Waterman Broadcasting of Florida is seeking special temporary authority to operate a new satellite news gathering (SNG) service before the completion of the license application to cover the Tropical Storm Isaac weather emergency. When the storm warning for the Fort Myers area was issued, WBBH-TV, Fort Myers, and engineering consultants “were preparing full technical information for an application to license the station’s new SNG facilities, to be filed in the ordinary course in the coming week,” WBC said in its application in the International Bureau (http://xrl.us/bnneda). The weather emergency has created an urgent need for the SNG facility to be put into use, it said.
Missouri’s incarnation of what’s known as “Kelsey’s Law” is effective Tuesday. The bill, HB-1108, was signed by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) July 6 and “requires specified telecommunications carrier and commercial mobile service providers to provide, upon request, call location information concerning the user of a telecommunications service or a wireless communications service to a law enforcement official or agency” (http://xrl.us/bnnead). This disclosure is, according to the law, “in order to respond to a call for emergency service or to provide caller location information in an emergency situation that involves danger of death or serious physical injury to any person where disclosure of communications relating to an emergency is required without delay.” Missouri is the eighth state to issue such a law. It’s dubbed Kelsey’s Law in memory of Kansas teenager Kelsey Smith, abducted and murdered in 2007, as recounted by the Kelsey Smith Foundation (http://xrl.us/bnnea2).
The FCC posted requests by 17 additional entities seeking waivers of the commission’s Jan. 1 narrowbanding deadline (http://xrl.us/bnnd8j). Among them was the Nebraska State Patrol, the Maryland Stadium Authority Department of Public Safety and Security and the Mobile County, Ala., Emergency Management Agency. FCC rules require private land mobile radio licensees in the 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz bands to migrate to narrowband technology by that deadline unless they receive a waiver.
Florida’s emergency management division spokeswoman said Monday there were no “major impacts to telecommunications systems due to Tropical Storm Isaac.” She did describe “a few wireless towers currently operating on emergency power.” AT&T experienced “minimal” impact in Florida and “AT&T’s network performed as anticipated,” an AT&T spokeswoman said. Sprint Nextel told us of “very minimal” impact in Florida Monday afternoon. “As of this morning, less than 10 of our cell sites in Florida are down due to Isaac,” a Sprint spokeswoman said. “We're concentrating on and preparing for the impacts tonight might bring as the eye of storm continues along Florida’s coast and moves closer to the Gulf Coast states.” Sprint’s affected customers are spread throughout Miami, Tampa and Fort Myers and are “mostly located in places the residents have evacuated,” she said. She was unable to say how many customers may have been affected. The spokeswoman described assessment and mobilization efforts for staff as needed throughout Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. “The Sprint Emergency Response Team is currently supporting 25 wireless devices with 14 days of free service to any state and local agencies needing communication assistance in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida following the official state of emergency that has been declared in those states,” she said. Florida had more than 65,000 residents without power as of Monday morning, the state’s emergency management division spokeswoman said. Sprint invested nearly $140 million in anticipation of this hurricane season and strongly emphasized its back-up power efforts, it said. The carrier described “hardening 70 percent of the cell sites on Sprint’s Florida networks with permanent generators in case of a loss of local power” and “fully fueling all permanent generators and ensuring the availability of all portable generators necessary to meet the response needs based on Isaac’s current track and intensity,” in a statement Sunday (http://xrl.us/bnnd2f). Verizon Wireless noted an investment of $19 million in Pensacola’s emergency communications, in a Monday statement (http://xrl.us/bnnd22).
The FCC Wireless Bureau provided additional clarity on the technical specifications for Trex Enterprises’ Foreign Object Debris (FOD) detection radar to be used to detect debris on airport runways. The FCC approved a waiver for the Trex system, which operates in the 78-81 GHz band, in December. Trex warned in a letter to the commission that the technical specification for transmit beamwidth (http://xrl.us/bnnd7a) could cause problems in deploying the system. The bureau backed away from a hard rule on this specification, saying all requests to use the radar are already overseen by NTIA. “The Commission’s intent in the Order was to authorize the certification and use of Trex’s FOD detection radar pending the resolution of the rulemaking proceeding because a waiver would serve the public interest,” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bnnd7x). “Requiring adherence to an erroneous specification that differs from information previously provided by Trex and does not reflect the equipment’s actual technical characteristics would frustrate that intent."
The city of New Orleans, facing another prospective hurricane in Isaac on the seventh anniversary of Katrina, issued a strong warning Monday. The New Orleans government told residents that 311 service would be available 24 hours a day starting 8 a.m. Monday. “Do not use 911 for non-life threatening emergencies,” the New Orleans government said (http://xrl.us/bnndsj). “Call 311 for any non-life threatening emergencies, as well as to register for City-Assisted Evacuation.” Its city hall and city buildings closed Monday and Tuesday for the heavy winds projected to hit as early as Monday night and storms Tuesday and Wednesday. “I know the anxiety level is high,” said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu at a Sunday press conference. “This storm is somewhat uncertain.” The governor activated the emergency operations center at the state level, he said.
First Cullman Broadcasting urged the FCC Media Bureau to reconsider cancelation of its license for low-power television station WCQT, Cullman, Ala. Reconsideration and reinstatement “would directly promote equity and fairness, and serve the public interest,” FCB said in its petition for reconsideration (http://xrl.us/bnnd6y). It said a natural disaster destroyed the station’s tower and facility equipment and “delays resuming service were caused by additional reasons beyond the licensee’s control.” The bureau canceled the license last month because the station remained off the air over a consecutive 12-month period, the bureau said in a letter to FCB (http://xrl.us/bnnd6y).
FTC commissioners voted unanimously to extend the comment deadline for the agency’s proposed revisions to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act rule by two weeks, to Sept. 24, the FTC said Monday. It published a “supplemental” notice of proposed rulemaking earlier this month proposing that ad networks and plugins fall under the COPPA rule and encouraging websites with mixed audiences to “age-screen” all visitors. The FTC said it received “requests from several organizations” to extend the comment deadline.
More than two dozen Internet advocacy groups urged Democrats and Republicans to adopt party platforms that support a free and open Internet, in a letter (http://xrl.us/bnnd39) sent Monday to each party. The groups urged political leaders to “reject efforts to censor the Internet and engage in unwarranted surveillance of its users” by incorporating specific language into their platforms that says each party “stands for a free and open Internet, unfettered by censorship and undue violations of privacy.” Such a statement is “long overdue,” the letter said, as “numerous entities, special interests, and governments routinely challenge the open nature of the Internet, and threaten its very essence.” Groups who signed the letter include: Mozilla, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Demand Progress, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Free Press Action Fund, and the Internet Archive.
A bridge fire in Lawrence, Mass., disrupted Verizon service, the carrier said Monday (http://xrl.us/bnnd3n). The blaze, under the town’s Central Bridge, damaged Verizon cables, which were being assessed by technicians in the process of restoring service, Verizon said. “Some Verizon customers in Andover, Lawrence, Littleton, Metheun, North Andover, North Reading and Tewksbury have lost some Verizon services,” the company said. “Voice and data services for some business and government customers may also be affected. And customers in other communities may be affected as well.”