The FCC is opening Lifeline enrollment to those newly unemployed during the pandemic. Instead of requiring three consecutive months of income documentation, new enrollees can submit an unemployment benefits statement or other official evidence of current income status, it ordered Wednesday. The order extends, also through June 30, previous waiver of recertification, reverification, general de-enrollment and usage requirements. Many advocacy groups and companies wrote Congress backing more spending on broadband for the underserved (see 2004240014) as part of COVID-19 stimulus. Signers include NTCA, the Fiber Broadband Association, Incompas, Mozilla, Twitter, NATOA, Public Knowledge, NAACP and the R Street Institute.
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks plans an hour-long roundtable Monday, livestreamed via the FCC website at 1 p.m. EST, on ways to ensure broadband access for students from historically black colleges and universities learning remotely during the pandemic, his office told us Tuesday. He commended a letter from 144 members of Congress asking FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to cooperate with other federal agencies in promoting Lifeline (see 2004280058).
The FCC seeks comment on how to curb one-ring scams in Tuesday's Daily Digest. The NPRM asked how the FCC "can work effectively with federal, state, and foreign law enforcement and other government agencies to combat one-ring scams." It wants to know how to help consumers avoid the scams, how to encourage voice service providers to block the calls, how to work with entities that provide call-blocking services, and what obligations international gateway providers should have. The FCC wants commenters to consider suggestions' cost-effectiveness. The item in docket 20-93 was in the notice of inquiry stage when it circulated earlier this month (see 2004100054). "That’s hardly moving with the urgency that a growing scam like this requires," Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said. "So I am pleased that my colleagues agreed to my request to fast track this effort and turn it into" an NPRM. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks also issued a statement of support.
House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., says he’s not siding with lawmakers who opposed FCC approval of Ligado’s low-power terrestrial L-band network plans. “We need to trust the expert agencies who make spectrum decisions,” he said in a statement we obtained Tuesday. “This application has been tested, reviewed, revised, and tested again. We must accept the science and the fact that the expert engineers at the FCC took into account the positions of the engineers at the other agencies.” Leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees and House Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., are exploring legislative options to intervene (see 2004230001). “Both the private and public sectors have legitimate uses for spectrum,” Walden said. “We must stick to the facts and trust that engineers making spectrum allocation decisions are doing so for our economic and national security, with scientific data at the forefront of the process.”
Federal employees shouldn’t be required to return to their offices until they have widespread access to COVID-19 tests, processes are in place to take employee temperatures before they enter buildings, and state and local stay-at-orders are lifted, said the National Treasury Employees Union Monday. NTEU represents FCC employees. Protections should include allowance of "maximum" telework, adequate sanitizer and disinfectant supplies, and workspaces that allow for physical distancing, the release said. The union created a conditions for “#safereturn” flier for union employees and their agencies. The release references the announcement that 10,000 IRS employees are being recalled to work. “All federal agencies need to take stock now of where they are and what should be done before employees return,” said NTEU President Tony Reardon. NTEU expressed concerns earlier this month about FCC workers returning to work (see 2004140048). The FCC didn’t comment now. Chairman Ajit Pai told reporters Thursday in response to our query that he would prioritize employee safety in considering reopening headquarters (see 2004230046).
Hudson Institute's Robert Spalding said the FCC is right to probe four telecom operators “ultimately subject to the ownership and control of the Chinese government" (see 2004240046). “I doubt these companies are going to reply,” Spalding emailed Saturday: “They would have to explain the requirement for all citizens and companies of China to respond to intelligence requests.” It’s fair game to ask “how these companies can protect U.S. customers against information monitoring given that China's government mandates disclosure of information relevant to China's national security when requested,” said the American Enterprise Institute's Zack Cooper. “U.S. telecommunications firms are not allowed to operate in China, so I would expect China's telecom providers to understand if the United States placed similar restrictions.”
The FCC has made progress addressing security vulnerabilities in the electronic comment filing system related to the disruptions during the 2017 net neutrality comment period (see 1812030034) but needs to do more, GAO reported Friday in the publicly available version of a report released for official use in September. GAO offered 136 recommendations the FCC could implement to improve ECFS security, and by November, the agency had “fully implemented” 85. The auditor said the commission has a plan to tackle all the recommendations by April 2021. “We have been working diligently to address the recommendations in the report and have addressed 94 to date and plan to implement the remaining recommendations on a rolling basis over the next year," emailed an FCC spokesperson Friday. Deficiencies found by GAO involved “identifying risk, protecting systems from threats and vulnerabilities, detecting and responding to cyber security events, and recovering system operations,” the report said. "The FCC is committed to protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our information systems,” the spokesperson said. “Until the FCC implements all of the remaining recommendations, its systems will remain vulnerable to failure and misuse,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. He said Chairman Ajit Pai "must act swiftly to fix these vulnerabilities and restore trust back into the ECFS and the FCC’s cybersecurity practices overall.”
FCC commissioners voted this week to approve release of an annual Telecom Act Section 706 report finding advanced telecom is deployed in a reasonable and timely manner, officials told us Thursday. A report could be released as early as Friday, with statements from each office, officials said. Chairman Ajit Pai circulated the report last month (see 2004150020). Commissioner Brendan Carr told reporters Thursday the report doesn't signal "mission accomplished" but is a measure of the pace of broadband deployment, which is reasonable. He was answering our question. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly also voted in favor, his office said. Democratic Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Jessica Rosenworcel dissented, their offices told us.
The Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment meets April 28 at 10 a.m. and will hear from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Brendan Carr, said a public notice Tuesday. “The meeting will be conducted in a wholly telephonic and electronic format” due to COVID-19, the PN said. The committee will hear reports from its three working groups: Digital Empowerment and Inclusion, Access to Capital and Diversity in the Tech Sector.
CTA plans to proceed as scheduled with CES 2021 Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas, though the show will have changes, emailed the association Tuesday. “Almost every major exhibitor has signed up.” The show will “implement changes to enable social distancing,” said CTA. “These include widening aisles within our exhibit facilities, more space between seats in our conference program and other areas where attendees congregate.” The association will issue “best practices for exhibitors on demonstrating products and for attendees, such as wearing masks and avoiding shaking hands,” it said. CTA is working “on options to expand the show digitally,” it said. “Construction work continues during the pandemic on the new West Hall expansion at the Las Vegas Convention Center, said CTA. Local authorities recently began the work of pouring 600,000 square feet of concrete flooring in the main exhibit hall, it said: “The process will take between four and five months to complete -- a major step forward in the expansion construction, which is now 77% complete.”