With many filing deadlines already having passed since the partial federal shutdown began Oct. 1, and more looming as the closure enters its third week Tuesday, the FCC potentially faces a land rush of comments the day after the government reopens. Unlike many other government sites, the FCC’s website was shuttered the day the government closed, cutting off access to documents lawyers and others need to prepare filings at the commission, especially reply comments. Several industry officials told us Friday they expect the FCC to grant a blanket waiver for all filings that came due during the closure.

Broadcasters provide the backbone of the emergency alert system, testified Barry Fraser, general manager of Maranatha Broadcasting’s WFMZ-TV Allentown, Pa., on Wednesday before the House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management. He spoke on behalf of NAB and advocated for two priorities in keeping the EAS system strong. “State and local safety officials should receive ongoing training to properly use and protect the integrity of the EAS,” Fraser said in written testimony (http://1.usa.gov/18QkldO). “We strongly urge the committee to incorporate training into any legislation considered.” Fraser also urged the committee to create a National Advisory Committee on Emergency Alerting to “bring all stakeholders together, to ensure continual improvements to the system.” CTIA has been active in its own wireless alerts, testified Executive Vice President Chris Guttman-McCabe (http://1.usa.gov/1brISM4). He said the wireless emergency alerts system “went live in April 2012 and carriers serving 98 percent of U.S. wireless consumers have opted to participate in the program.” He urged the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help educate consumers with the use of such alerts. “FEMA has worked over the past four years with emergency managers and public safety officials at all levels of government, the private sector, NOAA, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to develop and deploy the [Integrated Public Alert and Warning System] capabilities that are being used across the nation today to send citizens alerts and warnings quickly,” FEMA said in its written testimony (http://1.usa.gov/1brJuBw). It was a joint submission from Damon Penn, assistant administrator of the National Continuity Programs, and Fred Endrikat, Urban Search and Rescue branch chief for FEMA.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau is seeking comment on the time of release code, audio accessibility and other technical issues identified after the 2011 nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The public notice follows a Public Safety bureau report that said the EAS distribution architecture is basically sound, but the test revealed equipment problems and problems with the emergency action notification (EAN) (CD April 16 p5).

Voluntary intellectual property agreements let the private sector be more flexible in policing its own industries than IP legislation does, testified several stakeholders at a House Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee hearing Wednesday. “We've seen what happens in legislation,” said RIAA CEO Cary Sherman. He and others testified that the flexibility of a voluntary agreement was the reason the Copyright Alert System (CAS), an ISP-based consumer warning system for alleged piracy, had succeeded where the Stop Online Piracy Act failed. Legislation carves in stone certain expectations, making everyone on each side of the debate nervous, and complicating the ability to get things done, Sherman said. Voluntary agreements, instead, are a “great way to begin closing the gap between the business side and the content side of the Internet,” he said.

"Governments and industry can do more” to tackle cyberattacks, European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) Executive Director Udo Helmbrecht said in an interview Wednesday. ENISA’s interim threat landscape review for mid-year 2013, an analysis of 50 reports covering the first half of this year, to be published Thursday, will show significant changes since its last full report in 2012, it said. Among those are the growing shift from botnets to malicious URLs, and the use of peer-to-peer and TOR-based botnets, it said. This first “taste” of current developments is intended to warn stakeholders as early as possible so they can take countermeasures, Helmbrecht said in a press release. In addition, he told us, a bit more regulation is needed because industry self-regulation isn’t working.

Extending the New York Public Service Commission’s comment period on Verizon’s request to serve Fire Island, N.Y., solely with its fixed wireless product from July 2 to Sept. 13 helped the commission receive more than 1,000 public comments from state legislators, town governments and local fire departments. Meanwhile, Verizon agreed Sept. 10 to install fiber on Fire Island (CD Sept 11 p3), but many industry observers and state regulators said the telco’s decision does not extend to areas of New Jersey also affected by Hurricane Sandy (CD Sept 12 p3). The commission is now asking for comments by Sept. 30 on Verizon’s tariff amendment filing to withdraw a provision to use Voice Link as the sole service on Fire Island (CD Sept 16 p18) .

Cellphone users caught up in an emergency should use text messages rather than phone calls to let their loved ones know they're OK, said Len Pagano, president of Safe America, a nonprofit preparedness organization (http://bit.ly/P1plTA) working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). Pagano spoke at a “strategic discussion” meeting Tuesday at FEMA about the nonprofit’s work with IPAWS. Text messages take up less bandwidth than phone calls, so widespread use of texting during emergencies could help alleviate the “communications logjams” that make calls difficult during incidents like the Boston Marathon bombings or the Sept. 11 attacks, he said. “Text first, talk second,” said Pagano, repeating Safe America’s motto for its emergency texting program. “In an emergency you shouldn’t expect to get on a cellphone and talk for an hour, you should be an efficient user of the space,” he said.

As the fight continues over Verizon’s plan to rebuild its network on Fire Island destroyed during Superstorm Sandy using wireless infrastructure, one big question that arises is what’s wrong with wireless anyway as an alternative to the plain old telephone service. With small carriers across the U.S. deploying wireless-only systems and larger carriers making wireless a big part of their IP transition plans, some industry observers are asking if the FCC needs to change its regulatory worldview of wireless substitution. Last week, the FCC Wireline Bureau opted not to “automatically” grant Verizon’s Communications Act Section 214 petition (CD Aug 15 p1) to discontinue domestic phone services, but to instead request additional data from Verizon.

Public outreach is necessary for wireless emergency alerts in California, said Karen Wong, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CAL OES) assistant director-public safety, at a hearing Tuesday. The California State Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management held a hearing, broadcast on The California Channel, on the state’s emergency response capabilities to learn more about the interoperability, fire, law enforcement and health efforts in emergency situations. Wong said CAL OES has four pilot programs for next-generation 911 in the northern part of the state and is looking into a pilot program in Ventura County for Phase 2 information to provide location-based routing. Through NG-911, citizens will get “robust support” and first responders will be able to get text messages, photos and video, she said. In its pilot programs, CAL OES has saved 29 hours in call times between September and December 2012 through location-based routing calls. Committee Chairwoman Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D) asked Wong how much the network would cost and when the system would be operational statewide. The system would be a joint project with providers, and it would cost “$2,000 to $3,000 for each initial hook-up” to the service,” said Wong. While this technology is available now, Wong said the system should be available within five years. Committee Vice Chair Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal (D) asked Wong if CAL OES had enough funding to implement its NG-911. Wong said costs still need to be identified and the State Emergency Telephone Number Accounts fund might need to be used. “We need to look more into using this technology on any device,” said Wong. The SETNA fund may help sustain the project in the long term, said CAL OES Director Mark Ghilarducci who also testified at the hearing. “Right now, we are figuring out the costs through our pilot program,” said Wong.

California residents shouldn’t opt out of getting AMBER alerts on their cellphones, said Bob Hoever, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children special programs director, in an interview Wednesday. Officials sent out an AMBER alert through cellphones for the first time Aug. 5 (CD Aug 8 p12). When the customers got multiple messages, late messages, messages which later disappeared from their phones or alerts lacking specific information, people wanted to opt out of the service, said Hoever. “Unfortunately, people did not understand what these messages meant and their purpose,” he said. “It’s critically important the public does understand, and we get their eyes and ears if there’s a dangerous situation to help find and rescue that child.” The AMBER alert program relies heavily on public participation, with 676 children rescued to date from the program, said Hoever. Opting out of the system could mean opting out of all emergency alerts for some carriers, which “could be a matter of life or death,” said California Assembly Speaker John Perez during a news conference Monday (http://bit.ly/14EHVKU). The Assembly is in discussions to start an educational campaign with the California Emergency Management Agency to allow the Assembly to fund outreach efforts through savings in its operating budget, said Perez. The Assembly will hold a special hearing this fall to examine additional ways the wireless alert system can “work better in California” and ways the Legislature can “facilitate that happening,” said Perez.