Four Chinese nationals and a Chinese company were charged with violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and U.S. sanctions after they did business with sanctioned North Korean companies, the Justice Department said in a July 23 press release. The charges were brought against Ma Xiaohong, her company Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Development Co. Ltd. (DHID) and three of the company’s top executives: general manager Zhou Jianshu (Zhou), deputy general manager Hong Jinhua (Hong) and financial manager Luo Chuanxu (Luo).
There are alternatives to Congress and the FCC requiring carriers and others to remove from their networks equipment made by Chinese telecom gear makers, NARUC was told in Indianapolis. Though some state commissioners later expressed skepticism, industry panelists (see 1:30 p.m. event listing) largely backed monitoring networks of U.S. companies for cyberattacks, including from Huawei or ZTE, and testing all equipment before installation for vulnerabilities. Stakeholders generally want testing and monitoring across the board, not limited to one company or manufacturers based in one country. Huawei might pay for such checks for its equipment, as it has elsewhere, suggested Andrew Lipman of Morgan Lewis on the panel and speaking with us later. He said that's what the company proposed in earlier FCC comments on a national security NPRM including on what can be funded by USF. "The FCC is not the right agency" and "doesn’t have appropriate jurisdiction," Lipman said. Huawei wants "a holistic solution to cybersecurity rather than identifying and treating companies" specifically, he said. Lipman, like other panelists, said he was commenting only for himself. "We need monitoring, not just of ZTE or Huawei, but of any network in the country," Rural Wireless Association General Counsel Carri Bennet said of cybersecurity concerns. "All kinds of devices are going to be connected to these broadband networks, and any one of them could be used to launch attacks." Third-party cybersecurity services providers would always be watching networks. Panelists said they think the FCC should do more to first find what the dangers are and said vulnerabilities could spring from gear made elsewhere, not just China. To a question on whether monitoring may not detect a cyber breach until it's already begun, Bennet said RWA is working with a company that may be able to quickly raise a warning. Office of Ohio Consumers' Counsel Assistant Consumers' Counsel David Bergmann, speaking for himself, said it doesn't matter from where an attack originates, "it's going to come." He said that's why "preparing for the crisis is so vital" as shown by an emergency-event simulation the previous day. The exercise facilitator had noted a cyberattack could have a major impact.
INDIANAPOLIS -- There are alternatives to Congress and the FCC requiring carriers and others to remove from their networks equipment made by Chinese telecom gear makers, NARUC was told. Though some state commissioners later expressed skepticism, industry panelists (see 1:30 p.m. event listing) largely backed monitoring networks of U.S. companies for cyberattacks, including from Huawei or ZTE, and testing all equipment before installation for vulnerabilities. Stakeholders generally want testing and monitoring across the board, not limited to one company or manufacturers based in one country.
The supply chain security executive order issued in May is directly related to Huawei, Akin Gump lawyers said, and will likely restrict Huawei from selling certain items if those items impact U.S. national security. The executive order (see 1905160072) requires the Commerce Department to issue regulations within 150 days (that is, by Oct. 14) and bars "transactions involving information and communications technology [ICT] or services" without a broad interagency review.
The FCC Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council started Friday at its first public meeting in this iteration. The focus was on promoting security for 5G and 911 networks, broadcaster resiliency and strengthening emergency alerting. The agency plans a notice asking for volunteers for the six working groups, agency officials said.
The FCC Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council started Friday at its first public meeting in this iteration. The focus was on promoting security for 5G and 911 networks, broadcaster resiliency and strengthening emergency alerting. The agency plans a notice asking for volunteers for the six working groups, agency officials said.
The U.S. and the other G7 nations signed a common understanding on digital economy competition (see here), DOJ said Thursday. It includes an agreement that competitive markets are vital to well-functioning economies, that digital transformation requires competition authorities to have up-to-date tools and resources for enforcement, that governments should assess whether policies or regulations unnecessarily restrict digital market competition, and that there needs to be more international cooperation and convergence in competition law application. There has been concern about data accumulation by platforms being a barrier to competitive entry, but such issues -- while challenging -- "are not beyond the reach of competition law," it said, and the G7 nations will continue to collaborate on such issues. FTC Chairman Joe Simons said the understanding "recognizes the importance for competition agencies to examine enforcement and policy issues raised by evolving business practices and emerging technologies in light of the goals of protecting consumers and promoting competition."
The U.S. and the other G7 nations signed a common understanding on digital economy competition (see here), DOJ said Thursday. It includes an agreement that competitive markets are vital to well-functioning economies, that digital transformation requires competition authorities to have up-to-date tools and resources for enforcement, that governments should assess whether policies or regulations unnecessarily restrict digital market competition, and that there needs to be more international cooperation and convergence in competition law application. There has been concern about data accumulation by platforms being a barrier to competitive entry, but such issues -- while challenging -- "are not beyond the reach of competition law," it said, and the G7 nations will continue to collaborate on such issues. FTC Chairman Joe Simons said the understanding "recognizes the importance for competition agencies to examine enforcement and policy issues raised by evolving business practices and emerging technologies in light of the goals of protecting consumers and promoting competition."
NTIA filed a revision to its initial filing asking the FCC to update rules for the wireless priority service, designed to give priority to calls by public officials during times of network overload (see 1807100040). NTIA filed on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security's Emergency Communications Division (ECD) Wednesday in docket 96-86. The agency requested changes consistent with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018. The edits “make more clear that DHS is responsible for issuing procedures and other technical guidance needed for the day- to-day operation of WPS, while the White House remains responsible for setting the Executive Branch’s overall national security/emergency preparedness policies,” the filing said. In response to industry complaints, NTIA said it changes “references to specific existing technical standards that could have locked service providers into using approved standards that may be replaced or updated in the future.” NTIA also filed a petition at the FCC Wednesday asking the agency to update telecom service priority rules (see 1907170042). TSP authorizes national security and emergency preparedness organizations to receive priority treatment for vital voice and data circuits. “Rules governing TSP were developed in the late 1980s and have not been updated since the program began,” Senior Policy Adviser Shawn Cochran blogged. “While the purpose of TSP remains fundamentally unchanged, the program has needed to evolve to accommodate new technologies as well as meet the increasing communications needs of the national security and emergency preparedness community.” Many of NTIA’s requests “simply seek to align the FCC’s rules with ECD’s practices and capabilities, remove ambiguous language, and include terminology more reflective of today’s telecommunications environment,” Cochran said.
The FCC continues to look at the possibility of routing 911 calls to public safety answering points based on where the call originates, as location-based routing becomes more technologically feasible, but it’s “not there yet,” said David Furth, Public Safety Bureau deputy chief, at a GPS Innovation Alliance briefing Wednesday. The agency began a notice of inquiry in 2018 (see 18032200027). Citing traffic fatalities in rural Nebraska where victims couldn't be found until days later, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., co-chair of the GPS Caucus, said GPS-linked 911 is a lifesaving synergy between two capabilities that speeds up response. In some jurisdictions, 80 percent of 911 calls annually come via smartphones, he said. Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., a member of the NextGen 911 Caucus, said most 911 dispatchers have a story about being unable to get location of a caller in an emergency. "The technology is getting there,” but geolocation needs federal support, said Torres, a former 911 dispatcher. She backed the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (Saves) Act (see 1904050054) and hopes it gets Senate support. Stormy Martin, U.S. National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing director, said ongoing GPS modernization efforts like the Air Force's ground infrastructure upgrades and the next-generation GPS III satellites will lead to increased accuracy and availability of GPS signals, which in turn will mean better accuracy of 911 geolocation. The first GPS III satellite, launched in December, should be operational next year, and the second GPS III satellite is set for launch later this summer, he said. Martin said mapping software rather than the constellation is typically the source of GPS problems such as wrong locations.