The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court, issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Regulatory Bulletin.
TELECOM
FTC
The Federal Trade Commission has scheduled a workshop entitled the Internet of Things: Privacy and Security in a Connected World for Tuesday, November 19, 2013. The workshop will focus on privacy and security issues related to increased connectivity for consumers in the home (including home automation, smart home appliances and connected devices) and on the move (including health and fitness devices, personal devices, and cars). The workshop will include academics, business and industry representatives, and consumer advocacy groups.
The keynote speaker will be Vint Cerf, vice president and chief Internet evangelist at Google. FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez and Commissioner Maureen K. Ohlhausen also will give remarks. The workshop will serve to inform the Commission about the developments in this area. The workshop is free and open to the public and will be webcast.
FCC
The Federal Communications Commission announced the effective date for its rules adopting rate caps for interstate inmate calling services (ICS). The rules will become effective February 11, 2014. By that date, all rates, fees, and ancillary charges for interstate ICS must be cost based. The rule requiring annual reporting and certification and the mandatory one-time data collection are not yet effective; they require approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The FCC said it would publish a document announcing the effective date for those requirements after OMB approval has been obtained.
The FCC also announced the date for filing comments in the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) portion of its Order. Comments are due December 13, 2013; reply comments are due December 30, 2013.
North Carolina
The North Carolina Utilities Commission will eliminate any requirement that providers of local exchange service offer low-income customers a State Lifeline credit, effective January 1, 2014. The rule change was made in response to legislation that repealed the statutory provisions providing ILECs and other ETCs with a credit against their NC state income tax obligation to recover the reduction of the local service telephone rates for Lifeline subscribers. See TMI Regulatory Bulletin dated 11/4/13.
