Dueling intervenor briefs from SoundExchange, Google and broadcast trade groups filed Wednesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenged arguments in the combined appeals of the Copyright Royalty Board’s Web V ruling on royalty rates for webcast music.
President Joe Biden this week extended a national emergency that authorizes a ban on U.S. investments in Chinese military companies. The ban was first issued during the Trump administration and later expanded by Biden last year by widening the scope of the restrictions to cover companies operating in China’s surveillance technology sector (see 2106030067). "The threat from securities investments that finance certain" Chinese companies and "certain uses and development of Chinese surveillance technology continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," the White House said. The national emergency was extended for one year beyond Nov. 12.
Low-power TV stations should be able to use to internet-based common alerting protocol (CAP) to send emergency alerts without “an expensive and outdated” emergency alert system box, said the LPTV Broadcasters Association in an email to members Friday. LPTV broadcasters “are told they are ‘primary’ to our viewers for EAS, our viewers depend on us for this information. Yet in just about every other situation, we are sternly reminded that we are of ‘secondary’ status,” said the email, which said broadcasters should give the association “input to move forward with a plan for LPTV that makes sense and serves the public with even more safety information than currently available.” The FCC’s recent cybersecurity NPRM cited results from the 2021 nationwide EAS test that showed low rates of participation among low-power radio and TV broadcasters and suggested that failure to maintain EAS equipment by some participants could be a security threat (see 2210270058). “There should be no reason that LPTV stations cannot solely use CAPS without a box,” said the LPTV Broadcasters Association. “It is our understanding that the National Weather Service does not integrate with CAPS, but they have other even more robust digital outputs that can be used. It’s time to bring this together.”
Free Press said the FCC should “investigate all of the factors that contributed to communication outages in Puerto Rico and Florida” after Hurricane Fiona and Hurricane Ian, that made landfall in September. Free Press urged the commission “to investigate whether the lack of communications contributed to the death toll.” It also asked the FCC "to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the current state of telecommunications infrastructure in Puerto Rico to better understand the failures that occurred during this latest storm and other prior storms and emergencies.” Though an FCC report about outages after Hurricane Michael in 2018 “was far from comprehensive, it did fault the carriers and these other parties for their failures to coordinate,” said the Free Press filing, posted Thursday in docket 21-346: “The Commission failed to conduct a similar examination after Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017 and became one of the deadliest disasters in our nation’s history.”
President Joe Biden this week extended for one year beyond Nov. 3 a national emergency that authorizes certain sanctions related to Sudan. The White House said Sudan made "strides in its transition toward democracy between 2019 and 2021, but the October 2021 military takeover of the government reversed those modest gains."
The FCC appears to be ramping up its focus on cybersecurity, starting with “a broad-reaching inquiry into the vulnerabilities threatening the security and integrity of the Border Gateway Protocol” earlier this year, said an analysis by Hogan Lovells lawyers Monday. They also cited an NPRM approved last week that proposes new rules to make the emergency alert system and wireless emergency alerts more secure. “FCC observers are … watching the FCC’s increased focus on cybersecurity for signs of whether it may extend the sorts of critical infrastructure regulations that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is developing for other industries into the telecommunications space as well,” the lawyers said: “The proposed rule regarding EAS and WEA may provide a clue on that question.” They said that, in comments on the NPRM, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks “notes approvingly that the proposed rule aligns the timeframe for cyber incident reporting with the timeframe found in the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA), which CISA is administering, and argues that the FCC’s ‘actions must be within the larger whole-of-government approach to protect our nation’s networks and infrastructure.’”
The FCC appears to be ramping up its focus on cybersecurity, starting with “a broad-reaching inquiry into the vulnerabilities threatening the security and integrity of the Border Gateway Protocol” earlier this year, said an analysis by Hogan Lovells lawyers Monday. They also cited an NPRM approved last week that proposes new rules to make the emergency alert system and wireless emergency alerts more secure. “FCC observers are … watching the FCC’s increased focus on cybersecurity for signs of whether it may extend the sorts of critical infrastructure regulations that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is developing for other industries into the telecommunications space as well,” the lawyers said: “The proposed rule regarding EAS and WEA may provide a clue on that question.” They said that, in comments on the NPRM, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks “notes approvingly that the proposed rule aligns the timeframe for cyber incident reporting with the timeframe found in the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA), which CISA is administering, and argues that the FCC’s ‘actions must be within the larger whole-of-government approach to protect our nation’s networks and infrastructure.’”
A Republican-backed bill introduced in the House could lead to the transfer of export control authorities from the Commerce Department to the Defense Department. The bill, introduced Oct. 28 by Reps. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Rob Wittman, R-Va., and Greg Steube, R-Fla., includes language critical of the Bureau of Industry and Security, saying the agency has made “little progress” in controlling emerging and foundational technologies under the Export Control Reform Act and that BIS’s export control authorities should be revoked.
Though Kelli Ward chairs the Arizona GOP, and whose emergency application is before the Supreme Court to quash the House Jan. 6 Select Committee’s subpoena for her T-Mobile call and text records, “the decision that will be reached by this Court will have significant impact on many nonprofit organizations throughout the nation,” said five conservative nonprofits in a proposed amicus brief Friday (docket 22A350) in support of Ward’s application.
The Biden administration’s IoT labeling program will help consumers gauge the level of security for internet-connected devices across sectors, Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, said Thursday. The White House anticipates a program rollout in the spring, she said. Data shows consumers are willing to pay more for security, she said during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event: Consumers value security, but they can’t make a “security decision” because when they buy products like smart TVs, there’s no way to compare the security features. The U.S. needs to make sure it harmonizes regulations across sectors because companies operate across the economy, said National Cyber Director Chris Inglis. They discussed cybersecurity issues at large. Neuberger urged companies not to pay ransoms for ransomware attacks. While it helps the company being attacked, it incentivizes the continued illegal activity, she said.