---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20201029002538.GA5886@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2020 00:25:38 +0000 From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Formalizing Team Telecom by Brian D. Weimer , Douglas Svor and Amanda Witt Earlier this month, the FCC adopted a Report & Order ("R&O") streamlining the application review process for transactions involving foreign investment or participation in U.S. telecommunications companies (commonly known as "Team Telecom" but also referred to as "the Committee" in the R&O). Team Telecom is comprised of a committee of Executive Branch agencies (including the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice) tasked with assessing the national security, law enforcement, foreign policy, and trade policy concerns in these cross-border M&A transactions involving U.S. telecom companies. The FCC issued the R&O to formalize a decades-long practice and update its rules governing Team Telecom review consistent with the President's April 4, 2020 Executive Order No. 13913 (the "EO"). The FCC builds upon the initial procedural requirements set by the EO to add certainty and transparency to the Team Telecom review process in a manner that protects national security interests without discouraging foreign investment. https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/telecoms-mobile-cable-communications/996728/formalizing-team-telecom?email_access=on -- Bill Horne Telecom Digest Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <868sbpvq4b.fsf@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu> Date: 29 Oct 2020 00:21:24 +0000 From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Deepening The Divide: Will The Sixth Circuit's Expansive Reading Of The ATDS Definition Survive? by Ian D. Volner , Daniel Blynn , Stephen R. Freeland and Michael Munoz The issue of what exactly is an autodialer, subject to the restrictions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), may eventually be resolved. But for now, the outlook is much like the long-ago Brooklyn Dodger's chance of winning the World Series: "Wait 'Til Next Year." On July 29, 2020, a divided, 2-1 panel in the Sixth Circuit issued its opinion in Allan v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, deepening the circuit split over the breadth of the TCPA. Specifically, the Sixth Circuit held that any device that dials from a stored list of numbers is sufficient to constitute an "automatic telephone dialing system" ("ATDS" or "autodialer"). This decision comes on the heels of the Supreme Court granting certiorari in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, setting the stage for the high court to, hopefully, not only resolve the split among the circuits, but produce a definition of an autodialer that permits the responsible and efficient generation of calls for a broad array of legitimate reasons - indeed in some cases emergency. (Interestingly, in Allan, the defendant opposed the plaintiffs' motion to stay the appeal pending Duguid. That's likely because the defendant had previously prevailed on the ATDS issue in the Eleventh Circuit a few months earlier in a consolidated appeal.) https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/dodd-frank-consumer-protection-act/997414/deepening-the-divide-will-the-sixth-circuit39s-expansive-reading-of-the-atds-definition-survive?email_access=on -- Bill Horne Telecom Digest Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <4dbcbf08-51c6-ede2-2aeb-6b9156b67c5e@jacksons.net> Date: 29 Oct 2020 15:37:51 -0400 From: "Chuck Jackson" <clj@jacksons.net> Subject: Re: Easy Hacking Tools Facilitate Bad Behavior Our moderator wrote: Subject: Easy Hacking Tools Facilitate Bad Behavior A few years ago, if you wanted to wreak havoc online, you needed some skill. You needed to understand coding and how to break into other computers. You needed to develop attack bots and probe for vulnerabilities. Now you just need to point and click. For a good discussion of this point see *Click Here to Kill Everybody */Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World /by Bruce Schneier https://www.schneier.com/books/click-here/ Chuck ***** Moderator's Note ***** I have a problem with Bruce Schneier: he seeks advice from his readers, but doesn't credit them for it: I sent him a couple of comments that appeared in his publications, without attribution. I know that the guru biz is competitive and cutthroat, but ISTM that it wouldn't hurt to give credit where due: Mr. Schneier was the running-up in the AES competition, and I use his password-safe program daily, so I doubt that his giving credit to his contributors would damage his reputation. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Sat, 31 Oct 2020