The FCC Public Safety Bureau gave the District of Columbia’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (DCHSEMA) a waiver so it could test wireless emergency alerts before the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. The test, in cooperation with various federal agencies including the Secret Service, was to be conducted at 3 p.m. Sunday on the National Mall, said the Friday order. The D.C. agency told the FCC it wanted to test the WEA message system and city official email list portion of the federal Integrated Public Alert and Warning System before the inauguration. DCHSEMA will broadcast a message that reads: “This is a test of the District of Columbia Emergency Alert System. No action is required.” The bureau said in an order it saw ample reason to grant a waiver. More than a million visitors are expected on or near the National Mall during the inauguration, the bureau said. “In the event of an emergency, DCHSEMA and its federal partners must be able to communicate quickly and effectively to the crowd. WEA offers this unique capability, and its use could be essential to ensure public safety in the event of an emergency. A live test would ensure that WEA can reach the entire National Mall yet be ‘geo-fenced’ to minimize any extension beyond this intended area.” Carriers undertook extensive preparations for the inauguration and accompanying protests (see 1701050059).
Apple advised the FCC against adopting a requirement that all service providers implement a standardized opt-out menu for wireless emergency alerts, in replies to the FCC in docket 15-91. Commissioners approved revised rules for alerts in September, over a partial dissent by Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, and sought comment on additional rule changes (see 1609290060). Instead of mandating what the opt-out menu will look like, the FCC should “allow the best consumer experience based on different companies’ hardware, operating systems, and user interfaces,” Apple said. The maker of the iPhone also said the FCC shouldn’t rely solely on third-party applications to implement additional alerting functionality. The National Weather Service said geotargeting of alerts isn’t accurate enough and must be improved. “The NWS supports the public safety agencies who overwhelmingly agree on the need for device-assisted geo-targeting that matches the geocode, circle, or polygon defined by the alert,” the agency replied. The NWS also reminded the FCC it repeatedly has urged a requirement that carriers include an interactive map showing the recipient’s location relative to the alert originator’s defined threat area. A coalition of groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing said alerts should be made available in American Sign Language (ASL). “For many individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, and deaf with mobility issues, there simply is no adequate substitute for ASL,” the coalition said. “Contrary to popular public perception, ASL is not derived from English, nor any spoken language. Instead, it is an independent linguistic system with morphological and grammatical complexity comparable to or exceeding that of spoken languages.” Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the National Association of the Deaf, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network and Association of Late-Deafened Adults were among those who signed the comments. Wireless carriers urged the FCC to proceed with caution. The “proposed improvements” are “premature in many instances and unworkable in others,” AT&T wrote. “Imposing upon the voluntary WEA participants a set of requirements that they cannot satisfy can only cause the Participating Cellular Mobile Service Providers to reexamine the nature of their commitment to the system.”
Monroe Electronics plans to introduce a new feature in its emergency alert system equipment that could allow more stations to broadcast more informative alerts and possibly solve a problem (see 1612280045) that prevented some stations from issuing Spanish-language alerts during the September nationwide EAS test, it said. The plan was revealed in comments by Monroe in FCC docket 15-94. To address that problem and allow more stations access to the increased information available via Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) alerts, Monroe wants to implement a mechanism that would trigger EAS devices that receive an alert from a broadcast source “to immediately seek whether there was a matching CAP (common alerting protocol) message” available through IPAWS, the filing said. If no electronic message is available, the equipment would proceed with the broadcast alert. During the nationwide test, the EAS alert was transmitted both electronically through IPAWS and in the traditional way through other broadcast stations. Stations had to retransmit whichever of the two forms of alert they received first, and since under current EAS procedures stations check for new CAP alerts every 30 seconds, many stations' alert systems were activated by other broadcasters before they could receive the IPAWS alert, which contains more detailed information. Only stations that first received the IPAWS alert had the option to broadcast the Spanish-language alert, and some stations with many Spanish-speaking viewers couldn’t do so during the test because they received the broadcast alert first. Monroe’s proposal “gives preference to the more informative CAP message but allows the broadcast EAS system to maintain its critical role if there is no corresponding CAP message, or if the Internet is temporarily unavailable,” the filing said. The company said it plans to introduce these features in its equipment in an upcoming release. The feature won’t be applied to nationwide alerts such as the emergency action notification, since rules require such messages to be retransmitted without delay, even the scant one proposed by Monroe, the filing said. “FCC clarification will be required in order to determine whether this same automatic polling methodology can and should be” applied to the nationwide codes, the firm said.
The record in the wireless emergency alerts proceeding “demonstrates a consensus that several of the Commission’s proposed rules pose technical and economic challenges that render implementation infeasible or premature,” CTIA replied, posted Monday in FCC docket 15-91. The association objected in initial comments, too (see 1612090012). “While strongly supportive of efforts to enhance and improve the WEA system, commenters suggest that many of the Commission’s proposed rules either require additional study or could lead to unintended consequences that undermine the functioning of WEA,” CTIA said. Some commenters support proposed changes to the rules, such as requiring multimedia capabilities for alerts or mandating that earthquake alerts be transmitted in three seconds or less, the group said. “Missing from this general support, however, is any record evidence that these new functionalities are deployable by the existing WEA infrastructure or are economically achievable.”
The FCC's 2016 nationwide test of the emergency alert system showed the system to be “significantly improved” from the 2011 nationwide test, said a preliminary report on the test released Wednesday by the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. “The Nationwide EAS Test was successful,” said the bureau. “Initial test data indicates that the vast majority of EAS Participants successfully received and retransmitted the National Periodic Test (NPT) code that was used for the test.”
The FCC Wednesday pulled a draft emergency alert system order from the next day's commissioners' meeting agenda, after industry and agency officials said it was controversial. Five other agenda items also were pulled, though four were adopted on circulation.
Chairman Tom Wheeler is leaving the FCC on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, he confirmed Thursday morning before the commissioners' meeting. That would leave the commission with one Democratic member, Mignon Clyburn, who earlier this week told us that she will stay during her term, and two Republicans, Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai. That is assuming that Jessica Rosenworcel is not reconfirmed; she is not expected to be.
Commissioner Mike O'Rielly expects "a lot of change" at the FCC when Republicans take control of the agency under incoming President Donald Trump. O'Rielly said he's looking forward to action in four main areas: removing "regulatory underbrush" that has been around a long time; fixing the commission's organization and procedures; moving a "pro-growth, pro-innovation agenda" -- for instance, by addressing tower siting for next-generation wireless; and undoing "bad policies" adopted by the current commission on partisan votes, including the FCC's net neutrality and broadband reclassification order. The specific agenda will flow from who Trump installs at the helm, O'Rielly said.
Senate Democrats are signaling that Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel’s time at the FCC may not be up despite her upcoming forced exit. “I hope she'll be renominated and the Senate lives up to its word,” Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., told us in a statement Monday. Members of the upper chamber left town early Saturday without reconfirming her, which means she will have to leave the agency by Jan. 3, as expected (see 1612080056). That would create a 2-2 partisan split among remaining members.
CTIA questioned the need for new rules for wireless emergency alerts, as proposed in an FCC Further NPRM, in comments in docket 15-91. Some other comments posted earlier also sought changes (see 1612080017) or expressed concern. “The Commission is proposing a number of unnecessary and burdensome mandates that have not been studied, found to be feasible, or demonstrated to provide meaningful improvements to the functioning of the WEA,” CTIA said. “Should the Commission stray from the highly effective path it has employed for WEA and adopt infeasible and unnecessary requirements for CMS [commercial mobile service] providers to comply with as part of their participation, CMS participants may be forced to reconsider their support of the voluntary WEA system.” Carriers need flexibility or otherwise may be unwilling to voluntarily participate in the WEA program, CTIA said. “Adoption of aspirational proposals may force CMS Providers to opt out of participation in the WEA system.” San Francisco, meanwhile, said the FCC should reconsider whether subscribers can opt out of receiving all alerts. “While recognizing the desire of an individual to customize the type of notifications one receives, the City recommends Imminent Threat alerts be exempt from the opt-out option,” its Emergency Management Department commented. The city backed “the expedited processing of earthquake-related Imminent Threat Alerts as any delay limits the effectiveness of such an alert.” AT&T said the FCC should be mindful of the technical limitations of alerting technology. “In some instances, the FNPRM’s proposals could be categorized as ‘nice to have,’ others would require carriers to make significant capital investment for network structure that is, at least for the foreseeable future, usable by WEA only, and still others are simply not achievable with current technology or even within the design limits of the WEA system itself,” AT&T commented. The FCC proposes to abandon its technology-neutral approach by expanding the attestation requirements imposed on carriers, Verizon commented. “But existing requirements already inform consumers whether a carrier’s services and devices support alert capabilities, which is what Congress intended and what consumers want and need to know.” The agency should delay new requirements on the capability of alerts “pending stakeholder efforts to address the significant technical challenges,” the carrier said. The FCC should limit itself to new enhancements to alerts that are “realistic and achievable,” T-Mobile commented. “Unfortunately, however, several of the FNPRM’s proposals represent wishful thinking that could lead to unintended consequences, including endangering the smooth functioning of WEA. Unrealistic technology mandates, tight timeframes, and potentially high compliance costs run the risk of undermining the program.” New York City’s Emergency Management Department said carriers should be able to make alerts better if given enough time through further enhancements. “NYCEM strongly encourages the Commission to adopt rules that take a 'long view' of system improvements, even if the adopted implementation timeframe is several years,” the city said. Microsoft weighed in on several issues, including a proposal to require WEAs for tablets. “The Commission must define which mobile devices would be considered a tablet and thus subject to WEA requirements,” Microsoft said. “Although the Further Notice references the iPad, a wider variety of device form factors is currently available in the marketplace. It may be difficult to define a tablet by any singular feature.”