The record so far shows that commenters “overwhelmingly” support “voluntary, industry-led collaborative efforts” aimed at developing a mechanism allowing texting to 911, CTIA said in reply comments filed at the FCC. Carriers offered similar comments. But the National Emergency Number Association advised the FCC to act quickly and warned that any interim solution is likely to be in place for some time. Several commenters said the best short-term solution would be IP Relay, as identified by the ATIS Interim Nonvoice Emergency Services Incubator.
The PBS emergency alert system pilot project using mobile DTV (CD June 6 p11) has been expanded to include a commercial TV station (KOMO-TV in Seattle), and organizers said they intend to bring the project to the ATSC for standards approval in May. The alerts developed by the four broadcasters involved in the pilot were shown at CES last month. This month, the partners begin a road show, with plans to bring the technology to WGBH-TV Boston, Alabama Public TV in Birmingham and Montgomery, Seattle and possibly Washington, D.C., said Jay Adrick, vice president of broadcast technology at Harris Corp., one of the partners in the pilot with LG, Roundbox and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Then, an improved demonstration will be brought to NAB in April, with additional use cases and functionality.
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said the agency’s increased efforts on cybersecurity “are showing results.” Her remarks came during a speech at the National Press Club Monday. “We continue to work with the private sector, other government national security and law enforcement agencies and the international community to mitigate the risks and reduce the potential for a malicious actor to be successful. Last year, our Computer Emergency Readiness Team responded to more than 100,000 incident reports, and released more than 5,000 actionable cybersecurity alerts to our federal, state, and private sector partners,” she said. “These efforts are showing results. In the last year alone, the U.S. Secret Service prevented $5.6 billion in potential losses through financial crime investigations and $1.5 billion through cybercrime investigations.” Last May the White House urged Congress to expand DHS authority to address and modify the U.S. response to cybersecurity threats (CD May 13 p10). But industry members and some House Republican leaders including Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, remain hesitant to give DHS the power to scrutinize the cybersecurity plans of American businesses (CD Oct 12 p12). Nevertheless, DHS is “deploying the latest tools across the federal government to protect critical systems while sharing timely and actionable security information with public and private sector partners to help them protect their own operations,” Napolitano said.
Work at the FCC is intensifying on changing the Lifeline program that funds phone service for poor people, commissioners from both parties said Friday. A new draft of the Lifeline order circulated Tuesday night, prompting Commissioner Robert McDowell to return to Washington from a World Radiocommunications Conference in Geneva, he noted. Both McDowell and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn told a panel at the Minority Media and Telecom Council conference that the order tries to address waste and other inefficiencies in the subsidy program. Clyburn voiced support for the idea of broadband pilot tests, while McDowell said increases in one part of the Universal Service Fund mean all phone customers must pay more in USF fees unless there are other cuts.
Industry participants are asking the FCC to revisit a couple of items in its recent order (CD Jan 12 p8) implementing a newer emergency alert service format that was developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some EAS players told us they want the commission to rethink its decision to prohibit the use of text-to-speech and to consider the burden the rule would place on the smallest cable operators. The Common Alerting Protocol is transmitted via the Internet, and the FCC’s rules address the equipment aspects of CAP.
Small cable operators will be hurt by new FCC rules on emergency alert system equipment that require pay-TV providers and others to get and pass onto viewers a new warning format, the American Cable Association said. The ACA said it and the NCTA had asked the commission to exempt cable systems lacking a physical Internet connection at their headends. The agency instead said in an order Wednesday (CD Jan 12 p8) on Part 11 EAS rules for Common Alerting Protocol that alert participants not served by broadband can seek waivers. CAP uses the Internet to send messages from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which developed the standard a few years ago. “Adding to the burden was the FCC’s decision to consider waivers only on a case-by-case basis while suggesting that any waivers granted will be limited to a maximum of six months,” ACA President Matt Polka said Thursday. “Because the FCC did not adopt or even consider a streamlined waiver process, ACA members will have to absorb the added expense of retaining counsel to draft waivers and track their progress within the agency after they have been submitted.” Some cable systems may shut down “prematurely” because of the new rules, Polka said (http://xrl.us/bmoiu9). He asked the commission to “promptly” reconsider the decision. The ACA is considering whether to file a petition for reconsideration, an association spokesman said. A spokeswoman for the Public Safety Bureau, which drafted the order, declined to comment.
Emergency alert system warnings should be delivered “immediately by all possible means, without political or economic considerations” that could come with involvement by governors in some aspects of EAS, a group of broadcast alert experts told the FCC. The Broadcast Warning Working Group opposed governor must-carry, in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 04-296 (http://xrl.us/bmofmm). A commission order Wednesday on the next technology for broadcasters, pay-TV providers and others to distribute warning messages said such alerts don’t need to be distributed by EAS participants when they're initiated by governors. (See story in this issue.) “Properly crafted, vetted, and issued timely local, state and regional life safety warnings should be ‘must carry’ without involving any vestige of politics to get in the way,” the broadcast group said of opposing governor must-carry rules. “We must find a way to issue mandatory warnings with absolutely no political strings attached. We think that this agreement could and should be achieved by getting all warning stakeholders together to work on this issue, not by implementing a ‘governor mandatory’ solution."
The FCC won’t require emergency alert service participants without broadband access to get and pass onto viewers and listeners EAS alerts in a new format that’s been developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A commission order released Wednesday set rules for broadcast radio and TV, satellite radio and DBS, and cable and telco-TV equipment to be certified as complying with the new Common Alerting Protocol (CAP).
The Department of Homeland Security faces a “very tough” challenge to do all the necessary groundwork to meet an April deadline for the launch of a federal Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) allowing wireless carriers to send warning messages to their subscribers, said Denis Gusty of the Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate during a webinar Wednesday sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN) Act enacted in 2006 mandated the launch of the warning network by that date.
A test of a prototype Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system is on tap Thursday in New York City between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The city’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) plans to send text messages to six different areas of the city that will show as a “Severe Alert” or “Extreme Alert” on a user’s device, OEM said. If they open the message, users will see a message that says, “This is a test from NYC Office of Emergency Mgmt. Test Message 1. This is only a test.” Some users may get multiple alerts. The test is part of the Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN) unveiled by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and FEMA officials in May (CD May 11 p6). Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile are participating in the test. An early version of the system is slated to launch Jan. 1 in New York City.