U.S. allies in Europe and Asia would support new efforts to coordinate on export controls for advanced technologies, including semiconductors, panelists said during an event this week hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But they also said those same countries don’t believe the world needs a new dual-use multilateral export control regime to replace the Wassenaar Arrangement, even though Russia remains a member and can block proposals.
National Emergency Number Association representatives said the group’s i3 standard and an ATIS standard for IP multimedia subsystems are “complementary, and not competing, specifications and systems implementing them are expected to be fully interoperable,” in a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. NENA said the largest barriers to next-gen 911 deployment are “with business and policy, and not with standards or technology,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-479. ”A significant barrier to interoperability is the lack of a network connection between systems,” NENA said: “In the i3 standard this is addressed with an expectation that secure, standards-based traffic can take place between far away systems over the internet. It would also be possible that a nationwide backbone connecting all systems could be implemented.”
LONDON -- The Bureau of Industry and Security is increasingly sending out is-informed letters to warn companies that some of their currently unrestricted products need an export license before they can be shipped, said Nancy Fischer, a Pillsbury trade lawyer. Some companies receiving the letters view them as unfair, Fischer said, particularly because BIS doesn’t always send similar letters to their competitors.
The nationwide tests of the wireless emergency alert and broadcast emergency alert system appeared to go relatively smoothly Wednesday, according to early reports and interviews with public safety officials. Though Federal Emergency Management Agency and FCC officials and the agencies’ press materials said Tuesday that both tests were taking place at 2:20 p.m. EDT, the WEA appeared to go out at 2:18 EDT, which was the time listed on the August FCC public notice announcing the tests.
The Federal Emergency Management Association and the FCC will test the emergency alert system and wireless emergency alerts at 2:20 p.m. EDT Wednesday (see 2308180037), the agencies said in a reminder release and background press call Tuesday. During the call, senior FCC and FEMA officials said they don’t expect audio issues with the test's broadcast portion. They also said the WEA test is expected to reach hundreds of millions of phones. “The purpose of the test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level,” said the release. The WEA test will be received by all WEA-compatible phones that are switched on and in range of a cell tower during the 30 minutes the test is active, said the FEMA official. The message will display in English or Spanish depending on the phone’s menu settings, and be accompanied by unique tones, the FEMA official said. Users who are concerned the tones could reveal the location of a concealed cellphone, such as domestic abuse victims, can avoid the message by keeping their phones off while the message is active, the FEMA official said. The EAS message will be delivered through the internet-based common alerting protocol system rather than solely through the broadcast-based “daisy-chain” of several previous EAS tests, and thus should have improved audio quality, FEMA and FCC officials said. Both messages clearly say they're tests, and that no action is necessary, the release said. On the press call, the senior FEMA official pushed back on rumors around the test, saying it won’t knock phones and smart TVs off the internet. On the X platform, formerly Twitter, posts claimed the test will be used to turn the vaccinated into zombies, or is planned to coincide with a Russian nuclear test. The nationwide tests use the same technology and systems as the more familiar and local tests, and the idea that they're in some way separate may contribute to misunderstandings around the tests, said the FEMA official. He said it's not clear if the test would have continued if the test date had fallen during an ongoing federal shutdown, as appeared likely last week.
With the FCC keeping its doors open until at least Oct. 20 (see 2309280084), the communications industry faces less of a challenge if the federal government closed Saturday night, industry experts agree. The FTC also would remain open. NTIA is expected to furlough many employees. For the FCC, there are questions about what would happen after Oct. 20. The last federal shutdown, in 2018-2019, went on for 35 days. A closure in 1995-1996 lasted 21 days and one in 2013 16 days.
DOD submitted its study of the 3.1 GHz band to the Commerce Department, both said Thursday. The deadline was Saturday for the study that looks at one of the top mid-bands targeted by the wireless industry for reallocation for 5G (see 2308150066). “Spectrum is foundational to our economic prosperity and global technological leadership, from high-speed wireless internet access, to connected vehicles and smart manufacturing, to the next generation of space-based innovation,” said DOD Chief Information Officer John Sherman and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson in a joint statement: “Spectrum is also vital to our most sensitive and important Federal missions, including military radar operations for homeland security, the training of our war fighters before they deploy overseas, and our ability to develop new and advanced military capabilities.” The White House is "actively coordinating interagency discussion on spectrum policy to ensure all options are considered to achieve the nation’s economic and national security needs," the statement said. Congress required the Emerging Mid-Band Radar Spectrum Sharing Feasibility Assessment, or EMBRSS study, as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs.
Licensing work at sanctions and export control agencies likely will grind to a near halt in the event of a federal government shutdown Oct. 1, though enforcement activities at the Bureau of Industry and Security, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and Office of Foreign Assets Control will continue -- if previous shutdowns are any guide.
Even though thousands of CBP employees will be required to work without pay to clear cargo in the case of a government shutdown on Sunday, importers are preparing for problems, since they have experienced them in previous shutdowns.
Telehealth company Life MD contributed to the national “barrage” of phone spam by initiating more than 100 illegal text messages to the residential cellphone of plaintiff Shannan Davis, alleged her Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Thursday (docket 8:23-cv-02138) in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Tampa. “Davis wants this telephone spam to stop,” said her complaint. “Others do as well,” it said: “LifeMD has been sued other times for telephone spam, but that has not gotten LifeMD to stop spamming illegally.” Court records show Davis’ TCPA complaint is the third against LifeMD filed since Jan. 23. The Lakeland, Florida, resident alleges her home, phone and privacy “have been invaded by LifeMD’s non-emergency text messages,” said her complaint. The text messages solicited products, offered deals and discounts, “and even offered gifts for patronage,” it said. Davis replied “stop” at least twice since November, and immediately received a confirmation SMS saying she had been unsubscribed and would no longer receive messages, it said: “But LifeMD ignored the stop requests and continued to spam Davis with more text messages.” The court should award Davis and her class members $1,500 in statutory damages for each TCPA violation “because the violations were knowing and willful,” said her complaint. It should also enjoin LifeMD from future violations, it said.