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Tag: federal communications commission

  • FBI warns against using public phone charging stations

    FBI warns against using public phone charging stations

    People charge their mobile devices at a Street Charge station in the Brooklyn Borough of New York.

    Brendan McDermid | Reuters

    The FBI recently warned consumers against using free public charging stations, saying crooks have managed to hijack public chargers that can infect devices with malware, or software that can give hackers access to your phone, tablet or computer.

    “Avoid using free charging stations in airports, hotels or shopping centers,” a tweet from the FBI’s Denver field office said. “Bad actors have figured out ways to use public USB ports to introduce malware and monitoring software onto devices. Carry your own charger and USB cord and use an electrical outlet instead.”

    The FBI offers similar guidance on its website to avoid public chargers. The bulletin didn’t point to any recent instances of consumer harm from juice jacking. The FBI’s Denver field office said the message was meant as an advisory, and that there was no specific case that prompted it.

    The Federal Communications Commission has also warned about “juice jacking,” as the malware loading scheme is known, since 2021.

    Consumer devices with compromised USB cables can be hijacked through software that can then siphon off usernames and passwords, the FCC warned at the time. The commission told consumers to avoid those public stations.

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  • FCC cracks down on spammy text messages | CNN Business

    FCC cracks down on spammy text messages | CNN Business


    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    The Federal Communications Commission is cracking down on spammy text messages with new rules for telecom companies, citing a surge of consumer complaints in recent years tied to unwanted robotexts.

    The new rules require phone providers to block text messages from suspicious sources including phone numbers that appear to be “invalid, unallocated, or unused.” Carriers will also have to block text messages coming from phone numbers that claim not to ever send text messages, or that the government has identified as numbers not used for texting, the FCC said.

    The move mirrors a similar US government effort to shut down illegal robocalls, which has led to at least one phone provider being cut off entirely from the US telephone network. Robocall monitoring services say the effort has largely been successful at reducing the volume of robocalls. But in recent years, an explosion of spam and scam text messages appears to have taken their place, leading to more than 18,000 consumer complaints at the FCC last year.

    The FCC is mulling additional regulations that could, among other things, apply Do Not Call registry protections to text messages for the first time. The FCC said it is also considering making it harder for marketers to use a single consumer consent to flood that user with calls and text messages from multiple sources and numbers.

    Unwanted or scam robotexts can be an even greater risk to consumers than unwanted robocalls, the FCC said, because unlike phone calls, text messages may contain malicious links that can infect a smart device with dangerous software.

    “Scam artists have found that sending us messages about a package you never ordered or a payment that never went through along with a link to a shady website is a quick and easy way to get us to engage on our devices and fall prey to fraud,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement.

    The FCC voted to adopt the new rules in a unanimous 4-0 decision.

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  • FCC nominee withdraws her nomination after Manchin opposition | CNN Politics

    FCC nominee withdraws her nomination after Manchin opposition | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    President Joe Biden’s candidate for the Federal Communications Commission, Gigi Sohn, has withdrawn her nomination after West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced he’d vote against her confirmation.

    In a statement, Sohn says she’d asked Biden to withdraw her nomination Monday evening, blasting what she detailed as “unrelenting, dishonest and cruel attacks on my character and my career as an advocate for the public interest.”

    “It is a sad day for our country and our democracy when dominant industries, with assistance from unlimited dark money, get to choose their regulators. And with the help of their friends in the Senate, the powerful cable and media companies have done just that,” Sohn wrote.

    The Washington Post first reported Tuesday that Sohn was withdrawing her nomination after Manchin announced he would oppose her confirmation, citing what he called “her years of partisan activism, inflammatory statements online, and partisan alliances with far-left groups.”

    White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to detail who, if anyone, the White House was considering to replace Sohn’s nomination.

    “We appreciate Gigi Sohn’s candidacy for this important role. She would have brought tremendous talent, intellect and experience, which is why the President nominated her in the first place,” Jean-Pierre told reporters during Tuesday’s press briefing. “We also appreciate her dedication to public service, her talent, and her years of work as one of the nation’s leading public advocates on behalf of American consumers and competition.”

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  • Biden signs bill to ensure

    Biden signs bill to ensure

    President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law a bill aimed at easing the cost for prisoners to call family and friends.

    The legislation clarifies that the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates interstate and international communications through cable, radio, television, satellite and wire, can set limits for fees on audio and video calls inside corrections facilities.

    Phone calls from prisons and jails are a lifeline for those incarcerated, but the cost varies widely and can be a financial drain on families already struggling to make ends meet with an adult behind bars. Right now, Kentucky has the highest cost for a 15-minute call, at $5.70, and $9.99 for a cellphone call, while New Hampshire charges only 20 cents for the same amount of time.

    There are more than 1.2 million people in state and federal prisons, and tens of thousands more are incarcerated in jails nationwide awaiting trial or sentencing.

    Less likely to commit crime

    The COVID-19 pandemic froze prison visits, forcing inmates to rely heavily on phone calls, and the health crisis spotlighted the disparities in state and federal phone charges. Studies by prison reform advocates and academics have shown that visitation and phone calls with loved ones decrease the likelihood that a person will commit crime again.

    The legislation makes good a campaign trail promise by Biden, who also recently signed into law a bill requiring the federal Bureau of Prisons to overhaul outdated security systems and fix broken surveillance cameras. Earlier last year he signed an executive order meant to improve accountability in policing.

    “Meaningful communication and connection with loved ones helps promote rehabilitation, and it also reduces recidivism, which makes our communities safer,” said Vanessa Chen, Special Assistant to the President for Criminal Justice and Guns Policy.


    Prosecutor in Maryland re-examines juvenile sentencing

    05:42

    Martha Wright-Reed Act

    Called The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022, the bill was sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, and just retired-Sen. Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio. It was named in honor of Martha Wright-Reed, a retired nurse who tried for more than two decades to get more affordable rates because she could not afford to call her incarcerated grandson at the cost of more than $100 per month.

    “No family member should ever have to choose between staying in touch with an incarcerated loved one and paying the bills,” Duckworth said in a statement, adding that the new law will help ensure that phone rates are “reasonable.”

    The FCC must still go through the rule-making process before the changes can be officially made. In 2013, FCC capped rates at 25 cents per minute, which meant a 15-minute call cost $3.75; before that it was roughly $17 on average, about 10 times more than the average per-minute rate. Prison telecommunication companies challenged the decision in court, claiming the FCC didn’t have the right to regulate the calls.

    In 2015, then-FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn told lawmakers she supported measures to cap the costs. “Incarceration is a family matter, an economic matter, a societal matter. The greatest impact of an inmate’s sentence is often on the loved ones who are left behind,” she said.

    In 2017, under President Donald Trump, the FCC abandoned the fight to lower the cost for prison phone calls. A federal appeals court eventually ruled the FCC didn’t have the authority to cap the rates.

    The legislation signed by Biden gives the federal agency the authority that the appellate court ruled it lacked, the White House said.

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  • States contend with short timeline to correct broadband map

    States contend with short timeline to correct broadband map

    LOS ANGELES — States are racing against a deadline to challenge the map federal officials will use to divvy up the nation’s largest-ever investment in high-speed internet.

    At stake is a share of the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, part of the infrastructure measure President Joe Biden signed into law last year.

    States have until Jan. 13 to challenge a broadband speed map the Federal Communications Commission released last month that, for the first time, illustrates the haves and have nots of internet access down to specific street addresses.

    Critics have long suspected that the number of people with internet connections has been overstated by the government, in part because agencies creating the maps have deferred to telecommunications companies to say where service is provided.

    Extending service to remote areas with few customers can be expensive for internet providers, but using the surge of new federal funds to fill the gaps depends heavily on knowing where they are.

    West Virginia officials have already submitted challenges for 138,000 underserved homes, businesses and other locations in the state that they say are missing, and they’re preparing at least 40,000 more.

    “We’re going to find out,” said U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat. “There is no excuse that West Virginia — every nook and cranny, every person — if they’ve got electricity in their house, by God they can get internet in their house, too.”

    According to the first draft of this year’s FCC map, 2% of residential addresses in the U.S. have no broadband access at all and 11% are considered underserved. But those figures are likely to rise after the state challenges.

    Previous FCC maps depicted broadband availability at the census block level. That meant that if an internet service provider reported that it offered broadband to one home within a census block, the whole census block would be considered served.

    But Congress in 2020 tasked the FCC with creating a more precise broadband map. It hired a company called CostQuest, which tapped tax assessment and land use records, as well as census and geospatial data, to create the underlying layer of the map showing every address where broadband can be installed. Then, internet service providers reported what internet speeds they actually offer at each address.

    To counter expected discrepancies, the public can challenge the map — an option that wasn’t available with the FCC’s census block-level maps.

    “I like to refer to (the new FCC map) as census block-penetrating radar ,” said Jim Stritzinger, the director of South Carolina’s broadband office, which reported 33,000 state addresses missing from the map.

    Mississippi’s state broadband director, Sally Doty, said her office found a “tremendous amount” of addresses missing in high-growth areas of the state, including DeSoto and Madison counties and along the Gulf Coast. The state launched a website at the end of November where residents can run speed tests and fill out a survey about their internet service.

    “If we have low speeds for an area that is reported as covered, it will allow us to investigate that further and determine the appropriate action,” Doty said, adding that she hopes to get 100,000 unique responses through the website before the end of the year.

    Maine’s state broadband office sent engineers to some 2,500 addresses across populated areas where it predicted broadband technology was likely to be misreported. Over the course of two weeks, the engineers identified approximately 1,000 discrepancies between the information on the FCC map and what actually exists in the state, Meghan Grabill, a data analyst working on the project, said. The state is combining its results from the field analysis with data from internet providers, the postal service and emergency dispatchers to identify other discrepancies.

    While some states are pouring millions of dollars into the challenge process, others say they lack the resources to fully participate.

    Kansas’ state broadband office recently hired two new staff members, boosting the total number to just four. Rather than collect data in bulk, the state has focused its efforts on webinars and public outreach to train residents how to challenge the map themselves.

    “We’re walking them step by step through it,” said Jade Piros de Carvalho, Kansas’ broadband director.

    Challenges to the map can include assertions that locations are missing or that the internet service depicted on the map isn’t actually available. The challenges can be done in bulk, by state or local governments, or at an individual level, where residents confirm the information for just their address.

    The mapping system West Virginia is using to fact check the FCC map was created to provide city-style addresses for large rural areas of the state in order to help emergency services workers respond to 911 calls and other emergencies.

    “These maps have been a challenge, and that’s putting it nicely, for years,” said Kelly Workman, director of West Virginia’s Office of Broadband, said of the FCC’s maps. “Everyone in West Virginia has known for a long time that these maps are not serving our state well.”

    The Jan. 13 deadline was set so that the FCC can resolve challenges before the National Telecommunications and Information Administration announces states’ allotments in June 2023.

    The states will in turn funnel the grant money to several entities, including internet service providers, local or tribal governments and electric co-ops, to expand networks where people don’t have good service. Entities that take this money will have to offer a low-cost service option. Government regulators will approve the price of that service.

    Each state will receive a minimum of $100 million and final allocations will be based upon several factors, including an analysis of unserved locations as shown on the FCC map.

    Unserved locations are those without reliable service of at least 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload.

    Officials in some states, including Texas and Vermont, have pressed for the deadline to be extended, but the FCC has given no indication it will move back the Jan. 13 date.

    While acknowledging that the new FCC map is a marked improvement over past versions, Piros de Carvalho, Kansas’ broadband director, questioned whether the timeline of the challenge process will leave certain states behind.

    “What makes it really unfortunate is we’re trying to shore up disparities in service, but are we inadvertently exacerbating these inequities by disadvantaging the most rural or economically distressed states that have lower capacities in their offices?” Piros de Carvalho said. “I think it might be an unintentional consequence of these timelines and requirements.”

    ———

    Associated Press reporter Leah Willingham in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this story. Harjai is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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  • DOJ antitrust regulators should look at Apple, Google’s handling of TikTok, says FCC commissioner | CNN Business

    DOJ antitrust regulators should look at Apple, Google’s handling of TikTok, says FCC commissioner | CNN Business


    Washington
    CNN Business
     — 

    Apple and Google’s continued hosting of TikTok on their app stores, despite US national security concerns about the short-form video app, reflects the tech giants’ “gatekeeper” power and should be made part of any antitrust reviews the app stores may face, a member of the Federal Communications Commission wrote to the Justice Department last week.

    The previously unreported letter — sent on Dec. 2 to DOJ antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter and obtained by CNN — said that continuing to make TikTok available on the app stores risks harming consumers, whose personal information US officials have worried may be being fed to the Chinese government.

    Beyond possible consumer harm, TikTok’s continued presence on app stores also undercuts Apple and Google’s arguments that their dominance in app distribution leads to better user security and privacy, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wrote in the letter.

    It’s the latest attempt by Carr, a top Republican at the FCC, to pressure Apple and Google to remove TikTok. Last month, Carr called for the US government to ban TikTok over the bipartisan concerns that China could wield its influence over TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, to gain access to US user data or to disseminate propaganda and disinformation. Now, Carr is trying a new tack by framing the TikTok matter as an antitrust issue.

    “Apple and Google are not exercising their ironclad control over apps for the altruistic or procompetitive purposes that they put forward as defenses to existing antitrust or competition claims,” Carr wrote. “Instead, their conduct shows that those rationales are merely pretextual — talismanic references invoked to shield themselves from liability.”

    DOJ’s Antitrust Division should consider that “to the extent that it assesses the reasonableness of Apple’s and Google’s anticompetitive actions,” Carr added.

    Google declined to comment. Apple the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The FCC does not regulate app stores or social media, focusing instead on telecommunications and traditional media such as radio and television broadcasters and cable operators. But Carr has become the most vocal commissioner to speak out on TikTok, drawing what he’s said are lessons from the FCC’s own decisions to block Huawei, ZTE and other telecom companies with ties to China from the US market.

    His remarks also echo those by prominent lawmakers of both parties, including Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner and Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who together lead the Senate Intelligence Committee.

    Carr’s call comes as Apple and Google’s critics have increasingly sought to apply the nation’s antitrust laws against the tech giants. Third-party software developers have long alleged that Apple and Google’s app store fees and rules are monopolistic and anticompetitive. A high-profile 2020 lawsuit along those lines brought by Epic Games, the maker of video game “Fortnite,” has so far proven largely unsuccessful, though an appeal is pending.

    More recently, Apple’s conservative critics have accused the company of abusing “monopoly” power by allegedly threatening to remove Twitter from its app store — a claim that Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk has made without evidence and that he says has since been resolved thanks to a conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook. Apple has not commented on Musk’s allegation or purported exchange with Cook.

    For years, TikTok has been negotiating with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a multi-agency US government panel charged with reviewing the national security implications of foreign investment deals, to arrive at an agreement to allow TikTok to operate in the US market despite the security concerns.

    TikTok has said Project Texas, its plan to migrate US user data exclusively to cloud servers hosted by Oracle, is a core part of the solution. Last week, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said at a conference hosted by the New York Times that “no foreign government has asked us for user data before, and if they did, we would say no.”

    In congressional testimony, TikTok has said it maintains robust data controls but has sought to sidestep questions about its parent company and declined to stop letting China-based employees access US users’ data.

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  • Virginia lobbyists accused of misleading Black voters fined $5 million

    Virginia lobbyists accused of misleading Black voters fined $5 million

    Two Virginia lobbyists accused of trying to inhibit Black voters during the 2020 presidential election have been fined $5 million by federal regulators for illegally sending robocalls.

    An investigation by the Federal Communications Commission found that Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl paid a separate company to place more than 1,100 recorded robocalls in August and September of last year. The two admitted to arranging the calls, which the FCC said violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. 

    Prosecutors in Michigan, New York and Ohio indicted Burkman and Wohl last year for allegedly seeking to intimidate Black voters in Cleveland, Detroit and New York City. 

    “The recorded messages told potential voters that if they voted by mail, their personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts,” the FCC said Tuesday in a statement.

    The FCC’s enforcement bureau must approve the proposed $5.1 million fine after first allowing Burkman and Wohl the opportunity to respond. The pair are now facing the largest fine ever issued under the Telephone act.

    Burkman and Wohl did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

    Consumer complaints spur federal probe

    Burkman and Wohl, consultants who work for J.M. Burkman & Associates in Arlington, offer robocalling and other political services through their company under the name “Project 1599,” the FCC said. Cellphone users began complaining about robocalls from Burkman & Associates last September, prompting federal regulators to investigate. 

    In Ohio, Cuyahoga County authorities said Burkman and Wohl sent pre-recorded messages that falsely warned people that by voting by mail their information would show up in databases for law enforcement, collection agencies and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

    Burkman and Wohl were charged with eight counts of telecommunications fraud and seven counts of bribery. The case is still pending. 


    Deadline for phone companies to implement robocall blocking technology

    04:55

    The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation sued J.M. Burkman & Associates last year for the robocalling activity, alleging that Burkman and Wohl were purposely trying to spread disinformation to voters nationwide. A U.S. District Court judge agreed and ordered the men to resend a robocall that told callers that the previous robocall “contained false information that has had the effect of intimidating voters.”

    The rising volume of robocalls has become a nationwide issue in recent years, as scammers use the method to bilk billions of dollars from Americans. 

    The makers of call-blocking app YouMail said Americans received about 4.2 billion robocalls in July — putting the number back at pre-pandemic levels. Consumers are on pace to receive roughly 52 million robocalls this year, up from 40 billion in 2018, YouMail said.

    As robocalls rise, Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the commission will put more pressure on wireless carriers to prevent unwanted calls. Companies like T-Mobile and Verizon play a major role in lowering robocalls, she said earlier this summer.

    “What that means is, when a call is being made, a carrier can tell that it really is the person who they say they are on the line,” Rosenworcel said.

    Khristopher J. Brooks

    Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.

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  • U.S. bans imports of Chinese tech from Huawei, ZTE

    U.S. bans imports of Chinese tech from Huawei, ZTE

    The U.S. is banning the sale of communications equipment made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE and restricting the use of some China-made video surveillance systems, citing an “unacceptable risk” to national security.

    The five-member Federal Communications Commission said Friday it has voted unanimously to adopt new rules that will block the importation or sale of certain technology products that pose security risks to U.S. critical infrastructure. It’s the latest in a years-long escalation of U.S. restrictions of Chinese technology that began with former President Donald Trump and has continued under President Joe Biden’s administration.

    “The FCC is committed to protecting our national security by ensuring that untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within our borders, and we are continuing that work here,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, in a prepared statement.

    Along with Huawei and ZTE, the order affects products made by companies such as Hikvision and Dahua, makers of widely used video surveillance cameras.

    The FCC’s order applies to future authorizations of equipment, though the agency leaves open the possibility it could revoke previous authorizations.

    “Our unanimous decision represents the first time in FCC history that we have voted to prohibit the authorization of new equipment based on national security concerns,” tweeted Brendan Carr, a Republican FCC commissioner.

    Carr added that as “a result of our order, no new Huawei or ZTE equipment can be approved. And no new Dahua, Hikvision, or Hytera gear can be approved unless they assure the FCC that their gear won’t be used for public safety, security of government facilities, & other national security purposes.”

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  • The federal government just took another big swipe at illegal robocalls | CNN Business

    The federal government just took another big swipe at illegal robocalls | CNN Business


    Washington
    CNN Business
     — 

    The federal government took another big swipe at illegal robocalls on Tuesday, as it moved to block a voice provider from the entire US phone network for the very first time.

    The order by the Federal Communications Commission targets Global UC, a company that claims to serve more than 200 businesses globally with low-cost international calling services.

    According to the FCC, Global UC’s unprecedented termination comes after it failed to comply with US regulations aimed at countering illegal robocalls. The requirements include implementing caller ID verification technology and providing the agency with explanations about how it otherwise fights spam robocalls.

    While the FCC has previously issued threats to some providers warning they could be blocked from the US phone network over a repeated failure to comply, Tuesday’s action marks the first time the agency has followed through, reflecting the US government’s latest escalation against illegal robocalls.

    Global UC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The FCC order effectively severs Global UC’s access to the US phone network by forcing other US voice providers to stop doing business with the target company, prohibiting the other providers from accepting phone traffic from Global UC.

    Previously, an FCC official has told CNN that depending on how a voice provider’s business may be configured, such an order could amount to an effective death sentence for the company, because a provider that cannot send or receive calls to others in the network may be unable to stay afloat.

    “This is a novel way to stop robocalls and it’s one we are going to keep using until we get this junk off the line,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement.

    According to its website, Global UC is a subsidiary of a global firm with six subsidiaries and millions of subscribers around the world.

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  • FCC commissioner calls for TikTok ban | CNN Business

    FCC commissioner calls for TikTok ban | CNN Business


    Washington
    CNN Business
     — 

    The US government should ban TikTok rather than come to a national security agreement with the social media app that might allow it to continue operating in the United States, according to Brendan Carr, a commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission.

    A string of news reports this year about TikTok’s handling of US user data has left Carr with “little confidence there’s a path forward,” he told CNN in a phone interview Tuesday. “Perhaps the deal CFIUS ends up cutting is an amazing, airtight deal, but at this point I have a very, very difficult time looking at TikTok’s conduct thinking we’re going to cut a technical construct that they’re not going to find a way around.”

    The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a multi-agency government body charged with reviewing business deals involving foreign ownership, has spent months negotiating with TikTok on a proposal to resolve concerns that Chinese government authorities could seek to gain access to the data TikTok holds on US citizens. This year the company said it had migrated its US user data to servers run by Oracle, but concerns have persisted over whether China-based employees of TikTok or its parent, ByteDance, will still be able to access that information. Those bipartisan fears were again raised in September, when under pressure from US lawmakers, TikTok declined to commit to cutting off data flows to China.

    “Commissioner Carr has no role in or direct knowledge of the confidential discussions with the US government related to TikTok and is not in a position to discuss what those negotiations entail” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. “We are confident that we are on a path to reaching an agreement with the US government that will satisfy all reasonable national security concerns.”

    Carr, who spoke to CNN from Taiwan during a first-ever visit by an FCC official to that country, said he has not met with CFIUS member agencies or the White House to specifically raise the issue, though he added the topic could have arisen incidentally amid other routine discussions.

    Carr’s call for a TikTok ban was first reported by Axios, and the remarks expand on his earlier calls for Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their respective app stores.

    Carr acknowledged that as an FCC official, his own capacity to regulate TikTok is limited; CFIUS, the Commerce Department or the Federal Trade Commission may have greater legal authority over the company, he said.

    Still, Carr said his call for a TikTok ban reflects a “natural progression in my thinking” and is informed by his own agency’s work to limit China’s influence in US telecommunications networks. The FCC has taken numerous steps to block or ban Chinese-affiliated telecom companies from selling equipment or services in the United States, over allegations that those companies could also be compelled to give up the data they hold on US communications to the Chinese government.

    “For me, this is taking what I’ve learned in the Huawei, ZTE, China Mobile context, where we’re looking at possibly nefarious data flows, and bringing it to bear in terms of this issue,” Carr said.

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  • FCC could ban all new purchases of Huawei and ZTE telecom gear | CNN Business

    FCC could ban all new purchases of Huawei and ZTE telecom gear | CNN Business


    Washington
    CNN Business
     — 

    The US government is poised to ban all future telecom equipment produced by Huawei and ZTE, two Chinese technology giants, from the American market in an expanding crackdown against perceived national security risks from China, according to a person familiar with the matter.

    The restrictions, outlined in a draft order by the Federal Communications Commission, would also target video surveillance gear by three other Chinese firms: Hytera, Hikvision and Dahua, the person said, adding that the ban would only apply to new products by the companies that have not already received FCC equipment authorization.

    A vote to approve the measure is expected before mid-November, the person added. The draft order was first reported by Axios.

    Asked for comment, an FCC official confirmed the proposal’s existence and told CNN that, if approved, it would update agency rules surrounding its list of providers deemed to be unacceptable national security risks — and fulfill the agency’s congressional mandate under the Secure Equipment Act of 2021.

    That bipartisan legislation, signed by President Joe Biden last November, required the FCC to develop rules within one year to stop reviewing or approving devices made by the covered companies.

    All electronics that can emit radio frequencies must undergo an FCC authorization process before they can be sold in the United States. The long-established process is intended to keep devices out of the US market that may produce harmful signal interference. But under the draft order the FCC would, for the first time, apply a national security interest to the equipment authorization process, the person said.

    “The FCC remains committed to protecting our national security by ensuring that untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within our borders, and we are continuing that work here,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement provided to CNN Business on Thursday.

    In a separate statement, Republican commissioner Brendan Carr said: “The FCC has determined that Huawei, ZTE, and similar gear pose an unacceptable risk to our national security. That is why I have urged the FCC to stop reviewing and approving that equipment for use in the U.S. I look forward to achieving that result.”

    Spokespeople for the companies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

    The proposed ban would go further than prior steps the FCC has taken against Huawei and ZTE, whose networking equipment US officials have said could be used to intercept or monitor US communications.

    Previously, the FCC restricted US telecom carriers from using federal funding to purchase products from Huawei and ZTE, as well as from other providers on the agency’s so-called “covered list.” Later, officials such as Carr highlighted how the products were still available to carriers through the use of non-federal funding, and said the FCC should use its equipment authorization powers to effectively block them from the United States entirely.

    Biden’s subsequent signing of the Secure Equipment Act started a one-year clock for the FCC to put those restrictions into place.

    The FCC has also established a program to help carriers “rip and replace” Huawei and ZTE gear from their networks, though the program’s estimated cost has ballooned to $5.6 billion, up from initial estimates of around $2 billion.

    The top US wireless carriers have said they do not use Chinese-made equipment; telecom policy experts have said it is almost exclusively found in the networks of small providers seeking to minimize costs.

    Separately, in 2019, the Trump administration added Huawei to the Commerce Department’s so-called Entity List, which restricts exports to people and organizations named on the list without a US government license. The following year, the US government expanded on those restrictions by seeking to cut Huawei off from its chip suppliers that use US-made technology.

    The policies have contributed to sharp declines in Huawei’s telecom and handset businesses as the company has sought to shift focus to cars, cloud computing and its own mobile operating system.

    Huawei’s founder and CEO has previously claimed the company would never hand data over to the Chinese government, but western security experts have said the country’s national security and intelligence laws require Chinese companies to comply with demands for information.

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  • Out-of-service satellites must be removed within 5 years, FCC says | CNN Business

    Out-of-service satellites must be removed within 5 years, FCC says | CNN Business

    Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.


    Washington
    CNN Business
     — 

    Satellites that are no longer in service must get out of the sky far more quickly under a new rule adopted by US federal regulators Thursday — and it’s all in the name of combating the garbage in Earth’s orbit.

    Unused satellites in low-Earth orbit, which is the area already most congested with satellites, must be dragged out of orbit “as soon as practicable, and no more than five years following the end of their mission,” according to the new Federal Communications Commission rule.

    That’s far less time than the long-standing rule of 25 years that has been criticized as too lax. Even NASA advised years ago that the 25-year timeline should be reduced to five years.

    “Twenty-five years is a long time. There is no reason to wait that long anymore, especially in low-Earth orbit,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said at Thursday’s meeting. The FCC rule passed unanimously.

    The goal of this rule is prevent the dangerous proliferation of junk and debris in space. Already, there’s estimated to be more than 100 million pieces of space junk traveling uncontrolled through orbit, ranging in size from a penny to an entire rocket booster. Much of that debris, experts say, is too small to track.

    Collisions in space have happened before. And each collision can span thousands of new pieces of debris, each of which risk setting off even more collisions. One well-known theory, called “Kessler Syndrome,” warns that it’s possible for spaceborne garbage to set of disastrous chain reactions, potentially causing Earth’s orbit to become so cluttered with junk that it could render future space exploration and satellite launches impractical and even impossible.

    More than half of the roughly 10,000 satellites the world has sent into orbit since the 1950s are now obsolete and considered “space junk,” Rosenworcel said, adding that the debris poses risks to communication and safety.

    The FCC plan had been questioned by some US lawmakers who have said the rules could create “conflicting guidance” and without clear congressional authority. But Thursday’s vote moved forward nonetheless.

    “At risk is more than the $279 billion-a-year satellite and launch industries and the jobs that depend on them,” according to an FCC document released earlier this month. “Left unchecked, orbital debris could block all of these benefits and reduce opportunities across nearly every sector of our economy.”

    The number of satellites in low-Earth orbit, which is the sphere of orbit extending about 2,000 km or 1,200 miles out, has grown exponentially in recent years, thanks in large part to massive, new “megaconstellations” of small satellites pouring into space, largely by commercial companies. Most notably, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has launched about 3,000 satellites to space for its space-based internet service, Starlink.

    There’s also plans to put tens of thousands of new satellites in low-Earth orbit in years to come, FCC commissioner Nathan Simington noted during Thursday’s meeting.

    Commercial companies have routinely promised to take the debris issue seriously, and SpaceX had already agreed to comply with the recommended five-year rule for getting defunct satellites out of orbit.

    But there has long been a broader push within the space community to codify new regulations. So the FCC announced plans in early September to at least vote on updates to US regulations.

    The FCC also specified that it will apply the rule not only to the US satellite operators it oversees but also to “non-US-licensed satellites and systems seeking US market access.”

    “A veritable Cambrian explosion of commercial space operations is just over the horizon, and we had better be ready when it arrives,” said Simington.

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  • The Insights Association and AAPOR File FCC Petition Seeking Legal Differentiation for Marketing and Research

    The Insights Association and AAPOR File FCC Petition Seeking Legal Differentiation for Marketing and Research

    Press Release
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    updated: Oct 30, 2017


    WASHINGTON, October 30, 2017 (Newswire.com)
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    Seeking to clarify the regulatory distinction between the intent to market and sell to individuals and the dissimilar intent to understand market needs, the Insights Association and AAPOR have filed a petition with the FCC to secure “greater clarity” that will be “critical to restoring a measure of sanity to TCPA litigation.”

    “Courts and trial lawyers are conflating marketing research with marketing to the detriment of survey, opinion and marketing research companies,” said David W. Almy, CEO of the Insights Association. According to a petition filed today at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the agency needs to clarify that marketing research is separate and distinct from marketing for purposes of compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). “Research has a fundamentally different purpose than sales and marketing. That researchers have paid millions to settle an epidemic of TCPA lawsuits is unnecessary, unwarranted and very often absurd,” Almy added.

    With researchers already preyed upon by trial lawyers thanks to the FCC’s 2015 TCPA rules, … [the FCC] can take these simple steps to limit class actions based on misunderstanding and mischaracterization of the raison d’etre of marketing research.

    Howard Fienberg, Director of Government Affairs

    The petition, filed by the Insights Association, the leading trade association for the market research and data analytics industry, and the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), which promotes the sound and ethical conduct and use of public opinion research, requested a declaratory ruling from the FCC that:

    1. communications should not be presumed to be advertising or marketing under the TCPA simply because they are sent by a for-profit company, or might ultimately be used at some future date to improve sales or customer relations;
    2. the presence in a communication, ancillary document or webpage revealing the identity of an organization conducting research – a level of transparency required by professional ethical codes – that can be mischaracterized as “advertising” does not make the communication “dual-purpose”;
    3. the FCC’s “vicarious liability” regime applies only to telemarketing and debt collection, not to survey, opinion, and market research firms; and
    4. survey, opinion, and marketing research studies are not goods or services provided to a research respondent, even if the studies involve an incentive for participation.

    “Selling under the guise of research, or sugging, is a practice condemned by AAPOR,” said Tim Johnson, AAPOR President. “It is incumbent on the FCC to differentiate between marketing research and marketing.”

    The petitioners noted some disturbing court decisions mistakenly “premised on the notion that businesses do not communicate with consumers except for the purpose of turning a profit,” and urged the FCC to recognize that, like all for-profit businesses, market research companies advertise and market their services only to research sponsors – “the clients on whose behalf the research is conducted” – and not to research respondents.

    Meanwhile, “the plaintiffs’ bar and some courts have begun using a loose interpretation of” FCC guidance to find hidden sales and marketing purposes inside marketing research phone calls and faxes.

    The petitioners regularly combat sales under the guise of research, a deceptive practice known as “sugging” in the research industry, which would constitute “pretext” for sales or marketing under the FCC’s guidance. By contrast, the Insights Association and AAPOR called upon the FCC to clarify that an instance as simple as a survey mentioning a corporate client in a survey question, or a research company discussing its own services in a privacy policy or website separate from a research study, does not prove the existence of any “dual purpose” – the communications would still constitute research, not marketing.

    Vicarious liability means that someone is held responsible for the actions or omissions of another person. The FCC has ruled before that calls placed by a telemarketer’s or debt collector’s agent should be treated as if the telemarketer or debt collector made the calls himself. The agency “could have simply stated that vicarious liability applies to all principal-agent relationships, but it did not do so,” asserted the petitioners. A recent class action court decision applied that same vicarious liability regime to a research company and the petitioners asked the FCC to clarify that such liability only applies to telemarketing and debt collection.

    The FCC has repeatedly said that marketing research is not telemarketing under the TCPA because research communications, in the words of the TCPA text, do not “[encourage] the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods, or services.” Similarly, the Insights Association and AAPOR asked the FCC to clarify that research studies themselves don’t “constitute property, goods, or services vis-à-vis the persons taking the surveys. These studies (and their results) are services provided to research clients, not consumers [who take surveys].” Although researchers often offer incentives for research participants in cash or prizes, “this is done only to ensure robust participation” in research studies.

    “With researchers already preyed upon by trial lawyers thanks to the FCC’s 2015 TCPA rules,” commented Howard Fienberg, director of government affairs for the Insights Association, the FCC “can take these simple steps to limit class actions based on misunderstanding and mischaracterization of the raison d’etre of marketing research.”

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    The Insights Association is the leading trade association for the market research and data analytics industry. Inspired by the 2017 merger of CASRO and MRA, all Insights Association proceeds are invested in advocacy, education and other initiatives to directly support the marketing research and analytics community. Visit www.insightsassociation.org for more information.

    The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) is the leading professional organization of public opinion and survey research professionals in the U.S., with members from academia, media, government, the nonprofit sector and private industry. AAPOR promotes the sound and ethical conduct and use of public opinion research. Visit www.aapor.org for more information.

    Media Contact: 
    Howard Fienberg
    Phone: 202.800.2545 
    Email: howard.fienberg@insightsassociation.org

    Source: The Insights Association and the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)

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