NTIA urged that the FCC approve a five-year extension for Echodyne of a waiver of rules allowing ground-based use of its radar, which detects objects on the ground and in the air, using the 24.45-24.65 GHz band. The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on the request earlier this year (see 2402260041). The Department of Homeland Security holds 185 frequency assignments in the band for use through the U.S., NTIA said in a filing Friday in RM-11819. “DHS advises NTIA that these systems have proven invaluable in the detection and identification of small, unmanned aircraft systems used by drug-trafficking cartels and other nefarious actors intending to cause harm to United States infrastructure and residents,” the filing said: “These radar systems have been operating for over five years, with no reported cases of harmful interference to incumbent services in the band to the best of NTIA’s knowledge.”
The extended deadlines granted EchoStar's Dish Network for building out its 5G terrestrial network were "clearly justified," New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge said in an FCC docket 22-212 filing posted Friday. Vermont National Telephone (VTel) Wireless has a pending reconsideration petition (see 2410230004). "Building a nationwide mobile network from scratch is a high hill to climb, and EchoStar deserves every benefit of the doubt as it tries to overcome numerous obstacles," OTI and PK said. They said the extension includes "positive and unprecedented" public interest conditions. VTel Wireless said last week that the FCC Wireless Bureau lacked legal authority to grant the extension. The extension clearly harmed VTel, the company said, as it forestalls reauction of EchoStar's H-block and AWS-3 spectrum licenses. Acquiring those licenses would have more than doubled VTel's AWS spectrum holdings, it added.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and other officials condemned Friday an alleged wave of hate texts following the presidential election's conclusion Tuesday night. The NAACP said Thursday it received reports of texts in multiple states, including Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania, from an unknown source, urging that recipients report to a plantation to pick cotton. The "messages represent an alarming increase in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from racist groups across the country, who now feel emboldened to spread hate and stoke the flames of fear that many of us are feeling after Tuesday's election results,” NAACP CEO Derrick Johnson said. “These messages are unacceptable,” Rosenworcel said. “That’s why our Enforcement Bureau is already investigating and looking into them alongside federal and state law enforcement.” The FBI said Thursday night it’s “aware of the offensive and racist text messages sent to individuals around the country and is in contact with the Justice Department and other federal authorities on the matter.” Cloud-based mobile phone service provider TextNow believes at least some of the messages came through its service in what it called “a widespread, coordinated attack.” As “soon as we became aware, our Trust & Safety team acted quickly, rapidly disabling the related accounts in less than an hour,” the company said in a statement. President-elect Donald Trump’s team sought to distance itself from the text messages amid criticism from the NAACP and others that his campaign’s rhetoric prompted the onslaught. Trump’s “campaign has absolutely nothing to do with these text messages,” a spokesperson said in a statement. The Biden administration condemned “these hateful messages and anyone targeting Americans based on their ethnicity or background.” Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) and New York AG Letitia James (D) both raised alarm bells about the text messages. “These messages are horrific, unacceptable, and will not be tolerated,” Brown said. “If you have been sent one of these texts, I am asking for you to please come forward and report it.” James called the messages “disgusting and unacceptable,” and also encouraged anyone “who has received an anonymous, threatening text message to report it to my office.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and other congressional Democrats also condemned the texts. There “are extremists in America who feel empowered” following Trump’s election to a second term to send the “racist, vile and threatening” messages, Jeffries said Friday. “We will not be intimidated by anyone.” House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York urged “a full investigation into the source of these despicable messages and call for the perpetrators of this hateful scheme to be held accountable for their actions.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security and DOJ are investigating U.S. mobile phone parts producer Lumentum for potentially violating U.S. export controls on shipments to Huawei, according to corporate filings.
FCC special counsel Tracy Bridgham, retiring from agency, effective Nov. 29, with Enforcement Bureau attorney William Knowles-Kellett appointed to take Bridgham's role heading the FCC Chapter, National Treasury Employees Union and becoming president-elect until special election; Satellite Programs and Policy Division special counsel Julia Malette will replace Knowles-Kellett as executive vice president ...
Verizon said that it will modify or discontinue ad claims about using its smartphones to receive satellite-supported texting services in remote locations, the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division said Thursday. T-Mobile challenged Verizon's claims. The ads promise customers they can “Text Anywhere via Satellite,” NAD said. The ads offer “a small font disclosure reading 'Satellite connectivity requires select smartphones. Must be outside w/line of sight to satellite; might not work in parts of Alaska,'” the group said. NAD found “that the disclosure in Verizon’s commercials is not clear and conspicuous and is unlikely to be read and understood by consumers.”
The FTC is breaking the law by refusing to follow statutory mandates that would allow consolidation of lawsuits against the agency’s new click-to-cancel rule, said NCTA, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Electronic Security Association in a filing this week (see 2410240001).
The union representing FCC employees, the National Treasury Employees Union, said it's ready to work with President-elect Donald Trump’s administration but warned that it would oppose efforts against federal workers. The Trump White House is expected to implement plans laid out in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and the Trump campaign’s Agenda 47, reducing the federal workforce and reclassifying many career civil servants, making it easier to fire and replace them with political appointees, academics and analysts told us. The NTEU “will make every effort to work in good faith” with the Trump administration, said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald in a release. “However, we are fully prepared to work with our allies in Congress and use all the tools we have to fight any and all actions taken by his administration that would harm frontline federal workers, our ability to represent them or their ability to serve the American people.”
There’s no evidence malicious cyberactivity had a “material impact on the security or integrity” of U.S. election infrastructure on Tuesday, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly said Wednesday. A CISA official said Tuesday the agency hadn’t detected “national-level” foreign interference campaigns targeting the presidential election (see 2411050047). U.S. election infrastructure “has never been more secure and the election community never better prepared to deliver safe, secure, free, and fair elections for the American people,” said Easterly. “This is what we saw yesterday in the peaceful and secure exercise of democracy.” The FBI said in a statement Tuesday that it was aware of bomb threats at polling locations in several states. Many of the threats appeared to "originate from Russian email domains," the bureau said. "None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far."
SpaceX wants to add Swarm VHF-band mobile satellite service payloads onto its first-generation Starlink satellites. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Tuesday, SpaceX said the payloads would let Starlinks offer services that Swarm's authorization permits. SpaceX said the payloads also would let the company track and maintain contact with first-gen Starlinks during rare space weather events and orbit raising. SpaceX said it is operating similar payloads on its second-gen Starlinks as safety beacons for more than 18 months without interference complaints from commercial or federal users.