T-Mobile revised a complaint against San Francisco to remove five of 16 wireless siting applications from its claim alleging the city delayed permitting (see 2011200046). It added one more application to the claim, so the amended complaint now seeks declaratory ruling affirming deemed-granted status of 12 applications to modify wireless facilities. “Since T-Mobile filed the initial Complaint, the City has issued permits for five of the applications identified in the original Complaint,” said the amended complaint (in Pacer).

A Seattle ban on facial recognition remains necessary even as the city responded to one police detective using the technology improperly, said the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington state. Seattle denied using Clearview AI facial recognition last week (see 2012020057). Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz further explained in a Wednesday letter to the ACLU that a single SPD officer downloaded the software onto a personal device. “This matter has been referred to the Office of Police Accountability for investigation,” Diaz wrote in the letter shared with us by the city. “SPD does not use Clearview AI and has no intention of using Clearview AI. As Chief, I am committed to upholding the tenets of the Surveillance Ordinance and the civil liberties of our residents. Clearview AI’s business product is at odds with those two central priorities.” ACLU-Washington is glad “the department is addressing the downloading of unauthorized surveillance software,” but “this isolated action is not sufficient to protect Seattle residents from surveillance using this flawed, inaccurate, and racially biased technology,” said Technology and Liberty Project Manager Jenny Lee in a Thursday statement. She urged Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) to ban face surveillance to “clarify that no city employee should be downloading these systems.” A Durkan spokesperson pointed us to the city's 2018 surveillance transparency law.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission updated diversity reporting guidelines for utilities to include minorities, women, veterans, LGBTQ people and those with disabilities, the PUC said Friday. The commission voted 4-0 for the revised policy statement; it becomes effective upon publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, the agency said.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska cleared Liberty Broadband to acquire an indirect controlling interest in GCI Communication. In a Friday order, RCA found the deal in the public interest. “Liberty Broadband has the managerial and technical fitness required for GCICC to remain fit, willing, and able to provide local exchange, intrastate interexchange, and private pay telephone services after the acquisition.” The FCC OK'd the companies’ federal application Oct. 23 after the deal was announced in August (see 2008310050).

Colorado and Pennsylvania agencies urged caution as the FCC weighs how to deter states from diverting 911 fees on consumer bills for unrelated purposes. In reply comments due Wednesday in docket 20-291, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission warned some possible solutions in the FCC’s notice of inquiry “are inappropriate in response to the issue and may cause significant harm to the cause of improving public safety communications systems for use by the public.” The FCC shouldn’t adopt too narrow a definition for diversion that might conflict with 911 surcharge laws, the PUC said. Avoid imposing penalties that further harm local 911 systems, impede upgrades or severely hurt local governments, it said. Give states flagged as diverters an appeals process and a chance to correct behavior, it said. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency doesn’t support "a nationwide fixed ‘list’ of allowable 911 expenses at the federal level nor do we support a liberal application of 911 fees to all public safety functions," PEMA replied. “An approach to a national list of allowable expenditures that is more restrictive or contradicts state statutes or eligibility rules would penalize Pennsylvania 911 systems and has the potential to significantly impact 911 service.” Conditioning federal grants on no diversion is more effective when more money is at stake, PEMA said. "A large-scale federal funding program for 911, in a similar fashion to FirstNet, would serve as a strong deterrent to 911 fee diversion." The FCC hasn’t flagged Colorado or Pennsylvania as diverters. USTelecom and the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) discouraged requiring providers to disclose on bills that a customer’s state is a diverter. ATIS said its Network Reliability Steering Committee “strongly opposes this approach because it would put the service providers in the middle of an issue that does not directly involve them and over which they have no authority to resolve.” Local and public safety groups warned in comments last month that some ways of punishing diversion could harm 911 (see 2011030029).

Seattle should ban agencies from using facial recognition technology that police may have improperly acquired, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday. The Seattle Police Department may have violated the city’s surveillance law when it acquired and used Clearview AI technology, ACLU-Washington state wrote Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) and two council members who chair relevant oversight committees, citing a public records request. A Durkan spokesperson responded, "The Seattle Police Department has no licenses for Clearview AI, no agreements with Clearview AI, and does not use Clearview AI."

Frontier Communications criticized a California Public Utilities Commission staff report comparing the company to other providers nationally. In comments posted Tuesday in docket A.20-05-010, the telco urged the commission to toss the Communications Division’s "stats" document from its bankruptcy reorganization review. “The Report reflects a series of incomplete and potentially misleading comparisons between providers that are not sufficiently similar to facilitate a reliable or useful analysis,” Frontier said Monday. The report’s premise is “misguided” because the proceeding doesn’t “involve empirical questions about whether Frontier is similar to large cable and satellite providers, nor does this proceeding involve normative considerations about whether Frontier should be more like other providers,” the carrier added. The California Emerging Technology Fund is “mystified” about the report “at this late stage,” CETF commented. The report gives “no stated purpose or methodology” for the comparison, and, other than comments and replies, “there is no chance to cross examine or send data requests to the authors to understand questions such as why these comparison companies were chosen, and why the particular metrics were chosen.” National comparison isn’t relevant here, it added. Consumer complaints about Frontier service quality are up in several states but down in California (see our report).

Eligible telecom carriers subject to broadband public interest obligations in 2021 must offer a minimum monthly usage allowance of 350 GB, said the FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics Monday in an annual urban rate survey. ETCs must certify by July 1 that the pricing of monthly basic residential voice services is no more than $54.75, two standard deviations above the average rate of $33.73. The survey included broadband rate benchmarks for various service offerings, with higher rates for Alaska.

The Wyoming Business Council should "immediately release" coverage maps for broadband network projects funded by Cares Act grants and "halt any funding for projects that will result in subsidized overbuilding," said FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in a letter to Gov. Mark Gordon (R) Wednesday. Local fiber and cable-based broadband providers raised concerns about the duplication of networks in already-serviced areas. O'Rielly said such duplication would "artificially impair the value of" FCC USF subsidies, because at least one of the grants will allegedly overbuild a recipient of Connect America Fund Phase II auction funding. Gordon's office didn't comment Monday.

Comments are due Dec. 23 on proposed rules for Alaska telecom deregulation in response to 2019 law SB-83, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska said Monday in docket R-19-002. Commissioners voted 5-0 for the additional comment round at last week’s meeting (see 2011180039).