FCC assailed for proposing
in-flight cellphone use
November 23, 2013, 07:47 am
By Brendan Sasso
The Federal Communications Commission is in full damage control mode
after proposing Thursday that airline passengers should be able to use their
cellphones in the air.
The announcement could prove to be
a serious misstep for FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who just took office earlier
this month.
Lawmakers and the public heaped
praise on the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) last month
when it lifted its ban on using electronic devices during take-offs and
landings.
While many airline passengers like
being able to listen to music or play games on their devices, the idea of being
stuck on a plane for hours next to someone carrying on an obnoxious
conversation has prompted a dramatic backlash.
One FCC commissioner received
hundreds of outraged emails within hours of the announcement, an aide said.
“Playing ‘Words with Friends’ is
different than passengers having lengthy, loud ‘conversations with friends’
while in the tight, inescapable confines of an airline passenger cabin,"
said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which
oversees the FCC.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman
of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, said the issue will
"surely be a spirited topic of discussion" at next month's oversight
hearing of the FCC, which is expected to feature testimony from all five FCC
commissioners.
"Like most Americans, when I
heard the news that the FCC was considering allowing cell phone calls on
commercial flights, I was concerned to say the least," Walden said.
The union for flight attendants
also bashed the proposal.
"Flight Attendants, as first
responders and the last line of defense in our nation’s aviation system,
understand the importance of maintaining a calm cabin environment. Any
situation that is loud, divisive, and possibly disruptive is not only unwelcome
but also unsafe," the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said in a
statement.
The aide to the FCC commissioner
said the backlash appears to have taken the chairman's office by surprise.
Wheeler has only been on the job
for a few weeks, and it seems unlikely that he was looking to pick a political
fight over cellphone use on planes.
"I am sure that everyone
expected this to be a feel-good, let's make airline consumers happy, type of an
inquiry," a former FCC official said. "I don't think anyone was
prepared for it to become such a hot news story."
The former official argued that
the FCC should have put more emphasis in its initial announcement on mobile
Internet access, instead of allowing the media and the public to focus on the
possibility of phone calls.
Late Friday, the chairman's office
released a set of "frequently asked questions" aimed at clearing up
confusion over the proposal.
The document emphasizes that
whether to allow mid-air calls, texts or Internet access will be up to
individual airlines. The FCC is only exploring whether its existing rule
barring in-flight cell service over interference concerns is out of date.
“We understand that many
passengers would prefer that voice calls not be made on airplanes,"
Wheeler said in a statement Friday. "I feel that way myself."
But he noted that technology is
already in use in flights outside of the United States allowing passengers
to use their phones without interfering with ground networks.
“We believe that airlines are best
positioned to make such decisions," Wheeler said. "For this reason,
our proposal does not impose any requirement that airlines should provide voice
connectivity. We encourage airlines, pilots, flight attendants, and the public
to engage in our upcoming rulemaking process.”
The FCC is slated to vote on a
"notice of proposed rulemaking" on the issue at its next public
meeting on Dec. 12. If a majority of the five-member commission approves the
notice, the agency will begin accepting public comments.
"If I had to guess, [Wheeler] can't really pull [the
proposal] back once it's circulated because it makes it look like he gets
rolled over easily," the aide to a commissioner said.
But not all FCC proposals become
final rules. The commission could accept comments without ever making a final
decision on the issue.
The FAA is expected to submit
comments for the FCC proceeding and could issue its own regulations against
phone calls if the FCC repeals its ban.
The FCC first considered lifting
its ban on cellphone usage on flights in 2004, but received an onslaught of
angry comments from the public. In 2007, the agency formally abandoned the
proposal, saying there was "insufficient technical information” to
conclude there wouldn't be interference problems.
But with the technology now in use
overseas, that face-saving excuse appears to be off the table for Wheeler.
Federal Communications Commission
Newton
N. Minow was the chairman for the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Note: Mark D. Schneider
was an associate general counsel for the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), and is a partner at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Kathryn B.
Thomson was a partner at Sidley
Austin LLP, and is the chief counsel for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
R.
Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
James S.
Crown is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a trustee
at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Julius
Genachowski is a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute (think tank),
and was the chairman for the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).
Blair
Levin was the chief of staff to the chairman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and is a fellow at the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Michael K. Powell
was the chairman for the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), and is a trustee at the Aspen Institute
(think tank).
Lester Crown
was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and is a
member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago,
Members Directory
Please note: This link for the
members of the Commercial Club of Chicago can no longer be found.
Valerie B. Jarrett
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, the senior adviser for the Barack
Obama administration, and Vernon E.
Jordan Jr’s great niece.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a
senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss,
Hauer & Feld, LLP, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), a
director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was a
member of the Iraq Study Group, and
a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Amy
L. Nathan was an attorney at Akin,
Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, and is the senior counsel, strategic
planning & policy analysis for the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).
Kathleen Q.
Abernathy was a partner at Akin,
Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP,
and the commissioner for the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and the Center for
American Progress.
George
Soros is the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society, and was a supporter for the Center for American
Progress.
Lee
H. Hamilton was the co-chair for the Iraq
Study Group, is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and a member of the President's
Intelligence Advisory Board.
Thomas E. Wheeler
is a member of the President's
Intelligence Advisory Board, and the commissioner nominee for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Arthur B.
Culvahouse Jr. was a member of the President's
Intelligence Advisory Board, and is a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Lawrence H. Summers was a trustee at
the Brookings Institution (think tank), the National Economic Council
chairman for the Barack Obama
administration, is a distinguished fellow at the Center for American Progress, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Tom Daschle was the nominee for health
and human services secretary for the Barack
Obama administration, is a director at the Center for American Progress, married to Linda H. Daschle, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Linda H. Daschle
is married to Tom Daschle, and was
the deputy administrator for the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA).
Pamela A. Melroy
is a senior technical adviser for the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA), and was a deputy program manager, space
exploration initiatives for the Lockheed
Martin Corporation.
Arthur B.
Culvahouse Jr. was a lobbyist for the Lockheed
Martin Corporation, and a member of
the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.
Thomas E. Wheeler
is a member of the President's
Intelligence Advisory Board, and the commissioner nominee for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
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