The FCC will be under the gun as soon as the omnibus COVID-19 legislation (HR-133) takes effect, if it's signed by President Donald Trump. Trump suggested he may veto the bill and seek changes, though industry experts said it’s not clear whether he will follow through on that threat. Among the deadlines in the legislation is an unusually quick turnaround for telehealth grants. FCC officials said work on implementing the bill will have to start under Chairman Ajit Pai and continue after Jan. 20, when Joe Biden becomes president.
The FCC will be under the gun as soon as the omnibus COVID-19 legislation (HR-133) takes effect, if it's signed by President Donald Trump. Trump suggested he may veto the bill and seek changes, though industry experts said it’s not clear whether he will follow through on that threat. Among the deadlines in the legislation is an unusually quick turnaround for telehealth grants. FCC officials said work on implementing the bill will have to start under Chairman Ajit Pai and continue after Jan. 20, when Joe Biden becomes president.
Telecom and mental health interests say privacy concerns should be considered as the FCC readies a report to Congress on the feasibility and cost of including an automatic dispatchable location that would be conveyed with calls to the 988 suicide prevention hotline, according to docket 18-336 comments due Monday. The National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020 requires a report to Congress on geolocation. Enabling such capabilities for 988 calls would be "a significant undertaking," and the FCC needs to ensure resources and attention aren't diverted from the primary task of 988 implementation, USTelecom said. It said a study would be needed of call flows, the existing and to-be-developed technology and a new funding mechanism. Providing automatic location information for 988 calls raises numerous technical, privacy and policy issues that need careful consideration, and the FCC should propose that stakeholders develop recommendations to address those issues that will need to be resolved if Lifeline will be expected to receive and manage location information of mobile wireless 988 callers, CTIA said. "Dispatchable location is the gold standard for public safety" when an emergency dispatch is needed, said APCO, noting it's technically feasible to get such information, as evidenced by the dispatchable information available for some mobile 911 calls. Backing provision of geolocation information to the Lifeline centers it administers, Vibrant Emotional Health said callers get better support when routed to a local community call center, but such routing is challenged because 80% of Lifeline calls come from mobile phones. That creates a challenge of matching a device's number to the caller's location, it said. Citing possible privacy concerns, the American Association of Suicidology said Lifeline should develop better standardized universal training because the current approach to active rescue and imminent risk is insufficient "and rel[ies] on subjective, emotional, and sometimes reactionary responses." Messaging should be clear on what crisis services are and how they differentiate from 911 or emergency services, and crisis centers outside the Lifeline network need to be involved in service provision, it said. The National Alliance on Mental Illness said the 988 system optimally should provide "'someone to call' (988 hotline), 'someone to respond' (mobile crisis teams), and 'somewhere to go' (crisis stabilization programs)," and geolocation is key to mobile crisis teams. It also said the FCC report should include the need for federal guidance and best practices on protecting callers' privacy "while simultaneously ensuring appropriate and timely responses to people in need of in-person assistance."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the National Lifeline Association's petition for review of the FCC Wireline Bureau's revisions to the Lifeline program’s non-usage rules, said a ruling Tuesday. The same court last month denied NaLA's request for an emergency stay of the minimum services standard increase to 4.5 GB monthly (see 2011300069).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the National Lifeline Association's petition for review of the FCC Wireline Bureau's revisions to the Lifeline program’s non-usage rules, said a ruling Tuesday. The same court last month denied NaLA's request for an emergency stay of the minimum services standard increase to 4.5 GB monthly (see 2011300069).
A Russian citizen and two Bulgarians were charged with violating U.S. export controls after they used a Bulgarian company to illegally ship controlled items to Russia, the Department of Justice said Dec. 18. Russian national Ilias Sabirov and Bulgarian nationals Dimitar Dimitrov and Milan Dimitrov used Bulgarian company Multi Technology Integration Group EEOD (MTIG) to export the items, which included various electronic components. All three men were added to the Entity List last week (see 2012180039).
Both houses of Congress were expected to vote Monday night on the combined FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus bill (HR-133), after Hill leaders reached a deal on the measure, which includes $6.82 billion for broadband and a raft of other tech and telecom policy provisions. HR-133 also includes increases in annual funding for the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other agencies compared with FY 2020. The Senate was, meanwhile, set to hold a revote on invoking cloture on FCC inspector general nominee Chase Johnson after failing a first try Saturday.
Both houses of Congress were expected to vote Monday night on the combined FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus bill (HR-133), after Hill leaders reached a deal on the measure, which includes $6.82 billion for broadband and a raft of other tech and telecom policy provisions. HR-133 also includes increases in annual funding for the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other agencies compared with FY 2020. The Senate was, meanwhile, set to hold a revote on invoking cloture on FCC inspector general nominee Chase Johnson after failing a first try Saturday.
More lawmakers weighed in Friday on Russian government-sponsored hackers’ recent breach of several federal government agencies’ systems (see 2012170050), including calls for hearings. Incoming Senate Homeland Security Committee leaders Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, promised to hold hearings and seek “comprehensive” cybersecurity legislation next year in response to the hack, regardless of which party holds the majority. “These attacks were highly complex and they must be unraveled to know the full extent of the exposure to federal and state agencies and the private sector,” Peters and Portman said in a statement. “The immediate effort must be to stop the immediate threat and ensure our systems are secure. We will in the future need to understand the full scope and impact to ensure that we know what damage has been done and to better prepare to respond next time.” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Emerging Threats Subcommittee Chairman Jim Langevin, D-R.I., cited the breach as a reason President Donald Trump shouldn’t veto the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The measure includes language to enact 26 of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission’s March recommendations, including to establish a national cyber director within the executive office of the president (see 2012040043). Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., urged House leaders to request a full-chamber intelligence briefing.
More lawmakers weighed in Friday on Russian government-sponsored hackers’ recent breach of several federal government agencies’ systems (see 2012170050), including calls for hearings. Incoming Senate Homeland Security Committee leaders Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, promised to hold hearings and seek “comprehensive” cybersecurity legislation next year in response to the hack, regardless of which party holds the majority. “These attacks were highly complex and they must be unraveled to know the full extent of the exposure to federal and state agencies and the private sector,” Peters and Portman said in a statement. “The immediate effort must be to stop the immediate threat and ensure our systems are secure. We will in the future need to understand the full scope and impact to ensure that we know what damage has been done and to better prepare to respond next time.” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Emerging Threats Subcommittee Chairman Jim Langevin, D-R.I., cited the breach as a reason President Donald Trump shouldn’t veto the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The measure includes language to enact 26 of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission’s March recommendations, including to establish a national cyber director within the executive office of the president (see 2012040043). Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., urged House leaders to request a full-chamber intelligence briefing.