Public Interest Groups, GM Joust Over DSRC Petition
Auto industry objections to a push for an emergency stay on launch of dedicated short-range communication systems (DSRC) aimed at curbing traffic accidents lack relevancy and swerve around the petition's core argument -- how commercial applications in the 5.9 GHz…
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band negatively affects road safety, consumer privacy, cybersecurity and public interest groups said in reply comments posted Friday in RM-11771. Instead, those opponents to the petition "offer nothing more ... than the same tone-deaf talking points and avoiding the substantive issues at hand," the public interest groups said. The only opponents to the petition are licensees with commercial interests, and many critics don't address the specific privacy and cybersecurity concerns raised in the petition, while consumer and auto safety groups all back it, the public interest groups said. The filers were Public Knowledge, Open Technology Institute at New America, Access Humboldt, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and Consumer Watchdog. Numerous auto industry groups and allies have pushed for denial of the OTI/PK request (see 1608250051). General Motors in a filing Thursday said the petition is based on "myths grossly exaggerating the security risks posed by DSRC and mischaracterizing the [FCC's] reasoned and long-established rules for the DSRC service." In its reply comments, GM said there are no heightened cybersecurity risks from any backward compatibility mandate in DSRC service rules, and Section 95.1509 of FCC rules -- governing DSRC technical standards -- doesn't preclude future security improvements. It challenged claims that commercial DSRC applications pose a cybersecurity and privacy risk, pointing to IEEE security standards for applications using wireless access in a vehicular environment. Such DSRC applications might include parking management and payment or fuel management, and in each case, consumers will have a choice of whether to share information on an application-by-application basis, GM said, saying its 2017 Cadillac CTS, with DSRC vehicle-to-vehicle communications, won't include any commercial DSRC applications: "There is no need for regulatory action to address a non-existent problem, much less a precipitous 'emergency stay.'"