press release

Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker submitted her exit memorandum to President Barack Obama highlighting the Department of Commerce’s major accomplishments that helped grow the US economy during the past eight years. Sec Pritzker’s “Open for Business” agenda focused the efforts of the Department’s 12 bureaus and 46,000 employees on five pillars – trade and investment; innovation; data; environment; and operational excellence – in order to achieve its single mission of helping to create the conditions for economic growth, job creation, and opportunity across the United States. Two specific areas of achievement denoted in the memorandum were strengthening the digital economy and trade enforcement.

Cybersecurity: In an economy increasingly vulnerable to cybersecurity threats, the Department plays a central role in the federal government’s policymaking focused on securing America’s data networks and systems. In 2014, the Department released the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. Created through unprecedented collaboration between private industry and government, the voluntary Framework consists of standards, guidelines, and practices that promote the protection of critical infrastructure networks. The Framework has become the gold standard for cyber-risk management and has gained widespread acceptance.

The Federal Trade Commission announced that it is challenging the public to create an innovative tool that will help protect consumers from security vulnerabilities in the software of home devices connected to the Internet of Things. The agency is offering a cash prize of up to $25,000 for the best technical solution, with up to $3,000 available for up to three honorable mention winner(s). The FTC is asking IoT Home Inspector Challenge contestants to develop a tool that would address security vulnerabilities caused by out-of-date software in IoT devices. An ideal tool might be a physical device that the consumer can add to his or her home network that would check and install updates for other IoT devices on that home network, or it might be an app or cloud-based service, or a dashboard or other user interface. Contestants also have the option of adding features such as those that would address hard-coded, factory default or easy-to-guess passwords. Submissions will be accepted as early as March 1, 2017 and are due May 22, 2017 at 12:00 p.m. EDT. Winners will be announced on or about July 27, 2017.

Dec 22, the Federal Communications Commission adopted the following item: Terrestrial Use of the 2473-2495 MHz Band for Low-Power Mobile Broadband Networks; Amendments to Rules for the Ancillary Terrestrial Component of Mobile Satellite Service Systems, IB Docket No. 13-213, Report and Order.

The Federal Communications Commission announced that Total Call Mobile will pay $30 million to resolve fraud investigations by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York into allegations that the company enrolled tens of thousands of duplicate and ineligible consumers into the Lifeline program.

As a condition of the settlement, Total Call admits to engaging in “fraudulent practices” and will permanently lose its authorizations to participate in the Lifeline program anywhere in the country. The $30 million settlement includes a repayment to the Universal Service Fund and a penalty paid to the US Treasury. In addition to the monetary payment, Total Call admits that it violated the Commission’s Lifeline program rules, and agrees to relinquish its FCC and state authorizations to participate in the Lifeline program

The defendants who operated a Florida-based tech support scheme that the Federal Trade Commission and State of Florida charged deceived thousands of consumers, will pay $10 million for consumer redress to settle the action. According to the complaint, defendant Inbound Call Experts, doing business as Advanced Tech Support along with other defendants, used high-pressure sales pitches to telemarket tech support products and services falsely claiming to find viruses and malware on consumers’ computers. The stipulated final court order prohibits the defendants from misrepresenting that they have identified performance or security issues on consumers’ computers and from making any other misrepresentations while selling a product or service.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Public Safety Communications Research Division (PSCR) has announced a $30 million grant funding opportunity to accelerate research, development, production, and testing of key broadband technologies and capabilities for first responders.

According to the funding opportunity announcement, eligible applicants include institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations, for-profit organizations, state and local governments, Indian tribes, hospitals, foreign public entities, and foreign governments. Applications must be submitted to Grant.gov by February 28, 2017.

Rep Greg Walden (R-OR), incoming Chairman of the House Commerce Committee, continued staff announcements for the 115th Congress. Chairman Walden announced earlier in Dec that Mike Bloomquist, Karen Christian, Peter Kielty, and Paul Edattel will continue to serve the committee.
Today’s staff announcements include:

Jen Barblan, Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations: Barblan will serve as Chief Counsel for the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations. She has served as a counsel to the subcommittee since October 2015. Barblan previously spent time as a Senior Counsel at the Committee on Oversight & Government Reform and in private practice.

Paul Edattel, Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Health: As previously announced, Edattel will continue to serve as Chief Counsel to the Subcommittee on Health. Edattel started with the committee in 2011 and has served as Chief Health Counsel since 2016, after serving Speaker John Boehner as his Health Policy Advisor. Edattel also served as a Legislative Director in the House of Representatives before joining the committee.

David Redl, Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology: Redl will continue serving as Chief Counsel for the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. He has served in that role since 2013, previously serving the committee as Counsel from 2011 to 2013. Prior to joining the committee, Redl held several positions in the private sector.

Turn Inc, a Redwood City (CA) company that enables sellers to target digital advertisements to consumers, has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers by tracking them online and through their mobile applications, even after consumers took steps to opt out of such tracking. “Turn tracked millions of consumers online and through mobile apps even if they had taken steps to block or limit tracking,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC’s order will ensure the company honors consumers’ privacy choices.”

According to the FTC’s administrative complaint, Turn’s privacy policy represented that consumers could block targeted advertising by using their web browser’s settings to block or limit cookies. In fact, the complaint alleges that Turn used unique identifiers to track millions of Verizon Wireless customers, even after they blocked or deleted cookies from websites. In addition, the agency charged that Turn’s opt-out mechanism only applied to mobile browsers, and did not block tailored ads on mobile applications as the company claimed.

The Department of Justice announced that it will require AMC Entertainment Holdings to divest theatres in 15 local markets, sell off most of its holdings and relinquish all of its governance rights in National Cinemedia LLC (NCM), and transfer 24 theatres with a total of 384 screens to the network of Screenvision LLC in order to complete its $1.2 billion acquisition of Carmike Cinemas Inc. The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to block the proposed acquisition. At the same time, the department filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the competitive harm alleged in the lawsuit. The department said that without the required divestitures and other relief, the merger would result in higher prices and lower quality theatre amenities for moviegoers and weakened competition in the markets for preshow services and theatre advertising, where Screenvision is NCM’s only meaningful rival.

Dec 20, AT&T launches AT&T Call Protect. The free network-based service gives eligible AT&T wireless customers with HD Voice more control over unwanted calls on their smartphones. This innovative solution harnesses the power of the AT&T network to give customers automatic fraud blocking and suspected spam call warnings. You can extend this innovative network-based service and get more optional features, including temporary call blocking, by downloading the complementary AT&T Call Protect mobile companion app. Simply add the feature through your myAT&T account or the AT&T Call Protect app and get these benefits:

Automatic fraud blocking which helps reduce the chances that a customer will become the victim of a phone fraud or scam by stopping these types of calls in the network before they even reach the phone.
Suspected spam warnings on the incoming call screen which let customers choose whether or not to answer calls that originate from a suspected spam source. (Must be in HD Voice coverage area).