The FCC is requiring all carriers and interconnected text messaging providers to send an automatic bounceback text message to consumers where text-to-911 service is not available, it said in an order released Friday. The order had been adopted May 8 on a 4-0 vote with Commissioner Ajit Pai concurring. The nation’s four largest carriers, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile, have already committed to providing bounceback messages by June 30. The requirement now applies to other carriers and interconnected “over-the-top” text providers by Sept. 30 (http://fcc.us/12PR7sF). “Requiring all CMRS providers and interconnected text providers to implement a bounce-back mechanism is particularly important because while deployment of text-to-911 has begun, the transition is still in the very early stages and will not be uniform,” the order said. “During the transition, text-to-911 will be available in certain geographic areas sooner than it is available in others and may be supported by certain service providers but not by others. At the same time, as text-to-911 becomes more widely available, it is likely to generate increased consumer expectations as to its availability, which makes it increasingly important for consumers to be made aware when it is not available in an emergency.” “For too long, when a call for help went out as a text message, the only response was painful silence,” said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. “But no one should be left wondering in an emergency if they have been heard.” Pai’s concurrence notes that he has fundamental questions about the FCC’s jurisdiction arguments. “I cannot support the lengthy legal analysis contained in this item, which offers a grab bag of theories, some far-reaching and questionable,” he said. “For example, the Commission today claims sweeping authority to prescribe ‘rules that prevent the transmission of potentially misleading text messages.’ This remarkable assertion of power raises serious First Amendment questions and should give pause to anyone who has ever sent a ‘potentially misleading’ text message."
Senate unanimously confirms Ernest Moniz as Energy secretary … Hearst Television promotes Michael Hayes to senior vice president/group head … Departing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski names to Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council: Larissa Herda, tw telecom, chairman; and members include Brian Allen, Time Warner Cable; Robert Azzi, Sprint Nextel; Donna Bethea-Murphy, Iridium; Lynn Claudy, NAB; Donna Dodson, National Institute of Standards and Technology; David Donovan, New York State Broadcasters Association; Andy Ellis, Akamai; Brook Fitzsimmons, AT&T; Laurie Flaherty, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Peter Fonash, Department of Homeland Security; Brian Fontes, National Emergency Number Association; Robert Gessner, American Cable Association; Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Center for Democracy and Technology; Rodney Joffe, Neustar; Brian Josef, CTIA; Omar Khan, NQ Mobile; Brett Kilbourne, Utilities Telecom Council; Alice Lippert, Department of Energy; John Madden, National Emergency Management Association; Kyle Malady, Verizon; Sam Matheny, Capitol Broadcasting; John McCoskey, PBS; Danny McPherson, Verisign; Ann Miles, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Michael Mosher, T-Mobile USA; Mehran Nazari, Rural Telecommunications Group; Henry Wayne Pacine, Federal Reserve Board of Governors; Mark Paese, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Damon Penn, Federal Emergency Management Agency; Brian Peretti, Treasury Department; Francisco Sánchez Jr., Harris County, Texas, Homeland Security and Emergency Management; William Schully, DirecTV; Bill Smith, PayPal; Gigi Smith, Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials; Myrna Soto, Comcast Cable; Steve Souder, Fairfax County, Va., Department of Public Safety Communications; Dorothy Spears-Dean, Virginia Wireless E-911 Services Board; Rao Vasireddy, Telecommunications Industry Association; Christian Vogler, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network; Tim Walden, CenturyLink; Geoffrey Why, NARUC; Pamela Witmer, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission … Mindspeed Technologies adds Fared Adib, Sprint Nextel, to board.
The White House announced it will continue the national emergency designation for Iraq another year, to May 22, 2014. Obstacles to the country's continued reconstruction, restoration and maintenance of peace and security in the country and the development of political and economic institutions "continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States," the White House said in its May 17 message to Congress about the extension (here). Iraq was first designated a national emergency country in 2003.
The Copyright Principles Project should be a model for a copyright reform process, members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property said during a hearing on the CPP Thursday. CPP participants testified, including the UC-Berkeley Law and Information Management professor that convened the project, Pamela Samuelson. Members said the subcommittee should examine the stakeholder discussions that led to the report, rather than focus solely on the policy suggestions in the report. Full committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. -- who said last month that Judiciary would hold hearings to reevaluate copyright law in light of changing technologies (CD April 25 p9) -- said he hopes to hear “from everyone interested in copyright law ... before we begin to look at more specific issues.”
The Copyright Principles Project should be a model for a copyright reform process, members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property said during a hearing on the CPP Thursday. CPP participants testified, including the UC-Berkeley Law and Information Management professor that convened the project, Pamela Samuelson. Members said the subcommittee should examine the stakeholder discussions that led to the report, rather than focus solely on the policy suggestions in the report. Full committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. -- who said last month that Judiciary would hold hearings to reevaluate copyright law in light of changing technologies (WID April 25 p6) -- said he hopes to hear “from everyone interested in copyright law ... before we begin to look at more specific issues.”
Members of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council sharply criticized the FCC’s Dec. 31, 2016, 700 MHz narrowbanding deadline, as NPSTC works toward developing a formal position. The NPSTC board, holding the second day of its meeting in Washington, discussed several issues Wednesday, but narrowbanding proved the most contentious. In April, the FCC sought comment on whether it should extend or eliminate the deadline requiring 700 MHz public safety narrowband licensees to change over from a 12.5 kilohertz voice efficiency standard to a 6.25 kilohertz standard (CD April 2 p4).
"There is no business plan -- there is research,” said FirstNet board member Jeff Johnson, CEO of the Western Fire Chiefs Association and FirstNet’s head of outreach, referring to more than 400 pages of FirstNet material cited at a recent board meeting. “But there is no plan until we've listened to you.”
SAN ANTONIO -- It’s “very possible” that the PRO Group and Home Entertainment Source (HES) will cease to exist entirely as separate entities, as the merged buying companies go forward under the ProSource name, President Dave Workman told Consumer Electronics Daily Tuesday. “It is clearly our intent” that ProSource represents “the future” for the merged organization, he told us after his “state of the union” address at the group’s annual spring meeting. “We've got to get past the legacy names” of PRO Group and HES, he said.
The cities of New York and Los Angeles told the FCC having to move their operations out of the T-band, as required by last year’s spectrum law, would pose a huge burden. In February, the FCC’s Wireless and Public Safety bureaus sought comment on implementation of Section 6103 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, which requires public safety to leave the 470-512 MHz band within nine years of enactment (http://bit.ly/142X3QG).
Emergency response following the Boston Marathon bombings last month shows the importance of planning before disaster strikes, Chris Essid, deputy director of the federal Office of Emergency Communications (OEC), told the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Tuesday. “Planning and preparation by Boston officials made a real difference for public safety communications,” Essid said. “During the response, their mission critical [land-mobile radio] systems worked well and they were able to achieve interoperability among state and local responders, and processes were in place to integrate federal law enforcement as needed.” Essid said OEC, part of the Department of Homeland Security, had worked with the city prior to the 2010 marathon and developed a plan. “The comprehensive communications plan developed by Boston in coordination with DHS was used in preparation for the Boston Marathon and subsequent response to the bombings,” he said. DHS is still looking at the response and the lessons learned, “so we can target further support and resources where needed,” he said.