November 2012

Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski announced plans to convene a series of field hearings in the coming months to examine new challenges to the nation’s communications networks in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, and help inform recommendations and action to improve network resiliency.

The field hearings will focus on the unique challenges faced by communications service providers, state and local officials, emergency personnel, and consumers before, during and after Superstorm Sandy as well as other natural disasters. Beginning in early 2013, hearings will take place throughout the country in locations that have experienced major natural disasters, starting in New York. They will include businesses, public safety officials, engineering and academic experts, consumers and other stakeholders. The field hearings will inquire about a number of topics, based on the Commission’s current assessment of the U.S. communications infrastructure post-Superstorm Sandy.

These inquiry topics and related questions include, but are not limited to, the following areas.

• Sandy was an event for which communications providers had substantial advance notice.
• There were several instances where communications providers worked together to share resources to improve communications performance during Sandy.
• Our communications systems are increasingly reliant on electric power, both for the infrastructure and in homes and businesses: e.g., to power consumers’ mobile and home communications devices and equipment, communications companies’ central offices and cell sites, and broadcasters’ transmitters and studios.
• In addition to back-up power, transport connectivity between cell sites and other network nodes failed, resulting in disruptions to wireless communications.
• Emergency communications, particularly 9-1-1 communications networks, generally remained operational during Sandy.
• Communications services took days to recover after Sandy. This not only includes service availability, but service availability at full performance.
• Users of communications services appear to lack information about the performance of the services they pay for.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski proposed to greenlight Dish Network’s long-fought plan to create a wireless service that would compete with those of giants AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

The plan, which needs the approval of the agency’s four other commissioners, would achieve a key FCC goal of creating fresh competition to the lucrative wireless industry, which is starting to resemble a near duopoly. The proposal calls for an auction of airwaves that will be partly used as a communications network for emergency first-responders. That effort, if successful, would realize an 11-year government effort. “If approved, these actions will promote competition, investment and innovation, and advance commission efforts to unleash spectrum for mobile broadband to help meet skyrocketing consumer demand, while unlocking billions of dollars of value to the public,” FCC spokesman Neil Grace said. The FCC is expected to vote on the proposal before the end of the year.

Shortly before Election Day, a Stanford graduate student reported that the campaign Web sites of President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney were “leaking” personal information about their supporters through careless data handling. Had it been Facebook and Google, a federal investigation might have ensued, and the companies could have suffered significant public relations setbacks and perhaps fines. But the Federal Trade Commission, the government agency most focused on personal privacy, has no jurisdiction over campaigns or political groups. That is a small example of what privacy advocates say is a big problem with efforts to protect personal information in the United States: The politicians are not guarding the chicken coop. They are the foxes.

Government officials from around the world will descend on Dubai next month to revise a treaty that could have a major effect on the future of the Internet.

The 193 member countries of the United Nation's International Telecommunications Union (ITU) will meet in Dubai to update the International Telecommunications Regulations treaty for the first time since 1988. The treaty governs how telephone calls and other communications traffic are exchanged internationally. A lot is at stake in the upcoming negotiations: Observers say some of the proposals put forward by countries for the treaty conference could threaten Internet freedom, encourage online censorship and expand a United Nations agency's authority over the Internet. The treaty negotiations run by the ITU will take place in Dubai over a two-week period from Dec. 3 to Dec. 14.

Ambassador Terry Kramer, a former Vodafone executive, will lead the 95-person U.S. delegation during the conference. Members of the U.S. delegation include a mix of Obama administration officials and industry representatives from Google, Verizon, AT&T, Cisco, Microsoft and Facebook. Advocacy groups and trade organizations also have representatives on the delegation. In the run up to the Dubai conference, Kramer has made clear in a series of public appearances that the U.S. is committed to maintaining liberalized markets in the telecom industry and upholding human rights and free speech principles during the treaty negotiations.