Hamilton Relay objected to planned FCC authorization of automated speech recognition (ASR) as a reimbursable form of IP captioned telephone service (CTS) in a draft ruling on the tentative agenda for the June 7 FCC open meeting, which could draw further provider concerns, given their past advocacy (see 1805240010). "To make such a profound change, in the absence of appropriate notice and comment, not only violates the Administrative Procedure Act ... but amounts to an abrupt and unexplained departure from its prior practice and frankly could cause harm to the users of IP CTS," said a filing by the IP CTS provider posted Friday in docket 13-24. The FCC "did not seek comment on whether to authorize ASR as a compensable form of TRS [telecommunication relay service] in the 2013 [Further NPRM] or elsewhere. Moreover, although the Declaratory Ruling discusses the process for applying for certification to provide IP CTS by means of ASR, it appears to authorize currently certified providers of IP CTS to begin offering ASR services without subjecting such services to oversight ... This poses a risk of harm to users of IP CTS. For example, the draft item does not even acknowledge that 911 calls using ASR are an untested and potentially unreliable means of communicating with emergency officials." ASR "has much potential," but it needs more study and the FCC needs more data, the company said. Hamilton also criticized a draft order's proposed reduction in the IP CTS compensation rate from $1.95 per minute to $1.75 starting July 1. "An arbitrary 10% cut is very difficult for any industry to manage, especially in this situation given the very short nature in which this particular change will take place," it said, suggesting the FCC lacked adequate cost data. The provider "continues to favor competitively-based rates instead of the cost-based methodology" that it believes doesn't capture true service costs. Hamilton said a July 1, 2019 "rate cut to $1.58 per minute, as proposed in the draft item, would create serious market disruption and likely would adversely affect quality and availability of service." It urged the FCC "to establish a two-year interim rate of $1.75 per minute from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020, or until a permanent rate methodology has been implemented." Hamilton also filed opposition in docket 03-123 to an FCC public notice seeking modification or clarification of a protective order, and suggested its own changes.

FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly asked the CEOs of Amazon and eBay for those companies' help in cracking down on video set-top boxes that fraudulently carry the FCC's logo indicating they comply with the agency's equipment authorization or boxes that don't comply with those authorization requirements. In a letter to Amazon's Jeff Bezos and eBay's Devin Wenig dated Friday, O'Rielly said the FCC doesn't have an obligation to crack down on unauthorized set-tops, but many such boxes are being used in pirating of video content. He asked that the online retailers commit to removing from their sites any devices with fraudulent FCC logos or devices that haven't been certified if the agency brings those devices to the companies' attention, with supporting evidence. He also asked the companies to give the FCC names of device manufacturers, distributors and suppliers "if the situation arises." In a response letter Friday to O'Rielly that we obtained, Amazon Vice President-Public Policy Brian Huseman said it already "strictly prohibit[s] the sale of IP-infringing and non-compliant products," and it last year became the first online retailer to ban the sale of streaming media players that promote or facilitate piracy. It said it proactively scans product listings for signs of potentially infringing products and uses a variety of automated real-time tools and human reviewers to identify inauthentic goods. It said it will remove suspected listings and at times take action against sellers' entire accounts. That work has resulted in "tens of thousands" of illicit streaming device listings being blocked, plus several criminal referrals to law enforcement. Amazon said it would "appreciate the opportunity to collaborate further with the FCC" and if any noncompliant devices are identified, "we seek to work with you to ensure they are not offered for sale." eBay didn't comment.

The FCC said its Disability Advisory Committee will meet June 14, starting at 9:30 a.m., in the Commission Meeting Room. The DAC last met in October.

The FAA should establish a means for ensuring its management of small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) safety risks follow the applicable principles and requirements in the agency's policies, GAO said in a study Thursday. It said the FAA is only partially following principles of safety risk management in its policies on analyzing and assessing safety risks of UAS, implementing controls of those risks and monitoring the effectiveness of those controls. It said better risk management practices would help the agency decide whether more steps are needed to ensure airspace safety. It said the FAA lacks reliable information about the extent of unsafe use of small UAS, since the thousands of reports of potentially unsafe use it has collected offer limited information, though the agency also is trying to improve its data. In a letter dated March 9 included in the report, Assistant Transportation Department Secretary Keith Nelson said the FAA agrees it could improve documentation of its safety risk management activities for small UAS operations, and it concurred with the recommendation.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and Harris County, Texas, said the FCC should mandate that carriers be able to transmit multimedia content in wireless emergency alerts. Comments are due Tuesday on a Public Safety Bureau notice seeking to update the record (see 1803280029) on feasibility of carriers including multimedia content in WEAs, and early filings are starting to appear in docket 15-91. “We must continue to look at ways to improve the WEA system to create a strong and adaptable tool,” Harris County said. “Pictures provide instant recognition and speak a universal language. Most importantly, they enable rapid response from every potential witness who could save countless lives through fast action. With the network upgrades to 5G, capacity for multimedia messages will be even greater, and we would be remiss not to advocate for multimedia capabilities for WEA to be in place as this upgrade occurs.” FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Office also backed the change in alerting rules. It's already “technically feasible” to include multimedia in alerts and the cost would be minimal to public safety, FEMA said. “Forthcoming improvements to provide targeted messaging, increase character count, provide a Spanish-language function, and test the system will increase WEA’s utility to local authorities,” said the Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization serving the Portland, Oregon, area. “However, additional multimedia enhancements are still needed to ensure emergency warnings are correctly understood by the public -- specifically the ability to send an image in a WEA message and provide alerts in languages other than English and Spanish.”

Tyler Barriss was indicted for allegedly phoning in bomb threats to the FCC and FBI in December, said a release Thursday of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. It said Barriss, 25, of Los Angeles, was indicted on two counts of making hoax bomb threats, one of which led to the evacuation of the FCC's meeting room during the high-profile Dec. 14 meeting at which commissioners adopted a net neutrality rollback order (see 1712140039). According to government evidence, Barriss made threats by phone that explosives were in the building and set to detonate, the release said. The meeting was halted and the room evacuated, but no explosives were found, it said. A similar threat was made Dec. 22 to the FBI after work hours; again, no explosives were found. A grand jury indictment against Barriss was unsealed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. "Barriss currently is detained in Wichita, Kansas, where he faces state and federal charges for his role in a Dec. 28, 2017, 'swatting' that led to a fatal shooting by law enforcement. 'Swatting' refers to a hoax intended to cause law enforcement to respond to a particular location," the release said. The FCC didn't comment.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and the Public Safety Bureau scheduled a June 21 webinar on wireless emergency alerts and the emergency alert system, said a public notice Wednesday. The webinar will focus on how the systems work, “who is eligible to initiate alerts, and the targeting of messages to particular geographic areas,” the PN said. “The webinar will help ensure state and local governments are ready and able to utilize these alerting systems when they are needed” and allow participants to ask questions of staff, the PN said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will livestream audio of all oral arguments starting in the 2018-19 term except those involving classified or sealed matters, the court said Wednesday. It said it has been live audio streaming arguments on request since October (see 1712190060) and Chief Judge Merrick Garland said livestreaming all will bring additional transparency. Argument will be available via the court's website under Live Audio Streaming. It said audio recordings will continue to be posted by 2 p.m. the day of argument. UHF discount oral argument earlier this month was streamed (see 1804200059).

FCC actions to help Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are "expected shortly," an agency official said Wednesday. A combined order and NPRM to enhance USF subsidy support for the islands is going through the process of "scrubbing" and commissioners writing their statements, the official said. Chairman Ajit Pai told the Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee May 17 (see 1805170073) that the commission approved his proposals to provide additional short-term funding for restoring the islands' communications networks damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria, and longer-term support for expanding broadband access.

Antitrust law's consumer welfare standard can play a role in addressing competitive threats posed by new developments in technology such as digital markets and platforms, said DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim Tuesday at the Jevons Institute Colloquium in Rome, according to prepared remarks. Outputs are difficult to measure for companies like social media networks, but other indicators of consumer welfare -- innovation, choice and quality -- deserve more attention in looking at digital markets' competitive effects, though they can be difficult to quantify, he said. Innovation is inherently disruptive, and competition policy should encourage existential threats to incumbents from new entrants, he said. Elimination of choice isn't inherently suspect, but a merger that would give the combined entity incentive and ability to undermine innovative competitors offering new product choices could be grounds for enforcement action, he said. When it comes to media and technology companies, quality "is best captured as the entire customer experience," he said. Delrahim said there should be consideration whether "net promoter score" -- the measurement of whether customers or users are likely to recommend or bad-mouth a product -- or other benchmarks can measure quality as a byproduct of competition.