This Week in Tech: FCC to vote on in-flight cellphone use proposal

The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote on Thursday on a proposal to allow cellphone use on airplanes.

The agency has faced an onslaught of criticism from airline passengers who fear being stuck at 30,000 feet next to a loud phone conversation.

But the FCC has emphasized that its role is only to determine whether allowing in-flight phone use would interfere with networks on the ground. Whether or not to ban phone calls would be up to individual airlines.

{mosads}“We understand that many passengers would prefer that voice calls not be made on airplanes. I feel that way myself,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement last month. “Ultimately, if the FCC adopts the proposal in the coming months, it will be airlines’ decisions, in consultation with their customers, as to whether to permit voice calls while airborne.”

If the FCC approves the “notice of proposed rule-making” at Thursday’s meeting, it will begin accepting public comments on the issue. After reviewing the comments, the FCC will then have to decide whether to move ahead with the regulatory change.

Just hours before the FCC meeting on Thursday, all five FCC commissioners will likely get an earful about the cellphone proposal at an oversight hearing of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Communications and Technology.

It will be Wheeler’s first congressional hearing since becoming chairman last month. Other hot-button issues could include the upcoming auction of spectrum licenses — now scheduled for mid-2015 — the agency’s Lifeline phone subsidy, cellphone unlocking and net neutrality regulations.

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its rescheduled hearing on U.S. government surveillance. The hearing will include testimony from National Security Agency (NSA) Director Gen. Keith Alexander, Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General James Cole and Robert Litt, general counsel at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The hearing was originally scheduled for last month but was postponed when Republican committee members boycotted the judicial nominee vote immediately prior to the hearing.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) sponsored the USA Freedom Act in the Senate, which would limit surveillance by the NSA and require more transparency.

The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Trade will hold a hearing Tuesday to examine online gambling. Subcommittee member Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) introduced a bill earlier this year that would legalize online poker for money. His bill, the Internet Poker Freedom Act, would create a licensing system for states and Indian tribes to authorize online poker operations.

John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, said he plans to encourage committee members to support Barton’s bill. “We’re going to issue our strong support for Barton’s bill but also remind Congress to do no harm,” he said.

Pappas said he will warn the committee against trying to prohibit online poker, as it is already happening legally in three states. “We are not talking about regulated Internet gaming as a theoretical,” he said. “It’s a reality.”

Also on Tuesday, Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and Commissioner Joshua Wright of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will speak at a daylong event hosted by the Computer and Information Industry Association. The day will end with a keynote from Chet Kanojia, CEO of Internet-streaming broadcast service Aereo.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday on the FCC’s upcoming spectrum auction. The witnesses will be Gary Epstein, the head of the FCC’s auction task force; Joan Marsh of AT&T; Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association; Preston Padden, president of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition; Rick Kaplan with the National Association of Broadcasters; Harold Feld of Public Knowledge; and Hal Singer, a senior fellow with the Progressive Policy Institute.

Also on Thursday, FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez will speak at a National Consumers League event on identity theft.