The FCC’s 5-0 vote last year to deny China Mobile an application to enter the U.S. market (see 1905090039) and subsequent actions reflect the U.S. “whole of government” approach to 5G security, Chairman Ajit Pai said Friday in a speech at CyFy 2020. “This decision was made after a lengthy Executive Branch review of the application and consultation with the U.S. intelligence community,” Pai said: “This is one of many examples of how we are working across the entire U.S. government to tackle the real and documented dangers posed by insecure networks.” Pai stressed the importance of open radio access networks and said “international cooperation is critical if we are to protect our 5G infrastructure.” The FCC International Bureau sent letters to DOJ asking that the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecom Services Sector address arguments by China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks and ComNet on why the FCC shouldn’t begin a proceeding to revoke and terminate their domestic and international authorizations. The letters (see here and here) were listed in Friday’s Daily Digest. China Unicom Americas argues it's “not subject to the exploitation, influence, or control of the Chinese government for a number of reasons,” and “none of the company’s senior management or board members [were] appointed by the Chinese government,” the bureau said: Pacific Networks and ComNet contend “neither Company has been asked by the Chinese government or the Chinese Communist Party to take any action that would ‘jeopardize the national security and law enforcement interests of the United States’ or would suggest that the Companies are vulnerable ‘to the exploitation, influence, and control of the Chinese government.’”
The FCC’s headquarters has officially changed from the Portals building at 445 12th St. SW to the agency’s new home at 45 L St. NE, said a public notice Thursday. An August order amending references to the agency’s old address in FCC rules took effect, the PN said. Despite the official change, most FCC employees haven't visited the new building due to COVID-19 restrictions (see 2010090052). The agency's “prohibition against the delivery of hand-carried documents to the FCC headquarters because of the COVID-19 pandemic” remains in effect, said Thursday’s PN. Chief of Staff Matthew Berry said more information about the opening of the building could be provided to employees in mid-October. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is set to move in November to the FCC's former headquarters.
In an interview on C-SPAN’s The Communicators scheduled to air Saturday, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said he believes nominee Nathan Simington “would be a great addition” to the agency. “I’ve enjoyed getting to know him since the nomination was announced by the president,” Carr said. He said he hasn’t had any communications with the White House about the decision to pull Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s renomination. Carr said he’s open to Congress giving the FCC additional funds to close the digital divide and including broadband in legislation to address infrastructure. Apple’s announcement of 5G-capable iPhones shows how far the U.S. has come in the global “race” to increase internet speeds, Carr said. Phone handsets are “probably the least interesting thing” about what 5G will enable, he said, suggesting the focus will be on the IoT and applications such as augmented reality. The U.S. has been able to remain competitive technologically because it hasn’t adopted the “command and control” methods of countries such as China, Carr said, calling a push to nationalize 5G “a mistake.”
The FCC’s website was down for about an hour Thursday starting soon after the 2:30 p.m. EDT release of Chairman Ajit Pai’s announcement of action to come on Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2010150057). Multiple users, including FCC officials, said they received only an error message when going to FCC.gov. The message said “an unexpected error had occurred." By 4:30 p.m., the site appeared to be restored. The FCC didn’t comment.
The FCC and U.S. Agency for International Development signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday agreeing to work together to promote “secure and open 5G networks in the developing world.” As the U.S. and the world “move ahead with next-generation, 5G wireless services, we must ensure these networks are both open and secure,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. They will “promote open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet and digital infrastructure and advance interagency coordination on network security in developing countries.”
Broadband deregulation led to AT&T discontinuing DSL without committing to provide an alternative in areas where it doesn’t already have fiber, said consumer and worker groups Wednesday. The carrier’s action shows the FCC would be wrong to reaffirm, when commissioners meet Oct. 27, the 2017 net neutrality decision to reclassify broadband as a Communications Act Title I information service, wrote Public Knowledge, Communications Workers of America, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, Next Century Cities, Common Cause and The Greenlining Institute in docket 17-108. The groups attached an internal AT&T document, obtained by CWA, that they said showed DSL termination “will leave some unknown number of DSL subscribers without an available terrestrial, fixed broadband to the home option.” Other DSL carriers will likely follow AT&T, leading to millions with no fixed terrestrial alternative, they said. AT&T said last week that current DSL customers will keep service and the carrier will continue to expand fiber and wireless services (see 2010080066). AT&T provided an identical statement Wednesday. A Mississippi utility commissioner asked for an investigation (see 2010080055). Commissioners would vote Oct. 27 on the FCC response to the remand from U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Mozilla v. FCC (see 2010090050).
The FCC Public Safety Bureau deactivated the disaster information reporting system for Hurricane Delta, said a public notice Wednesday. In the final DIRS report, 3.9% of cellsites in nine Louisiana counties were down, 39,256 wireline and cable subscribers were experiencing an outage, and one TV station, three FMs and two AMs were out of service.
There are 49,824 cable and wireline subscribers out of service in the nine Louisiana counties still being monitored for outages related to Hurricane Delta using the disaster information reporting system, said Tuesday’s FCC report. The area was narrowed Monday, said a public notice. No public safety answering points are down, while 6.5% of cellsites are offline. One TV station, three FM stations and two AMs are off-air.
Auction economists Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. They “studied how auctions work” and “used their insights to design new auction formats for goods and services that are difficult to sell in a traditional way, such as radio frequencies,” the committee said Monday: “Their discoveries have benefited sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world.” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Tuesday “their work has made possible the extraordinary success of U.S. radiofrequency spectrum auctions.”
The Supreme Court declined Tuesday to hear Enigma Software v. Malwarebytes, which alleges anticompetitive behavior by a cybersecurity rival (see 2006150054). Justice Clarence Thomas issued a statement in agreement, saying the high court should consider reviewing Communications Decency Act Section 230’s language in an “appropriate case.” Malwarebytes claimed Section 230 immunity after Enigma sued. Enigma alleged Malwarebytes “engaged in anticompetitive conduct by reconfiguring its products to make it difficult for consumers to download and use Enigma products.” Thomas noted SCOTUS hasn’t interpreted Section 230 in the 24 years since its enactment: “Many courts have construed the law broadly to confer sweeping immunity on some of the largest companies.” He argued justices “should consider whether the text of this increasingly important statute aligns with the current state of immunity enjoyed by Internet platforms.” Extending the immunity “beyond the natural reading of the text can have serious consequences,” Thomas wrote. Before allowing immunity from civil claims for “knowingly hosting illegal child pornography” or “for race discrimination,” the court should “be certain that is what the law demands.” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Thomas’ statement “strengthens the case for reform,” tweeting that it “explains how a couple of sweeping and questionable court decisions have expanded Big Tech’s protections far beyond the terms of Section 230 itself.” Attorneys for the companies didn’t comment.