good morning and welcome to the August 2024 open meeting the Olympic edition of the Federal Communications Commission Madame secretary would you please introduce our agenda this morning thank you madam chairwoman good afternoon to you and good afternoon Commissioners for today's meeting you will hear three items for your consideration first you will consider reporting order to establish a missing and endangered person's event code that will provide law enforcement EAS participants and WEA providers with a means to quickly disseminate information pertaining to missing and endangered person's cases second you will consider a notice of propose rulemaking that would propose steps to protect consumers from the abuse of AI in robocalls and robotexts alongside actions that clear the path for positive uses of AI including its use to improve access to the telephone Network for people with disabilities third you will consider a notice of proposed rulemaking that would propose and seek on comment on procedural measures to promote improved diligence when providers submit required information to the robocall medication database technical validation solutions to identify data discrepancies in filings and account accountability measures to ensure and improve the overall quality of submissions in the robocall mitigation database this is your agenda for today please note that item four a media Bureau adjudication matter and item five an enforcement action from the enforcement Bureau as listed on the July 31st Sunshine notice were adopted by the commission and deleted from today's agenda today's first item is titled wireless emergency alerts amendments to part 11 of the commission's rules regarding the emergency alert system and will be presented by the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau and Alejandra roor chief of the bureau will give the introduction thank you Madame secretary now before we hand it over to Consumer and governmental Affairs bureau chief Alejandra RAR for the and the Bureau for the presentation just two quick announcements first I just want to acknowledge that we move this meeting from the morning to the afternoon to accommodate uh a whole bunch of cancel flights that fouled up my travel plans and I just want to say I really really appreciate everyone on the FCC staff who changed their schedules to accommodate that I especially appreciate uh the generosity of my colleagues for making that happen and before we get to the presentation from the bureau I want to acknowledge we have a special guest I would like to introduce Lavina willenz who is the Amber Alert coordinator for the Navajo Department of police and she's going to provide a presentation that is going to be included in our official record Miss Wiz is the first Amber Alert coordinator for the Navajo police department and she started her career with the Navajo Nation in 2016 working for the Department of Emergency Management now the Navajo Nation has endured a lot during the pandemic and that led her to being part of the missing person's unit with the Navajo police department and um I am really thrilled that she is able to introduce uh her experiences today and talk to us about them so uh Miss willz I look forward to your remarks I'd ask you to proceed and afterwards Mr Roar will present the item let's let's hold on one second we want to make sure we've got your voice you're off mute now good afternoon all right we hear you loud and clear please go ahead thank you um my name is Lina Wiz I am aty which is readed running to the water people Clan and born for Hy which is born for Middle people Clan I am from the Navajo Nation reservation um again thank you for the opportunity uh to speak about the import of implementing the missing Endangered Person code the Navajo Nation spans 27 Square thousand square feet across 11 counties in three states New Mexico Arizona and Utah the Navajo Nation is the largest tribe in the United States with over 400,000 members as of August 5th 2024 there are 77 reported missing persons within the nav Nation dating back to 1972 however it is unknown how many others have not been reported to the Navan Nation police coordination with other public agencies States is crucial with issuing wireless emergency alerts and emergency alert system notifications to NOC to locate missing individuals the current WEA Emer wireless emergency alert and emergency alert system has been used by the Navajo Nation and is proven to be highly effective and invaluable since the implementation in the early 2018 these systems have been successfully utilized to protect the lives of our people during critical emergencies and issuing Amber Alerts the Nao nation has issued a total of eight Amber Alerts all of which have been resulted in the safe recovery of the children involved we can apply this same approach to locate missing persons who do not meet the Amber Alert criteria the public serves as their eyes and ears and their assistance with their assistance we can locate missing individuals more swiftly the missing Endangered Person code will greatly assist the nabo nation and other tribes in situations where individuals go missing and are endangered in such cases cases time is of the essence and locating these individuals notifying the public through WEA and E Systems ensures we use every available tool to assist families in finding their loved ones the significance of missing Endangered Person lies in the ability to utilize all resources to locate a missing loved one each time a native person goes missing you lose a part of our heritage in culture it is crucial that we support one another in these efforts thank you for your time thank you good afternoon Madame chairwoman and Commissioners uh today I'm pleased to put forth on behalf of the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau a report in order that if adopted would revise our emergency alert system and wireless emergency alert rules to create a new event code for missing endangered and abducted persons specifically the item before you will establish an me event code to assist law enforcement agencies Nationwide in delivering alerts about missing and endangered individuals this action will be especially beneficial to efforts to find the thousands of missing uh Native and Indigenous uh persons who disappear each year from their homes and communities before turning the presentation over to the bureau staff I would like to thank the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau the offices of Communications business opportunities economics and analytics general counsel uh the office of native Affairs and policy uh and disability rights for their valuable assistance um I also was was able to um meet Lina in person um and and a lot of law enforcement officials so again just Echo the the gratitude for her remarks and for her Hospitality joining me at the table today are theer Marcus uh cgb legal adviser and West plat chief of the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau as well as Bambi Krauss chief of the office of native Affairs Theo Marcus will present the item thank you Alejandro good afternoon Madam chairwoman Commissioners the emergency alert system EAS and wireless emergency alerts WEA system distribute tens of thousands of warnings to the public every year these systems Have Been instrumental in the successful recovery of missing and endangered and abducted children through the use of a dedicated event code for child abduction emergencies that warrant Amber Alerts the report into order now before you if adopted seeks to replicate this success for all persons whether adults or children who are missing and endangered but whose circumstances do not meet the criteria established for Amber Alerts by establishing a new M event code in 2023 approximately 188,000 adults went missing in the United States although Regional guidance exists in some places for emergency alerts in such cases there is no uniformity or consistency in how the alerts are named activated or implemented to address this need the Ashanti alert act which Congress adopted in 2018 requires the establishment of a national network to provide assistance to search efforts in such cases today's item furthers congress's objective notably the MEP event code will be particularly beneficial to tribal communities and other communities of color that have experienced crisis conditions of missing murdered and endangered people American Indian and Alaskan native people are at a disproportionate risk of violence murder or Vanishing as our members of the black community indeed in 2020 Congress passed both Savannah's Act and the Not Invisible act to highlight the need for increased law enforcement coordination in addressing violent crimes against American Indians and Alaskan natives and in 2023 a resolution adopted by the National Congress of American Indians called upon the commission to establish an me event code to enable a more rapid and coordinated response to incidents involving missing indigenous persons this report in order creates uniformity in the alert process to locate such individuals it will facilitate the rapid dissemination of information about adults and children who have been reported missing law enforcement agencies media and the public the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau recommends adoption of this report in order and requests editorial privileges thank you thank you we will now hear comments from the bench starting with commissioner Carr first all thank you obviously for the presentation and thanks so much to the team for all the work on this I OB we should not have a system where we allow people to fall through the gaps so I'm glad that we have picked up this item and are making sure that we have an alerting system that works in the modern era and these uh improvements are a good step in the right direction so thanks again to the team has my support thank you commissioner Starks wait let's let's hold and make sure we have your volume again folks hear me now yep go right ahead okay great thank you madam chairwoman uh and first of all thank you you for your powerful testimony Miss Lavina willz one of the things I've prided myself on of course is um the great work that the FCC has done in coordination collaboration with law enforcement generally uh and of course um in my time as a commissioner have also met with a number of folks from Navajo Nation and so look forward to continuing to work uh with you all here when an amber alert flashes across your screen you're immediately aware of three key pieces of information that child has gone missing the identifying details of the child or suspect and how to report potential sightings to law enforcement and by alerting the surrounding public of the Emergency Amber Alerts Have Been instrumental in finding and safely returning children to their families but they do have one critical limitation they're only issued for children age 17 and under and so just last year as we heard thousands of adults went missing or were endangered and fell outside the criteria to issue an amber alert and so today's order closes that critical Gap establishing a dedicated missing and IND dangered persons event code it will assist law enforcement disseminating critical information and this three-letter MEP event code harmonizes emergency alerts Nationwide ensures the public is alerted and prepared to respond during these emergencies and quite clearly simply put this order will save lives while today's is sure to benefit communities across the country as we heard including African-American countries communities of color I want to highlight that it will have a profound impact on tribal communities whose members face a disproportionate risk of violence murder or Vanishing I've heard about this firsthand uh the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous persons during my visit to the community of bethl Alaska a remote community of 6,000 without major roads reachable only by boat or plane and I heard personally and heard directly from residents about the lack of communication Services the challenges of locating and safely recovering members of their Community notably the people of bethl held a third annual missing and murdered indigenous persons people's March for justice during the national week of action all across the country communities like bethl are doing their part to raise awareness and in the crisis of violence in so I'm glad that we are helping along with this this order strengthens our commitment empowering tribes to address this crisis and providing critical tools to locate and recover thank you to Native public media for their tremendous work and advocacy as well on this important issue spurring this order truly I look forward to your continued engagement and thank you to cgb as well for their great hard work on this it has my full support thank you thank you commissioner Simington uh thank you no statement at this time commissioner Gomez thank you uh first of all thank you to Lavina willz for your very compelling statement today and for joining us so today we established an emergency alert code dedicated to help find persons that have gone missing our goal is to help communities and families that unfortunately experience the anguish of not knowing where their loved ones are by establishing the missing and endangered person's alert code we also hope to address the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous persons which has Afflicted Afflicted native communities for far too long Native Americans constitute 2.5% of all missing person cases despite comprising only 1.2% of the US population so a heartfelt thank you to the staff of the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau for your work on this critical life-saving item to the many organizations and Advocates who encouraged us to take this step and offered comments and to the chair and my fellow Commissioners for making this code possible and now I would like to share brief remarks in Spanish thank you thank you Commissioners last week I was in Prior Lake Minnesota where I spoke to a group of women from tribal Nations it was a privilege to talk to them about the Federal Communications Commission but to be honest it was not immediately clear to those assembled why I was even present this was not a group accustomed to having the leadership of a regulatory agency with responsibility for communications technology join them for their Gathering but I was there with a message of Hope because I believe we can do something to help address the crisis of missing murdered and Indigenous women and girls and more broadly the crisis of missing and endangered persons in Native communities so I began my remarks by talking about what is universally true that is when a loved one goes missing the distress is urgent and intense it is an impossible mix of Hope and despair we hope for a swift return so that they come home unharmed and with a chance to return to some measure of normal but we also despair because resources may not follow and fear emerges that may be your loved one does not matter enough or that you will not be lucky enough to make a breakthrough in the critical day or two following their disappearance it could break you I know just thinking about it as a mother it is too much I am fortunate that I can only imagine then I moved on to the facts the Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates there are more than 4,000 cases of missing and murdered American Indian and Alaskan natives that are unsolved according to the FBI the numbers missing are more than two and a half times their share of the United States population and while there are new methods to collect data on missing and endangered tribal and Native people the true magnitude of this problem is hard to capture through the data alone but here is another Fact one of the most effective initiatives we have had to assist with the recovery of endangered kids are Amber Alerts Amber Alerts have been around for nearly three decades they now tell us on television radio and wireless phones when a child goes missing so many young people have been safely found as a result of these alerts in fact as you just heard from Lavina willz her tribe had issued eight Amber Alerts and in all eight instances the missing child was successfully recovered Amber Alerts demonstrate that there is a way to raise awareness when someone goes missing and increase the odds that we safely find them but for an amber alert to go out a missing person has to be 17 years old or younger and roughly one in three missing persons reports today are for adults we're talking about 188,000 people last year who went missing but we do not have a tool on par with Amber Alerts to raise awareness and assist with recovery efforts of those 18 and older I think it would make a difference if we did because while only onethird of those who go missing are adults they account for 70% of the people who are never found so today we create a new code in emergency alert systems for television radio and wireless phones to help find those missing and endangered persons that fall outside of the criteria for Amber Alerts this new capability the missing and endangered persons or MEP alert code will sound the alarm when people are missing and endangered help raise awareness and support recovery now in developing this proposal we received so many comments but the most powerful testimonies came from tribal communities their input including from government toover consultations between tribal communities and our office of native Affairs and policy provided a voice for the missing and murdered I want to thank Lavina willz who is the Amber Alert coordinator from the Navajo Department of police for her testimony supporting our efforts today I also want to acknowledge the National Congress of American Indians for their work to pass a resolution to support the commission establishing this new code in addition I want to acknowledge the efforts of members of Congress who have brought attention to this issue including Senators Luhan Shotz Danes tester marowski and Cortez masto our work also owes a huge debt of gratitude to Native public media for bringing this issue to our attention so a big thank you to Loris Taylor of native public media who was instrumental in this effort pressing us to understand the plight of missing and murdered indigenous people and urging us at the FCC to recognize we have the power to do something about it we do and as a result of the action we take today we will save lives I also want to acknowledge the staff responsible for this effort because we are really grateful for their contributions including Alejandra roor Mark Stone Aaron Garza Theo Marcus Wesley Platt Christy Thorton Bambi Krauss carav vth and Jamie salum from the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau Nicole mcginness Austin Razo James Wy George Donado Drew Moren David kersner Leon Kenworthy and David mson from the public safety and Homeland Security Bureau Joy Ragsdale Joselyn James and shaa Wilkerson from the office of Communications business opportunities Andrew wise Sher Lee Susan Lee Emily Tela and Alex yanovich from the office of economics and analytics and Doug kleene William Huber anelie Singh Susan Lee and Erica Olen from the office of general counsel and we will now proceed to a vote on the item commissioner Carr approve commissioner Starks approve commissioner Simington approve commissioner Gomez approve the chair votes I the item is adopted with editorial privileges as requested Madame secretary please announce the next item on today's agenda Madam chairwoman and Commissioners item two on your agenda is titled protecting consumers from unwanted artificial intelligence rooc calls and will be presented by the consumer and governmental Affairs once again Alejandra roor chief of the bureau will give the introduction thank you Madam Secretary welcome back Mr Ro please proceed thank you and good afternoon again Madam chairwoman and Commissioners over the past year we have witnessed the often remarkable and sometimes worrisome abilities of artificial intelligence technologies that generate content today I'm pleased to introduce on behalf of the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau um an item that if adopted proposes timely protections uh for consumers against Robo calls and robot techs that seek to abuse AI Technologies to compromise consumers privacies before turning the presentation over to the Bureau of staff I would love to thank the Wireline competition Bureau Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau the media Bureau the office of economics and analytics the enforcement Bureau and the office of general counsel for their valuable assistance joining me today at the table is uh Noah Cherry attorney adviser in cgb's consumer policy division uh West Platt chief of the consumer policy Division and Noah will present the item thank you Alejandra uh good morning Madam chairwoman and Commissioners I should say good afternoon the notice of of propos Ru making before you proposes rules to protect consumers from potential abuse of emerging AI Technologies as part of the commission's ongoing efforts to protect consumers from unwanted and illegal telephone calls and text messages under the telephone consumer protection act also known as the tcpa consistent with the statutory Authority Congress granted to the commission under the tcpa the proposed rules in this item would further Empower consumers through transparency and consent to determine whether they want to receive AI generated calls and texts first the item proposes to define AI generated call as a call that uses any technology or tool to generate an artificial or pre-recorded Voice or text using computational technology or other machine learning including predictive algorithms and large language models to process natural language and produce Voice or text content to communicate with a called party over an outbound telephone call second the item proposes disclosure requirements for callers seeking to make AI generated calls and text messages this means that callers using AI generated artificial or pre-recorded voice messages would be required to make clear and conspicuous disclosures that the consumer consents to receive AI generated calls and must also make such disclosure at the beginning of each call to disclose that the called party is using AI technology I'm sorry the calling party similarly callers making autodialed text messages that include AI generated content would need to provide clear and conspicuous disclosure that the consumer consents to receive AI generated content next the item seeks to promote access to telephone services by individuals with disabilities specifically the item proposes to exempt from the tcpa's requirements artificial or pre-recorded voice calls made by an individual with a speech or hearing disability using any technology including artificial intelligence Technologies designed to facilitate the ability of such individuals to communicate over the telephone finally the item includes a notice of inquiry that requests comment on the development and availability of call detection alerting and blocking Technologies aimed at stopping potentially fraudulent and or AI generated calls based on real-time analysis of voice call content specifically we ask about the potential benefits and privacy lications of these Technologies the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau recommends adoption of this item and requests editorial privileges thank you very much thank you we will hear comments from the bench commissioner Carr thanks so much to the team you know AI is a very frothy Hot Topic in Washington and I guess headlines across the country these days and uh predictably there's then sort of a lot of U regulation that can follow after it and so I think we have to sort of proceed in a in a careful way what I sort of said uh not famously apparently is that we need to find the the middle bowl of porrige on this I don't believe in no regulation of AI and at the same time I think there's risk of overdoing it early on I think in the main a lot of the concerns I have with AI regulation are sort of separate from this item um this item uh for the most part focuses in on a particular Statute in implementing that statute um but when it comes to that broader regulation of AI I think we need to sort of have a couple of guard rails there you know one I think we shouldn't be regulating AI based purely on sort of speculative harms aren't showing up in the real world um I think we need to be careful that we don't adopt AI specific regulations when the concern isn't limited to things that appear in the AI space alone and I think third we need to make sure that we continue to support us Innovation and Leadership and again those are my sort of broader concerns that again in in the main are sort of to the side of this particular item uh here I did have some concerns but they were able to be addressed by some changes that are made along the way and I appreciate uh the chair my colleagues for doing that and I'll be voting to approve today so thanks thank you commissioner Starks yes thank you madam chairwoman LinkedIn co-founder Reed Hoffman calls it the steam engine of the Mind Jamie Diamond chairman and CEO JP Morgan Chase Compares it to the printing press and to the internet computer scientist Andrew has reached even bigger calling it the new electricity and so we may not fully know what AI is yet but we do know that it is momentous and that it is here to stay so clearly something this momentus is not the purview of one agency alone and so I've long said that AI requires a whole of government approach the whole of government has been hard at work the Biden Harris administration's landmarked executive order charged agencies and offices across the government with exploring the role that AI plays within their area of expertise and so agencies from uh Department of Homeland Security to the small business administration have dug in issuing reports launching rule makings um uh seeking input funding projects here at the FCC we issued the notice of inquiry that commenced this Docket in February of course we issued a declar ruling making clear that calls using voice cloning technology are subject to the requirements of the tcpa in May 2024 we issued an Nal against the orchestrator of one of and one of the carriers of a voice cloning robocall scheme today we propose that parties using AI generated content in robocalls robotex uh both obtain consent for that use generally and disclose each use specifically and so critically we also propose prote C to ensure that these requirements do not limit the development of the positive uses of AI that are helping people with disabilities in particular that are using our telephone networks and so we seek further comment on the development of AI tools to detect and block spam calls as well this work is not done in a vacuum uh in fact among others the Federal Trade Commission filed comments in this dockin that sister agency shared the results of of its own voice cloning challenge which was an open challenge to the public to develop products policies procedures to protect consumers from AI enabled voice cloning like the ones that we at the FCC have seen and acted upon and so the Four challenge winners demonstrated from Academia to Industry how they're working to develop tools to protect consumers and so make no mistake voice cloning gives fraudsters a a potent weapon but you know today shows uh across the government from our consent disclosure proposals today to the F ftc's funding and Technology to mitigate the risk of voice cloning we are hard at work shoulder-to-shoulder to protect and empower the American people so thank you to the FCC staff who worked on this item uh each of you I think is a member of that government-wide team working hard to understand and address the role of AI thank you to the chairwoman for continuing uh the fcc's hard work here in this Arena the item has my full support thank you thank you commissioner Starks commissioner Simington thank you I'm willing to improve this item overall and I want to thank the chairwoman's office for working uh effectively in good and in good faith with my team to include my suggested edits however I must only concur as to the portion of the notice of inquiry relating to active monitoring of phone calls the idea that the commission would put its imprimer on even the suggestion of ubiquitous thirdparty monitoring of telephone calls for the put putative purpose of safety is in my opinion beyond the pill thank you commissioner Gomez thank you I'm going to have longer remarks after the next item uh is presented but for now I would like to thank the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau for your ongoing contributions to protecting consumers and to help eliminate unwanted Robo calls and Robo texts thank you Commissioners artificial intelligence has become powerful enough to mimic H human voices and create lifelike images facing a rising tide of disinformation about three4 of Americans say they are concerned about misleading AI generated content that is why the FCC has focused its work on AI by grounding it in a key principle of democracy and that's transparency earlier this year when a fraudulent campaign targeted voters in New Hampshire using AI generated voice cloning to impersonate President Biden and tell them not to vote we acted fast we issued a declaratory ruling that made clear that artificial or pre-recorded Voice robocalls using AI voice cloning technology violate the telephone consumer protection act in this effort we partnered with State Attorneys General including the New Hampshire attorney general with who is one of 49 State Attorneys General who have signed on to a memorandum of understanding to work with this Agency on junk robocalls this ruling we made it matters because it gives our state colleagues the right to go after Bad actors Behind these calls and seek damages under the law then we worked with carriers to trace those responsible for this calling campaign when we found the carrier behind it we immediately sent a cease and desist letter and notified all other carriers to go ahead and stop carrying their traffic we then took two enforcement actions we proposed a $6 million fine for the party responsible for the scam calls and proposed a $2 million fine for the carrier that put these junk calls on the line and apparently failed to follow our call authentication rules then last month I wrote to the largest carriers and asked questions about just what they were doing to keep AI generated fake calls off our phone lines they shared their plans to identify and block suspicious calls and the work that they're doing to address the growing use of AI by scammers seeking to reach us on our phones we have made these responses public on our website today these efforts which are grounded in transparency continued last week when the FCC took a major step to guard against AI being used by Bad actors to spread chaos and confusion in our elections we propose that political advertisements that run on television and radio should simply disclose if AI is being used I think if a campaign uses AI to create an ad as the voter viewer and listener you have a right to know the concern about these Technologies developments is real and rightfully so but if we focus on transparency and taking Swift action when we find fraud I think we can look beyond the risks of these Technologies and harness the benefits today we propose rules that would take another step towards transparency we require callers and texter to make clear when they are using AI generated technology that means before any one of us gives our consent for calls from companies and campaigns they need to tell us if they are using this technology ology it also means that callers using AI generated voices need to disclose that at the start of a call I think this kind of transparency is important and I think it's also important to wrestle this technology for good so today we also ask how people with speech or hearing disabilities might use AI voice Technologies and we continue to ask questions about how we can harness the benefits of AI to detect scams on our networks before they ever reach us on our phones so we have more work to do but I'm an optimist and I believe all of this is possible I also believe this kind of transparency is what we need to build a digital future that works for everyone so let's get to it thank you to the robocall response team for their work I also want to thank the staff responsible for this effort including Mark Stone eron Garza Wesley plat Zack champ Richard Smith Noah Cherry Kristen Thorton jerusa Bernett Susie Rosen Singleton Michael Scott Joshua Mendelson and Diane bursting from the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau Molina barsi Erica Olsen Richard malan Elliot tarof and Wade Lindsay from the office of general counsel Andrew wise Susan Lee Michelle Schaefer Steven Rosenberg and Douglas galby from the office of economics and analytics Caitlyn barbas Daniel stanovich and Christy Thompson from the enforcement Bureau Jim schlicking and Meen bisco from the public safety and Homeland Security Bureau Cali Coker Jonathan Lecter and Liz drugula from the Wireline competition Bureau Edward Carlson from the office of international Affairs Lori marber uh Holly SAU Maria Malarkey Kara orz Hillary denigro and Zach Ross from the media Bureau Joselyn James and Joy rdale from the office of Communications business opportunities it's a lot because there are a lot of issues and we will proceed to a vote on the item commissioner Carr approved commissioner Starks approve commissioner Simington approve in part concurrent part commissioner Gomez approve the chair votes I the the item is adopted with editorial privileges as requested Madame secretary please announce the next item on today's agenda Madam chairwoman and Commissioners item three on your agenda is titled improving the effectiveness of the robocall mitigation database amendment of part one of the commission's rules concerning practice and procedure amendment of course registration system and will be presented by the wi line competition Bureau Trent Harrer chief of the bureau will give the introduction thank you Madam Secretary Mr Harrer please proceed good afternoon Madam chairwoman and Commissioners the Wireline competition Bureau is pleased to present for your consideration a notice of proposed rulemaking that if adopted would propose and seek comment on additional steps filers should be required to take to ensure the accuracy of information submitted to the robocall mitigation database and to ensure that such information remains accurate and up toate I'd like to thank the entire Bureau team for their hard work on this item as well as our colleagues across the agency joining me at the table are Liz drula Jody May Zack Ross and Jesse Goodwin Jesse will represent the item good afternoon Madame chairwoman and Commissioners illegal rooc calls cause billions of dollars each year in Consumer Fraud not to mention the losses suffered by consumers due to the lost time and attention and diminished confidence in the nation's telephone Network for this reason protecting Americans from illegal rooc calls Remains the commission top consumer protection priority the robocall mitigation database is a critical tool in these efforts helping to ensure compliance with the commissions stir shaken caller ID authentication and rooc call mitigation rules and protect the public from harms caused by illegal rooc calling campaigns information submitted to the robocall mitigation database by providers must therefore be complete accurate and up to date this notice of proposed rul making if adopted would propose and seek comment on additional procedural steps steps technical validation Solutions and accountability measures to ensure and improve the quality of submissions in the robocall mitigation database specifically if adopted the notice of proposed rulemaking would propose and seek comment on additional steps filers should be required to affirmatively take to ensure the accuracy of information submitted to the robocall mitigation database and to ensure that such information remains accurate and up to date over time the noes of proposed rulem would also seek comment on requiring providers to remit a flight fee for submissions to the robocall mitigation database and any Technical Solutions that the commission could deploy to validate data and submissions and flag discrepancies before they are accepted by the rooc call mitigation database finally the robocall M the notice proposed rul making would propose establishing a separate base forfeiture amount for submitting false or inaccurate information to the robocall mitigation database or failing to keep information up to date and we propose to authorize Downstream providers to permissive block traffic by robocall mitigation database filers that have been given notice that their robocall mitigation plans are facially deficient and that fail to correct these deficiencies within 48 Hours the bureau recommends adoption of this propos notice of proposed Ru making and request editorial privileges thank you thank you we'll now hear comments from the bench commissioner Carr thanks um it's pretty simple illegal rooc calls are bad and cracking down on them is a good thing but it takes a lot of diligent effort uh that's really spearheaded by this team right here so thanks so much to the team for your hard work that's my support commissioner Starks yes thank you um Madam chairman thank you for the hard work of the team uh Echo those statements obviously the robocall mitigation team has done exceptional work in in us better uh helping them giving them more accountability transparency is nothing but a good step so this has my support thank you thank you commissioner Simington thank you no statement at this time commissioner Gomez thank you rooc calls and robotex are the number one complaint that consumers raised with the FCC we agree they are incredibly frustrating that is why we continuously work to combat unwanted Robo calls and robotexts today we take two actions in that line of work first we voted on proposals to ensure that artificial intelligence is harnessed to protect consumers from harm rather than amplify the risks they experience in the robocall and robocall context AI Technologies can bring both new challenges and opportunities to combat this Scourge and responsible and ethical implementation of AI Technologies is crucial to strike the right balance I'm glad that we are seeking comments on ways that consumers can become aware when they are receiving Communications generated with artificial intelligence we serve consumers best when we arm them with information and I look forward to hearing from leaders in technology consumers and Industry as we develop a record in that proceeding second we now vote on improving the robocall mitigation database a tool that helps us ensure compliance with rules to mitigate illegal robocall campaigns whether improving our existing databases or exploring the role of AI dedicated staff at the FCC works hard to mitigate unwanted Robo calls and robotex with every tool at our disposal and continuously looks for new ways to this menace to Consumers so I commend the staff of the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau the Wireline competition Bureau and all the staff at the agency for your hard work to protect consumers thank you Commissioners the Bad actors behind robocalls are Relentless to stop them we need to be just as tenacious that is why today we kick off a rulemaking to make the robocall mitigation database more accurate effective and secure in the three years since it launch the robocall mitigation database has become an important tool that helps the FCC and our law enforcement Partners keep tabs on carriers and what they are doing to stop junk robocalls but of course there is room for improvement so here we see comment on ways to make sure filings in this database are up to-date and authenticated we also ask about penalties for false and inaccurate information this is not the only update we are working on to keep this junk off the line just last last week we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of treasury's Financial crimes enforcement Network so we can at long last get access to bank secrecy act information to track the different business entities that are set up to flood us with unwanted calls and texts when coupled with the work of the industry traceback group and the 49 State Attorneys General partnering with us I think we can make real progress stopping the scammers Behind These schemes but to get the job done we will need Congress to fix the gaping loophole left by the Supreme Court in its decision narrowing the definition of autodialer and reducing consumer protection under the telephone consumer protection act we also need to make sure that when this agency issues big fines for illegal robocalls we can take the Bad actors responsible to court and not just rely on our colleagues at the Department of Justice to do so all right I want to thank the robocall response team again and the staff who worked on this rulemaking including Eric be car Cali Coker Elizabeth Dr Jesse Goodwin Trent hark Raider jod May Kiara Ortiz Zachary Ross and Lisa Zena from the wi line competition Bureau David F and Jeffrey goldthorp from the public safety and Homeland Security Bureau jerusa Bernett and Christy Thorton from the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau Lani gal Alexander Hobbs Rakesh Patel Daniel stanisich Christy Thompson and Jane van Benton from the enforcement Bureau Michelle Ellison Andrea Kelly Richard Malon Eric Olen anelie Singh Elliot tarof and Derek yo from the office of general counsel Chelsea Fallon Eugene Kev Julia McKenry and Steven Rosenberg from the office of economics and analytics David Daniel Daly Allan Hill Juan louu tedel Sherra and Mark Stevens from the office of the managing director Katy gorschek and Will wiist from The Office of media relations Jim ballagher and Brian Molton from the office of legislative affairs and Michael gusso Joselyn James shaa Wilkerson and Sanford Williams from the office of Communications business opportunities all right we will proceed to a vote on the item Comm commissioner Carr approved commissioner Starks approved commissioner Simington approved commissioner Gomez approved the chair votes I the items adopted with editorial privileges as requested okay we're doing this in record time would any of my colleagues like to make announcements at this time commissioner Carr thanks uh last open meeting I announced one of my legal advisers was uh departing my office but thankfully staying here in the building and now we have that position refilled uh which is great news a lot of folks here uh know Danielle thuman who worked for me uh for about two and a half years starting in 2021 and then left for the private sector uh she'll be returning to my office later this month we'll do a sort of a formal announcement uh when she's officially back on board but wanted to provide that notice Danelle was a a fabulous uh legal adviser for me when she was here so we're really glad to have her back she first joined my office from the DC office of Wilkinson Barker nower she went to undergrad at UVA uh and then earned her JD at Catholic University my Law School alma mater as well and so we're really glad to welcome her back to the office and we'll have a formal statement when she officially starts up commissioner Starks any announcements yes thank you madam chairwoman and of course we'll look forward to working with Danielle uh again commissioner Carr so glad to hear uh about her selection there uh it is that time of the season for me to say goodbye to my summer interns uh they have been a particularly um good and close group that I uh see and and like my fellow Commissioners I spoke broadly with um uh the interns uh collectively as a group and so look forward to great things from the broader intern group but wanted to say a special thank you to my interns they've done great work for me uh that's Caitlyn Lindstrom who's a rising 3L at American University School of Law she's also my early career diversity initiative in turn thank you to lyanna dumang uh a Rising 3 l at George Mason Law School uh thank you to lean ois a Rising 2 at Georgetown law school and then of course thank you to Kaylee louter who's a rising 3L there at the University of Colorado I'm always watching interns I see that you didn't stand up uh please stand up rise and be recognized there uh thank you to my intern approve thank you look at commissioner Stark's monitoring from afar all right uh commissioner Simington any announcements uh yes absolutely thank you um I don't think there's the need for any remote monitoring here um so I knew you were GNA say that I knew it so I'm I I'd also like to thank my departing interns uh first of all uh we have one Joe Verde who's been one with us since September and so it's uh we've had the chance to do all kinds of great work with him just of a little background on Joe um he's uh he's at Brooklyn law JD expected 2026 uh he got his uh his undergraduate degree in political science and government and then also in literature so very well-rounded from barut college uh he's fluent in Italian which is more than I can say um and then he's was also selected to be the oneel Delegate for the Brooklyn law student Bar Association so thank you very much Joe um all we also have the summer interns departing today first I'd like to recognize John UR um John is originally from Arlington Virginia he attended the University of Virginia as an undergraduate where he graduated pbk with a Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry and a second major in computer science so uh you know so now now that we've uh now that I'm feeling particularly inadequate he then worked as an analyst for General Dynamics Information Technology before enrolling at Harvard Law School where he's currently rising two and then finally last but not least I'd like to thank Wyatt Mullins for his work over the summer he's a rising 3L at Wasington Washington University in St Louis School of Law originally from Toronto Ontario go J's the Canadian takeover continues why it first developed an interest in administrative law in the regulatory space while serving as a political appointee at the US office of personnel management so uh he hopes to return to work in Washington full-time after graduation ideally in the administrative law world so if that still exists by then um in his free time uh Wyatt can be found playing hockey chess and watching movies not necessarily at the same time but sometimes yes okay thanks very much commissioner Gomez thank you I too would like to uh bid a fond farewell to my interns who I will make stand up right now Mary Reagan Phillips and Camila Ramos thank you for all your hard work this summer they have attended expire meetings briefed me on circulation items summarized comments helped with travel planning drafted remarks for meeting items and written policy memos on complex issues it has been so wonderful to have you as interns um as my first interns as a commissioner and I wish you the best as you return to law school and I cannot wait to see what you accomplish next thank you Commissioners uh it's a first I don't have any announcements uh Madame secretary that means will you please announce the next date for the commission's monthly agenda meeting the next agenda meeting of the Federal Communications Commission is Thursday September 26 2024 until then we stand adjourned good afternoon everyone if you could please take any outside conversations to the foyer we greatly appreciate it we're going to get started with the chairwoman's Post open meeting press conference um she'll be giving a couple of reef remarks and then taking any questions we have so chair with that I'm welcome to the podium and then there was one I know it's August in Washington uh so we know who really works all right Matt go ahead chairwoman thank you very much uh Matt danan Communications daily I'm G to weasle in two questions if I may uh first off commissioner card characterized the AI political ads nprm as a DNC scheme to control election advertising and disadvantage the GOP uh do you have a response to that is it and my my second question uh the Democratic National Convention is next week what are your chairwoman ship plans your hopes of in the event of a Harris election thank you with respect to the second one I am uh working hard at the FCC we're focused on the future and the good work we can do here and with respect to the first uh that has no uh that's not remotely accurate we came up with this proceeding on our own because we have familiarity with what a public and political file looks like at our nation's broadcasters after all we've been doing this kind of work for decades well you're talking about a technology that is going to show up in so many aspects of our economy Communications technology included so it's smart to wrap our arms around these issues try to understand them and by issuing this rule making today on robocalls and artificial intelligence that's exactly what we're doing sure all right and with that I will welcome Katie gorack for our Bureau press conference hello Matt um so welcome to the bureau press conference um gonna assume we have questions on all of the items okay so we'll start off with the first one on the missing and endangered person's event code from the consumer and governmental Affairs Bureau Alejandra if you would mind joining us hello uh the my my Pat question I always ask uh are there substantive differences between the draft item that was made public and the finalized item that's going to be released are there we ready for you uh so some edits of the final draft occurred when it was in circulation uh but none significant to note here um the final report and order will be released um with summaries of any ex partes but I'll flag that like none were filed um for this nprm so so just acknowledgement of of of xart meetings but nothing that changed the substance of the the final order yeah awesome thank you don't go anywhere I assume you have a similar question for the AI Robo calls I do aleandra uh thank you for that question um So based on request the commission moved some of the questions from the nprm to the to an noi which I think was the biggest kind of adjustment that that we did and the commission also made some other kind of minor minor changes um incorporating additional questions and a slight change to the proposed definition of an AI generated call what what was the slight change well I think we're really working to try to establish kind of a shared meeting point or common language for everything that that that we are doing so it really was more about figuring out what everybody was comfortable with given I think the I don't want to say infancy of AI but in this AI moment and realizing that the the rate of innovation is really uh fast so that's just what the the change was just where we ended up um and that's where we ended up cool thank you yeah okay and our last item is from WCB on the rocol mitigation database okay Liz good afternoon good afternoon I I feel like the surprise of the question has already been uh undercut any any substantive notable changes between the the no substantive changes relas wonderful thank you very much sure and that concludes our be oppressor thank you so much Matt
2024-08-09