July 2015

The transition to efficient, modern communications networks is bringing new and innovative services to consumers and businesses. The Federal Communications Commission’s approach to these technology transitions is simple: the shift to next-generation fiber and IP-based networks from analog switch- and copper-based networks is good and should be encouraged. But advances in technology will never justify abandonment of the core values that define the relationship between Americans and the networks they use to communicate. After an open, rigorous process, I will be circulating to my fellow Commissioners an item that would update the FCC’s rules to help deliver the promise of dynamic new networks, provide clear rules of the road for network operators, and preserve our core values, including protecting consumers and promoting competition and public safety.

Our new proposed rules would require providers of IP-based phone services to offer consumers the option to buy backup power. And I would stress the word option. It would be up to consumers to make the best choice for themselves. But to ensure that consumers understand their options, providers would be required to inform customers about service limitations from electricity outages and how to minimize those risks through backup power. We propose requiring that consumers be notified before the copper networks that serve their homes and businesses are retired. The item would require that replacement services be offered to competitive providers at rates, terms and conditions that are reasonably comparable to those of the legacy networks. This would be an interim solution pending the completion of a broader wholesale access proceeding. Bottom line: there has been competition for wholesale services before the technology transitions, and there will be competition in this market after these transitions. Again, we want to facilitate the transition to IP networks, which is why, consistent with longstanding policy, the proposed rules would NOT require FCC approval before carriers retire copper networks, as long as no service is discontinued, reduced or impaired.

[Commentary] The Office of Personnel Managmenet breach exemplifies the cultural problem that besets the cybersecurity of the government and the private sector -- the failure to recognize that cybersecurity is a challenge that must be owned by the entire enterprise. Everyone -- CIO, CISO, CFO, COO, communications, human resources – must be part of plans and programs necessary for effective cybersecurity. It is a massive technology challenge that requires the best tools and talent. At the same time we are using the best available security tools, we must also address the culture issues that contribute to vulnerabilities or the technology cannot protect us. This culture reduces cybersecurity to “merely” a technical challenge.

No technologist can solve this problem -- everyone in an enterprise must own it. It is much harder to hold employees accountable when agencies invest so little time in training them. From inadequate annual refresher training to placing people in roles for which they have inadequate training, agencies are not providing their employees with they skills they need to do their parts. Given the potential harm that breaches can cause, more in-depth training, tailored to the employee’s role, is critical.

[Jeffrey Neal is the former personnel chief at the Department of Homeland Security and is now a senior vice president for ICF International]

The Senate has passed the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Modernization Act of 2015 (S 1180). The bill would expand and update IPAWS, which can deliver alerts to multiple platforms (TV, radio, cell phones, computers, home phones and electronic billboards), boost training and increase collaboration. It was co-sponsored by Sens Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

Congress has long been working on improving emergency alerts via the broadcast and cable Emergency Alert System (EAS), Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and FEMA's IPAWS system. There is also a House version of the bill. IPAWS allows emergency authorities to write their own messages, authenticates them and delivers them to the various platforms, including TV and radio stations and cable systems.

[Commentary] When it comes to race, there are so many lessons our nation has either failed to remember or willfully ignored. Over the past year, police brutality has drawn national media coverage following the killings of unarmed Black men, women and children. And the subsequent protests have also grabbed the press’ attention. But activists of color are troubled that so much of the reporting has framed protesters as criminals and failed to address the larger issues of systemic racism, such as the over-policing of communities of color.

However, a new generation of racial justice leaders -- from Black Lives Matter organizers to immigration-rights activists  --  is using the Internet and social media to challenge traditional media’s stereotypical coverage of their communities. At the same time, they’re urging the media to pay greater attention to Black women, Latinos and Native Americans, who have also been victims of police brutality but whose stories often go untold. And perhaps unexpectedly they’ve played a key role in policy debates over the future of the open Internet, safeguarding the structures that will be critical to any effort to challenge and change the media narrative on race -- so we’re not repeating the same stories 50 years from now in the ongoing fight for racial justice.

[Joseph Torres is the senior external affairs director for the public interest group Free Press]