Broadcast stations may suspend routine Emergency Alert System (EAS) tests, FCC said, citing need to “avoid potential public confusion or fear.” Suspension was sought by Federal Emergency Management Agency. Suspension is in effect until Oct. 2, although FCC acknowledged it could be extended. FCC said any station whose EAS responsibilities required testing could do so.
WBOT(FM) Brockton, Mass., faces $21,500 fine for failure to have operating Emergency Alert System and violations of city of license and record-keeping rules, FCC said. Forfeiture proceeding is result of FCC field inspection.
Vt. Dept. of Emergency Management says it is abandoning plan to set up statewide reverse 911 system that would link addresses to phone numbers to automatically place calls to households and businesses in danger during emergencies and give recorded warnings and instructions. Emergency Management Dir. Edward von Turkovich told legislative oversight committee supervising project that too many technical obstacles existed to make system work on wide scale. He said his agency instead would work to improve existing methods for warning public of emergency alerts, such as by radio and TV broadcasts. Von Turkovich said small-scale versions of reverse 911 existed in state, such as systems in place around state’s prisons to warn neighbors if prisoners escaped. He said such systems worked within small geographic area and with limited types of emergencies, but attempts to scale up such systems to cover wide areas and wide range of emergencies all failed to meet tests of reliability, economy and ease of use. He said state hadn’t given up on idea, but would wait until technology further matured before pursuing it.
Congress can help new automatic auto crash notification (ACN) technology increase vehicle safety by encouraging research grants and by keeping effort free of regulation, ComCARE Alliance said Thurs. While Capitol Hill understands value of telematics -- application of voice and wireless technology to in-vehicle services -- “there is no government initiative to install telematics in automobiles,” ATX Technologies Pres. Steven Millstein said at media breakfast that started all-day “technology demonstration” in Rayburn Bldg. “Despite the lack of a mandate from Congress, safety is on the minds of the automakers, which are voluntarily rolling out automatic crash notification technology,” he said. Congress needs to understand importance of ACN and “allow it to flourish without any intervention,” he said. ComCARE is coalition of medical, 911, law enforcement and public safety groups; wireless carriers; automotive companies; telematics suppliers. Group said it seeks $5-10 million in federal grants to support R&D efforts for ACN technologies and protocols.
Mandating changes in Emergency Alert System (EAS) in midst of cable’s EAS rollout “may cause disruption, increase costs and result in less participation,” NCTA said in comments on EAS rulemaking (EB 01-66). NCTA said some changes proposed by Society of Bcst. Engineers (SBE) and National Weather Service might be good, but others were “redundant or bothersome.” If FCC decides to adopt changes, it said, they should apply only to new equipment, with retrofit on existing equipment optional. SBE, in its comments, defended its proposal to lengthen monthly test window, require maximum modulation of EAS codes, make mandatory retransmission of alerts by NOAA and state and local govts. Washington State Assn. of Bcstrs. said it supported efforts to improve EAS, but FCC shouldn’t support proposals that “may have the undesired effect of reducing EAS participation.”
Bush White House in recent months has focused on how to curb cybersecurity threats, issue that also had high priority in Clinton Administration but that has been shaped by keen interest of this White House in national security issues, sources said. Concerns are expected to be part of what is addressed this week in meeting of National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), which includes CEOs of 30 telecom, network service provider companies and other high-tech companies. Closed -door NSTAC meeting that started Tues. night marks first time group, which meets about every 9 months, has convened under Bush Administration. National Communications System (NCS) has seen that agency’s mission “is growing,” with much of change centering on underlying communications backbones, said Brent Greene, NCS deputy dir., at TechNet 2001 International show this week. “We do a lot of information sharing,” he said. “We are beginning to accelerate how much information we're putting out into the private sector, to help them be aware of cyber challenges that we see that could potentially impact the telecommunications backbone or that could potentially impact financial processes within the vendor and finance community.”
FCC released latest edition of its Emergency Alert System handbook, it said. It said latest version included only minor changes from 1998 version.
IBlast said it would begin testing local emergency alert system in April for its broadcast datacasting system. IBlast is testing its overall service in 5 cities and will add emergency alert in several, it said. Service will deliver alert messages directly to PCs accessing service.