Utilities Technology Council President Joy Ditto met with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on the group’s concerns over interference in the 6 GHz band, tied to the mid-band proceeding, and other issues important to electric utilities. “For their wireless networks, utilities need access to additional spectrum to expand capacity and coverage, and they also need protection from interference and congestion in existing spectrum bands,” the group said in a filing in docket 17-183. The 6 GHz band is “home to thousands of fixed microwave systems, which utilities, public safety and other critical infrastructure industries, including railroads use for a variety of mission critical communications that protect the safety of life, health and property.” UTC also said utilities need “sufficient notice from carriers prior to discontinuance or replacement of copper-based wireline networks and services” and to recover the full costs of pole attachments by third-party communications service providers.

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn hailed the FCC's first "Accessibility Innovations Expo" Monday. "What a terrific platform for showcasing the kind of innovative technologies that can transform the lives of people with disabilities," she said, according to prepared remarks. "The time is now to close the digital divide that too many with disabilities face. We must ensure that technologies are accessible and that anyone and everyone is able to enjoy and benefit from the innovation over the horizon." She also tweeted about the event.

The FCC should open an inquiry into Wi-Fi security and rogue access points, after news of the KRACK vulnerability (see 1710160043), network engineer Richard Bennett blogged, referring to key reinstallation attacks. Bennett said the commission should examine whether current anti-jamming policies -- dating to a 2014 order (see 1502170026) fining Marriott for jamming guest Wi-Fi hot spots -- make sense. "The means employed also have legitimate uses; such as removing the KRACK threat against Android devices," Bennett said Tuesday. Separately, the FTC issued a warning to smartphone, laptop or IoT users connecting to Wi-Fi that their information could be at risk, blogged FTC technologist Phoebe Rouge Thursday. Because the problem is with the WPA2 encryption standard that nearly all Wi-Fi devices on the market today use to secure communications, people connecting via Wi-Fi can't be certain their information will be safe, she said. While manufacturers are moving quickly to fix the problem with security updates and patches, the agency recommends consumers take precautions and use connections other than Wi-Fi until they're certain updates have been implemented. As a general rule, it advises consumers to keep up with software updates and avoid sending secure information over unencrypted websites.

AT&T mostly welcomed an FCC plan to relax international reporting duties, voicing concern route confidentiality would be compromised. A draft order to scrap carrier annual traffic and revenue reports (and streamline circuit capacity reports) is on the agenda for the Oct. 24 commissioners' meeting (see 1710030059). "These burdensome rules are no longer relevant in today’s highly competitive international market, and ... more targeted methods would still allow the Commission to obtain information" as needed, said a filing Tuesday in docket 17-55 on a meeting with Office of General Counsel and International Bureau officials, including Chief Tom Sullivan. AT&T said it treats U.S. international route information as confidential, and agreements with foreign carriers usually do, too. "Public disclosure of this information, as proposed by the Draft Rule, would allow the identification of the specific routes served by each U.S. carrier via indirect termination arrangements," undermining "least cost routing" that pressures "high foreign terminations rates," said the filing. CTIA lauded the FCC plan to jettison annual reports for mobile carriers, said a filing on meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and three other commissioners. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon officials also attended.

The FCC provided an update on a key Nov. 9 meeting of its Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, in a notice set for Tuesday's Federal Register. Industry officials predicted the FCC will start to address infrastructure rules following release of the initial reports (see 1707180039). “BDAC will consider initial recommendations from its Model Code for Municipalities, Model Code for States, Competitive Access to Broadband Infrastructure, and Removing State and Local Regulatory Barriers Working Groups,” the notice said. “The BDAC will also consider and discuss an initial report from its Streamlining Federal Siting Working Group.” The meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. at FCC headquarters.

Comments are due Nov. 13 and replies Dec. 12 on FCC toll-free number auction proposals, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Friday in docket 17-192. The PN said an NPRM summary was published in the Federal Register. The NPRM also proposed to set aside some numbers for public purposes (see 1709260040).

Akamai will acquire privately held Nominum, which develops and offers domain name server-based services, in an all-cash deal expected to close this quarter, the buyer announced Wednesday. Akamai said the acquisition will enable it to provide better cybersecurity offerings for carriers and other companies.

Companies should develop effective, secure and "responsible" encryption, which means giving law enforcement access to such data on consumer devices, said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in prepared remarks Tuesday at the U.S. Naval Academy. He said engaging with major U.S. tech companies hasn't worked, but those companies have accommodated foreign governments. "Responsible encryption can protect privacy and promote security without forfeiting access for legitimate law enforcement needs supported by judicial approval," said Rosenstein, adding the companies won't develop it if left up to themselves. He previously has spoken about encryption (see 1706160029), including a Wednesday speech about the problem of "warrant-proof encryption," at the Cambridge Cyber Summit in Boston. At the Naval Academy, he again warned about "growing dark," a term often used by then-FBI Director James Comey to describe law enforcement's inability to access encrypted data needed during criminal investigations (see 1705030055, 1608150061 and 1603040023). The deputy AG said responsible encryption is "achievable ... examples include central management of security keys and operating system updates; the scanning of content, like your emails, for advertising purposes; the simulcast of messages to multiple destinations at once; and key recovery when a user forgets the password to decrypt a laptop." Those functions aren't referred to as a back door, but often marketed and sought by many users, he said. The proposal that providers retain an ability to ensure that "evidence of crime can be accessed when appropriate," isn't unprecedented, he said, and every company doesn't have to implement the same technology, whether it's a chip, algorithm or key management technique or escrow. Rosenstein said there's "no constitutional right to sell warrant-proof encryption."

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai cited heartening and challenging hurricane-response lessons that he plans to incorporate into agency actions to bolster public safety communications. A spike in emergency calls put "tremendous strain" on Florida's Miami-Dade County's first-responder system as power outages affected home phone service and internet access, he blogged Wednesday, citing recent travels to storm-affected and other areas (see 1710050056). Pai said "ripple effects" included people turning to radio "as a reliable source of information" -- and to social media, which is a "double-edge sword": providing new sources of information but creating problems for first responders in monitoring, verifying and using related information. He said 911 "is still the best way" to get emergency assistance, with more study needed on how to use social media without hampering "efforts to improve location accuracy and promote next-generation 911." Florida first responders said better coordination was needed between power companies and telecom companies, Pai said, but he was encouraged by "inter-jurisdictional collaboration" on visits to 911 call centers in Indiana, Missouri and Kansas. Among other challenges are the need to increase location accuracy for mobile 911 calls; "the huge number of misdialed 911 calls," including inadvertent "pocket calls," that tie up dispatchers; and call-center staff attrition.

Free State Foundation President Randolph May said he met with FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr on the group’s recommended changes to net neutrality rules. Broadband internet access services are Title I “information services” and not Title II “telecommunications services … under the text and structure of the Communications Act,” FSF said in docket 17-108 Monday. “Therefore, the FCC does not possess authority to regulate broadband [ISPs] as common carriers and impose harmful public utility regulation.” FSF said the FCC “lacks authority” under Section 706 “to regulate broadband ISPs’ practices.”