Fully autonomous vehicles are at least five years from deployment, potentially much longer, a Carnegie Mellon University professor told the House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Tuesday. Members of both parties cited the need to develop a road map for AVs so China doesn’t take the lead on future deployment.
There’s no easy or quick solution to chip shortages, and the administration is doing all it can, National Security Council Senior Director-International Economics and Competitiveness Peter Harrell told an AT&T webinar Tuesday. The FCC sought comment last week (see 2105120024). An executive warned the shortage affects smartphones, IoT devices, network equipment and other carrier gear. Harrell said the administration supports legislation to provide money for domestic chip manufacturing (see 2105170059). The administration is also trying to increase supply chain transparency, he said.
Texas legislators' attempt to stabilize state USF is nearing the finish. The Senate Rural Affairs Committee voted 8-0 Tuesday for HB-2667 to expand the TUSF contribution base to include VoIP providers, while redefining high-cost areas. RLECs had sued the Public Utility Commission for not acting to prevent insolvency (see 2103290060).
A Further NPRM proposing to tighten secure telephone identity revisited and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens rules is expected to be approved 4-0 by commissioners Thursday. Commissioner aides got little public feedback after the Stir/Shaken item circulated. The consensus is smaller providers likely pose a robocall problem and the FCC should investigate, agency officials said. A few changes, none major, are expected.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are “pretty close” to reintroducing the Earn It Act (see 2008050039), without major changes anticipated, Blumenthal told us. He led a Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing Tuesday, where witnesses offered potential solutions for online child exploitation. Blumenthal and ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., criticized TikTok for refusing to testify.
Telecom-focused Democratic lawmakers told us they remain hopeful broadband money in a final deal on infrastructure hews closer to the $100 billion they and President Joe Biden propose (see 2103310064) than the $65 billion Senate Republicans seek. Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and other Republicans remained mum on how much they planned to increase their ask in an updated counteroffer they were to have presented to administration officials Tuesday (see 2105170067).
The Chips for America Act will help the U.S. develop manufacturing needed to compete with China and other adversaries, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said Monday. Debate within Congress is growing about appropriating $50 billion for domestic chip manufacturing incentives and research initiatives (see 2105110065) related to the Endless Frontier Act (S-1260). The legislation goes as far as possible now in pushing semiconductor development, but Congress is still incrementally educating its leaders, Ernst told a Brookings virtual event.
Using streaming services to disseminate emergency messages mightn't be feasible, isn’t necessary and is outside FCC jurisdiction, industry trade groups and companies commented on a notice of inquiry. The “broadcast-centric” emergency alert system architecture is “not readily transferable to the varied and location-agnostic nature of internet-connected devices and streaming services,” said CTA. “At best, implementing such a requirement would be extremely cumbersome, and invoke a long list of unknown consequences related to complexity, user privacy and cost,” said NAB.
States want to extend temporary relaxations of telehealth restrictions made on an emergency basis during the pandemic, legislators and experts said in interviews. Nearly every state is “trying to grapple with what just happened with COVID and telehealth,” said American Telemedicine Association Director-Public Policy Kyle Zebley, citing 550 telehealth bills in 49 states this year.
An EU-backed cloud industry code could help ease data transfer woes caused by Privacy Shield's rejection by the European Court of Justice in Schrems II (see 2007160002), its developers said. The Cloud Code of Conduct, developed by the European Commission and the cloud computing community, is expecting final approval soon, and work is underway on a "Third Country Module" of the CoC that could be an alternative to PS, said K&L Gates data protection attorney Thomas Nietsch.