[LibreQoS] Fwd: [WISPAMembers] FCC Adopts Broadband Consumer Label Rules

[LibreQoS] Fwd: [WISPAMembers] FCC Adopts Broadband Consumer Label Rules

[Dave Taht]

thank ghu packet loss is not on it.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Louis Peraertz <wispamembers+89458@wispa.org>
Date: Fri, Nov 18, 2022 at 2:37 AM
Subject: [WISPAMembers] FCC Adopts Broadband Consumer Label Rules
To: <dave.taht@gmail.com>


Late yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published
its Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) with
regard to rules establishing broadband consumer labels.  In 2021, the
Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) mandated that the FCC
adopt rules requiring display of these labels by November 15, 2022.
You can find the sample label, which the FCC requires fixed and mobile
broadband service providers to display to consumers, at the end of
this message, or on page 6 of the Order.  Here is a link to the entire
FCC Order and FNPRM:
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-22-86A1.pdf.
The rules will be effective six months after Federal Register
publication of the Office of Management and Budget’s approval of the
rules.  There is, however, a significant win for the vast majority of
WISPA members.  Consistent with WISPA’s advocacy, the FCC decided that
providers with 100,000 or fewer subscriber lines will have one year to
comply with the new label requirements.
In this message, we highlight for you other key aspects of the Order
and FNPRM.  For example, we identify requirements that are not readily
apparent from the label and requests that the label contain other
information which the FCC rejected.  We encourage you to read the
entire Order and FNPRM.
Key Decisions In The Broadband Consumer Label Order
Requirements Not Apparent From The Label
The label requirement applies to “broadband Internet access service
plans” because the IIJA directed the FCC to require the display of
labels that disclose information regarding “broadband Internet access
service plans.”  For purposes of the IIJA,“broadband Internet access
service” uses the same definition that the FCC previously adopted in
section 8.1(b) of its rules:  “a mass-market retail service by wire or
radio that provides the capability to transmit data to and receive
data from all or substantially all internet endpoints, including any
capabilities that are incidental to and enable the operation of the
communications service, but excluding dial-up internet access
service.”  The definition also “encompasses any service that the
Commission finds to be providing a functional equivalent of the
service” defined in the rules or that is used to evade the protections
set forth in the rules.  The broadband consumer label requirement does
not apply to enterprise service offerings or special access services
because those services are not “mass-market retail services,” and
therefore, not covered by the label requirement.
The Order emphasizes that where it does not modify or eliminate a
transparency rule, which the FCC had previously established, that
requirement is still in place.
Point Of Sale.  The Order requires ISPs to display the label at the
“point of sale,” which the FCC defines as the moment a consumer begins
to investigate and compare broadband service plans available to them
at their location.  The Order defines “point of sale” as both ISP
websites and any other channels through which their service is sold,
including ISP-owned retail locations, and third-party owned retail
locations.  When selling over the phone, the Order requires broadband
providers to orally provide information from the label.  Providers
must display the actual label—not simply an icon or a link to the
label—in close proximity to the associated plan advertisement.
Machine-Readable.  The Order requires providers to make the
information included in the label available to the public in
machine-readable format.  By “machine readable,” the FCC means
providing “data in a format that can be easily processed by a computer
without human intervention while ensuring no semantic meaning is
lost.”  The Order states that “providers should make each label’s
information available by providing the information separately in a
spreadsheet file format such as .csv.”
Disability Access.  The Order requires that the label be accessible to
people with disabilities at all points of sale.  In this regard, the
FCC strongly encourages ISPs to comply with the well-established legal
requirements included in the ADA and the Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG).  The WCAG are routinely updated.  Therefore,
providers’ websites should be modified over time consistent with such
updates.  “When providing the labels, ISPs must follow the ADA and
associated guidance provided by the Department of Justice, including
giving primary consideration to the individual’s choice of alternate
format, including ‘qualified readers, taped texts, audio recordings,
braille materials, large print materials, or other effective methods
of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with
visual impairments.’”
Languages.  The Order requires providers to make labels available in
any other languages in which the ISP markets its services in the
United States.
Archived Labels.  Broadband providers must archive, for two years, all
labels required by this Order.  They are not required to make the
archived labels available to the general public.  But they must
provide any archived label to the FCC or a current customer upon
request.
Requests For More Information That The FCC Rejected
The FCC’s Order agrees with WISPA’s advocacy on several points.

No requirement for broadband providers to provide information about
peak usage rates or packet loss.
Aside from existing open internet transparency rules, there is no
additional requirement to include detailed information about network
management practices, specifically those related to blocking,
throttling, and paid prioritization.
No requirement that ISPs display the label on a consumer’s monthly
bill.  The FCC acknowledges that providers have reasonable concerns
that adding a graphic, or photo file such as a jpeg, of the label to
printed bills or enclosing an insert of the label with billing
statements may be costly and potentially burdensome.
No requirement that ISPs create and display labels for services used
by current customers that are no longer available to new customers.
Broadband providers will not have to directly notify consumers about
changes to the terms and conditions in the displayed labels.  The FCC
concluded that requiring providers to notify enrolled consumers each
time a service offering displayed in a label changes could be
burdensome for providers with minimal benefits for consumers.
Consumers who already are notified about rate changes or speed
upgrades through their bills or other mailings will likely be
overwhelmed or even confused by additional notices about changes in
label information.

To the extent that some businesses, such as coffee shops, bookstores,
airlines, and private end-user networks, such as libraries and
universities, acquire broadband Internet access service from an ISP to
enable patrons to access the Internet from their establishments,
provision of such service by the premises operator is not itself
broadband Internet access service unless offered to patrons as a
mass-market retail service.  Thus, these businesses need not create
and display labels associated with those services.
The FCC declined to adopt new rules, practices, or procedures
specifically for enforcement of the broadband consumer label.
Issues In The FNPRM
Accessibility And Other Languages.  The FCC seeks comment on whether
it should adopt specific criteria, based on certain WCAG standards
(e.g., use of Braille).  It also seeks further comment on whether
providers should be required to make the label available in languages
other than those in which they market their services, such as Spanish,
Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and
Tagalog.
Pricing Information.  The FCC seeks specific comment on pricing
information for bundles.  “Would a label requirement for bundled
services, with a single price for the entire bundle, help consumers?”
Speed Information.  The FCC seeks comment “on whether there are more
appropriate ways to measure speed and latency other than ‘typical’ for
purposes of the label disclosure such as average or peak speed and
latency.  The FCC specifically asks “[s]hould we require providers to
add another speed metric to the label in addition to typical speed?”
Cybersecurity.  The FCC asks “[s]hould ISPs be required to disclose at
the point of sale information about their cybersecurity practices?
What standards or best practices should be used to benchmark a
broadband service’s security posture?”
Reliability.  The  FCC asks whether “adding a reliability measure to
the label improve the availability of that information to consumers?
How would this information assist consumers with their purchasing
decisions?”
Other Service Characteristics.  The FCC seeks comment on “whether
there are other service characteristics, beyond speed and latency, and
possibly reliability and cybersecurity, that ISPs should display on
the label.”
Network Management Practices.  The FCC asks “whether a link to the
network management practices is sufficient or if the label should
include more specific disclosures about whether the provider engages
in blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization.”
Privacy Policies.  The FCC seeks comment on whether it should continue
to include a link to the service provider’s current privacy policy in
the label instead of including any detailed privacy information in the
label itself.
Interactive Formatting Issues.  The FCC seeks comment on whether it
should require ISPs to provide additional information in an
interactive label, such as a customer’s “household Internet activity.”
Labels Submitted To The FCC.  As mentioned above, the Order requires
broadband providers to provide broadband labels at the point of sale
and to archive their labels for two years. According to the FCC,
several commenters proposed that the Commission give providers the
option of submitting labels directly to the Commission instead.
Therefore, the FCC seeks comment on whether the Commission should
allow broadband providers to do so and whether it should maintain a
database of labels and post them on the Commission’s website.
Comments will be due 30 days following Federal Register publication,
and the public can comment on the following issues.




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-- 
This song goes out to all the folk that thought Stadia would work:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dtaht_the-mushroom-song-activity-6981366665607352320-FXtz
Dave Täht CEO, TekLibre, LLC