The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology plans a “DSRC Test Plan Open House” Oct. 21 at its lab in Columbia, Maryland, to review early tests of devices designed to surf the net using 5.9 GHz spectrum, OET said Friday. OET is examining sharing between Wi-Fi and dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) systems designed to prevent many motor-vehicle accidents (see 1605260059). Cisco, Qualcomm, KEA Tech, Broadcom and CAV technologies submitted a total of nine devices for testing (see 1608010044), OET said. The Friday public notice said the lab’s testing is an open process. “If parties are interested in observing the testing, they must make advance arrangements with the OET Laboratory,” said the PN in docket 13-49. OET said it plans a three-stage test process and is working with the Department of Transportation and NTIA. “Phase I generally includes only laboratory tests to measure the radio frequency (RF) characteristics and performance capabilities of the prototype devices under controlled test conditions,” OET said. “Phases II and III involve field tests.” The open house is to be 10 a.m. to noon, OET said.

Little to no progress has been made in making non-smartphone services available to individuals who are blind or visually impaired, but smartphone advanced communications services features and functions made significant advances in accessibility for wide ranges of individuals with disabilities, said the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau in the third FCC biennial 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) report to Congress, released Friday. It said more needs to be done to make equipment used with interconnected VoIP services more accessible. It said the accessibility of Internet browsers in mobile phones has improved for those who are blind or visually impaired, but there needs to be more progress especially on low-end to mid-range devices. The FCC said there are indications people with disabilities are increasingly included in product and service design, and new technologies have big potential to improve communications access by individuals with disabilities. Some communications technologies developed and deployed have barriers -- including the lack of interoperability of videoconferencing services and equipment and the lack of accessible alerting features for video calls and messages. The FCC said its Disability Rights Office during 2014 and 2015 received 45 requests for dispute assistance (RDA) alleging CVAA violations, with 26 involving accessibility and usability of equipment and 19 regarding accessibility and usability of services. The equipment-related complaints ranged from feature phones that lacked text-to-speech functionality or had keyboards hard to read or buttons too small to use, the agency said. Service-related complaints were predominantly about failure to provide instructions or billing in an accessible format or inaccessible contact information, customer service or directory assistance, it said. No consumers chose to escalate the RDAs to informal complaints for investigation, the FCC said.

The Incentive Auction Task Force plans a webinar on the proposed post-broadcaster incentive auction TV station repacking plan 1-4 p.m. Oct. 17, IATF said in a public notice Thursday. “The purpose of this webinar is to discuss the phased transition scheduling plan proposed by staff in the Transition Scheduling PN in order to foster informed feedback in the proceeding by interested parties,” the PN said. The webinar originally was scheduled for Oct. 13, but was moved to avoid a conflict with The Institute of Electronics Engineers Broadcast Technology Society's Annual Broadcast Symposium, the PN said. The webinar will be streamed on www.fcc.gov/live and will be posted on the broadcast incentive auction website’s Resources page, the PN said.

The FCC invited pleadings on a USTelecom petition for a temporary waiver of certain rules so Lifeline providers can continue enrolling consumers in the federal USF low-income subsidy support program based on state-specific criteria in 25 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. (see 1610040049). Comments are due Oct. 21 on the petition, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Thursday in docket 11-42.

A private meeting between the transition team for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and telecom and tech officials was postponed. Trump transition officials initially scheduled an hourlong meeting for Thursday morning at the BakerHostetler law firm offices in Washington, with likely attendees expected to include CTA, the Internet Association, MPAA, Information Technology Industry Council and CTIA, plus people representing individual companies and possibly New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, chairman of the Trump transition effort (see 1609290070). But industry officials told us the meeting was pushed back a day and is now expected to occur Friday. The Trump campaign lacks any telecom and tech agenda, and some Republican lawmakers told us Trump should look to Congress (see 1609300050).

The FCC released its first-ever white paper on cognitive disabilities and possible accessibility and technology solutions, Chairman Tom Wheeler said in remarks at a Coleman Institute conference on cognitive disabilities and technology Thursday in Broomfield, Colorado. “We’re not where we need to be when it comes to making sure accessibility issues are a first thought, not an afterthought.” In the white paper, the commission said a lack of outreach to those with cognitive disabilities is a major barrier to their use of technology, along with economic barriers and a dearth of accessible tech. “The perceived complexity of many communications devices may deter their acquisition,” it said. “Consumers and their caregivers may simply assume that a technology cannot be made accessible to them, even when a device has features to address the consumers' accessibility needs.” Communications tools that can help those with cognitive disabilities are “being underutilized because people either don’t know they are available or know how to access them,” Wheeler said. The FCC Disability Advisory Committee’s Sept. 22 approval of a set of industry-supported best practices designed to ensure the needs of those with cognitive disabilities are included in development of communications technology is “groundbreaking and inspiring,” Wheeler said. The practices are consistent with Coleman Institute’s own Declaration of Principles: Rights of People with Cognitive Disabilities to Technology and Information Access, Wheeler said, saying he's now a signatory to the declaration. Under the best practices, companies are encouraged to develop “collaborative relationships” with people with cognitive disabilities and related organizations, and to “keep abreast” of their needs. The practices encourage companies to include those with cognitive disabilities in their development process, and to make it easier for their products to be customized to suit individual needs, Wheeler said. He cited recent guidance from the FCC on how TV stations can make their alerts accessible to those with cognitive disabilities (see 1609300060). Despite such efforts, there's a danger that outreach efforts to those with cognitive disabilities could get worse as technology advances, Wheeler said. “We need to make sure that new barriers are not created through complex display menus and user guides, complicated security and navigation features, and software upgrades that may be well-intentioned, but which often create obstacles for individuals with disabilities,” Wheeler said. “The Commission has rules in place assuring that advanced communications services and equipment are accessible, and we will enforce those rules.” Policymakers should encourage industry representatives to “do their part to raise awareness among their designers, developers, service personnel and customer representatives about the needs of people with cognitive disabilities and their support networks,” Wheeler said. Those with cognitive disabilities also need jobs, he said, noting an FCC program that has led to six employees with intellectual disabilities. The program “has helped everyone at the FCC,” Wheeler said. “Work is getting done -- and well. Training is ongoing. Promotions are occurring. And new relationships and sensitivities have developed.”

FCC bureaus issued Hurricane Matthew procedures to help communications services initiate, resume and maintain operations in affected areas. The Public Safety Bureau posted guidance for each bureau in a public notice Thursday. “Presentations that directly relate to the emergency posed by Hurricane Matthew are exempt from the restrictions of the Commission’s ex parte rules,” it said. The Florida Public Service Commission said it’s warning consumers and monitoring investor-owned electric utilities (IOUs) as they prepare for Hurricane Matthew. “The PSC is urging families to prepare now for Hurricane Matthew, a severe storm affecting Florida’s eastern coast,” PSC Chairman Julie Brown said in a news release Thursday. “State offices, as well as other governmental agencies and businesses, are closed in 26 counties, so people have time to prepare and get ready.” The PSC will remain open because its Tallahassee headquarters isn’t in a high-impact or evacuation zone, a spokeswoman emailed. “We assist at the Emergency Operations Center manning [Emergency Support Function No. 12], which relates to energy. During and following the storm we provide hourly updates on the status of statewide electric outages. Our electric IOUs are ready to immediately address storm impacts.” The Georgia PSC “will have two staff members in the State Operations Center who will receive information on outages from the utilities, and then pass that on the SOC,” a commission spokesman emailed. Utilities also will have personnel in the SOC, he said. The agency will be open Friday since its Atlanta office is 300 miles from the coast and not expected to be affected by the hurricane, but main offices will be closed over the long weekend, he said. The South Carolina PSC, also located inland in Columbus, closed Wednesday “until further notice” under executive order by Gov. Nikki Haley (R), said its website. The FCC said Wednesday its operations center will be open all weekend for the storm (see 1610050062). Broadcasters should prepare, too, an industry lawyer blogged (see 1610060013).

The FCC “will be available to address emergency communications needs twenty-four hours a day throughout the weekend, especially relating to the effects that Hurricane Matthew may have on the Southeastern United States,” the agency said in a public notice Wednesday. Emergency communications providers needing assistance should phone or email the FCC Operations Center, it said.

AT&T fiber expansion seems timed to support DirecTV Now, the telco’s over-the-top streaming TV service launching later this year, wrote Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche in a Wednesday note to investors. AT&T plans to bring 1 Gbps fiber service to 11 new metropolitan areas as part of a new umbrella brand, AT&T Fiber, the company said in a Tuesday news release. They are: Gainesville and Panama City, Florida; Columbus, Georgia; Central Kentucky; Lafayette, Louisiana; Biloxi-Gulfport and northeast Mississippi; Wilmington, North Carolina; Knoxville and southeastern Tennessee; and Corpus Christi, Texas. Including the new markets, AT&T plans to launch in 45 metro areas by the end of this year, it said. For AT&T, “the critical part of the bundle is wireless (where it has over 100MM subs) and the broadband pipe to the home (where users can use OTT video services),” wrote Fritzsche. “Ahead of the launch of these plans, there is a real incentive to illustrate to potential customers its commitment to spending on the broadband pipe.” Capturing the wireless and broadband user with one offering would mean stickier revenue for the company, she said.

Privacy rules for health apps and wearable devices are complicated and continually evolving, said panelists at a Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology event Wednesday. For instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's privacy and security rules apply only to health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and healthcare providers who electronically transmit health information, said Deven McGraw, Department of Health and Human Services deputy director-health information privacy. Health wearable makers may or may not be covered depending on whether they're working for a health plan or provider in whole or in part, she said. An app funded by a plan or provider may be covered, but it may not if bought by an individual, she said. The Future of Privacy Forum (see 1608170013) and Center for Democracy and Technology (see 1606100029 and 1606200027) issued best practices to help app developers and wearable manufacturers consider privacy implications and implement safeguards. Michelle De Mooy, deputy director for CDT's privacy and data project, said legal frameworks and policies are rapidly becoming outdated as individuals are being tracked ubiquitously by sensors. She cited issues with advertising and algorithmic bias, and said the concept of "dignity," which straddles privacy and ethics, should come into play by considering an individual's expectations. FTC attorney Cora Han said the agency's enforcement authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act overlaps with areas HIPAA covers but doesn't reach nonprofit entities and other areas. She cited a recent example of the agency's enforcement with electronic health record company Practice Fusion over publicly posting patient's sensitive personal and medical information on the internet without telling the individual (see 1606080010).