and to enable broadband Internet access for rural and underserved Americans,” Microsoft said in a filing in docket 12-268.