Reps. Norma Torres, D-Calif., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., refiled Wednesday their 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services Act, which would reclassify public safety call-takers and dispatchers as protective service. Torres has successfully added the measure to the House’s versions of several previous National Defense Authorization Act iterations but wasn't able to get it into the annual package this year (see 2307100063). The measure “provides a simple fix to reclassify 9-1-1 professionals as first responders and honor these brave men and women for their work,” Torres said. “As a former 9-1-1 dispatcher for over 17 years, I know this small change would mean a great deal to dispatchers.” NENA CEO Brian Fontes hailed Torres and Fitzpatrick for refiling the bill, saying in a statement that job reclassification is “of great importance to 9-1-1 professionals nationwide.” Torres’ office cited support from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, APCO and nine other groups.
Several groups met individually this week with FCC staff regarding the agency's draft rules on digital discrimination that will be considered during the commissioners' Nov. 15 open meeting, per filings posted Wednesday in docket 22-69. In a meeting with the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance sought clarification on how the FCC will address "present conditions" if retroactive liability won't apply to any final rules. NDIA also urged the adoption of a formal complaint process "to ensure consistency in how the commission handles digital discrimination complaints, regardless of staff or leadership changes." Verizon raised concerns in separate meetings with Wireline Bureau staff and an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington about the "expansive list" of factors in the definition of "other quality of service metrics" in the draft order. The FCC should "include language in the order stating that neither the scope of the order nor any of its other provisions or rules is intended to limit a provider’s ability to improve its customers’ experience," Verizon said. NCTA warned in separate meetings with a Simington aide and an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that the lists of covered entities and services "will make the draft order unworkable in practice." ACA Connects said in a letter that the draft order would "chill investment and innovation" if adopted in its current form. It asked the FCC to clarify that it will assess providers' technical and economic feasibility based on their "industry-standard, multi-year upgrade and build cycles." NTCA raised similar concerns, saying "disparate outcomes may emerge from technological and economic considerations." The Wireless ISP Association raised concerns about the use of "subjective terms" in the draft's definitions, saying the draft is "impermissibly broad." WISPA urged the FCC to "reverse course" by limiting provider's obligations to its own "similar circumstances" and "prior success" to prove technical or economic infeasibility rather than requiring it to obtain information from other covered entities.
AI, quantum science and other emerging technologies can make telecom networks more secure, but they also create new challenges when used by bad actors, Rich Baich, AT&T chief information security officer, said during an AT&T forum Wednesday. Former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Christopher Krebs said the government will always be limited in the role in can play in making networks more secure. The forum comes as the FCC considers a notice of inquiry on using AI to curb unwanted robocalls (see 2310250070).
President Joe Biden this week extended a national emergency that authorizes a ban on certain U.S. investments in Chinese military companies. Biden in 2021 expanded the ban, first issued during the Trump administration, by widening the scope of the restrictions to cover companies operating in China’s surveillance technology sector (see 2106030067).
Existing international space rules are clearly inadequate, but less clear is what to do about that, experts said Tuesday at a Princeton University/Stimson Center space governance conference. Instead of new treaties, the U.S. focus for years has been on implementation and interpretation of existing ones -- a focus numerous countries have echoed, forestalling any push for updating the space governance regime, said Brian Weeden, Secure World Foundation (SWF) program planning director. "It was hard enough to get the U.S. and Soviet Union to agree" on the Outer Space Treaty, and it would be impossible to get new core principles agreed upon today given how many more countries are interested in space now, he said.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology extended until Dec. 22 the deadline for comments on an implementation plan for a U.S. national standards strategy for critical and emerging technology (see 2305230061). The strategy is intended to support “existing private sector-led activities and plans … with a focus on critical and emerging technology,” said NIST in a Monday Federal Register notice. Comments had been due that day.
President Joe Biden this week renewed a national emergency authorizing certain sanctions related to the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, the White House said. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the "means of delivering them" continues to pose a threat to the U.S., the White House said. The emergency was renewed for one year from Nov. 14.
The FCC should immediately cease using nationwide wireless emergency alerts of the type tested Oct. 4 (see 2310040071), said Jimmy Patronis, Florida chief financial officer and state fire marshal in a letter to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Monday. Patronis posted the letter on X and also issued it as a news release. “What was the point of that? Was it really necessary?” Patronis wrote about the nationwide WEA test. “The federal government scared about 70% of Americans with that alert, and in my opinion, this was government overreach at its finest.” Patronis characterized the WEA alert as a “DM” (direct message, such as those used by social media apps) in the letter, and said the alert test made “Big Tech” and “Big Government” seem to be “indistinguishable.” “There is absolutely zero reason that the federal government needs to notify millions of Americans at the exact same moment,” wrote Patronis. “It’s unreasonable that people on the West Coast need to be alerted about something going on in the East Coast.” Nationwide alerts exist to provide warning of a massive emergency event that could affect large swaths of the country, such as a large-scale nuclear missile strike, alerting officials have told us. They have also said that tests of the warning system are necessary to ensure that it will work when it is needed, similar to the local alerting tests commonly performed by broadcast stations around the country. “State Emergency Management Directors are more than capable of protecting and alerting their own citizens during emergencies without the federal government needlessly getting in the way,” wrote Patronis. “I urge you as the Chairwoman of the FCC and a fellow taxpayer to immediately halt any further utilization of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System.” "Life-saving emergency alert systems are the law, as is the requirement" that the Federal Emergency Management Agency "conduct periodic nationwide tests and they are responsible for setting the date and time of these tests," emailed an FCC spokesperson. "The FCC strongly supports emergency alerting, which saves lives in communities across the country."
Broadcasters, wireless companies and alerting equipment manufacturers are concerned about the potential costs of increasing cybersecurity regulations on emergency alerting participants and the burden of potentially duplicated reporting requirements across multiple federal agencies, they told the FCC and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Monday at a public roundtable event on alerting cybersecurity. The event included local government public safety agencies, the FBI and cybersecurity companies and featured discussion of potential threats to alerting infrastructure and the need for transparency around cyberattacks alongside potential regulatory burdens. “WEA is a voluntary program,” said CCIA General Counsel Angela Simpson. “There is a straw that will break the proverbial camel’s back at some point.”
The EU for the first time released a compilation of member states' national export control lists, allowing member state nations to "impose authorisation requirements on exports of items included in other Member States’ control lists, as long as these are included in the Commission’s own compilation," the commission's Directorate-General for Trade announced. The first list is made up of Dutch controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment as well as Spanish controls on quantum computing technology, additive manufacturing and other emerging technologies, the commission said. The EU will update the list as member states report new or amended export control measures.