New Anti-China Bill in Congress, Outreach Program on Affordable Connectivity, Robocalls Decline

February 7, 2023 – Three members of Congress have introduced legislation that would require the Federal Communications Commission to publish a list of licensed entities in the U.S. with ties to authoritarian regimes.

The Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act also known as FACT Act was introduced by Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-New York, Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wisconson, last week.

“I applaud Congresswoman Stefanik’s, Congressman Khanna, and Congressman Gallagher’s strong leadership and thoughtful work to counter the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party and other authoritarian state actors,” said FCC commissioner Brendan Carr in a statement. “This bipartisan legislation would strengthen American’s national security, and I encourage Congress to move quickly in passing this commonsense bill.

“Increasing visibility into entities with FCC authorizations that have relationships with authoritarian regimes would bring much needed transparency and help strengthen America’s communications networks against threats from malign actors,” Carr added.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel had previously supported legislation that would have identified licensees with foreign ties.

“Consumers deserve to trust that public airwaves aren’t being leased without their knowledge to foreign governments,” she said last year about a bill that would require television and radio broadcasters to reveal who is sponsoring foreign programming.

Nonprofit to launch course on increasing Affordable Connectivity Program signups

EducationSuperHighway, a national non-profit organization working to close the digital divide, will release a new learning course called LearnACP on Wednesday to help communities increase the adoption of the Affordable Connectivity Program.

The $14.2 billion subsidy program, which provides a connectivity discount of $30 per month and $75 per month on tribal lands, still has millions of eligible Americans that are not signed up. EducationSuperHighway estimates that only about 30 percent of eligible households have signed up.

“By training up trusted enrollment advocates, the course addresses the trust and enrollment barriers that keep 18 million Americans who have access to the internet offline,” Jessalyn Santos-Hall, director of marketing of EducationSuperHighway, said in a press release.

Santos-Hall said in a press release that there’s a 45 percent application rejection rate, and many people can’t even finish the 30 to 45-minute enrollment process.

Robocall scams slowed, report claims

Robocall scams have been decreasing significantly due to government and regulatory action since early 2022, according to a report from Robokiller.

The company that created an app to block spam calls and texts said it has observed a drop in the most malicious robocall categories: compared to December, January calls about car warranties decreased 35 percent, student loan calls went down 33 percent and home mortgage calls declined by 54 percent.

“Americans got a bit of a reprieve from robo texts in January, as they returned to normal levels — 14 billion, compared to the 47 billion and 55 billion they received in November and December, respectively,” said Robokiller in a press release. “The change marks a 73% month-over-month decrease.

“In addition, with tax season coming up, Americans should watch out for IRS and social security-related scams as these tend to spike around this time of year,” Robokiller also said.

The FCC has taken increased actions against robocalls. On December 21, the commission has proposed a nearly $300 million fine against an apparently fraudulent robocall and spoofing operation called “Cox/Jones Enterprise.”

“So our message is clear to those who would follow in the footsteps of the auto warranty scammers – we are watching, we are working with our state counterparts, and we will find you, block you, and hold you accountable,” FCC chairman Rosenworcel said at the time.