Recent incidents of illegal use of the emergency alert system tones warrant more industry focus on a fix to flag such messages, EAS experts said. The FCC Public Safety Bureau released public notices Friday on the impact of false EAS alerts, and how broadcasters, cable systems, DBS systems and others are faring with recommendations for EAS system security. False EAS tones aren’t very common, but their occurrence points to flaws in the system and equipment that must be addressed ahead of the next nationwide EAS test, EAS professionals said.

The FCC TV incentive auction order’s use of TVStudy repacking software and lack of protection for broadcaster coverage areas should be vacated, NAB and Sinclair said in a joint brief to the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Two other aspects of the order, the timeframe for repacked stations to move to their new assigned channel and the definition of competition among TV stations, are attacked in the brief by Sinclair alone, without NAB participation.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler may be in the crosshairs of Capitol Hill Republicans after President Barack Obama’s direct endorsement Monday for Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband, possibly derailing the course of telecom priorities next Congress. House Republicans want an FCC oversight hearing in the lame-duck session, industry officials told us, with several predicting increased scrutiny and partisan tension next Congress. FCC officials have also ventured to the Hill this week to discuss net neutrality with lawmakers from both parties.

Attorneys for T-Mobile and Roswell, Georgia, faced tough questions from Supreme Court justices Monday, as the court heard a case on the 1996 Telecom Act and the denial of a permit to build a wireless tower. Justices indicated that the court might hand down a discrete opinion, deciding only the very narrow issue presented by T-Mobile.

Following President Barack Obama’s backing Monday of reclassification, (see 1411100033) it was unclear how Chairman Tom Wheeler would proceed. In at least two meetings Monday with those involved in the net neutrality debate, Wheeler focused on some difficult issues involved in a Title II Communications Act approach, officials involved in the meetings told us. One said Wheeler said the agency was grappling with how to deal with the issues. But he “seems dug in” with his focus on Title II’s problems “as opposed to the obvious benefits,” said a public interest official involved in one of the meetings.

The FTC will have to continue adapting to the globalization of the economy for monitoring and enforcing consumer protection, and its approach to negotiating transaction remedies may need to improve, said former FTC and Department of Justice officials Friday at an event for the FTC's 100th anniversary. A U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit judge said the FTC can improve its remedy procedures, while a commissioner said the agency has been trying to look to the future in its decisions.

Following accomplishments in its enforcement and consumer protection missions, the FTC faces challenges as big data and the mobile market proliferate, current and former commissioners and staff said Friday at an event marking the commission's 100th anniversary (see 1411070054). The FTC is quickly becoming more technology-focused than any other agency, they said.

The information and communications technology (ICT) sector doesn’t view the Republican takeover of the Senate and enlarged majority in the House as a result of Tuesday’s election (see 1411050043) as likely to change the overall chances of cybersecurity legislation passing during the upcoming lame-duck session, industry lawyers and lobbyists told us. Several major cybersecurity bills are awaiting full Senate action, but it remains unclear how Senate leadership will rank those bills among their priorities during the lame duck, lawyers and lobbyists said. Congress is set to reconvene Wednesday but the lame duck isn't expected substantially begin until December due to new member orientations, leadership elections and the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Media Bureau “usurped” FCC authority by allowing access to video programming confidential information (VPCI) in the Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV deals before an application for review against doing so had been considered by the full commission, said a group of programmers in an application for review and emergency stay request filed Friday. The content companies, which include CBS, Disney and Viacom, had filed an application for review and a stay request against the Media Bureau’s protective order for documents in the transaction proceedings. Friday's additional filings challenge the bureau’s Tuesday modification of that protective order and announcement that most of the programmer’s objections were being dismissed (see 1411050050).

The current version of text-to-911, which is based on SMS, has to be viewed as only a “down payment” on what is possible, David Furth, deputy chief of the FCC Public Safety Bureau, said Friday at the agency's Accessible Wireless Emergency Communications Forum at FCC headquarters. A National Emergency Number Association official said public safety answering points still need a push to make PSAP systems text ready.