When it rains, it pours. Yesterday and today, there were several court cases and policy moves by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) relevant to the broadband industry. Here’s a brief rundown.
Copyright infringement
Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Cox Communications cannot be held liable for copyright infringement committed by its customers who downloaded pirated music.
Justice Clarence Thomas said a company is not liable simply for providing services to the public with knowledge that some users will infringe copyrights. The ruling has broader implications beyond music, particularly for the tech industry. Companies like Google and X (Twitter) sided with Cox, with X warning that a ruling against the provider could wreak havoc on the tech sector — including AI platforms facing copyright suits from content creators.
Addictive social media platforms
Yesterday was a busy day for the courts. A California jury found Meta and YouTube liable for designing addictive social media platforms that harmed a young woman. It was the first time a U.S. jury has held major social media companies responsible for creating addictive products. Other federal trials on related issues are scheduled to begin in June.
Call centers
In its monthly public meeting today, the FCC voted to launch a rulemaking proceeding targeting offshore call centers run by communications providers. The FCC is seeking comment on a policy that would encourage providers to bring call center jobs to the U.S., requiring workers to be proficient in American Standard English and giving consumers the option to transfer calls to a U.S.-based agent.
The proceeding also explores the use of fees or bonds to deter foreign call centers from facilitating illegal robocall scams.
Robocalls
The FCC took up robocall-related policy separately, too, voting to launch a rulemaking proceeding aimed at cutting off illegal robocallers at the source by tightening rules around how phone numbers are obtained and used.
The FCC policy would extend robocall certification requirements to all providers that receive numbering resources — including resellers — and require greater transparency into how numbers are resold and used. The Commission said its own investigations have found that the majority of robocall cases involve resold numbers.
Spectrum access
The FCC also voted today to launch what it is calling the “weird space stuff” proceeding, aimed at expanding spectrum access for emerging space ventures such as orbital laboratories, in-space satellite repairs, and private inhabitable spacecraft. The commission says American innovators currently face an acute shortage of accessible spectrum for telemetry, tracking, and command operations.
Cutting red tape
In its ongoing “Delete, Delete, Delete” effort to cut regulatory red tape, the FCC voted to eliminate 18 outdated rules from its Office of Economics and Analytics and Office of International Affairs. The action is the seventh in a series of rule deletions aimed at modernizing the FCC’s regulatory framework and accelerating network deployment.
Legacy copper networks
Finally, the FCC made a policy move related to legacy copper networks. Telecompetitor will have full coverage of that decision tomorrow.
