[sbe-eas] Upcoming FCC changes to EAS rules (September meeting agenda)

[Aaron Read]

I read this and one phrase came to mind:  "the floggings shall continue
until morale improves."

This NPRM will penalize stations that have worked to be in compliance by
requiring a lot more unnecessary effort and paperwork, and it won't do jack
squat to bring the vast majority of the "failing" stations into
compliance.   Nor does it even begin to address the much-larger problem of
poor training (and no resources for training) at the State Police and EMA
level, nor the hideous shape of most SECC's in this country.

The FCC would get far, far closer to its goal of EAS compliance if they
provided the training and funding for ONE guy at each SECC to go around and
make contact/visit each AM/FM/TV station in their state (over the course of
a year) and check each stations' EAS box for compliance, and help out the
station as needed to get it into compliance.  Then document the whole
shebang in some centralized database like ETRS or whatever.   In probably
95% of cases, if not more, bringing a station into compliance is a 10
minute operation.   The whole thing would cost less and better strengthen
the ties between broadcasters and EMA officials than this cockamanie schema
the FCC is proposing.

And yes, I will be filing comments to the effect of what I just said,
although I plan on talking to RIBA and RI-EMA officials first to get their
perspective.

- Aaron

On Tue, Oct 18, 2022 at 5:34 PM Walke, Larry via sbe-eas <sbe-eas at sbe.org>
wrote:

> Please take a look at this new FCC draft NPRM. At first glance, it seems
> like a game-changer in terms of the requirements on EAS Participants to
> ensure the security of their EAS service, and report any and all incidents
> that could affect any and all communications services that could
> potentially affect EAS, whether it led to a false alert or not. In addition
> to incident reporting, EAS Participants will be required to certify
> annually that they have implemented a cybersecurity risk management plan
> for its EAS system, and again, any communications services that could
> potentially affect EAS functionality.
>
>
> https://www.fcc.gov/document/improving-security-national-alert-and-warning-systems
>
>
> Larry Walke, NAB Legal & Regulatory
> (202) 429-5313 (o)
> (202) 607-7611 (c)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sbe-eas <sbe-eas-bounces at sbe.org> On Behalf Of Sean Donelan
> Sent: Friday, September 9, 2022 7:36 PM
> To: SBE EAS Exchange - a mail list for discussion about the Emergency
> Alert System and other emergency communication issues. <sbe-eas at sbe.org>
> Subject: Re: [sbe-eas] Upcoming FCC changes to EAS rules (September
> meeting agenda)
>
> External Email:
>
>
> Outside of the Blackhat/DefCon conference?  No.
>
> Its technically possible, and demonstrated to work.  Works best with very
> old phones.  Each new generation 3G/4G/5G/6G improves security.  I haven't
> checked if it would work on 5G (probably would, just haven't checked
> myself).  6G is under development.
>
> Reason why: the WEA standards designed to get alerts to the public, even
> when parts of the network are broken (i.e. the parts that do authentication
> & billing).  Adding more security would slow/break stuff.
>
> The risk assumed limited to a geographic area.  But if you want to see
> what happens, watch the Ukraine and Russia cell companies. A lot of
> theoritical stuff suddenly made practical.
>
>
> On Fri, 9 Sep 2022, Rob Dale wrote:
> > Good find! This one makes me wonder:
> >
> > •             Requiring wireless providers to take steps to ensure that
> only
> > valid alerts are displayed on consumer devices.
> >
> >
> > Has there ever been a ‘fake WEA’ somehow put on a user’s phone? I
> > can’t even begin to imagine how that could be done…
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>


-- 
------------------------------------------
Aaron Read
readaaron at friedbagels.com
www.friedbagels.com
"Engineering: it's like math but LOUDER!"
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