press release

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment on Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information (the “Safeguards Rule”) as part of its systematic review of all FTC rules and guides. The Safeguards Rule, which took effect in 2003, requires financial institutions to develop, implement and maintain a comprehensive information security program for handling customer information.

The FTC seeks comments on a number of questions, including the economic impact and benefits of the Rule; possible conflict between the Rule and state, local or other federal laws or regulations; and the effect on the Rule of any technological, economic or other industry changes. The Commission vote approving the Federal Register Notice was 3-0. The notice will be published shortly and instructions for filing comments appear in the Notice. Comments must be received on or before November 7, 2016.

Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced the reappointment of three leading experts on public safety, wireless broadband communications, and state and local government to serve three-year terms on the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) Board. Secretary Pritzker reappointed three current Board members to another term:

• Jeff Johnson, FirstNet Vice Chair, former Fire Chief and CEO of the Western Fire Chiefs Association.
• Sue Swenson, FirstNet Chairwoman and CEO of Novatel Wireless.
• Teri Takai, senior advisor at the Center for Digital Government and former CIO for the states of Michigan and California.

In addition, Secretary Pritzker announced that Swenson would continue to serve as chairwoman of the FirstNet Board for another two-year term.

Next Century Cities announced the three winning cities of the inaugural Charles Benton Next Generation Engagement Awards: Raleigh (NC), Austin (TX), and Louisville (KY). The three cities were selected for proposing innovative programs that will use high-speed broadband to improve civic engagement and democratic participation.

The Benton Awards were given by Next Century Cities, a nonprofit membership organization of over 145 mayors and city leaders nationwide committed to ensuring access to fast, affordable, and reliable internet access for their citizens. The three municipal governments that won for harnessing high-speed internet to enhance civic engagement were each awarded $30,000 and will receive hands-on technical assistance for the next year to help drive their projects forward. In Raleigh, a team will develop InVision Raleigh, an immersive online tool that makes it easier for citizens to get involved in visioning and planning with local government. In Austin, a program called Smart Work, Learn, Play will engage public housing residents near two public transportation hubs to increase citizen access to and use of online public services. Finally, city officials in Louisville plan to wire an existing community center in West Louisville with gigabit connectivity, creating a Gigabit Experience Center which will serve as a hub for this underserved community, providing access to digital training, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement opportunities. The Benton Award is primarily supported by the Democracy Fund, with additional support from the Benton Foundation.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced his intention to appoint Paul de Sa as chief of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis. de Sa will be returning to a leadership position he held under former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

The Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis (“OSP”) – which includes economists, technologists, and lawyers – advises the Commissioners on policy initiatives, develops strategic plans, and helps identify the agency's policy objectives. It also provides research and analysis regarding emerging communications issues. From 2012 to 2016, de Sa was the senior analyst covering US telecommunications at Bernstein Research, where he published research on topics relevant for telecom and cable investors, including fixed and mobile broadband, spectrum, corporate strategy and competition.

de Sa was OSP chief from 2009 to 2012 and prior to that was a partner in McKinsey & Company’s Washington (DC) and Seoul offices, where he worked in the telecom/media, private equity and corporate finance practices. de Sa holds an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge, a doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford, was a John F. Kennedy Memorial Scholar at MIT, and researched technology policy as a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard.

de Sa will take over for Elizabeth Biley Andrion who has been serving as acting chief of OSP since January and plans to leave the Commission later this month. Jay Schwarz will continue as acting deputy chief.

The Federal Communications Commission took another step to facilitate the deployment of infrastructure critical to ensuring American leadership on next-generation wireless service, or 5G.

Building on previous infrastructure reforms, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau signed an agreement to eliminate historic preservation review for small facility deployments across the U.S. that do not adversely impact historic sites and locations. The agreement was signed with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO). The new exclusions lay the groundwork for 5G service by reducing the cost, time, and burden associated with deployment, and by providing opportunities to make existing networks denser at low cost and with very little impact. The agreement, which amends an earlier agreement among the same parties, expands exclusions from the federal review process for DAS and small cell deployments, fulfilling a directive in the October 2014 Infrastructure Report & Order to further streamline review of these installations.

The Federal Communications Commission took additional steps to ensure that inmate calling service rates are just, reasonable and fair for inmates and their families, and that jails, prisons and providers are fairly compensated for the costs of providing the service. The Order adopted by the Commission builds on its landmark inmate calling service reforms of 2013 and 2015 by responding to issues raised in the record of the proceeding since then. The FCC’s careful review showed that a modest increase in the rate caps set in 2015 is warranted. By covering the legitimate costs of jails and prisons, this adjustment will ensure continued availability and development of inmate calling services, while still resulting in significant savings for inmates and their families.

The rate caps adopted are, on average, significantly lower than the 2013 interim rate cap of 21 cents a minute that currently applies to interstate long-distance calls. The new caps will govern both in-state and interstate calling, reducing the price for most inmates of an average 15-minute call by nearly 35 percent. The FCC’s inmate calling rate cap functions as a ceiling, not a floor, and so does not prevent states where calling costs are lower from reducing rates further. The Order adjusts the FCC’s 2015 rate caps, which were blocked by a court stay pending appeal. Recognizing higher costs in small institutions, the new rates for debit/prepaid calls are as follows (2015 rate caps in parentheses):
State or federal prisons: 13 cents/minute (11 cents/minute)
Jails with 1,000 or more inmates: 19 cents/minute (14 cents/minute)
Jails with 350-999 inmates: 21 cents/minute (16 cents/minute)
Jails of up to 349 inmates: 31 cents/minute (22 cents/minute)

Rates for collect calls are slightly higher in the first year and will be phased down to these caps after a two-year transition period. Approximately 71 percent of inmates reside in state or federal prisons, and approximately 85 percent of inmates reside in institutions with populations exceeding 1,000.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted an order to make permanent its program that provides communications equipment to low-income individuals who are deaf-blind. The Commission launched the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program (NDBEDP), also known as “iCanConnect,” as a pilot program in 2012. Since then, the program has provided up to $10 million annually to support programs that distribute communications equipment, helping Americans with hearing and vision loss to connect with family and friends and become more independent. Through iCanConnect, consumers who are deaf-blind and who meet income guidelines can receive free equipment designed to make telecommunications, Internet access, and advanced communications services accessible. Installation, training, and other technical support are also available. To date, thousands of Americans with hearing and vision loss have benefitted from the pilot program. Breaking down accessibility barriers for this population has afforded Americans with combined hearing and vision loss a means to enhance social interaction, acquire information, and obtain skills and training to become gainfully employed.

The action, in the form of a Report and Order, uses the lessons learned over the past four years of the pilot program to adopt rules that will ensure a seamless transition to a permanent program that is efficient and effective. First, the rules maintain the program structure used in the pilot program, by which the Commission certifies one entity per state or territory to distribute equipment and provide related services. These certified entities may carry out these responsibilities either on their own or through collaborative arrangements. In addition, as was previously the case in the pilot program, a single entity can apply for certification to serve the residents of multiple states. The new rules also maintain existing certification criteria, which include expertise in the field of deaf-blindness, the ability to communicate effectively with individuals who are deaf-blind, adequate staffing and facilities, and experience with the distribution and use of communications equipment. Additionally, for the permanent program, the Commission will begin considering an entity’s administrative and financial management experience as a criteria for certification.

The Federal Communications Commission took several steps to implement new rules to ensure that people with hearing loss have full access to innovative wireless devices. The action taken has several parts, all of which will modernize existing hearing aid compatibility rules while maintaining the balance between fostering accessibility and promoting innovation and investment. With this Report and Order, the Commission amends the hearing aid compatibility requirements that are generally applicable to wireless service providers and manufacturers of digital wireless handsets.

Specifically, the Commission increases the number of hearing aid compatible handsets that service providers and manufacturers are required to offer by setting two new percentage benchmarks:
66 percent of offered handset models must be compliant following a two-year transition
period for manufacturers, with additional compliance time for service providers, and
85 percent of offered handset models must be compliant following a five-year transition
period for manufacturers, with additional compliance time for service providers.

The new rules establish a more limited obligation for entities offering only four or five handsets.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Connect2Health Task Force launched the Mapping Broadband Health in America tool, a web-based mapping tool that will enable and inform more efficient, data-driven decision making at the intersection of broadband and health. By allowing users to ask and answer questions about broadband and health at the county and census block levels, the tool provides critical data that can help drive broadband health policies and connected health solutions for this critical space.

The mapping tool is an interactive experience, showing various aspects of connectivity and health for every state and county in the United States. Users can generate customized maps that display broadband access, adoption and speed data alongside various health measures (e.g., obesity, diabetes, disabilities and physician access) in urban and rural areas. These maps can be used by both public and private sectors and local communities to identify not only gaps, but also opportunities. Examples of some of the initial findings:

• The picture of health is vastly different in connected communities vs. digitally isolated communities.
• There is a significant gap between rural and urban counties.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau has reached a $200,000 settlement with TP-Link, resolving an investigation into certain Wi-Fi routers that were not in full compliance with Commission rules pertaining to power levels. As part of the settlement, TP-Link has agreed to adopt robust compliance measures to ensure that its existing and future Wi-Fi routers are in compliance. TP-Link has also agreed to work with the open-source community and Wi-Fi chipset manufacturers to enable consumers to install third-party firmware on their Wi-Fi routers.

In its investigation, the Enforcement Bureau found that TP-Link marketed several Wi-Fi router models in the US that included a user setting that violated Section 15.15(b) of the Commission’s rules by enabling the routers to operate at power levels that exceed their approved parameters on certain restricted Wi-Fi channels. To resolve the matter, TP-Link has taken measures to halt the sale of noncompliant units and ensure that new units are in compliance. TP-Link cooperated with the Bureau’s investigation and, as part of the consent decree, has agreed to pay a $200,000 fine and implement a compliance program to ensure future compliance with the Commission’s rules and regulations.