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February 2017

FCC Announces Tentative Agenda for February 2017 Open Meeting

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the February Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, February 23, 2017:

Universal Service Reform – Mobility Fund; Connect America Fund – The Commission will consider a Report and Order adopting rules to provide ongoing support targeted to preserve and advance high-speed mobile broadband and voice service in high-cost areas that the marketplace does not otherwise serve. (WT Docket No. 10-208, WC Docket No. 10-90)
Connect America Fund, ETC Annual Reports and Certifications – The Commission will consider a Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration that (1) resolves a number of issues raised in the Phase II Auction Order FNPRM, including the adoption of weights to compare bids among service performance and latency tiers, and (2) considers several petitions for reconsideration for decisions made in the Phase II Auction Order. (WC Docket Nos. 10-90, 14- 58)
Authorizing Permissive Use of the ‘Next Generation’ Broadcast Television Standard – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to let television broadcasters use the “Next Generation” broadcast television transmission standard associated with recent work of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC 3.0) on a voluntary, market-driven basis. (GN Docket No. 16-142)
Revitalization of the AM Radio Service – The Commission will consider a Second Report and Order that would relax the siting rule for an FM fill-in translator rebroadcasting an AM broadcast station. (MB Docket No. 13-249)
Small Business Exemption From Open Internet Enhanced Reporting Requirements – The Commission will consider an Order granting a five-year waiver to broadband Internet access service providers with 250,000 or fewer broadband connections from the enhanced reporting requirements adopted in the 2015 Title II Order. (GN Docket No. 14-28)
Comprehensive Review of the Part 32 Uniform System of Accounts – The Commission will consider a Report and Order that would streamline and eliminate outdated accounting rules no longer needed to fulfill the Commission’s statutory or regulatory duties. (WC Docket No. 14- 130)

The Assault on Freedom of Speech Has Begun at the Border

Last August Free Press wrote about a new rule that allows Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) greater leeway to check the social media accounts of certain visitors as they enter the United States. The rule added a section on social media information to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) for visitors traveling from countries that don’t necessarily require a visa to visit the United States. In the wake of President Trump’s ban, new Homeland Security Secretary Gen Kelly stated that “extreme vetting” of immigrants and visitors may now include an examination of their phone contacts, web histories and social media profiles before they’re allowed to enter the United States.

At Free Press we’re aware that aggressive policing and surveillance tools like stingrays, dragnet phone-records collection, and facial recognition are first deployed against marginalized or immigrant communities prior to their inevitable use on the American public at large. It’s a huge problem for people of color in particular, and for civil liberties across the board, when so-called “targeted” surveillance is nothing but an unlawful fishing expedition to collect data on millions of people’s movements, associates, political views and religious beliefs.

Now more than ever, don't neglect America's cyber infrastructure

[Commentary] With distance from the 2016 presidential and Congressional races, we are beginning to gain perspective on the challenges that lie ahead, including the cybersecurity of our nation’s critical infrastructure. We propose three actions that address the critical cyber vulnerabilities our nation faces:
1) Honestly evaluate our strengths and weaknesses
2) Empower the private sector
3) Facilitate continuous information-sharing
Like Eisenhower’s push to create the interstate highway system, which both fueled innovation and provided new national security capabilities, today’s cyberspace underpins everything from our nation’s energy transmission and national defense, to our individual citizens’ financial and physical wellbeing. In a world where organized crime and adversarial nation-states may have all-too-easy access to our nuclear plants or our patients’ pacemakers, we must foster the public/private partnerships that keep America one step ahead.

[Robert Lord is a fellow at the Institute of Critical Infrastructure Technology, a next-generation cybersecurity think tank. David Mussington is a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and is also the Director, Center for Public Policy and Private Enterprise, University of Maryland.]

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