[EAS] FCC Commission meeting: WEA order and further notice approved

[Ed Czarnecki]

Gary - here is a link to the actual WEA order, which was posted after the
Commission open meeting:
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2016/db0929/FCC-16-1
27A1.pdf

Ed

approved

Ed,
What's with consistent use of the word "would" below?
Isn't this an Order that "will" or "does" accomplish the things below?
Or was that just the language used in today's meeting before the Order was
actually adopted?
Gary

From: Ed Czarnecki <ed.czarnecki at monroe-electronics.com>

Today, the FCC approved the WEA item (order and further notice) scheduled at
today's FCC meeting.  The item was approved unanimously, except that
Commissioner O'Rielly dissented in part with quite realistic assessments on
current limitations on technology and cost burdens on industry..

Here's a summary as outlined by the staff (please forgive the all-caps, this
comes from the FCC reader service):

THIS ITEM AS ADOPTED WOULD LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES TO ENHANCE W.E.A.
AS A TOOL FOR STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS TO KEEP COMMUNITIES SAFE.

THE ORDER ADOPTS REQUIREMENTS TO IMPROVE W.E.A. MESSAGE CONTENT, DELIVERY,
TRAINING AND OUTREACH.

WITH RESPECT TO MESSAGE CONTENT, WE WOULD INCREASE THE MAXIMUM MESSAGE
LENGTH FROM 90 TO 360 CHARACTERS FOR 4G, LTE AND FUTURE NETWORKS.

IT WOULD SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF INFORMATION THAT ALERT
ORIGINATORS ARE ABLE TO TRANSMIT BY REQUIRING PARTICIPATING WIRELESS
CARRIERS TO SUPPORT EMBEDDED URLs AND PHONE NUMBERS IN ALL W.E.A. MESSAGES,
INCLUDING AMBER ALERTS, WITHIN ONE YEAR OF THE RULE'S PUBLICATION IN THE
FEDERAL REGISTER. THIS WOULD ENABLE THE PUBLIC TO VIEW A PHOTO OR TO PLACE A
CALL TO AUTHORITIES BY SIMPLY CLICKING ON A LINK IN A W.E.A. ALERT.

WE WOULD CREATE A NEW ALERT CLASSIFICATION FOR PUBLIC SAFETY MESSAGES,
DEFINED AS A CENTRAL PUBLIC SAFETY ADVISORY THAT DESCRIBE ONE OR MORE
ACTIONS LIKELY TO SAVE LIVES OR SAFEGUARD PROPERTY.

WE WOULD ALSO REQUIRE CARRIERS TO SUPPORT TRANSMISSION OF ALERTS INITIATED
IN SPANISH.

THE ORDER WOULD ALSO ADOPT RULES TO MEET ALERT ORIGINATOR'S NEEDS FOR THE
DELIVERY OF ALERTS, SPECIFICALLY, WE WOULD REQUIRE PARTICIPATING WIRELESS
CARRIERS TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN ALERT LOGS THAT THEY MUST MAKE AVAILABLE
UPON REQUEST.

WE WOULD REQUIRE CARRIERS TO IMPROVE ALERT DELIVERY BY GEOGRAPHICALLY
TARGETING ALERTS TO AN AREA THAT BEST AAPPROXIMATES THE TARGET AREA
SPECIFIED BY ALERT ORIGINATORS, AND ALLOW CARRIERS TO BEGIN IMPLEMENTING
DEVICE-BASED GEOTARGETING AS SOON AS PRACTICABLE TO CREATE A CLEAR PATH
FORWARD FOR MEETING AN EVEN MORE ACTIVE GEOTARGETING STANDARD.

THE ORDER WOULD ALSO ADOPT RULES THAT WOULD CREATE A FRAMEWORK FOR EMERGENCY
MANAGERS TO TEST, EXERCISE AND RAISE PUBLIC AWARENESS ABOUT W.E.A. TO
SUPPORT COMMUNITY PROFICIENCY IN THE USE OF WIRELESS ALERTS.

NEXT, IN THE FURTHER NOTICE, WE WOULD PROPOSE AND SEEK COMMENT ON ADDITIONAL
MEASURES TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF W.E.A.

WE WOULD PROPOSE TO REQUIRE THAT W.E.A.-CAPABLE DEVICES PRESERVE ALERTS FOR
EASY USER REVIEW UNTIL THEY EXPIRE.

WE WOULD PROPOSE REQUIRING CARRIERS TO DELIVER EARTHQUAKE-RELATED ALERTS TO
THE PUBLIC IN FEWER THAN THREE SECONDS.

WE WOULD ALSO SEEK COMMENT ON ADDITIONAL STEPS WE CAN TAKE TO OPTIMIZE
W.E.A. AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATING WITH THE PUBLIC DURING DISASTER RELIEF
EFFORTS, INCLUDING BY USING W.E.A. TO QUEUE THE PROVISION OF CROWD SOURCED
COMMUNITY FEEDBACK.

WE WOULD ALSO SEEK TO INCORPORATE FUTURE TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENTS TO IMPROVE
W.E.A. SPECIFICALLY, WE WOULD PROPOSE TO REQUIRE SUPPORT FOR CERTAIN
MULTIMEDIA CONTENT AND PUBLIC SAFETY MESSAGES, AND PROPOSE TO REQUIRE
CARRIERS TO JOE OWE TARGET ALERTS TO AREAS THAT MATCH RATHER THAN
APPROXIMATE TARGET AREAS SPECIFIED BY ALERT ORIGINATORS.

WE WOULD ALSO SEEK COMMENT ON WAYS TO DEEPEN W.E.A.'S SUPPORT FOR ALERTS IN
MULTIPLE LANGUAGES AND ON WHETHER AND HOW 35G NETWORKS COULD ENHANCE W.E.A.
EVEN FURTHER.

WE WOULD TAKE STEPS TO PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONSUMER EDUCATION TOOLS
FOR W.E.A. AND PROPOSE TO FACILITATE AND INFORM STATE AND LOCAL EMERGENCY
AGENCIES TO REQUIRE TO ANNUALLY REPORT ON METRICS.

Description: ME_logo_black.jpg

Edward Czarnecki, PhD
Senior Director - Strategy  & Global Government Affairs

MONROE ELECTRONICS

585-765-2254 ext. 122 | fax 585-765-9330 Reston VA | Lyndonville NY

<http://www.digitalalertsystems.com/> www.digitalalertsystems.com

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