Hacker News Reader

Comment by actionfromafar | Hacker News Reader

Is this an example of something which could be affected by the (absence of) Chevron doctrine?

No. "The regulations adopted today mark the implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, which established the FCC’s authority to regulate in-state phone and video calls from correctional facilities, in addition to out-of-state phone calls that it had already regulated."

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/154...

That's somewhat reassuring...

but it would feel much better if you followed up with "and this is <insert reason> why the law is so clear-cut that the decision by the FTC cannot be seen as inventing regulation and so nobody will litigate much less win in court against the FTC".

This regulation implements a law that was passed in direct response to a court ruling striking down the FCC’s ability to regulate in-state prison calls because there was no clear wording in the law granting them that authority. Now there is, as the law was explicitly written to grant the FCC the power a court ruled they lacked.

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2023/01/19/martha-wright-r...

This was my immediate question. I'm also curious what in terms of services these vendors actually layer on top of any other phone system. There's clearly a payment processing layer where inmates can store credit to make calls, but are these systems otherwise that different from what would be offered by any other telecom vendor?

Those were my thoughts. I view the price cap as overwhelmingly positive, but start the countdown until the courts / SCOTUS invalidate this. Exploiting the downtrodden is the American way.

They'll just implement an access fee for cheap calls.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com