Today: FTC 2018 Do Not Call Registry Data and Mini Site. FCC Mobility Fund Mapping Investigation, US House Cybersecurity Report

FTC 2018 Do Not Call Registry Data and Mini Site

The FTC has issued the National Do Not Call Registry Data Book for Fiscal Year 2018. The FTC’s National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry lets consumers choose not to receive most legal telemarketing calls.  The data show that the number of active registrations on the DNC Registry has increased significantly over the past year, while the total number of consumer complaints decreased for the first time in five years.  

• FY 2018 Registration and Complaint Data - According to the Data Book, at the end of FY 2018, the DNC Registry contained 235,302,818 actively registered phone numbers, up from 229,816,164 at the end of FY 2017. The number of consumer complaints about unwanted telemarketing calls significantly decreased, from 7,157,337 in FY 2017 to 5,780,172 in FY 2018.
• Significant Changes in the FY 2018 Data -This year, consumers most frequently reported robocalls about the following complaint topics: 1) reducing debt, 2) medical and prescriptions, and 3) imposter scams. While reducing debt remains the top robocall topic, robocalls about vacations and timeshares, and warranties and protection plans, dropped out of the top three complaint topics.

FCC Mobility Fund Mapping Investigation

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the FCC has launched an investigation into whether one or more major carriers violated the Mobility Fund Phase II (MF-II) reverse auction’s mapping rules and submitted incorrect coverage maps. The investigation comes after a preliminary review of the 20,809,503 speed tests filed with the agency in connection with the MF-II challenge process.  The FCC has suspended the next step of the challenge process—the opening of a response window—pending the conclusion of this investigation.

Pai issued a statement saying: “My top priority is bridging the digital divide and ensuring that Americans have access to digital opportunity regardless of where they live, and the FCC’s Mobility Fund Phase II program can play a key role in extending high-speed Internet access to rural areas across America.  In order to reach those areas, it’s critical that we know where access is and where it is not. A preliminary review of speed test data submitted through the challenge process suggested significant violations of the Commission’s rules. That’s why I’ve ordered an investigation into these matters. We must ensure that the data is accurate before we can proceed.”

Commissioner Carr also issued a statement about the investigation saying, in part: “Chairman Pai’s decision to launch this investigation has my full support.  Earlier this year, I said I would monitor how the maps align with consumers’ real-world experiences. Now that the challenge process has closed, the data provided confirm that Chairman Pai has made the right call…It is deeply concerning that FCC staff’s preliminary analysis of the challenge data shows that one or more major carriers potentially violated the Commission’s MF-II mapping rules and submitted incorrect maps. Today’s announcement aligns with concerns I shared with Chairman Pai, and I look forward to working with him and our able staff to complete this investigation.”

US House Cybersecurity Report

The House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, chaired by Rep. Gregg Harper (R-MS), released a cumulative report identifying core strategies to addressing and preventing cybersecurity incidents.  The report summarizes the committee’s work and conclusions drawn from dozens of briefings, hearings, letters, reports, and roundtables, and provides six specific priorities for more effective protection against vulnerabilities:

• The widespread adoption of coordinated disclosure programs.
• The implementation of software bills of materials across connected technologies.
• The support and stability of the open-source software ecosystem.
• The health of the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program.
• The implementation of supported lifetimes strategies for technologies.
• The strengthening of the public-private partnership model.

The report concludes, “Each of the concepts and priorities detailed here represent a piece of the broader cybersecurity challenge. Pursuing any one concept-priority pair in isolation will undoubtedly improve society’s overall cybersecurity to some degree, but the Subcommittee’s work over the past several years has shown that each concept-priority pair feeds off and builds upon its fellows. Further, as highlighted throughout this report, the Subcommittee has not simply identified important, high-level areas for future action, but has already begun to act. The work products associated with each concept and priority represent the Subcommittee’s first steps towards implementing the policies it has identified.”

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.