California has some of the strongest privacy protections on the book, FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said Monday at the State of the Net Wireless conference. The California attorney general had a broad mandate to protect consumers, and “I tried to bring that spirit with me to the FCC,” LeBlanc said when he came to the FCC from the California AG's office. The FCC focuses on kinds of cases and issues that matter to most Americans, including in areas like privacy and data security, LeBlanc said. The FCC has had “great rules” on the books for years on privacy, LeBlanc said. For cable and satellite, providers must take “all necessary steps to protect [personally identifiable information],” LeBlanc said.
California has some of the strongest privacy protections on the book, FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said Monday at the State of the Net Wireless conference. The California attorney general had a broad mandate to protect consumers, and “I tried to bring that spirit with me to the FCC,” LeBlanc said when he came to the FCC from the California AG's office. The FCC focuses on kinds of cases and issues that matter to most Americans, including in areas like privacy and data security, LeBlanc said. The FCC has had “great rules” on the books for years on privacy, LeBlanc said. For cable and satellite, providers must take “all necessary steps to protect [personally identifiable information],” LeBlanc said.
California has some of the strongest privacy protections on the book, FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said Monday at the State of the Net Wireless conference. The California attorney general had a broad mandate to protect consumers, and “I tried to bring that spirit with me to the FCC,” LeBlanc said when he came to the FCC from the California AG's office. The FCC focuses on kinds of cases and issues that matter to most Americans, including in areas like privacy and data security, LeBlanc said. The FCC has had “great rules” on the books for years on privacy, LeBlanc said. For cable and satellite, providers must take “all necessary steps to protect [personally identifiable information],” LeBlanc said.
The FCC could take two to three months to process LightSquared’s transfer of control application and petition for declaratory ruling for approval of its foreign owners, telecom lawyers said this week. LightSquared, to be known as New LightSquared, filed its application and petition last week (see 1504070071). The best-case scenario for the commission to process the application is five to six months, one telecom attorney said. The commission doesn’t have statutory constraints for a timeline, other than its 180-day clock, he said.
Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., introduced the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act (HR-1738) Monday. Bilirakis and then-Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, introduced legislation of the same name in the last Congress that never advanced. Bilirakis is a member of the Homeland Security Committee and the Communications Subcommittee. The legislation would “amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to modernize and implement the national integrated public alert and warning system to disseminate homeland security information and other information,” the latest bill text said. The system would be “designed to improve the ability of affected populations in remote areas and areas with underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructure to receive alerts,” it said. The legislation also would create the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Advisory Committee, which would include the chairman of the FCC as a member. Bilirakis’ co-sponsors include Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, and Rep. Susan Brooks, R-Ind., who chaired the Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee last Congress. It has been referred to Homeland Security and the Transportation Committee. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., a member of the Transportation Committee, introduced legislation of the same name (HR-1472) on March 19, also referred to those two committees. Barletta’s co-sponsors include Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., ranking member Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., another Transportation member.
Promoting ultra-high-speed networks for all Americans and defending the recent net neutrality vote, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler gave the keynote Tuesday at the Broadband Communities Summit in Austin. Wheeler said it's in everyone’s interest to make sure communities across America have access to robust broadband networks that deliver high-speed connectivity to all: “We are all here because we recognize that broadband is the indispensable infrastructure of our 21st-century economy and democracy."
Promoting ultra-high-speed networks for all Americans and defending the recent net neutrality vote, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler gave the keynote Tuesday at the Broadband Communities Summit in Austin. Wheeler said it's in everyone’s interest to make sure communities across America have access to robust broadband networks that deliver high-speed connectivity to all: “We are all here because we recognize that broadband is the indispensable infrastructure of our 21st-century economy and democracy."
Details and the wider impact the P5+1 negotiations with Iran may have on the world are still emerging, but as the U.S. moves closer to establishing a less antagonistic relationship with Iran some are questioning how Iran will use its cyber capabilities, said PricewaterhouseCoopers Forensic Technology Practice Director Neal Pollard Wednesday at an Atlantic Council panel on the future of the Iranian cyberthreat.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau said Monday it reached a $16 million settlement with CenturyLink and a $1.4 million settlement with Intrado Communications over the companies’ roles in the April 2014 multistate 911 outage. The FCC found in October that the outage, which affected seven states and resulted in more than 6,600 emergency calls not reaching public safety answering points (PSAPs), stemmed from a software error at an Intrado 911 call processing center in Englewood, Colorado (see 1410170057). The bureau said it calculated the fines against CenturyLink and Intrado based on the number of PSAPs served by the companies.
The FCC’s net neutrality order will “have a negative impact on innovation,” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told the Association of National Advertisers on Wednesday. The order’s “vague, catch-all” Internet conduct standard will be used to “decide the lawfulness of sponsored data plans,” he said (see 1502250064). “Other attempts by providers to differentiate themselves through innovative partnerships and pricing models may also end up on the chopping block,” he told the group in a wide-ranging speech that also touched on multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). The agency has a “desire to edge into Internet privacy and security issues,” O’Rielly said. The FCC also could try to police how broadband and edge providers collect, use, share and store consumers’ information, as well as how those practices are disclosed to consumers, he said. The agency’s NPRM (see 1412190050) could also lead the agency to redefine some over-the-top video programming providers as MVPDs, he said. The agency doesn’t seem to have “any authority to allow an opt-out,” so “if the Commission declares an OTT video provider as an MVPD, it is so. And the limited benefits and many burdens of doing so will be applicable,” O’Rielly said. It’s a “safe bet that there will be significant unintended consequences on an emerging industry still trying to define itself, as it moves forward.” On the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, O’Rielly said the agency should “provide clear rules of the road that will benefit everyone” by acting on pending TCPA petitions to clarify the law. He doesn't support companies “hounding consumers with incessant or harassing calls,” but the litigation risk created by the law, agency decisions and court rulings have forced businesses to “avoid making calls to their existing customers or clients even if the purpose of the call could directly and immediately help the customer,” O’Rielly said. In addition, he said broadband providers’ advertisements “are garnering greater scrutiny and are even being used to justify FCC decisions to increase regulation.” Ads about speed and capacity were used to help justify the reclassification of broadband as Communications Act Title II service, he said. “Unfortunately, I would not be surprised if decisions like these begin to have an impact on how providers market their services,” O’Rielly said.