The Public Safety Bureau approved limited waiver of FCC emergency alert system and wireless emergency alert rules to let carriers to participate in a test by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. MSHP's exercise will be a “combined live EAS and end-to-end WEA test” on July 17, with a backup date of July 19, the bureau said. A May letter said “the record of success of previous WEA alerts sent by the state has been sufficiently inconsistent that MSHP believes that, given recent events across the nation, ‘it is imperative the MSHP test its ability to send WEA alerts … and expose the public to the type of messages they may receive during times of crisis,’” the order said. “We are persuaded by the MSHP Letter that the proposed test of the EAS and WEA will help educate the public, and ensure that MSHP personnel are sufficiently well trained in how to use the EAS and WEA.”
The National Weather Service said it reviewed the comments on a record refresh on multimedia enhancements to wireless emergency alerts and agrees with those who want requirements. The FCC received comments in May, including from the NWS, on whether to mandate including multimedia content in alerts (see 1805290059 and 1805300010). The NWS “agrees with the numerous public safety organizations that support the incorporation of multimedia to improve the life-saving capability of WEA,” the service replied Monday in docket 15-91. “Information graphics, inundation maps, video, American Sign Language and other forms of multimedia can cut across traditional language barriers and help guide people out of harm’s way.”
The National Weather Service said it reviewed the comments on a record refresh on multimedia enhancements to wireless emergency alerts and agrees with those who want requirements. The FCC received comments in May, including from the NWS, on whether to mandate including multimedia content in alerts (see 1805290059 and 1805300010). The NWS “agrees with the numerous public safety organizations that support the incorporation of multimedia to improve the life-saving capability of WEA,” the service replied Monday in docket 15-91. “Information graphics, inundation maps, video, American Sign Language and other forms of multimedia can cut across traditional language barriers and help guide people out of harm’s way.”
The European Union is budgeting for major improvements to its customs system between 2021 and 2027, the European Commission said in a June 8 news release. The EC said it will budget about $1.1 billion in customs improvements for the six-year span, up from $616 million from 2014-2020, it said in a fact sheet. "The new customs budget will help customs administrations to deal with increasing trade flows and emerging trends and technologies, such as e-commerce and blockchain," it said. The EU collected about $23.9 billion in customs duties on imports during 2017, it said.
The European Union is budgeting for major improvements to its customs system between 2021 and 2027, the European Commission said in a June 8 news release. The EC said it will budget about $1.1 billion in customs improvements for the six-year span, up from $616 million from 2014-2020, it said in a fact sheet. "The new customs budget will help customs administrations to deal with increasing trade flows and emerging trends and technologies, such as e-commerce and blockchain," it said. The EU collected about $23.9 billion in customs duties on imports during 2017, it said.
BALTIMORE -- The first round of Section 232 product exclusions should be released soon, said Rich Ashooh, assistant secretary for export administration at the Department of Commerce. "The [Commerce] secretary is very anxious to reach that milestone," he said in response to a question from International Trade Today. Ashooh spoke at the annual American Association of Exporters and Importers Conference June 7.
CTIA warned the FCC on potential technical concerns with requiring carriers to transmit multimedia files in wireless emergency alerts, responding to a Public Safety Bureau notice to update the record (see 1803280029 and 1805290059). The commission should "recognize the significant technical and operational limitations -- both with wireless networks and WEA-capable devices -- that would be very challenging to overcome,” said comments in docket 15-91. CTIA noted the FCC now requires carriers to support the transmission of embedded URLs and phone numbers in alerts: “The WEA system was intentionally designed to transmit only very small amounts of text data to ensure the timely delivery of WEA messages.” Even with successful tests January and April in the National Capital Region (see 1804050053), WEA requires multimedia enhancements, commented the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. “While both of these tests demonstrated our ability to provide key information to Washington, DC's residents, commuters, and guests, our WEA messaging was limited by the technical constraints of the WEA system.” Support for images would “provide instant recognition and speak a universal language,” while making WEA more accessible to people with disabilities, it said. Other commenters also asked the FCC to move forward. Despite recent enhancements, “significant gaps remain between what today’s technology can offer and what the WEA System supports,” said New York City’s Emergency Management Department. “Chief among these gaps is the inability to incorporate multimedia (e.g., images, maps, infographics, etc.) into WEA messages. The need for this capability within the WEA System has been thoroughly documented in the public record.” The Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management said the lack of multimedia capability made WEAs less effective during recent wildfires and flooding in California. Multimedia WEA messages “would be of tremendous benefit to the deaf and hard of hearing,” said groups representing that community, led by Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. “While multimedia capabilities provide significant benefit to all recipients, they offer special and unique benefits to the deaf and hard of hearing population many of whom rely on visual information for emergency and nonemergency information.” Other industry commenters share CTIA’s concerns. ATIS said it remains “concerned with the congestion-related impacts” of URLs now required by the FCC. Industry needs time to see how including embedded URLs work, the group said. “The use of URLs with appropriate best practices (e.g. well-designed website links) is the only effective means of providing multimedia in WEA today,” ATIS said. AT&T raised technological concerns. “The arrival of 5G will not alter the WEA technology roadmap -- cell broadcast is and will remain the primary way to send WEA messages,” AT&T said. “Cell broadcast technology, which is optimized for text messages, will be extremely challenged to support multimedia messages -- even smaller files like static photos, much less video files.” Proposals have emerged that images be converted to binary data and sent over multiple cell broadcast messages, the carrier said. “This would require significant standards development, for both the network and handsets, and would require new handsets, introducing backwards compatibility and roaming challenges.”
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai declined Hill Democrats’ urging “not to implement any changes made to the media ownership rules” in the FCC’s November order (see 1711160054) in letters released Wednesday. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, led letters in September and April criticizing the FCC’s approach to media ownership rules during Pai’s chairmanship (see 1709290064 and 1804260068). Nelson and 21 other Senate Democrats urged Pai to cease all media ownership-related proceedings until the FCC completes a review of the U.S. broadcast landscape and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on the UHF discount restoration (see 1804200059). “The FCC has a statutory duty to ensure that our broadcast ownership rules keep up with changes in the media marketplace, and there is no reason to further delay the implementation of 2017 reforms that were themselves unreasonably delayed,” Pai said. He noted the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ February denial of a request for an emergency stay of the November order (see 1802070053) and said “no further changes will be made to the rules covered by quadrennial review mandate until the Commission completes another quadrennial review,” which is likely to begin later this year. Pai declined Democrats’ requests to review the UHF discount “on an ad hoc basis” separate from its review of the national media ownership cap and to “stop work” on the cap review. He also declined senators’ call for the FCC to “stop approving any broadcast mergers or acquisitions on a blanket basis.” The letters don’t “reference any statutory authority for taking such a drastic step, and I am not aware of any,” Pai said. “Rather, I believe that the proper course of action is to continue to evaluate applications on a case-by-case basis.”
CTIA warned the FCC on potential technical concerns with requiring carriers to transmit multimedia files in wireless emergency alerts, responding to a Public Safety Bureau notice to update the record (see 1803280029 and 1805290059). The commission should "recognize the significant technical and operational limitations -- both with wireless networks and WEA-capable devices -- that would be very challenging to overcome,” said comments in docket 15-91. CTIA noted the FCC now requires carriers to support the transmission of embedded URLs and phone numbers in alerts: “The WEA system was intentionally designed to transmit only very small amounts of text data to ensure the timely delivery of WEA messages.” Even with successful tests January and April in the National Capital Region (see 1804050053), WEA requires multimedia enhancements, commented the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. “While both of these tests demonstrated our ability to provide key information to Washington, DC's residents, commuters, and guests, our WEA messaging was limited by the technical constraints of the WEA system.” Support for images would “provide instant recognition and speak a universal language,” while making WEA more accessible to people with disabilities, it said. Other commenters also asked the FCC to move forward. Despite recent enhancements, “significant gaps remain between what today’s technology can offer and what the WEA System supports,” said New York City’s Emergency Management Department. “Chief among these gaps is the inability to incorporate multimedia (e.g., images, maps, infographics, etc.) into WEA messages. The need for this capability within the WEA System has been thoroughly documented in the public record.” The Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management said the lack of multimedia capability made WEAs less effective during recent wildfires and flooding in California. Multimedia WEA messages “would be of tremendous benefit to the deaf and hard of hearing,” said groups representing that community, led by Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. “While multimedia capabilities provide significant benefit to all recipients, they offer special and unique benefits to the deaf and hard of hearing population many of whom rely on visual information for emergency and nonemergency information.” Other industry commenters share CTIA’s concerns. ATIS said it remains “concerned with the congestion-related impacts” of URLs now required by the FCC. Industry needs time to see how including embedded URLs work, the group said. “The use of URLs with appropriate best practices (e.g. well-designed website links) is the only effective means of providing multimedia in WEA today,” ATIS said. AT&T raised technological concerns. “The arrival of 5G will not alter the WEA technology roadmap -- cell broadcast is and will remain the primary way to send WEA messages,” AT&T said. “Cell broadcast technology, which is optimized for text messages, will be extremely challenged to support multimedia messages -- even smaller files like static photos, much less video files.” Proposals have emerged that images be converted to binary data and sent over multiple cell broadcast messages, the carrier said. “This would require significant standards development, for both the network and handsets, and would require new handsets, introducing backwards compatibility and roaming challenges.”
CTIA warned the FCC on potential technical concerns with requiring carriers to transmit multimedia files in wireless emergency alerts, responding to a Public Safety Bureau notice to update the record (see 1803280029 and 1805290059). The commission should "recognize the significant technical and operational limitations -- both with wireless networks and WEA-capable devices -- that would be very challenging to overcome,” said comments in docket 15-91. CTIA noted the FCC now requires carriers to support the transmission of embedded URLs and phone numbers in alerts: “The WEA system was intentionally designed to transmit only very small amounts of text data to ensure the timely delivery of WEA messages.” Even with successful tests January and April in the National Capital Region (see 1804050053), WEA requires multimedia enhancements, commented the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. “While both of these tests demonstrated our ability to provide key information to Washington, DC's residents, commuters, and guests, our WEA messaging was limited by the technical constraints of the WEA system.” Support for images would “provide instant recognition and speak a universal language,” while making WEA more accessible to people with disabilities, it said. Other commenters also asked the FCC to move forward. Despite recent enhancements, “significant gaps remain between what today’s technology can offer and what the WEA System supports,” said New York City’s Emergency Management Department. “Chief among these gaps is the inability to incorporate multimedia (e.g., images, maps, infographics, etc.) into WEA messages. The need for this capability within the WEA System has been thoroughly documented in the public record.” The Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management said the lack of multimedia capability made WEAs less effective during recent wildfires and flooding in California. Multimedia WEA messages “would be of tremendous benefit to the deaf and hard of hearing,” said groups representing that community, led by Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. “While multimedia capabilities provide significant benefit to all recipients, they offer special and unique benefits to the deaf and hard of hearing population many of whom rely on visual information for emergency and nonemergency information.” Other industry commenters share CTIA’s concerns. ATIS said it remains “concerned with the congestion-related impacts” of URLs now required by the FCC. Industry needs time to see how including embedded URLs work, the group said. “The use of URLs with appropriate best practices (e.g. well-designed website links) is the only effective means of providing multimedia in WEA today,” ATIS said. AT&T raised technological concerns. “The arrival of 5G will not alter the WEA technology roadmap -- cell broadcast is and will remain the primary way to send WEA messages,” AT&T said. “Cell broadcast technology, which is optimized for text messages, will be extremely challenged to support multimedia messages -- even smaller files like static photos, much less video files.” Proposals have emerged that images be converted to binary data and sent over multiple cell broadcast messages, the carrier said. “This would require significant standards development, for both the network and handsets, and would require new handsets, introducing backwards compatibility and roaming challenges.”