Free Republic

America’s tech and economic future depends to a great extent on our ability to lead the world in 5G wireless technology, and that future is being threatened by some needless concerns coming from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA says they are worried that 5G wireless, specifically a portion of the middle band spectrum (referred to as the C-Band), will interfere with the ability of radio altimeters to measure and relay a plane’s altitude to pilots. Unfortunately, the information on which the FAA bases its fears is wrong, as it is the result of a poorly designed and conducted...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Oct. 26 voted unanimously to bar a leading Chinese state-owned telecommunication firm’s U.S. arm from operating in the country.China Telecom Americas, a subsidiary of China Telecom, now has 60 days to discontinue services after having operated in the United States for two decades.The FCC voted 4-0 to terminate China Telecom America’s license to provide domestic and international services within the United States. The regulator said the firm “is subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government” and is “highly likely” to comply with Beijing’s orders.The decision concluded more than a year of...

If your mobile phone is more than a few years old, you may need to upgrade your device before your mobile provider shuts down its 3G network, to avoid losing service. For more information on your mobile providers’ plans for 3G retirement and how you can prepare, contact your provider directly.What is happening? Mobile carriers are shutting down their 3G networks, which rely on older technology, to make room for more advanced network services, including 5G. As a result, many older cell phones will be unable to make or receive calls and texts, including calls to 911, or use data...

The George Soros-funded Free Press is in hot water after it submitted a leftist petition to the Federal Communications Commission that included a comment that questioned if Republicans should be shot. The Free Press petition urged the FCC “investigate its own history of racism and examine how its policy choices and actions have harmed black people and other communities of color.” The petition included the following violent comment: “How come we have racist horseshit like FOX and the other ultraconservative outlets and Christians owning most of our media. What happened to separation of church and state? Are we going to...

The biggest threat to competition and consumers in our time is the collusion of big business and big government. As a case in point, see how AT&T is urging the Federal Communications Commission to hobble rival T-Mobile. AT&T last week asked the FCC to limit how much mid-band spectrum providers can acquire in future government auctions. AT&T wants a provider to be required to get government clearance to acquire more than a third of this prime broadband real estate in a given geographic area. As a primer, millimeter spectrum is useful in covering dense population areas, but it can’t travel...

The Federal Communications Commission waived its rules so Amazon can build radar sensors that the company says would be used to track people’s sleep. The federal government’s exemption for Amazon paves the way for the tech giant to monitor users’ movements in the bedroom with extreme precision — all without users having to press a button. The FCC accepted Amazon’s claim that the tech would be used to improve users’ health and wellness.

President Joe Biden will sign an executive order Friday seeking to restore the Obama-era net neutrality rules. Biden will sign an executive order to call for more regulation and enforcement against big tech and large telecommunication companies to spur more competition. Among the other regulations, the executive order will encourage the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reinstate the Obama-era net neutrality rules that would prohibit blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization.

Congressional leaders and a media advocacy group are urging the Federal Communications Commission to examine how policy decisions and programs have disparately harmed Black Americans and other communities of color, according to a letter sent Tuesday to the acting FCC chair. In the letter, first shared with The Associated Press, Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman of New York, Yvette Clarke of New York, and Brenda Lawrence of Michigan along with Media 2070 said the FCC should conduct an assessment to “address and redress” the harm the agency’s policies and programs have caused Black and brown communities and identify the “affirmative steps...

The Emergency Broadband Benefit, administered through the Federal Communications Commission, gives eligible households a $50-a-month subsidy that can be used to pay for broadband service, as well as a one-time $100 payment toward a device to connect to the internet.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received a total of 22 million comments regarding the 2017 effort to repeal net neutrality during former President Donald Trump’s administration, of which the majority were fake. A multi-year investigation found that fake comments accounted for nearly 18 million of the 22 million comments the FCC received during its 2017 rulemaking, the New York State Office of the Attorney General Letitia James found in a newly released report. This type of fraud has had a major impact on our democracy since “Federal and state agencies rely on public comments to set standards that govern many...

Democrats in Congress want the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to block the sale of a tiny south Florida radio station because the new owner fired a Hillary Clinton fundraiser who once served as mayor of a local city. The politician turned radio host, Raul Martinez, was the Spanish-language station’s top host before a conservative media conglomerate bought it and changed the liberal-leaning programming. The deal received sparse local media coverage but earned national attention when lawmakers in Washington D.C. asked a federal agency to reject the sale for what appears to be political reasons.It all seems to be connected to...

Get ready for Biden's assault on the First Amendment. The Verge reports that Markey is now on a track to introduce new legislation that would re-implement net neutrality that “would engrave the no throttling, block, or paid fast lanes rules into law.” Should Markey’s new bill fail, his plan B is to stack the FCC with enough Democrats to take matters into their own hands. He explained to The Verge that “Once we have three Democrats in place at the Federal Communications Commission, I will strongly urge it to reverse the Trump FCC wrongheaded decision and restore net neutrality and...

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday designated five Chinese companies as posing a threat to national security under a 2019 law aimed at protecting U.S. communications networks.

Radio operator discussing letter from ARRL re:newest FCC diktat.

Carlson: "The media didn’t always think that violent political protests were a big deal, in fact, last year when BLM was destroying our cities and torching places like Kenosha and Minneapolis, they were the language of the unheard."

They are blaming Fox for the Capitol "insurrection". It's getting serious folks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump’s top communications regulator said on Thursday he did not object to decisions by Facebook and Twitter to block the president from their social media platforms. “Given the circumstances that we saw yesterday... I’m not going to second-guess those decisions,” Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai told C-SPAN on Thursday, according to a recording of the interview seen by Reuters. Asked if Trump bore responsibility for the violent actions Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, Pai said “it was a terrible mistake to suggest that the results of the election, and particularly...

Even as critics worry what an incoming Biden administration could do to harm the communication gains of the past four years at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), most agree that 5G development will likely continue largely unimpeded.The likely next chair of the FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, will almost certainly push for the reimplementation of Title II rules on internet service providers – despite no evidence they did anything but harm communication growth. The good news is that Rosenworcel has generally been in agreement with Republican leadership when it comes to the importance of the deployment of 5G.That includes support of the...

WASHINGTON--An executive from a company that manages a large portion of the Internet's infrastructure on Thursday slammed federal wiretapping rules expected to take effect next spring. Paul Kouroupas, vice president of regulatory affairs for Global Crossing, strongly criticized the Federal Communications Commission's broadening of a 1994 law--originally intended to cover telephone providers--as disproportionately costly, complex, and riddled with privacy concerns. His company is one of the world's largest Internet backbone providers. "Our customers are large Fortune 500 companies--not too many of those companies are conducting drug deals or terrorist activities out of Merrill Lynch's offices or using their phones in...

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai said he plans to leave the commission on Jan. 20, 2021. This opens the door to President-elect Joe Biden to select a new head of the telecommunications regulator. While best known for wrecking network neutrality, in his resignation letter Pai largely ignored that issue. His only comment relating to it was "this FCC has not shied away from making tough choices. As a result, our nation's communications networks are now faster, stronger, and more widely deployed than ever before." Few would agree with his rosy view. While according to the FCC's 2020 Broadband...