President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order directing DOJ to establish rules blocking large-scale transfers of Americans’ personal data to entities in hostile nations.
The FCC's supplemental coverage from space framework draft order would see the service operate in select spectrum bands and on a secondary rather than a co-primary basis. The agency on Thursday released agenda items for commissioners' March 14 open meeting. A vote on the framework is expected that day. Also on the agenda are orders for "all-in" pricing disclosures by multichannel video distributors and launch of a voluntary cybersecurity labeling program, initially focused on wireless consumer IoT “products." In addition, Commissioners will vote on a report raising the FCC's broadband speed benchmark to 100/20 Mbps and an NPRM proposing creation of an emergency alert system code for missing and endangered adults.
Broadband Grant Tax Treatment Act (HR-889/S-341) lead Senate sponsor Mark Warner, D-Va., is considering attaching the measure’s language to the House-approved Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act (HR-7024) ahead of the upper chamber’s consideration of the package. Lobbyists question whether there’s sufficient momentum for swift action on HR-889/S-341 despite communications industry interest. Meanwhile, a potential bid to allocate $3.08 billion from an FCC reauction of 197 returned AWS-3 licenses to fully fund the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2401240001) is unlikely to become part of the 2024 National Security Act supplemental appropriations package but could be a factor in talks for other must-pass legislation this year.
A senior research analyst from Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology cautioned Thursday that in some locations the cost of replacing Chinese hardware in information technology networks with more expensive alternatives outweighs the benefits. Jack Corrigan told the China Economic and Security Review Commission at a Thursday hearing that procurement bans should be targeted at "high-risk sectors, networks and use cases."
Companies must preserve documents needed in government investigations, even when using platforms that automatically delete messages, the FTC and DOJ said Friday, clarifying language in their investigatory requests. Companies are increasingly using “collaboration tools and ephemeral messaging applications, such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Signal,” the agencies said: Companies are legally required to retain communications even if these platforms remove the messages. This applies to “second requests, voluntary access letters, and compulsory legal process, including grand jury subpoenas,” the agencies said. The FTC has “successfully moved for civil spoliation sanctions and may refer cases to criminal prosecutors” when companies fail to do so, the agency said.
Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Quectel pushed back Friday against the House China Committee’s call for DOD and the Treasury Department to blacklist it over ties to the Chinese government, Huawei and ZTE. House China Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Calif., urged Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Thursday to act on new information about Quectel's “multiple affiliations” with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the company’s collaborations with Huawei and ZTE. Those ties should qualify Quectel to appear on DOD’s blacklist of Chinese military-affiliated companies and Treasury’s similar “Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List,” the House China leaders wrote Austin and Yellen. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi asked the FCC last year about the threat Quectel and Chinese gearmaker Fibocom posed to U.S. IoT devices (see 2308080059). “We are disappointed to see continued and false allegations from” House China about Quectel’s “supposed cooperation with the Chinese Communist Party” and the Chinese military, Quectel Wireless Solutions President Norbert Muhrer said Friday. “We are an independent company publicly traded on the Shanghai stock exchange that operates internationally.” The company “maintains the highest industry standards of security and data privacy,” Muhrer said, noting its products are designed only for civil and commercial use cases: “We comply with all U.S. and international export control and sanctions laws. We do not sell to any person or entity in Russia, Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria or Crimea, nor do we sell to military manufacturers anywhere.” Even “if Quectel were placed on the lists,” as House China leaders are asking, “the only impact would be to block U.S. investments in Quectel securities,” Muhrer said. “Quectel would not be barred from selling any of its products, in other words would not be blacklisted.”
The FCC hasn’t provided much guidance in recent months about where it’s headed on final rules for the 4.9 GHz band, industry officials tracking the band told us. Nearly a year ago, commissioners approved 4-0 a long-awaited order and Further NPRM on the future of the band (see 2301180062), which reversed course from a plan approved during the Trump administration.