A study based on three surveys conducted between June 2017 and January 2020 showed 63% of U.S. consumers are open to changing from their current policy to usage-based car insurance with a telematics-based premium, said Cambridge Mobile Telematics and IoT Insurance Observatory Tuesday. Many drivers showed interest in working with insurers to price their insurance based on how they drive vs. traditional rating factors such as ZIP code, age and gender, though only 5% of U.S. drivers use a telematics-based policy. Drivers are interested in different value propositions including upfront discounts, rewards and discounts at the time of renewal, with young, urban drivers the most likely candidates to opt for connected insurance. Just over half of respondents would look to traditional insurers for telematics programs; 20% chose nontraditional tech companies like Amazon as a possibility, “indicating an upcoming challenge” for traditional insurers.
USTelecom's Industry Traceback Group (ITG) is the official consortium for coordinating industry-led efforts to trace back the origin of suspected unlawful robocalls, the FCC Enforcement Bureau said Monday. The Traced Act directed the FCC to put together rules for a single consortium heading those private-led efforts, and the FCC in March adopted rules governing that consortium (see 2004170021). In the order appointing ITG, the bureau said it was the only applicant and is both neutral and competent to shepherd the efforts. “The message this sends to would be robocall scammers is loud and clear: we’ve got your number," USTelecom said, adding that it's "an important recognition of our technology, our commitment and our success fighting the scammers and spoofers who pollute our shared communications networks with these illegal robocalls." It said its team of wireline, wireless, VoIP and cable providers is "focused on tracing the source of illegal robocalls around the world and coordinating with federal and state enforcement agencies to bring criminals to justice. We’ve already shut down scams preying on vulnerable consumers during the pandemic. As the FCC’s registered traceback consortium, we intend to continue our laser-like scrutiny not just on robocall scammers, but the under the radar providers who let junk calls onto the network in the first place. We’re tracing back more calls every single day and ready to expand this work for consumers.” Nov. 15 is the deadline for voice service providers and ITG to update the FCC Enforcement Bureau on industry efforts July 27-Oct. 31 to trace the source of suspected unlawful robocalls, the bureau said in a public notice. The bureau's data collection is part of a Traced Act requirement the FCC annually submit a report to Congress on the status of such private-led efforts, it said.
House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., decried the committee’s lack of progress since the beginning of 2019 on privacy and autonomous vehicle legislation. “I wish we were farther along” on privacy legislation, Walden said on C-SPAN’s The Communicators that was to have been televised this weekend. If the GOP had retained its House majority in the 2018 election, he believes he and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., would have focused on reaching a legislative deal early this Congress. “We talked a lot about it” before the election, Walden said. “We were hoping to get ahead” of the California Consumer Privacy Act taking effect “and look at what worked and didn’t work” with the EU’s general data protection regulation. CCPA enforcement began this month (see 2006300051). That law and GDPR are becoming the U.S.’ de facto privacy standard absent a national law, Walden said: “America should lead in this space” and “the longer we wait, the more other governments … are going to meander around in this space and you’re going to have this patchwork of competing requirements.” The main reason privacy legislation hasn’t moved is because of continuing disagreements about whether to include a private right of action or a trial bar in a final measure, Walden said. The latter is also the main reason AV legislation failed to advance. Walden was more optimistic about House Commerce’s work on communications network security, citing enactment of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act. HR-4998 provides funding to help U.S. communications providers remove Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security (see 2003040056). He hopes appropriators include money for the law’s enactment in FY 2021 funding measures. The House Appropriations Committee’s FY21 FCC funding bill allocates $1 billion for that purpose (see 2007080064). “The extent to which we can get” suspect “equipment out of” U.S. infrastructure and “not only compete on 5G but leapfrog to whatever we call the next iteration … is where we need to focus,” Walden said.
More than half of U.S. broadband households would share smartphone data to aid contact tracing; 20% could be convinced with privacy protections, said Parks Associates Thursday. Respondents who experienced COVID-19 symptoms are more willing to share the data, and nearly half without symptoms would share. Apple and Google jointly developed an application programming interface and framework that developers, in partnership with public health stakeholders, can use to build contact-tracing apps, noted analyst Kristen Hanich. “The industry can drive widespread uptake of these solutions by emphasizing the public benefits of this data sharing while also stressing the privacy protections.” Parks reported use of telehealth tripled year over year, with 41% of broadband households using one in the past 12 months due to inability or unwillingness to have an in-person doctor visit. Despite the “dramatic switch,” if patients have a good experience, the market is “likely to see continued usage on a permanent basis.”
The U.S. and Congress have a right to know if the administration is spying on people without “express congressional approval” and with weakened surveillance authorities, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote Attorney General William Barr and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe Tuesday. They requested information about how the administration has halted “mass surveillance programs authorized by now-expired Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) provisions under the USA FREEDOM Act” (see 2005270051). “Any surveillance conducted in the absence of statutory authorities and congressional oversight would be extraordinarily concerning and illegal,” they wrote. DOJ didn’t comment.
Broadnet Teleservices asked the FCC to provide Telephone Consumer Protection Act clarity in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants (see 2007060052). In 2015, Broadnet asked (see 1509300043) the FCC for clarity that TCPA doesn’t apply to calls made “by or on behalf of federal, state, and local governments when such calls are made for official purposes.” COVID-19 “and the challenges and changes it has imposed on communities has highlighted the importance of state and local government officials being able to contact their constituents without concern for potential liability,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-152.
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security is considering imposing new license requirements on facial recognition software and surveillance items that may be used by China for crowd control reasons or to violate human rights. BIS seeks feedback by Sept. 15, said Friday's Federal Register. BIS said it's interested in imposing new license requirements for facial recognition software, “other biometric systems for surveillance,” voice print identification systems and other products.
T-Mobile will add protections against scams and robocalls, the carrier announced Thursday. They include flagging suspicious calls, enhanced caller ID and a free second number and option to change one’s number. The FCC voted Thursday on safe harbors to encourage phone companies to offer more robust call blocking services (see 2007160045).
CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom continue to seek "safe harbor for network-level blocking" so "providers can use all available tools to protect consumers" through more robust robocall mitigation efforts, they told an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in requesting clarification on an item up for a vote at Thursday's FCC meeting (see 2007100044). Consider additional safe harbors in future proceedings, the groups asked in the filing posted Wednesday. An agency official expects a 5-0 vote to approve the item at the commissioners' meeting Thursday, and suggested the language might change to include more pointed questions on the pros and cons of safe harbor for network-level blocking.
Moffitt Cancer Center Chief Information Security Officer Dave Summitt will chair the new FCC Hospital Robocall Protection Group, agency Chairman Ajit Pai said Tuesday. USTelecom Senior Vice President-Policy and Advocacy Patrick Halley is vice chair. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips were appointed advisory committee members, among others (see personals section, this issue). The group meets July 27 (see 2006190017).