The FCC seeks to prevent one-ring scams. A notice of inquiry appearing on Friday's circulation list responds to Traced Act requirements (see 1906250071) and precedes a rulemaking, a spokesperson said. Callers from outside the U.S. dial a number, hang up after one ring, and hope confused recipients call back and incur phone charges. Some scams leave a voicemail with instructions to call an international number. The NOI seeks broad comment including feedback on cost-effectiveness of suggestions, the spokesperson said. In 2019, the FCC received about 2,600 consumer complaints about one-ring scams. The NOI follows Section 12, an official said.
An order approving Ligado's requested license modifications is about to go on circulation, potentially early this week, stakeholders and agency officials told us Friday. They said the order would include conditions such as Ligado-sought power and emissions levels and the company's government GPS replacement proposal, plus network monitoring and operational requirements. The FCC didn't comment. The agency's under pressure from legislators to approve the company's planned low-power terrestrial L-band broadband (see 2002250083). NTIA didn't recommend approval, and DOD and other agencies opposed approval (see 1912090011).
TechFreedom Director-Civil Liberties Ashkhen Kazaryan's gender was misstated (see 2004080039).
Executive branch agencies recommended the FCC revoke China Telecom's U.S. authorizations for international telecom services. DOJ, which led the review, said the agencies found "substantial and unacceptable national security and law enforcement risks," including Chinese government malicious cyber activity targeting the U.S., and concerns China Telecom -- a U.S. subsidiary of a Chinese government-owned telecom company -- is vulnerable to China's "exploitation, influence, and control." It said China Telecom made inaccurate statements to U.S. authorities about recordkeeping and made inaccurate public representations of cybersecurity practices. The 71-page redacted recommendation filed with the International Bureau said China Telecom "will be forced to comply with Chinese government requests without sufficient legal procedures subject to independent judicial oversight." It also said the company's U.S. operations are a route for Chinese state-sponsored actors "to engage in economic espionage and disrupt and misroute U.S. communications traffic." The "security of our government and professional communications, as well as of our most private data, depends on our use of trusted partners from nations that share our values and our aspirations for humanity," said Assistant Attorney General-National Security John Demers. DOJ said the recommendation was by it and the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State, Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative. The FCC and China Telecom didn't comment.
Don’t use an industry dispute with three Missouri cities as a “basis for a sweeping preemption of local governments’ rights of way ordinances and fees,” NATOA replied to a petition from Bluebird Network and Uniti Leasing (see 2003240036). The FCC shouldn’t intervene because Telecom Act Section 253 says local governments shouldn’t have to go to Washington, D.C., to defend local actions, NATOA said. That’s especially so with the petition that’s “fraught with factual disagreements that preclude resolution through a declaratory ruling on this record,” it said. Pre-empting the Missouri cities' “unlawful duplicative fees ... will set a meaningful precedent for other similarly-situated localities,” T-Mobile replied. It would show FCC support for telecom deployment, said Crown Castle. The FCC “would be comfortably within precedent” if it determines duplicative obligations are preempted and clarifies that “any fees in excess of a locality’s reasonable costs run afoul of Section 253,” said Bluebird and Uniti: It “would pave the way for the quick resolution of this matter and ... create a clear standard that would reduce uncertainty and speed the deployment of broadband facilities nationwide.” Replies were posted through Wednesday in docket 20-46.
Messaging app Telegram hasn't published any data disclosures because it hasn't disclosed any data to third parties, including law enforcement (see 2004060064).
The FCC asked for nominations for new members of its Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council, representing the “interests of the public and consumers.” It sought nominations for CSRIC’s five active working groups, due May 25. The agency also wants members for its World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee, to prepare industry contributions to the 2023 WRC. Nominations are due May 29. The agency will add more members on a “rolling basis,” said Wednesday's notice. The WRC-23 panel's charter was renewed last week for another two-year term, the agency noted now.
The Department of Commerce should implement all practices for transitioning its telecom systems to next-generation enterprise infrastructure before General Services Administration phaseout of existing contracts in 2023, GAO reported Tuesday. GSA's goal is for agencies to have switched 50% by March 31, 2021, fully by Sept. 30, 2022. Commerce is among 11 agencies that reported they won’t meet the 2022 deadline but will fully switch before contracts expire in 2023. Commerce plans to complete its move by December 2022. The department needs to update its telecom inventory to include all assets and services it uses, identify future needs and finalize responsibilities for information security management, GAO said. The report noted similar recommendations to the departments of Health and Human Services, State and Veterans Affairs, and NASA. Commerce “concurred with our five recommendations to the agency and stated that it will take steps to implement them.”
U.S. courts have used technology to maintain public access and continue their core operations even during the pandemic, but the Supreme Court "has been more vague," blogged R Street Resident Fellow-Governance Anthony Marcum. It's unknown how future oral arguments will be handled and made publicly available, he said Monday: If SCOTUS doesn't explore tech opportunities here, Congress might act on the 21st Century Courts Act. HR-6017 would create a code of conduct, mandating real-time oral argument livestreaming.
CTIA questioned the legality of proposed backup power rules and other resiliency measures Friday. The California Public Utilities Commission proposed requiring 72-hour backup for all essential communications equipment (see 2003090026). The wireless industry thinks that's “overly prescriptive, unmoored from the record, impossible to achieve, and places the burden on wireless carriers to maintain power to their networks regardless of the severity of adverse conditions, such as those that prevent electric utilities from maintaining commercial power,” said comments in docket R.18-03-011. Santa Clara County supported requiring 72-hour backup power. In October, the county had one 66-hour outage and another was 94 hours, and Pacific Gas and Electric has promised future outages will be shorter, the locality said. The requirement could be longer than 72 hours, suggested a rural counties group. “It cannot be acceptable for 9-1-1 or emergency notification services to go dark for any period.” The Communications Workers of America said voluntary commitments aren’t enough.