AT&T and Verizon acknowledged Saturday that their networks were part of the U.S.-based infrastructure that was hacked in Salt Typhoon Chinese government-affiliated operation (see 2411190073), but both carriers insisted their operations are now secure. “We detect no activity by nation-state actors in our networks at this time,” an AT&T spokesperson said. “Based on our current investigation of this attack, the People's Republic of China targeted a small number of individuals of foreign intelligence interest.” The carrier said it monitored and secured its networks following the attack to protect other consumers’ data. Verizon Chief Legal Officer Vendana Venkatesh likewise said the carrier has “not detected threat actor activity in Verizon's network for some time, and after considerable work addressing this incident, we can report that Verizon has contained the activities associated with this particular incident.” Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser-cyber and emerging technology, said during a Friday conference call with reporters that the federal government has identified a ninth U.S.-based telecom provider compromised in the Salt Typhoon hack. The “Chinese gained access to networks and essentially had broad and full access,” which allowed them to “geolocate millions of individuals, to record phone calls at will,” Neuberger said. She said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s draft declaratory ruling finding that Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act Section (CALEA) Section 105 requires telecom carriers to secure their networks against cyberattacks (see 2412050044) would help limit the impact of future hacks.
Consumer groups representing the blind support NAB’s request for FCC clarification of its audible crawl rule, according to comments filed in docket 12-107 by last week’s deadline. The FCC has continuously waived the rule for nearly a decade because compliance isn’t technologically feasible, according to broadcasters. Last week, the FCC granted its latest, a six-month retroactive waiver (see 2412200055). “To the extent that information provided in an accessible text crawl is the same as the information provided by a nontextual graphic, we are tentatively supportive of a minor modification of the rule,” the American Foundation for the Blind and the American Council of the Blind said in a joint filing. In addition, any FCC effort to enforce the audible crawl waiver would be “legally suspect’ in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning Chevron deference, Gray Local Media commented.
USTelecom, NCTA and the Wireless ISP Association separately opposed Fine Point Technologies' request (see 2411270048) that the FCC launch a rulemaking on standardized broadband speed testing protocols. Comments were posted Monday in RM-11991 in response to a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau inquiry.
Logos Space Services CEO Milo Medin, meeting with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr's office, urged that his company's non-geostationary orbit constellation application be put on public notice expeditiously, said a Space Bureau posting last week. Logos' plans call for a 3,960-satellite constellation to offer business connectivity (see 2410310003).
Letting SpaceX provide supplemental coverage from space service in the 1429-2690 MHz band runs contrary to FCC efforts to limit the interference potential that SCS operations pose, Viasat said in a petition filed Thursday with the FCC Space Bureau. Seeking a reconsideration of the agency's November SCS authorization for SpaceX (see 2411260043), Viasat said the authorization improperly lets SpaceX operate in band segments not available for SCS or mobile satellite service. Viasat said the order improperly lets SpaceX conduct operations without using the modified processing-round procedures that the FCC requires.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued a warning to the Brockton, Massachusetts, property owners allegedly hosting pirate radio broadcasters, threatening penalties of more than $2 million, said a notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. The notice was sent to Maridane Aunaxe and Marie Aunaxe over illegal broadcasts on 87.9 MHz emanating from their property on Dec. 7, 2023, and again on Jan. 12, 2024, the notice said. “You are hereby notified and warned that the FCC may issue a fine of up to $2,391,097 if, following the response period set forth below, we determine that you have continued to permit any individual or entity to engage in pirate radio broadcasting.”
The FCC is rechartering its Disability Advisory Committee for a two-year term, said a notice in Friday’s Federal Register. More details, including the first meeting date and agenda topics, will be announced later. The last iteration of the DAC held its final meeting in October (see 2410180032).
Informal consumer complaints to the FCC regarding telemarketing, robocall and caller ID spoofing continue falling, according to an annual agency report to Congress released Friday. The report from the agency's Enforcement, Wireline, and Consumer and Government Affairs bureaus is required under the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act. In 2023, the agency received 31,042 complaints about the receipt of unsolicited marketing calls or faxes using an artificial or prerecorded voice or an automated dialer. That compares with more than 39,000 in 2022 and more than 46,000 in 2021. It said it received 57,917 complaints last year about sales calls to residential or wireless telephone numbers in the National Do Not Call Registry, down from nearly 71,000 in 2022 and nearly 98,000 the year before that. It said it received 14,715 complaints involving fax or artificial or prerecorded voice systems, down from 19,000 in 2022 and nearly 29,000 the year prior. The agency received 31,594 misleading or inaccurate caller ID complaints in 2023, compared with nearly 40,000 in 2022 and more than 57,000 in 2021. The FCC's 2023 Traced Act report to Congress reported informal consumer complaints tallied through Nov. 30 of last year. When asked Friday about the change in reporting, with this year's report providing 12 months of 2023 but no 2024 numbers, the FCC didn't comment. The agency said that neither it nor DOJ collected forfeiture penalties or criminal fines for Telephone Consumer Protection Action Act violations in 2023.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s recent warning letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger (see 2412240021) appears politically motivated, could be read as a reversal of Carr’s past stances on sticking to the text of FCC rules and evokes the long-defunct fairness doctrine, according to former FCC commissioners, academics and attorneys we interviewed. President-elect Donald Trump has selected Carr to head the FCC.
The FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics sent letters to T-Mobile and UScellular on Friday asking a battery of questions about their proposed transaction. Responses are due not later than Jan. 17. The T-Mobile letter explores in depth the carrier's arguments made in a September public interest statement (see 2409160029) and an accompanying declaration from Ankur Kapoor, T-Mobile's chief network officer.