Washington, DC, Other Agencies Supports Revised WEA Rules
After recent bombings in New York and New Jersey, “as well as the heightened risk of similar events occurring in the District,” the Washington, D.C., Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) is leaning on the FCC to move forward…
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on changes to wireless emergency alert rules. Wireless alerts “should be capable of sending messages that include pictures, links, and telephone numbers” to more granular areas “using technology that already exists in each handset,” HSEMA said in a letter to the FCC in docket 15-91. HSEMA also said alerts should be available in multiple languages. New York City officials made similar arguments to the FCC; commissioners are slated to vote on updated rules Thursday (see 1609220008). New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neil also said the FCC should change the rules, in a letter citing the recent Chelsea bombing allegedly by Ahmad Khan Rahami, a subject of WEA alerts. The name and photograph of the alleged bomber “appeared on social media, news media, via e-mail, and text messages,” the letter said. “In contrast, the Wireless Emergency Alert message only contained his name and an instruction to ‘see media for pic,” O’Neil said. “With the technology available today the suspect's photograph should have immediately appeared on people's handsets. This is a major gap in the system.” O’Neil said alerts also must be sent in languages other than English: “There are more than 200 languages spoken in New York City alone, and [the New York Police Department] takes the issue of language access very seriously.” Others filing recently in the docket supporting WEA enhancements include Houston; Los Angeles; Nassau County, New York; San Francisco; and Seattle. CTIA also filed additional comments. The FCC should not use recent requests that device-based geo-targeting be included in the upcoming wireless emergency alert order to impose new rules, CTIA said in a filing. The agency needs to seek comment first, the group said. “The Commission should absolutely move forward with a technically feasible and appropriate proposal in a Further Notice, and should make clear that nothing in the upcoming Report and Order will preclude service providers from pursuing technically feasible device-based geo-targeting methods in the interim,” CTIA said. “These filings, however, raise additional technical questions that have not been resolved or fully vetted in the record before the Commission. Therefore, using them as a basis for new rules in the forthcoming Report and Order unnecessarily raises both technical and procedural issues.”