The FCC on Thursday approved 3-2 a three-year, $200 million cybersecurity pilot program for schools and libraries. Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissented, as some had predicted (see 2406040039). The two cited concerns with the FCC using E-rate program funds for the effort. Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez indicated changes were inserted into the pilot rules at their request.
FCC commissioners unanimously approved an NPRM Thursday proposing specific reporting requirements on the nation's largest broadband providers regarding their border gateway protocol (BGP) security practices. "What was meant to be a short-term solution developed on the sidelines of an internet engineering conference is still with us today," Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said during the commissioners' open meeting. "While BGP has allowed network operators to grow and evolve the modern internet, it was not designed with explicit security features to ensure trust in exchanged information," Rosenworcel said. Also adopted was an NPRM proposing an update of the commission's letter of credit (LOC) rules for its USF high-cost programs serving rural communities and an NPRM changing low-power TV station rules.
An FCC proposal that requires disclosing AI-generated content in political ads seems aimed at having rules ready for the 2024 presidential election, statements Thursday from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and agency spokespeople indicate. However, broadcast insiders told us there probably isn’t enough time for that to happen without causing severe disruption. The FCC is proposing an update of the political file rules “to meet the moment we are in,” Rosenworcel said during a news conference. Her statement was in response to a question about whether the rules would be in effect on Election Day. Rosenworcel didn't explicitly say the item was intended for the 2024 election, though. “She has been clear that the time to act on public disclosure of AI use is now,” an agency spokesperson said in an email after being asked to clarify the planned timing of the proposal.
Dahua Technology fired back at IPVM as the two continue fighting about Dahua USA’s request for confidentially on its compliance plan with FCC supply chain security rules (see 2405310033). “IPVM’s latest filings continue the organization’s pattern of presenting misrepresentations, baseless speculation, and outright falsehoods about Dahua USA to the Commission as fact,” a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-232 said: The FCC should “disregard IPVM’s irrelevant and inaccurate claims.”
AT&T experienced an outage Tuesday that affected some wireless connections with other carriers, the company acknowledged on X. “Sorry for the inconvenience,” AT&T tweeted late Tuesday: “There is a known issue affecting calls between carriers. Industry providers are working as quickly as possible to diagnose and resolve the issue.” The FCC is “aware of reports that consumers in multiple states are unable to make wireless calls and we are currently investigating,” the agency said. 911 calls weren't affected. An interoperability issue between carriers “has been resolved,” an AT&T spokesperson wrote Wednesday in an email. “We collaborated … to find a solution and appreciate our customers' patience during this period.” AT&T customers experienced a nationwide wireless outage Feb. 22 (see 2402220058).
Shure executives updated the FCC on the needs of wireless mic users in a series of meetings, a filing posted Tuesday in docket 12-268 said. “We discussed the increasing demand for wireless microphone audio technologies … for professional users in the American music, theater, sports, broadcasting and film industries, among other sectors that rely on high-quality professional wireless microphone operations,” Shure said. The company is focused on developing spectrum-efficient technologies for all bands and sharing strategies for frequencies above 1 GHz, the filing said. Shure noted that the 1.2 GHz band is used for wireless mics in other countries, including Japan and France. Company execs met with staff from the Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau and aides to Commissioners Anna Gomez, Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks.
The FCC Wireline Bureau modified the effective date to July 1 on its approval of the National Exchange Carrier Association's proposed average-schedule interstate settlement disbursements. An announcement was contained in an order Wednesday in docket 23-415 (see 2405100062). A previous order set the effective date as July 2.
The Universal Service Administrative Co.'s investigations of Essential Network Technologies and MetComm.Net and their eligibility to receive universal service fund reimbursements are "now complete," FCC counsel James Carr wrote the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit Tuesday (docket 24-1027). USAC has begun to notify the companies and the schools they serve “of any downward adjustments in universal service funding stemming from USAC’s findings in the investigations,” said Carr. USAC expects to complete this notification process within the next month, he said. The two companies petitioned the D.C. Circuit in February to order USAC to release the reimbursements they said they were due for IT and broadband services that they provided to schools under Section 254 of the Communications Act (see 2402200044). The FCC said in late April that USAC’s investigations stemmed from evidence that the companies and the schools they served “may have had a prohibited pre-existing relationship” before the schools awarded the companies their business (see 2404250028). Carr’s letter to the D.C. Circuit didn’t delve into USAC’s findings from those investigations.
The FCC has an “affirmative legal obligation” under Sections 552 and 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act “to make its proposed and final rules readily available to the public without charge,” despite the process known as incorporation by reference (IBR), said iFixit, Public Resource and Make Community in their reply brief Tuesday (docket 23-1311) at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Congressional leaders haven't reached a consensus on how to resurrect the FCC's expired affordable connectivity program. In interviews this week, lawmakers pointed to a range of options, including an expected third attempt at a Senate Commerce Committee markup next week (see [2405310070]) of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207). The FCC formally shuttered ACP Friday after supporters on Capitol Hill failed numerous times at allocating stopgap funding (see 2403280001).