The trade industry was still assessing the short- and long-term effects of the government shutdown Oct. 1. CBP had already said its core functions would not be immediately affected (see 13093028). And the U.S. National Airspace System was operating normally Oct. 1, with no reports of any impact to operations due to the government shutdown, said The International Air Cargo Association.
Wireless carriers urged the FCC to proceed with caution as it considers rules requiring better location accuracy for 911 calls coming from wireless devices indoors. The carriers, responding to a Sept. 9 FCC public notice, said they have a good track record of trying to make call location as accurate as possible. An FCC workshop on the topic is slated for Wednesday. Public safety groups want the FCC to take more steps to require better indoor reliability for wireless calls to 911 (CD Sept 26 p19).
The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials urged the FCC to act to improve location accuracy for wireless calls to 911, in response to Sept. 9 FCC public notice. The issue is the topic of an Oct. 2 workshop at the commission. “APCO has frequently urged the Commission, wireless carriers, and location technology providers that improvements must be made in location accuracy for 9-1-1 calls made from indoor locations,” the group said, saying it plans to take part in the Oct. 2 workshop. “More and more American homes are ‘cutting the cord’ and relying exclusively on wireless devices for all of their voice communications. Recent data suggests that nearly a third of U.S. households may no longer have wireline service.” The “predominant” technology for most of the calls is Assisted GPS (A-GPS) APCO said (http://bit.ly/18q16aO). “However, as the technology implies, A-GPS relies in large part on having direct line-of-sight for GPS signals, which do not penetrate buildings well in most cases,” the group said. “Thus, it is indisputable that a wireless 9-1-1 call from an indoor location will generally provide significantly less accurate location information than a call from an outdoor location.” The International Association of Chiefs of Police (http://bit.ly/1bGg95g) said the commission’s Communication Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council has looked at “evolving indoor location accuracy technologies,” which “represent a significant advancement and offers consumers and first responders a valuable tool to improve the capabilities of our nation’s public safety system.” The International Association of Fire Chiefs said it’s time for the FCC to update its wireless location accuracy rules. “Currently, the FCC’s rules establish an automated location information and accuracy standard for PSAP calls and contacts, including those initiated using wireless handsets outdoors, but not for wireless calls initiated indoors,” the group said (http://bit.ly/17139nd). “The majority of emergency calls placed to Emergency 911 are made from indoors and large and growing shares of emergency calls are made from wireless communication devices."
Four senators called for new surveillance principles, at a news conference at the Capitol Wednesday on legislation to end the U.S.’s phone metadata collection and make other changes. The bill pulls together elements of several different proposals introduced in Congress, the four said. The Senate has questioned how to update U.S. intelligence agency law since leaks emerged in June from then-National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
The FCC’s order to discontinue three copper-based special access services in areas affected by Superstorm Sandy does not set a precedent for Verizon’s petition to replace landline service with its wireless Voice Link service on Fire Island, N.Y., said public advocates. The Wireline Bureau is granting Verizon’s application to discontinue its metallic, program audio and telegraph grade services in certain parts of New Jersey and New York since only seven customers use the metallic services and the agency did not receive comments specifically about discontinuing this service (http://bit.ly/1eHyKiB). Other Verizon ILECs recently filed a joint application to eventually discontinue metallic services in other portions of Verizon’s service territory, so the FCC said it made its order “without prejudice to our consideration of the Fire Island Discontinuance."
Four senators called for new surveillance principles, at a news conference at the Capitol Wednesday on legislation to end the U.S.’s phone metadata collection and make other changes. The bill pulls together elements of several different proposals introduced in Congress, the four said. The Senate has questioned how to update U.S. intelligence agency law since leaks emerged in June from then-National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau is seeking comment on the time of release code, audio accessibility and other technical issues identified after the 2011 nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The public notice follows a Public Safety bureau report that said the EAS distribution architecture is basically sound, but the test revealed equipment problems and problems with the emergency action notification (EAN) (CD April 16 p5).
Congress won’t directly intervene on wireless 911 accuracy problems as long as the FCC stays on point, a former FCC bureau chief predicted in an interview. The Find Me 911 Coalition educated Hill staffers about wireless 911 accuracy problems during a briefing Monday in B-338 Rayburn. “We're talking about millions and millions of wireless 911 calls that are not having the location delivered to the 911 centers,” former FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett told us. He’s co-chair of Venable’s telecom group and represented the coalition during the briefing. The coalition includes several public safety organizations, including the U.S. First Responders Association, the Denise Amber Lee Foundation, the International Union of Police Association, AFL-CIO and others. He was joined by officials from the National Emergency Number Association, including Danita Crombach, president of its California chapter, and Director-Government Affairs Trey Forgety and President Brian Fontes as well as Dorothy Spears-Dean, an officer with the National Association of State 911 Administrators. The event focused on a recent CalNENA report, which showcased 911 location accuracy problems affecting cellphone users (CD Aug 14 p4), Barnett said. Multiple carriers showed drops in phase-II location information, with AT&T showcasing a drop from 92 percent in January 2008 to 31 percent in December 2012, according to CalNENA. The August report prompted letters to the FCC from both the House and the Senate this month (CD Sept 16 p16). “We need indoor requirements,” Barnett said, describing big interest among Hill staffers in what he characterized as a “pretty much sold-out briefing.” The coalition did not have to directly prompt the letter-writing, he said, saying House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., “lit off on this,” as did the office of Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., another letter author. The briefing’s message focused on the FCC working with the carriers as well as taking up the problem in a public safety workshop set for Oct. 2, he said. “As long as [the FCC’s attention is] going along, I don’t think the House or the Senate will get involved,” he said, despite acknowledging the bipartisan support for such a public safety issue and the possibility of hearings and additional congressional focus. Indoor location technologies such as NextNav did come up during the briefing, Barnettt added. Venable represents TruePosition, a company engaged in that technology, but the Find Me 911 Coalition is not pushing for any particular requirements linked to one technology, he said.
A special committee of the FirstNet board took a long look at allegations of improper behavior by members of the board, raised by board member Paul Fitzgerald in April, and concluded there was nothing amiss. The report has been ready since at least Sept. 12 (CD Sept 13 p4), but was not released until Monday at a special telephone meeting of the board. Meanwhile, FirstNet is looking at communications problems at last week’s shootings at the Washington Navy Yard, General Manager Bill D'Agostino said Monday.
Members of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) were meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill Sept. 24 to push them to move forward with several pieces of trade legislation. The meetings were part of the NCBFAA's Government Affairs Conference. At the top of the list of legislation brokers would like to see the next step be a customs reauthorization bill, according to a paper distributed by the NCBFAA to its members going to the Hill. Differences in the House over how the customs bill will treat antidumping/countervailing enforcement changes has emerged as a sticking point between Republicans and Democrats (see 13040911). NCBFAA "strongly supports passage of a robust customs reauthorization bill that provides firm direction to revitalize CBP's commercial trade facilitation and enforcement function," the paper said.