36446 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 140 / Thursday, July 23, 2009 / Proposed Rules 

regarding the contested listing received 

from the owner or operator within 60 

days from the date of notification. 

(c) Decision on contested listing. No 

later than 180 days following receipt of 

information submitted by an entity 

contesting the listing, EPA will inform 

the entity contesting the listing and the 

owner or operator of the source or site 

whether it will remove or retain the 

listing in the Registry. 

[FR Doc. E9–17550 Filed 7–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Chapter I 

[WC Docket No. 07–38; GN Docket Nos. 

09–47, 09–41; DA 09–1550] 

Comment Sought on Providing Eligible 

Entities Access to Aggregate Form 477 

Data as Required by the Broadband 

Data Improvement Act 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Communications 

Commission Wireline Competition 

Bureau (Bureau) released a public notice 

establishing a pleading cycle for 

comments on how the Federal 

Communications Commission should 

interpret and implement sections 

106(h)(1) and 106(h)(2) of the 

Broadband Data Improvement Act of 

2008 (BDIA). (Broadband Data 

Improvement Act of 2008, Public Law 

110–385, 122 Stat. 4097 (codified at 47 

U.S.C. 1301–04)). 

DATES: Comments are due on or before 

July 30, 2009, and reply comments are 

due on or before August 4, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by WC Docket No. 07–38; and 

GN Docket Nos. 09–47 and 09–51, by 

any of the following methods: 

• Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Federal Communications 

Commission’s Web Site: http:// 

www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• E-mail: ecfs@fcc.gov, and include 

the following words in the body of the 

message, ‘‘get form.’’ A sample form and 

directions will be sent in response. 

Include the docket number(s) in the 

subject line of the message. 

• Mail: Secretary, Federal 

Communications Commission, 445 12th 

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20554. 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: 236 

Massachusetts Avenue, NE., Suite 110, 

Washington, DC 20002. 

• People with Disabilities: Contact the 

FCC to request reasonable 

accommodations (accessible format 

documents, sign language interpreters, 

CART, etc.) by e-mail: FCC504@fcc.gov 

or phone: 202–418–0530 or TTY: 202– 

418–0432. 

All submissions received must 

include the agency name and docket 

numbers for this rulemaking, WC 

Docket No. 07–38; and GN Docket Nos. 

09–47 and 09–51. All comments 

received will be posted without change 

to http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs. For 

detailed instructions for submitting 

comments and additional information 

on the rulemaking process, see the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jeremy Miller, Industry Analysis and 

Technology Division, Wireline 

Competition Bureau at (202) 418–0940. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant 

to sections 1.415 and 1.419 of the 

Commission’s rules, 47 CFR 1.415, 

1.419, interested parties may file 

comments and reply comments on or 

before the dates indicated on the first 

page of this document. Comments may 

be filed using: (1) The Commission’s 

Electronic Comment Filing System 

(ECFS), (2) the Federal Government’s 

e-Rulemaking Portal, or (3) by filing 

paper copies. See Electronic Filing of 

Documents in Rulemaking Proceedings, 

63 FR 24121 (1998). 

• Electronic Filers: Comments may be 

filed electronically using the Internet by 

accessing the ECFS: http://www.fcc.gov/ 

cgb/ecfs/ or the Federal e-Rulemaking 

Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 

Filers should follow the instructions 

provided on the Web site for submitting 

comments. 

• For ECFS filers, if multiple docket 

or rulemaking numbers appear in the 

caption of this proceeding, filers must 

transmit one electronic copy of the 

comments for each docket or 

rulemaking number referenced in the 

caption. In completing the transmittal 

screen, filers should include their full 

name, U.S. Postal Service mailing 

address, and the applicable docket or 

rulemaking number. Parties may also 

submit an electronic comment by 

Internet e-mail. To get filing 

instructions, filers should send an email to ecfs@fcc.gov, and include the 

following words in the body of the 

message, ‘‘get form.’’ A sample form and 

directions will be sent in response. 

• Paper Filers: Parties who choose to 

file by paper must file an original and 

four copies of each filing. If more than 

one docket or rulemaking number 

appears in the caption of this 

proceeding, filers must submit two 

additional copies for each additional 

docket or rulemaking number. 

Filings can be sent by hand or 

messenger delivery, by commercial 

overnight courier, or by first-class or 

overnight U.S. Postal Service mail 

(although we continue to experience 

delays in receiving U.S. Postal Service 

mail). All filings must be addressed to 

the Commission’s Secretary, Office of 

the Secretary, Federal Communications 

Commission. 

• The Commission’s contractor will 

receive hand-delivered or messengerdelivered paper filings for the 

Commission’s Secretary at 236 

Massachusetts Avenue, NE., Suite 110, 

Washington, DC 20002. The filing hours 

at this location are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. All 

hand deliveries must be held together 

with rubber bands or fasteners. Any 

envelopes must be disposed of before 

entering the building. 

• Commercial overnight mail (other 

than U.S. Postal Service Express Mail 

and Priority Mail) must be sent to 9300 

East Hampton Drive, Capitol Heights, 

MD 20743. 

• U.S. Postal Service first-class, 

Express, and Priority mail must be 

addressed to 445 12th Street, SW., 

Washington DC 20554. 

People with Disabilities: To request 

materials in accessible formats for 

people with disabilities (braille, large 

print, electronic files, audio format), 

send an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call 

the Consumer & Governmental Affairs 

Bureau at 202–418–0530 (voice), 202– 

418–0432 (tty). 

By this document, the Bureau seeks 

comment on how the Federal 

Communications Commission should 

interpret and implement sections 

106(h)(1) and 106(h)(2) of the 

Broadband Data Improvement Act of 

2008. 

Since 2000, the Commission has 

collected basic service information from 

broadband service providers using Form 

477. In 2008, the Commission adopted 

revisions to the Form 477, which would 

result in the collection of more detailed 

and granular data. At the same time, the 

Commission issued a further notice of 

proposed rulemaking, which, among 

other things, sought comment on the 

issue of how to provide Form 477 

information to other broadband 

initiatives, including those undertaken 

by state agencies and public-private 

partnerships, and on how to preserve 

confidentiality when sharing the 

information collected on Form 477. (See 

2008 Broadband Data Gathering Order 


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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 140 / Thursday, July 23, 2009 / Proposed Rules 36447 

and Further NPRM, 23 FCC Rcd at 

9711–12, para 39; 73 FR 37911, July 2, 

2008 (‘‘In this Further Notice, we seek 

comment on ways in which we can 

preserve confidentiality when sharing 

the information collected on Form 477, 

the voluntary registry, and other sources 

with agencies such as the Department of 

Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service and 

with public-private partnerships such as 

ConnectKentucky and similar ventures, 

for example by sharing the data in a less 

granular or aggregated form than the 

level at which it is collected.’’) 

(footnotes omitted).) On October 10, 

2008, the BDIA became law. Section 

106(h)(1) of the BDIA requires the 

Commission to ‘‘provide eligible entities 

access * * * to aggregate data collected 

by the Commission based on the Form 

477 submissions of broadband service 

providers.’’ (47 U.S.C. 1304(h)(1). 

Section 106(i)(2) of the BDIA defines 

‘‘eligible entity’’ as: (A) An entity that is 

either (i) an agency or instrumentality of 

a State, or a municipality or other 

subdivision (or agency or 

instrumentality of a municipality or 

other subdivision) of a State; (ii) a 

nonprofit organization that is described 

in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal 

Revenue Code of 1986 and that is 

exempt from taxation under section 

501(a) of such Code; or (iii) an 

independent agency or commission in 

which an office of a State is a member 

on behalf of the State; and (B) is the 

single eligible entity in the State that 

has been designated by the State to 

receive a grant under this section. BDIA 

Sec. 106(i)(2); 47 U.S.C. 1304(i)(2).) 

Section 106(h)(2) of the BDIA imposes 

certain confidentiality requirements on 

eligible entities that receive the FCC 

Form 477 ‘‘aggregate data.’’ 

(Specifically, section 106(h)(2) provides 

that an eligible entity ‘‘shall treat any 

matter that is a trade secret, commercial 

or financial information, or privileged or 

confidential, as a record not subject to 

public disclosure except as otherwise 

mutually agreed to by the broadband 

service provider and the eligible entity. 

BDIA section 106(h)(2); 47 U.S.C. 

1304(h)(2).) In this document, we seek 

comment on how the Commission 

should implement these statutory 

provisions. 

First, we seek comment on how we 

should interpret the term ‘‘aggregate’’ in 

section 106(h)(1). Particularly, to what 

extent does the adjective ‘‘aggregate’’ 

require the Commission to provide to 

eligible entities data that is more 

aggregated than the raw data submitted 

by Form 477 filers. We also seek 

comment on whether the confidentiality 

provisions of section 106(h)(2) indicate 

that the Commission should provide 

access to data that is more disaggregated 

than the Form 477 filing-based data that 

it makes available to the public in 

various periodic statistical reports 

released by the Bureau. (See, e.g., 

Federal Communications Commission, 

Wireline Competition Bureau, Industry 

Analysis and Technology Division, 

High-Speed Services for Internet Access: 

Status as of December 31, 2007 (rel. Jan. 

16, 2008), available at http:// 

www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/comp.html.) 

More generally, we seek comment on 

how much the Commission should 

aggregate the data that it provides to 

eligible entities, and what factors it 

should consider in determining the 

appropriate level of aggregation. 

We also seek comment on section 

106(h)(2) of the BDIA, which requires 

eligible entities to treat ‘‘any matter that 

is a trade secret, commercial or financial 

information, or privileged or 

confidential, as a record not subject to 

public disclosure except as otherwise 

mutually agreed to by the broadband 

service provider and the eligible entity.’’ 

In particular, we seek comment on 

whether that section is self-effectuating 

or whether the Commission should take 

any measures to ensure eligible entities’ 

compliance with section 106(h)(2). If 

parties believe that the Commission 

should adopt safeguards to ensure 

compliance with section 106(h)(2), then 

we ask that they describe with 

specificity the nature of their proposed 

safeguards. 

We recognize that the periods we are 

establishing for commenting on these 

issues are short but note also that the 

timeframes connected with the grant 

programs under BDIA require us to 

make the Form 477 information 

available in an expedited fashion. 

Furthermore, while the BDIA was 

enacted after the 2008 Broadband Data 

Gathering Order and Further NPRM was 

adopted, we note that the data-sharing 

issues raised by section 106(h) of the 

BDIA clearly fall within the scope of the 

more general data-sharing issues raised 

in the further NPRM, on which we 

previously received comment. 

This matter shall be treated as a 

‘‘permit-but-disclose’’ proceeding in 

accordance with the Commission’s ex 

parte rules. See 47 CFR 1.1200, 1.1206. 

Persons making oral ex parte 

presentations are reminded that 

memoranda summarizing the 

presentations must contain summaries 

of the substance of the presentations 

and not merely a listing of the subjects 

discussed. More than a one- or twosentence description of the views and 

arguments presented generally is 

required. See 47 CFR 1.1206(b). Other 

rules pertaining to oral and written ex 

parte presentations in permit-butdisclose proceedings are set forth in 

1.1206(b) of the Commission’s rules, 47 

CFR 1.1206(b). 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Julie A. Veach, 

Acting Chief, Wireline Competition Bureau. 

[FR Doc. E9–17579 Filed 7–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 


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