The FCC said Tuesday it has “more than doubled” the number of employees assigned to privacy and data protection since the launch last year of the Privacy and Data Protection Task Force (see 2306140075). The commission has “integrated technologists, software and hardware engineers, and other subject-matter experts into its enforcement matters, adding to the FCC’s deep technical expertise in rulemaking and licensing matters," and “convened technical experts” to focus on AI, machine learning and other emerging technologies through its Technological Advisory Council, it said in a news release. The announcement was part of a broader administration push (see 2403260029). “This ongoing work will allow us to maximize our efforts to address risks arising from the misuse or mishandling of sensitive data we entrust with service providers and the continued threats posed by cybercriminals and foreign adversaries,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal, chair of the task force.
Non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) will expand the reach of cellular networks, which is increasingly important when 95% of the U.S. population has abandoned landline phones, David Witkowski, co-chair of the Deployment Working Group at IEEE Future Networks, said during an RCR Wireless webinar Tuesday. Last month, FCC commissioners approved a supplemental coverage from space framework, facilitating carriers working with satellite operators on converged networks (see 2403150045).
The 5G Fund order that FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated last week (see 2403200071) is expected to have several gaps that will need addressing with a Further NPRM on a tribal reserve but also through auction public notices, industry officials said. One question that needs answering is how to define open radio access networks, slated to get up to 10% of the $9 billion to be awarded.
FCC announces Precision Agriculture Connectivity Task Force working group members, including Mapping and Analyzing Connectivity on Agricultural Lands Working Group Chair Joseph Carey, special government employee, and Vice Chair Brad Robison, CEO-Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association and Tallahatchie Valley Internet Services; Examining Current and Future Connectivity Demand for Precision Agriculture Working Group Chair Joy Sterling, CEO-Iron Horse Vineyards, and Vice Chair Steven Strickland, director-partnerships and channels at Ericsson; and Encouraging Adoption of Precision Agriculture and Availability of High-Quality Jobs on Connected Farms Working Group Chair Joshua Seidemann, vice president-policy, NTCA, and Vice Chair Alex Thomasson, professor-Mississippi State University Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering; Accelerating Broadband Deployment on Unserved Agricultural Lands Working Group Chair Heather Hampton-Knodle, vice president/secretary-Knodle Ltd. Farms, and Vice Chair Jarrett Taubman, vice president/deputy chief government affairs and regulatory officer-Viasat.
SpaceX wants to go lower with its planned 7,500 second-generation satellites that would provide direct-to-device (D2D) service. In an application modification posted Monday, it asked the FCC Space Bureau to add 340-360 km orbital shells as a deployment option. It said those lower orbits "will come at a significant additional cost to SpaceX [but] enhance space sustainability by further reducing collision risk and passive decay time." It said the lower orbits also would make for better spectrum sharing. The D2D application seeks approval for operating at 525 km, 530 km and 535 km altitudes.
Hawaiian Telecom's application for review of an FCC Media Bureau $720,000 notice of apparent liability issued against Nexstar (see 2403080072) is part of HT's "continuing crusade" to punish it and other broadcasters for not extending expiring retransmission consent agreements, Nexstar said Monday. In a docket 23-228 opposition to HT's review application, Nexstar said the liability notice clearly refutes HT's "meritless" argument that the bureau should have considered the circumstances around Nexstar withholding a meaningful retrans agreement extension to determine whether the broadcaster acted in bad faith. With it already facing a potential $720,000 forfeiture, Nexstar said there "is neither a need nor a legitimate basis for requiring the Bureau to expend even more resources in taking up what amounts to a petition for a new and improper revision of the Communications Act and the FCC’s [retrans consent] rules."
Customers expect that carriers use the same kinds of technologies for robocalls and robotexts that are used to filter suspected scam and spam emails, Microsoft told the FCC in a filing posted Monday in docket 23-362. “Recent advances” in AI and large-language models “create the opportunity to combat fraudulent communications based on content analysis, and with the right guardrails in place, this analysis can be done at scale while preserving the privacy of the communications,” Microsoft said. The FCC should make clear that “when communications service providers choose to offer AI-enabled fraud detection features with sufficient safeguards in place, those tools are considered a necessary incident to the provision of voice communications,” the company said. Microsoft representatives spoke with aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Anna Gomez and Consumer and with Governmental Affairs Bureau staff.
ACA Connects asked the FCC to grant smaller providers additional time to comply with certain requirements in its proposed rules reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title II telecom service. During a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, the group sought six months for smaller providers "to analyze the impact" of Title II and any new net neutrality rules, "as well as assess the interaction of Title II and the digital discrimination rules and state requirements." In a separate letter to the commission, CTIA and USTelecom asked the FCC to classify domain name systems (DNS) and caching as information services under the Communications Act. DNS and caching "remain integral parts of providers’ BIAS offerings, making those offerings information services under the Communications Act," the groups said.
DOJ and the FCC praised a Montana judge Friday for imposing a $9.9 million forfeiture penalty against defendant Scott Rhodes for initiating nearly 5,000 illegally spoofed calls across the U.S., in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Truth in Caller ID Act. “Virtually every Montanan has been the subject of unwanted and harassing robocalls, and the person responsible for such calls usually escapes accountability," said U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich for Montana said in a joint statement with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. "But not this time. In placing thousands of harassing and malicious spoofing calls to consumers across the country, Rhodes showed a blatant disregard to caller ID and telephone consumer protection laws designed to prevent this sort of conduct.” When persistent and malicious robocallers break the law, “it takes strong partnerships like this one to bring them to justice,” said Rosenworcel. “I thank the Justice Department team, in conjunction with FCC lawyers, for vigorously pursuing this penalty.” There’s “no genuine dispute” that the forfeiture penalty of $9.9 million imposed by the FCC against Rhodes, a resident of Idaho and Montana, in its January 2021 order “is reasonable and consistent with the relevant statutory and regulatory guidelines,” said U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen for Montana in Missoula in his March 19 order. The judge denied Rhodes’ motions for reconsideration of the summary judgment order in the government’s favor and to have Christensen disqualified for bias against the defendant.
Representatives of the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition spoke with FCC Wireline Bureau staff about the agency’s November proposal allowing schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services (see 2311090028). Also attending were officials from Colorado's Boulder Valley School District (BVSD). The district found a series of hot spots during the COVID-19 pandemic was difficult to administer and didn’t provide the connection students needed, said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-31. It next worked with a small local wireless ISP, LiveWire Networks, to build a network. “As of today, LiveWire operates a tower on almost every building across the BVSD,” SHLB said: More than 300 "… students are enrolled in the program. LiveWire operates and manages the network and performs installation and other services directly at the home.” Given the success of school-enabled networks like the Colorado district’s, “SHLB encourages the FCC to apply a broad, tech-neutral definition of ‘hotspots’ so that alternative types of network devices (like fixed wireless access points and subscriber modules) are eligible for E-rate funding,” the filing said. Last week, SHLB made similar points featuring a program at the East Moline (Ilinois) School District 37 (see 2403220030).