The Senate Commerce Committee appears to have the bipartisan support needed to advance two pieces of children’s privacy legislation at markup Wednesday (see 2207140051), Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and bill sponsors told us Thursday.
Crisis call centers around the nation are seeing increases in traffic since the official launch of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (see 2207150036), with steeper growth expected to follow. Some crisis centers said the promotion of 988 for any mental health crisis intervention and not just suicide prevention will likely be a big driver of increased communications volumes over time.
Experts told the FCC’s Precision Ag Connectivity Task Force Thursday the agriculture industry has lots to gain from the $48 billion in connectivity money that will be awarded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), but rural interests must ensure rural areas get their share of the funding. The working groups are still working on various papers, to be finalized at a December meeting.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr raised concerns Thursday about coordination among federal agencies regarding NTIA’s $42.5 billion broadband, equity, access and deployment program and about overbuilding through the program. “We’re going to take areas that have service today and we’re going to put federal dollars on top of private dollars rather than actually connecting people,” Carr said during an American Enterprise Institute event.
Deep fakes, and sorting through what is real and fake on the internet, are a growing problem, unlikely to get better without a concerted focus by industry and the government, said speakers during a Software & Information Industry Association and Center for Democracy and Technology conference Wednesday.
The record is clear that performance measurements proposed in a Further NPRM on wireless emergency alerts are “incompatible with the existing WEA system and could raise privacy concerns,” CTIA said in reply comments. Comments were posted Wednesday in docket 15-91 on the April FNPRM (see 2204190053). In initial comments, APCO and the National Weather Service asked the agency to impose reporting requirements on carriers (see 2206220033).
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and other lawmakers emphasized the importance of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's role in implementing pending “Chips+” U.S. semiconductor manufacturing incentives and a U.S. competitiveness package, during a Wednesday confirmation hearing for OSTP director nominee Arati Prabhakar. The substitute measure that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed Tuesday as an amendment to shell bill HR-4346, would supplant conference committee negotiations to marry elements of the dueling America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260).
SAN DIEGO -- State utility regulators passed a resolution meant to increase affordable connectivity program (ACP) enrollment. The NARUC board adopted the resolution Wednesday after it cleared the Telecom Committee in a unanimous vote Tuesday at the association’s summer meeting. Intensifying economic factors make programs like ACP critical, said committee Chairman Tremaine Phillips in an interview.
The House Commerce Committee voted 53-2 Wednesday to advance bipartisan, bicameral privacy legislation to the floor (see 2207190040). Some California Democrats criticized the strength of the bill, saying they may not support the measure on the floor. Some questioned whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will bring the legislation up.
The Universal Service Fund should be revised and the FCC should consider requiring contributions from tech companies, said a bipartisan group of current and former commissioners on a virtual panel Wednesday hosted by the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council. The group, including former Chairs William Kennard and Richard Wiley, also discussed the lack of an FCC majority, the digital divide and media ownership.