FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is stepping down after eight years

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is stepping down from his role after eight years at the US telecoms regulator.

Pai was appointed to the FCC as commissioner in 2012 by President Obama and was promoted to chairman in 2017 by President Trump. Pai has now served notice that he will be stepping down when President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20th.

“It has been the honour of a lifetime to serve at the Federal Communications Commission, including as Chairman of the FCC...

30 November 2020 | Legislation & Government

FCC moves to regulate social media after Trump’s executive order

The FCC has announced that it will move to regulate social media following President Trump’s executive order earlier this year.

Trump’s executive order followed fact-checking by Twitter which highlighted inaccuracies in his tweets. Despite the tweets remaining public, Trump argued that it amounted to censorship by Twitter.

Under the proposed changes, social media platforms could be sued for anything which could be deemed censorship such as fact-checking. This itself...

16 October 2020 | Legislation & Government

5G growth remains ‘healthy’ despite pandemic and economic downturn

Research suggests that a pandemic and resulting economic downturn hasn’t severely impacted 5G rollouts.

While 5G rollouts have slowed, they are continuing at a relatively decent pace.

Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas, said:

“The pace of new commercial 5G network launches has remained healthy through the challenging quarter, as mobile network operators continue to build 5G networks for the long-term.”

In Q2 2020, which covers the first...

24 September 2020 | LTE

Microsoft: Russia, China, and Iran have ‘stepped up’ cyberattacks

A new report from Microsoft shines a spotlight on powerful cyberattack campaigns which are currently targeting the US election.

The upcoming US presidential election was expected to be a prime candidate for interference. However, Microsoft notes that foreign activity groups have "stepped up their efforts” for this election.

Microsoft has discovered three key campaigns operating from three countries often linked with cyberattacks:

Strontium (Russian) –...

11 September 2020 | Legislation & Government

Chinese telecoms equipment removal will cost the US around $1.8bn

US telecoms regulator the FCC has estimated the removal of Chinese equipment will result in a fairly substantial bill.

On Friday, the FCC released a report (PDF) which highlighted that operators in the US have already applied for around $1.6 billion in reimbursement funds as part of the Secure and Trusted Communications Network Act of 2019.

However, Congress is yet to approve the much-needed funds to support the predominantly small operators.

Ajit Pai, Chairman...

9 September 2020 | Legislation & Government

FCC chairman used known bad data from ISP now facing a fine

FCC chairman Ajit Pai cited data from BarrierFree to boast of improved rural broadband access, despite warnings that it was overinflated.

The FCC has been on a mission to improve broadband access for rural Americans with the launch of the $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund last year.

On its website, the FCC highlights the scale of the issue:

“In urban areas, 97% of Americans have access to high-speed fixed service. In rural areas, that number falls...

7 September 2020 | Legislation & Government

Critics weigh in as Section 230 proposals threaten free speech

Critics have weighed in on proposals to change or scrap Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects online companies from being sued for what users share.

Section 230 was thrust into the limelight after President Trump claimed it’s being used to silence voices after some of his tweets were flagged as containing misinformation.

However, Section 230 consists of just 26 words and is designed to protect free speech:

“No provider or user of an...

3 September 2020 | Legislation & Government

FCC tells China Telecom it will share confidential docs with other agencies

The FCC has notified China Telecom that it will share documents the operator issued in confidentiality.

State-owned China Telecom has been authorised to operate in the US since 2001, but has found itself subject to increased scrutiny in recent months.

The US Justice Department and other federal agencies have recommended that the FCC revokes China Telecom's license due to concerns including "inaccurate public representations by China Telecom concerning its cybersecurity...

20 August 2020 | China Telecom

FBI claims Iran is using BIG-IP exploit to attack US private and government networks

The FBI has warned that Iranian hackers are using the BIG-IP exploit to attack US private and government networks.

In the security alert, the FBI did not name any specific group or campaign but ZDNet's sources told the publication "the group is tracked by the larger cyber-security community under codenames such as Fox Kitten or Parasite."

The alert suggests the hackers are taking advantage of the CVE-2020-5902 vulnerability discovered in...

11 August 2020 | Legislation & Government