Today:  US Senate Hearing on Consumer Data Privacy, FCC Seeks Comment on Vertical Accuracy Metric for E911, Colorado Allocates CPAP Funds for NG911  

US Senate Hearing on Consumer Data Privacy

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, announced that the Committee will convene a hearing titled “Examining Safeguards for Consumer Data Privacy,” on September 26, 2018.  The hearing will examine privacy policies of top technology and communications firms, review the current state of consumer data privacy, and offer members the opportunity to discuss possible approaches to safeguarding privacy more effectively.  “Consumers deserve clear answers and standards on data privacy protection,” said Thune. “This hearing will provide leading technology companies and internet service providers an opportunity to explain their approaches to privacy, how they plan to address new requirements from the European Union and California, and what Congress can do to promote clear privacy expectations without hurting innovation.”

Witnesses include representatives from AT&T Inc., Amazon.com, Inc., Google LLC, Twitter, Inc., Apple Inc., and Charter Communications, Inc.

FCC Seeks Comment on Vertical Accuracy Metric for E911

The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) seeks comment on the vertical accuracy (z-axis) test bed report (Report), submitted by CTIA on behalf of the nationwide wireless carriers (AT&T Mobility, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon) (the Carriers), and on the Carriers’ proposal for a z-axis accuracy metric submitted with the Report.  The Carriers submitted the Report and their z-axis proposal to the FCC on August 3, 2018, pursuant to the FCC’s 2015 Wireless E911 Location Accuracy Fourth Report & Order, which required the Carriers to establish a test bed process to develop a proposed z-axis accuracy metric and to submit the proposed metric to the FCC for approval.  Comments are due October 1, 2018, with reply comments due October 11, 2018. 

Colorado Allocates CPAP Funds for NG911

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued an Order opening a new proceeding to allocate funds from the Colorado Performance Assurance Plan (CPAP) Tier 2 fund to meet the state matching fund requirement as part of the 2018 Federal 911 Grant Program.  The Order states that a commitment of state matching funds at the 40% level is necessary for Colorado’s grant application to be eligible for full funding of its share of the $115 million made available nationwide through the 911 Grant Program.  CPAP Tier 2 funds are to be used by Colorado 911 Governing Bodies/Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) only for 911 Grant Program eligible expenses and no other purposes.

In this proceeding the PUC will determine whether to allocate $1 million from the CPAP Tier 2 Fund for use as matching funds to obtain matching federal 911 Grant Program funding for  Colorado.  The PUC allocated $1 million from the CPAP Tier 2 fund to use as matching funds as part of the application for federal 911 Grant program matching funding for Colorado. 

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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.