The FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program, which ends in October, has been a success and led to “some of the most advanced drone operations in the world,” Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said Wednesday during a virtual conference sponsored by the agency and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. An FAA official downplayed the need for more spectrum for drones, which is being examined by the FCC.
The FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program, which ends in October, has been a success and led to “some of the most advanced drone operations in the world,” Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said Wednesday during a virtual conference sponsored by the agency and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. An FAA official downplayed the need for more spectrum for drones, which is being examined by the FCC.
Qualcomm’s victory before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals strengthens the hand of patent holders like Huawei, which could create national security risks, tech industry officials and antitrust attorneys said in interviews. A Qualcomm proponent said the FTC shouldn’t seek an appeal in a case that would put “more bad law on the books against” the agency (see 2008110065).
Qualcomm’s victory before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals strengthens the hand of patent holders like Huawei, which could create national security risks, tech industry officials and antitrust attorneys said in interviews. A Qualcomm proponent said the FTC shouldn’t seek an appeal in a case that would put “more bad law on the books against” the agency (see 2008110065).
With the UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP) to expire in October (see 2006150056), FAA officials stressed Tuesday that drones are moving to a new stage with long-awaited rules almost ready for release, during a virtual conference sponsored by the agency and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). The much-watched annual conference went virtual because of COVID-19, with sessions in July and this week, continuing Wednesday (see 2007080059).
With the UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP) to expire in October (see 2006150056), FAA officials stressed Tuesday that drones are moving to a new stage with long-awaited rules almost ready for release, during a virtual conference sponsored by the agency and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). The much-watched annual conference went virtual because of COVID-19, with sessions in July and this week, continuing Wednesday (see 2007080059).
With the UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP) to expire in October (see 2006150056), FAA officials stressed Tuesday that drones are moving to a new stage with long-awaited rules almost ready for release, during a virtual conference sponsored by the agency and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). The much-watched annual conference went virtual because of COVID-19, with sessions in July and this week, continuing Wednesday (see 2007080059).
Reject Broadnet Teleservices' ask that the FCC find the Telephone Consumer Protection Act doesn’t apply (see 2007210049) to calls made “by or on behalf of federal, state, and local governments when such calls are made for official purposes,” consumer groups told the FCC. “There is no legal authority to support defining local governments as anything other than ‘persons’ fully covered by the TCPA’s requirements,” said the National Consumer Law Center, the Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Public Knowledge. “None of the reasons cited by Broadnet in support of this interpretation actually provide a real justification for Broadnet’s request, as most of the calls described as needing to be made either can already be made under the TCPA’s emergency exception, or because the local government would have received prior consent for the calls from the recipients,” they said, in a filing posted Monday in docket 02-278.
The White House announced a one-year extension of a national emergency that authorizes U.S. export control regulations, according to an Aug. 13 notice. The move renewed the authority authorized in a 2001 executive order on the continuation of U.S. export controls. The emergency declaration was to expire Aug. 17, 2020.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone of New Jersey and 14 other committee Democrats urged the FCC Thursday to “provide unlimited voice minutes and unlimited mobile data to Lifeline recipients for the duration” of the COVID-19 pandemic, and increase “the basic support amount to cover the incidental costs of such increased benefit.” Talks between Congress and President Donald Trump’s administration on a compromise for the next pandemic aid bill appeared Thursday to be on pause until after Labor Day, as Senate leaders scheduled their next votes for Sept. 8. The House is already on recess and isn’t expected to return until Sept. 14. “We will have our regular pro forma meetings” and if Hill Democratic leaders “decide to finally let another package move forward … it would take bipartisan consent to meet for legislative business sooner than scheduled,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters. Senate Republicans’ proposal last month for the next aid measure contained few telecom and tech provisions (see 2007280059). House Democrats had more tech and telecom language in their Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HR-6800), including broadband funding (see 2005130059). The FCC “has taken some small steps since March to tweak the Lifeline program’s rules, much bolder action is necessary,” House Commerce Democrats said in their letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “Regrettably, the Senate has yet to consider any meaningful action to assist low-income consumers in affording broadband during this pandemic,” so it’s “all the more critical that the FCC use all of its authorities to ensure that the American people have access to internet services at an affordable cost.” The lawmakers also faulted Pai’s draft order to reduce a Dec. 1 increase of Lifeline’s minimum service standard for mobile broadband (see 2007300064). The proposal appears “to ignore the fact that coronavirus cases continue to rise, and the country has experienced nineteen consecutive weeks of over one million unemployment claims,” the Democrats said. Other signers included House Commerce Vice Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and subpanel Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif. Pai “for months has made clear that Congress needs to step up to the plate and make more funding available for connectivity during” the epidemic, a spokesperson emailed. “It’s therefore disappointing that House Democrats have failed to do their job and are refusing to find common ground with the Administration and congressional Republicans on broadband funding and other core national priorities unless they get their demand for special-interest giveaways that have nothing to do with the pandemic, like tax cuts for the rich in states like New York, New Jersey, and California.”