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Telecommunications

  • August 15, 2025

    AT&T Seeks Approval To Halt Copper Service After Thefts

    AT&T is asking the Federal Communications Commission for emergency authorization to suspend its copper-based phone legacy service for 22 customers outside Dallas, claiming that service outages were caused by a series of copper thefts from its facilities in June.

  • August 15, 2025

    Judge Punts On ProPay Sanctions In TelexFree Suit

    A Massachusetts magistrate judge sent a motion for sanctions against ProPay to a district judge for ruling, saying the payment company failed to take steps to preserve electronic documents but the plaintiffs hadn't proven its intent to destroy evidence in a case over its alleged involvement in TelexFree's "hybrid Ponzi-pyramid scheme."

  • August 15, 2025

    FCC Warns Of Possible $2.4M Pirate Radio Fines In Ill., Conn.

    Someone is operating an illegal radio station on a residential street in Springfield, Illinois, and the Federal Communications Commission says it can and will fine the person responsible more than $2.4 million if they don't cut it out — and it's not the only one.

  • August 14, 2025

    Fla. Judge Won't Require Snap To Heed Teen Social Media Law

    A Florida federal judge has rejected the state attorney general's bid to force Snap Inc. to comply with a new law that would limit the ability of teens to access the platform, holding that the state's challenge was unlikely to succeed in light of his prior ruling in a related case finding the measure to likely be unconstitutional. 

  • August 14, 2025

    6th Circ. Upholds FCC's Telecom Data Breach Rules

    The Sixth Circuit on Wednesday upheld the Federal Communications Commission's expanded data breach notification rules for telecommunications carriers, rejecting challenges from industry groups who said the 2024 changes were too similar to a 2016 FCC order that Congress rejected under the Congressional Review Act early the following year.

  • August 14, 2025

    SpaceX Calls Va. Broadband Funding Plan 'Wasteful'

    SpaceX criticized Virginia over its spending plan for the $1.48 billion in broadband funding it's set to receive from the BEAD program, saying the state "has put its heavy thumb on the scale in favor of expensive, slow-to-build fiber bias" over satellite.

  • August 14, 2025

    Rumble's Ad Boycott Suit Tossed For Now

    A Texas federal court tossed Rumble's antitrust case against the World Federation of Advertisers and others after finding the claims about a boycott of the video-sharing site, after it refused to follow safety standards, have no connection to the state.

  • August 14, 2025

    Dr. Phil Media Co. Must Hand Over Texts, Emails In Ch. 11

    Dr. Phil's production company and a bankrupt broadcaster he co-founded must comply with discovery requests from creditors trying to dismiss Merit Street Media's increasingly contentious Chapter 11, a Texas bankruptcy judge said Thursday.

  • August 14, 2025

    FCC Member Sees Special Authority As Key To Defense Tech

    The Federal Communications Commission could increasingly use its legal authority to temporarily authorize radio licenses as a way to test new wireless networks that bolster national security, an agency member said.

  • August 14, 2025

    Minn. Telecom Officials Decry Push For Fed Preemption

    Minnesota's telecommunications regulators have told the Federal Communications Commission that local officials are tired of being punching bags for industry groups looking to speed up broadband infrastructure deployment, saying the industry's push for federal rules overriding local authority have been based on "unsubstantiated or vague" attacks on local guidelines.

  • August 14, 2025

    Mich. Panel Greenlights 911 Dispatcher's Whistleblower Suit

    A Michigan appellate panel said Wednesday that a former 911 operator may be protected by a whistleblower law for criticizing a supervisor's handling of a 911 call, clearing the way for his lawsuit to move forward.

  • August 14, 2025

    FCC Urged To Tackle Health, Enviro Impacts From Cellphones

    An environmental group called on the Federal Communications Commission to address what it sees as the agency's failure to meet a D.C. Circuit order from four years ago to back up the reasoning for its radiofrequency exposure limits.

  • August 14, 2025

    AP Says DOJ Can't Turn Info Sharing Into Views Suppression

    The Associated Press, The Washington Post, Reuters and the BBC hit back Wednesday on Justice Department efforts to back a lawsuit from the anti-vaccine group once tied to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., alleging they colluded with social media platforms to censor rivals.

  • August 14, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive RFCyber Mobile Data Patent

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday refused to revive a mobile payment patent owned by RFCyber Corp., backing a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that a prior patent application rendered it obvious.

  • August 14, 2025

    Justices Allow Mississippi's Social Media Age Verification Law

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday that social media giants like Facebook, X, YouTube and Reddit must comply with a Mississippi law that requires platforms to verify users' ages and obtain parental consent before minors can create accounts, while the companies challenge its constitutionality.

  • August 13, 2025

    4th, 11th Circs. Shoot Down Local Gov't Cell Tower Denials

    Both the Fourth and the Eleventh Circuits issued decisions Wednesday allowing cell tower companies to move forward with projects over the objections of local governments that denied them permission.

  • August 13, 2025

    FCC Waives Local Radio Ownership Cap In East Texas

    The Federal Communications Commission will allow an acquisition of several commercial FM radio stations in east Texas to go through by waiving the agency's local ownership cap, the agency said Wednesday.

  • August 13, 2025

    OpenAI, Microsoft Beat Musk's RICO Claims In For-Profit Fight

    OpenAI and Microsoft again beat Elon Musk's racketeering claims in his lawsuit challenging OpenAI's now-abandoned pivot to a for-profit enterprise, after a California federal judge said Tuesday the amended allegations do not provide details on how the companies ran the enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity.

  • August 13, 2025

    FCC Pushes Back Prison Call Fee Reports After Rule Delay

    The Federal Communications Commission is giving prison phone companies more time to file annual reports and certifications, saying that the companies would not have otherwise had "sufficient time for a fulsome response."

  • August 13, 2025

    Media Matters Judge 'Troubled' By FTC Subpoena Args

    A D.C. federal judge reacted with incredulity Wednesday to Federal Trade Commission arguments that Media Matters can't challenge a subpoena unless the agency itself sues to enforce it, adding during a hearing that the FTC can't ignore its current leadership's recent history of targeting progressives.

  • August 13, 2025

    Cloud Services Co. Asks FCC To Grant Numbering Access

    OXIO Inc. is seeking to bring its cloud-based telecom services to the U.S. market, but needs the Federal Communications Commission to authorize the mobile numbers its customers would use.

  • August 12, 2025

    Docs Take NJ Telemedicine Restrictions Fight To 3rd Circ.

    A group of doctors and patients have appealed the dismissal of their challenge to a New Jersey law that says out-of-state doctors can't practice telemedicine with Garden State patients unless they're licensed there, telling the Third Circuit that the rule deprives people of potentially life-saving consultation.

  • August 12, 2025

    Carriers Must State If Phones They Sell Are Locked, FCC Told

    Mobile phone carriers should have to clearly state whether the phones they're selling are carrier "locked" and if so for how long a customer will be locked in with that phone company, the Federal Communications Commission heard recently.

  • August 12, 2025

    CenturyLink Can't Duck $1.3M Wash. 911 Outage Fine

    CenturyLink isn't going to be able to get out from under a $1.3 million penalty that Washington state slapped the telecom with after an outage in 2018 left people across the entire state unable to call 911 for two days, a state appeals court ruled.

  • August 12, 2025

    Forge Ahead On Cellphone Hearing Aid Rules, FCC Told

    Federal rules need to be updated as soon as possible to align with an upcoming standard for hearing aid compatibility with cellphones, advocates for consumers with hearing loss said.

Expert Analysis

  • How Attorneys Can Become Change Agents For Racial Equity

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    As the administration targets diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and law firms consider pulling back from their programs, lawyers who care about racial equity and justice can employ four strategies to create microspaces of justice, which can then be parlayed into drivers of transformational change, says Susan Sturm at Columbia Law School.

  • 5 Takeaways From DOJ's Media Compulsory Process Rules

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s new rules, making it easier for law enforcement investigating leaks to compel members of the media and third parties to disclose information, could have wide-ranging impacts, from reduced protections for journalists and organizations, to an expanded focus on nonclassified material, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Digital Equity Act Grant Terminations Raise Key Legal Issues

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    The Trump administration's move to cancel grant programs created under the Digital Equity Act yields key legal and policy questions facing the executive branch, Congress and the courts, including how the administration plans to implement the cancellation of the Digital Equity Act's appropriations in the first place, say attorneys at Akin.

  • Series

    Running Marathons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    After almost five years of running marathons, I’ve learned that both the race itself and the training process sharpen skills that directly translate to the practice of law, including discipline, dedication, endurance, problem-solving and mental toughness, says Lauren Meadows at Swift Currie.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Supporting A Trial Team

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    While students often practice as lead trial attorneys in law school, such an opportunity likely won’t arise until a few years into practice, so junior associates should focus on honing skills that are essential to supporting a trial team, including organization, adaptability and humility, says Lucy Zelina at Tucker Ellis.

  • Recent Complex Global Deals Reveal Regulatory Trends

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    An analysis of six complex global deals that were completed or abandoned in the last year suggests that, while such deals continue to face significant and lengthy scrutiny across the U.S, U.K. and European Union, the path to closing may have eased slightly compared to recent years, say attorneys at Weil.

  • Opinion

    Address Nationwide Injunction Issues With Random Venues

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    Many of the qualms about individual district court judges' authority to issue nationwide injunctions could be solved with a simple legislative solution: handling multiple complaints about the same agency action filed in different district courts by assigning a venue via random selection, says Harvey Reiter at Stinson.

  • ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Industry Impact Uncertain Amid Priority Shift, Staff Cuts

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    A recent enforcement memo outlines how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's regulatory agenda diverges from that of the previous administration, but, given the bureau's planned reduction in force, it is uncertain whether the agency will be able to enforce these new priorities, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Attorney To BigLaw

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    When I transitioned to private practice after government service — most recently as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia — I learned there are more similarities between the two jobs than many realize, with both disciplines requiring resourcefulness, zealous advocacy and foresight, says Zach Terwilliger at V&E.

  • The Ins And Outs Of Consensual Judicial References

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    As parties consider the possibility of judicial reference to resolve complex disputes, it is critical to understand how the process works, why it's gaining traction, and why carefully crafted agreements make all the difference, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Opinion

    The BigLaw Settlements Are About Risk, Not Profit

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    The nine Am Law 100 firms that settled with the Trump administration likely did so because of the personal risk faced by equity partners in today's billion‑dollar national practices, enabled by an ethics rule primed for modernization, says Adam Forest at Scale.

  • Fla. Bill May Curb Suits Over Late-Night Collections Emails

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    A recently passed Florida bill exempting email communications from the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act's quiet hours ban may significantly reduce frivolous lawsuits aimed at creditors and debt collectors who use email communications to collect outstanding balances from consumers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Google Ad Tech Ruling Creates Antitrust Uncertainty

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    A Virginia federal court’s recent decision in the Justice Department’s ad tech antitrust case against Google includes two unusual aspects in that it narrowly construed U.S. Supreme Court precedent when rejecting Google's two-sided market argument, and it found the company liable for unlawful tying, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • Series

    Brazilian Jiujitsu Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Competing in Brazilian jiujitsu – often against opponents who are much larger and younger than me – has allowed me to develop a handful of useful skills that foster the resilience and adaptability necessary for a successful legal career, says Tina Dorr of Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: An Untapped Source For Biz Roles

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    Law firms looking to recruit legal business talent should consider turning to paralegals, who practice several key skills every day that prepare them to thrive in marketing and client development roles, says Vanessa Torres at Lowenstein Sandler.

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