ECFS Upgraded, Still Flooded With Blank Filings
The FCC’s electronic comment filing system launched a new, upgraded version Monday after going off-line over the weekend. The upgraded version, which has a new user interface, “will help enable expanded features and functions to be introduced into ECFS in…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
the coming year,” said a news release. The update "transitions ECFS to a cloud-based platform, which will make the system scalable and more agile,” the release said. The upgraded system includes additional security in the form of reCAPTCHA functionality that will help protect it from malicious software. “Our comment filing system is a critical avenue for public input that we need to keep up-to-date,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in the release. Rosenworcel was critical of ECFS security, as a commissioner, after the system was flooded with comment filings during the 2017 net neutrality proceeding (see 1812030034), though upgrading it began under the previous administration. The upgrade effort's first phase “will enable the development of new functions that take advantage of the upgraded technology platform,” the FCC said. Agency staff said in 2019 that the additional features could include optional user registration and improvements to automation, ease of use, and search functions (see 1909160019). In a March 21 letter to House Appropriations Committee Chair Mike Quigley, D-Ill., released by the FCC Monday, Rosenworcel called the upgraded system “ECFS v4.0” and said it addresses recommendations from a September GAO report (see 2109230079) on making government electronic commenting systems less vulnerable to bots and spoofed comments. Rosenworcel told Quigley the upgraded ECFS includes a “data dictionary” defining the data elements used by the system, and a rewritten user guide. The upgrade doesn’t appear to have affected the issue of thousands of blank filings to docket 20-99 carpeting the system (see 2203240049), which seemed to be still occurring Monday. Friday afternoon, docket 20-99 had 19,447 filings. By Monday afternoon, that number increased to close to 27,000 and searching ECFS for documents posted Monday showed screen after screen of the blank filings, with an occasional substantive filing buried among them. The FCC hasn’t responded to questions about the problem since saying March 24 it was caused by software update. The agency didn’t comment on the matter Monday.