FCC Commissioners Agree on More Wi-Fi, Split on Process Reform, Privacy

CHICAGO -- All four FCC commissioners believe Wi-Fi should be permitted in the 5 GHz band, said Mignon Clyburn, Mike O'Rielly, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel during a panel at INTX 2015 Wednesday. “I think this is something we all agree on,” said O'Rielly, saying such cohesion is rare among the commissioners. The FCC members, their aides and bureau chiefs participated in nearly back-to-back panels Wednesday.

The agency appears less unified about process reform. O'Rielly, Pai and their respective aides Robin Colwell and Matthew Berry said items on circulation should be made public, to promote clarity about what the commission is doing. The commission's current process is as though proposed bills in the House were sealed and only Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, were allowed to discuss them, Berry said during the aides panel. The current system leads to “selective disclosure” of only the most favorable parts of an item, he said.

Clyburn said she felt such a change might impair commissioners' ability to discuss an item freely. “There is merit in a time period where we can discuss relevant issue among us,” Clyburn said. She supports changes to the Sunshine Act that might let commissioners interact more freely, her acting aide Martha Heller said.

Chairman Tom Wheeler looks upon publicizing circulating items unfavorably, said FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet in a panel of bureau chiefs. Putting draft items out for comment, changing them in response to comments and then putting them out for comment and further change could greatly delay rulemakings, Sallet said. “It's not clear how that story ever ends.” The way the rules are written suggest to Sallet and Wheeler that there must be “room for deliberation” behind the scenes, Sallet said. “I don't think it would inhibit discussion among ourselves,” Pai said.

Cable companies should be paying attention to the FCC's movement into the privacy sphere, said Colwell and Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc. Cable companies are required to “take all necessary steps” to safeguard customer privacy, a higher standard than the “reasonable efforts” usually required in such matters, LeBlanc said. The FCC's taking up of the privacy issue in the wake of the net neutrality order without specific congressional directive to do so is a mistake, O'Rielly said. The FCC is “headed in a bad direction,” he said. Clyburn disagreed, saying the agency can't afford to ignore the issue. “The public demands a regulatory backstop,” she said. That role is properly served by Congress, O'Rielly said.

Proposed changes to the Lifeline program were discussed by Clyburn, Rosenworcel, Heller and Rosenworcel aide Valery Galasso. Clyburn wants to expand the program's reach, she said. ”Lifeline could be the vehicle to get the rest of America connected.” Rosenworcel said the program should be changed to allow participants to receive broadband to close “the homework gap” -- the difference between the number of children with Internet connections only at school and those with the connections at home. Such a change would “modernize” Lifeline, she said. Pai said the government doesn't have to be the force that addresses the issue -- industry could do so.