The FCC will take additional steps during its Nov. 15 open meeting to provide survivors of domestic violence with safe and affordable access to communications services, wrote Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a Tuesday note. Other items on the agenda include the adoption of digital discrimination rules (see 2310240008), the use of AI in fighting robocalls, SIM swap and port-out fraud, and amateur radio.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and subpanel members from both parties voiced growing frustration during a Tuesday hearing with DOJ’s perceived reticence in enforcing existing anti-robocall statutes and eyed the FCC’s Further NPRM giving consumers more choice on the robocalls and robotexts they will receive (see 2306080043). There was more uneven interest among Senate Communications members and witnesses at the hearing in pursuing additional legislation to address ongoing robocall problems amid those enforcement shortcomings.
The FCC will look at ways to use AI, machine learning and patterns of use to help identify fraud in robocalls and robotexts, said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel during an AARP webinar Monday. The FCC will launch a proceeding this week, she said. AI can also potentially be used to simulate the voices of friends or family, and the FCC needs to understand those dangers, Rosenworcel said. One of the ways policymakers get “in front of” problems is by starting a proceeding, she said.
The FCC will consider an order next month that would implement requirements set by the Safe Connections Act, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Sunday at the National Conference on Domestic Violence. The item for the agency's Nov. 15 open meeting would also build on previous efforts to expand access to communications services for survivors of domestic violence (see 2207140055).
The Biden administration is expected to seek about $4 billion in additional money for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program as part of a second part of the supplemental federal funding request it will send to Congress this week, communications sector lobbyists told us. House Democratic leaders are already highlighting the to-be-announced money as a priority alongside the stalled regular FY 2024 appropriations process once the chamber can elect someone to replace ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
States' broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program initial proposals before NTIA show varied levels of openness to satellite broadband and fixed wireless. Some states specifically say they will entertain satellite or FW as broadband delivery options in extremely high-cost areas, but others say satellite and FW won't be eligible under any circumstances, according to BEAD initial proposal second volumes filed with NTIA. That volume covers states' selection processes for deciding what ISPs will be subgrantees of BEAD funding.
The era of FCC agreement on most items appears to be over. In addition to the fight over net neutrality, and perhaps the longest statement yet at a meeting by Commissioner Brendan Carr (see 2310190020), Carr and Simington dissented Thursday on a declaratory ruling clarifying that the use of Wi-Fi on school buses is an educational purpose and eligible for E-rate funding. But an order approving changes to rules for wireless emergency alerts, a notice of inquiry on broadband and maternal health and an NPRM on connectivity in Alaska were approved without dissents.
The FCC approved an order authorizing the use of very-low-power (VLP) devices in 850 MHz of the 6 GHz band 5-0 at the commissioners' open meeting Thursday, as expected (see 2310160050). An accompanying Further NPRM asks about additional changes, including on the rules for low-power indoor (LPI) devices. Commissioner Brendan Carr said the FCC should have gone further and addressed the other major proposal in a 2020 FNPRM. Commissioner Nathan Simington questioned whether the concerns of band incumbents had been adequately addressed.
FCC commissioners divided Thursday on a vote to reestablish net neutrality rules, during the agency's first open meeting with a full commission since Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel took the helm (see 2310130051). Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington voted against an NPRM seeking comment on a proposal to return to 2015 rules that classified broadband as a Title II telecom service.
It’s time for Massachusetts to pass a data privacy bill, agreed multiple legislators at a Joint Advanced Information Technology Committee hearing Thursday. But state lawmakers must decide between two proposals -- one (H-83/S-25) based on Congress’ American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) and another (H-60) that’s more like laws in states including Connecticut and Virginia.