China-based employees can access American users’ TikTok data, but that access will be cut off once the company implements Project Texas (see 2303170043), TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told the House Commerce Committee Thursday.
Programs to promote broadband access need a sustainable, reliable source of funding beyond the current one-time federal infusion, and should partner with local community organizations to succeed, said panelists Thursday at the FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council’s “Lessons Learned from the Pandemic” virtual roundtable. “We cannot fund [broadband access programs] only at one time, during a crisis,” said Ovidiu Viorica, who manages the broadband and technology program for the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority. “We have to make the funding predictable, and continuous because that's what it's going to take.”
Keeping American telecom networks secure and competitive with Chinese companies that receive substantial subsidiaries from the government is a top priority of the Biden administration, said Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser-cyber and emerging tech, at the Winnik Forum at Hogan Lovells Thursday. Neuberger said the administration is committed to promoting open radio access networks as a way of leveling the playing field with China.
The House Commerce Committee unanimously advanced the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act (HR-1338), Secure Space Act (HR-675), Launch Communications Act (HR-682), Precision Agriculture Satellite Connectivity Act (HR-1339) and Advanced, Local Emergency Response Telecommunications Parity Act (HR-1353) to the chamber floor Thursday. The panel was on track to move nine other communications policy-related measures, including the Spectrum Coordination Act (HR-1341). The markup session was delayed more than an hour following an extended hearing with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew (see 2303230064).
Five people from Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were charged in two cases at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for violating the Arms Export Control Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, DOJ announced. They allegedly tried to obtain and export U.S. technology to Iran from 2005 to 2013.
Five people from Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were charged in two cases at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for violating the Arms Export Control Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, DOJ announced. They allegedly tried to obtain and export U.S. technology to Iran from 2005 to 2013.
The FCC shouldn't grant access to confidential information in the Standard/Tegna proceeding to additional attorneys representing the Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild and National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians sectors, said the two companies and Cox Media Group in a joint filing posted in docket 22-162 Tuesday. Standard extended until April 4 the expiration dates of its tender offers to buy Tegna shareholders’ stock, said a news release Monday. The tender offer was to expire Tuesday. The broadcasters in the Standard/Tegna deal previously accused the unions’ attorneys of mishandling confidential information (see 2301230063). “There is no reason” for attorneys Arthur Belendiuk and Kenneth Levy to be granted access to highly confidential information because the administrative law judge hearing will be invalidated by an FCC vote or canceled when the deal collapses, the broadcasters said. Not giving them access won’t hurt their case because the FCC’s ALJ hasn’t issued a scheduling order, the broadcasters said. “In the unlikely event that some circumstance emerges where Belendiuk and Levy would have a legitimate reason to review Applicants’ CI and HCI, the Commission could revisit the request at that time. At present, there is none.” The unions’ attorneys declined to comment. In a letter posted Tuesday, the Korean American Association of Greater New York, the Council of Korean Americans and other Korean-American groups objected to the FCC’s handling of the Standard/Tegna deal. “We take issue with the implication that ownership of a major media outlet such as TEGNA by an Asian American does not advance the goals of diversity,” said the letter. “We believe that the merger would promote diversity and we believe that the merger will be a buffer against antiAsian bias, xenophobia, and racism.”
Wireless industry commenters and public safety groups agreed on the need for some flexibility, in reply comments on an FCC proposal that carriers more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR). Disagreements remain on some implementation details (see 2302170044). Comments were posted Monday and Tuesday on an NPRM commissioners approved 4-0 in December (see 2212210047).
A change in TikTok ownership wouldn’t solve the "problem" with the platform because it wouldn’t “impose any new restrictions on data flows or access,” TikTok said in a statement Friday.
The District of Columbia’s 911 office will improve processes and be “transparent and accountable to the public,” said its possible next director, Heather McGaffin, at a D.C. Council committee roundtable livestreamed Wednesday. Judiciary and Public Safety Committee Chair Brooke Pinto (D) pressed McGaffin on how she will make the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) more open about errors responding to emergency calls. The committee mulled confirming McGaffin (PR25-0115) to lead OUC and Lindsey Appiah to be deputy mayor-public safety and justice.