NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson assured attendees at an NTIA listening session on a national spectrum strategy Thursday the administration understands the need for concrete action and a spectrum pipeline for 5G and 6G. Twenty other speakers signed up to offer comments, which covered all the usual spectrum issues, from the importance of unlicensed and dedicated license spectrum to evolving sharing technologies to the potential role for THz spectrum.
Exports to China
House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Republican and Democratic members took widely divergent views Wednesday of Commerce Department implementation of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act-funded broadband programs and money from the 2022 Chips and Science Act. Subpanel Chairman Morgan Griffith, R-Va., made clear the hearing was only the initial stage in their plans. Griffith and other Oversight Republicans repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats for signing off on IIJA and the Chips law, saying both meant unrestrained spending and don’t have enough checks to prevent waste, fraud and abuse. Democrats conversely trumpeted the measures as crucial to helping Americans amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The House passed the Undersea Cable Control Act (HR-1189) Monday on a voice vote under suspension of the rules, as expected (see 2303270063). The measure would require the State Department to develop a strategy to “eliminate the availability to foreign adversaries,” including China, “of goods and technologies capable of supporting undersea cables.” It would also mandate the U.S. seek bilateral agreements with allied nations to bar exporting technology to foreign adversaries that would support undersea cables. It’s important the U.S. not allow foreign adversaries “to catch up to us in any way whatsoever, especially China,” said lead HR-1189 sponsor Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla. Undersea cables are “a backbone” for international digital communications, “things you don’t want China getting ahold of.” The U.S. “derives significant benefits from its leading position in global” undersea cable networks, but “in recent years Chinese companies” heavily subsidized by the Chinese Communist Party “started investing heavily in owning and supplying” those cables, Mast said: “This is not just an economic issue” because a bigger Chinese presence in undersea cables will make the network “unsecure” and “they weaponize all forms of telecommunication that they can.”
Republican states are responsible for an unprecedented wave of free speech violations, not the tech industry or Democrats, House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said during a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Tuesday.
The House was set to vote as soon as Monday night on the Undersea Cable Control Act (HR-1189) under suspension of the rules. The measure would require the State Department to develop a strategy to “eliminate the availability to foreign adversaries,” including China, “of goods and technologies capable of supporting undersea cables.” It would also mandate the U.S. seek bilateral agreements with allied nations to bar exporting technology to foreign adversaries that would support undersea cables. HR-1189 lead sponsors Reps. Brian Mast, R-Fla., and Andy Kim, D-N.J., cited the entry of a Chinese surveillance balloon into U.S. airspace earlier this year as an impetus for filing the bill.
China-based employees can access American users’ TikTok data, but that access will be cut off once the company implements Project Texas (see 2303170043), TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told the House Commerce Committee Thursday.
Keeping American telecom networks secure and competitive with Chinese companies that receive substantial subsidiaries from the government is a top priority of the Biden administration, said Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser-cyber and emerging tech, at the Winnik Forum at Hogan Lovells Thursday. Neuberger said the administration is committed to promoting open radio access networks as a way of leveling the playing field with China.
A change in TikTok ownership wouldn’t solve the "problem" with the platform because it wouldn’t “impose any new restrictions on data flows or access,” TikTok said in a statement Friday.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announces retirements of Toni McGowan, Office of Managing Director deputy chief-performance evaluation and records management; Christina Clearwater, Wireless Bureau associate chief-competition and Infrastructure Division; and Joe Husnay, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau electronics engineer; she also announces as employees of the year Scott Noveck, Office of General Counsel, for his efforts to revoke authorization for China Telecom, and Sue Sterner, Office of Economics and Analytics, for her contributions to four agency auctions.
The Georgia House Homeland Security Committee passed by voice vote Wednesday a bill that would ban state employees and students from installing and using apps like TikTok on state-owned devices. Introduced by Sen. Jason Anavitarte (R), SB-93 mirrors a decision from Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who issued an order in December banning the Chinese-owned social media app on state devices. The legislation is more broad, however, as it targets any apps owned by “foreign adversaries,” as defined by the federal government and recognized by the White House. The White House’s list of foreign adversaries includes China, Russia and Iran. The bill includes a carve-out that would allow access to the platform for law enforcement, research, legislative and judicial proceedings. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R) recommended the carve-out. SB-93 was discussed before the full committee last week and before a subcommittee Tuesday. Anavitarte said he had discussions with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., about congressional efforts to eliminate the app in the U.S. This conversation isn’t going away in Georgia or at the national level, said Anavitarte, calling it a national security issue. Rep. Jordan Ridley (D) asked him how common the use of TikTok and other adversarial apps is on state devices. Anavitarte said he didn’t have an exact figure but noted intelligence officials say it takes only one device to make the state vulnerable. Several panel members, including Anavitarte, mistakenly referred to TikTok’s parent company ByteDance as DanceByte.