FCC Universal Licensing
System, Other Applications to be Down for Maintenance
ARRL Bulletin 25
From ARRL Headquarters
FCC website maintenance in
early September will make the Universal Licensing System (ULS), the Electronic
Comment Filing System (ECFS), the Electronic Document Management System (EDOCS)
and other public applications unavailable for more than 5 days. The Commission
said the outage will begin at 2200 UTC on Wednesday, September 2, and continue
through the Labor Day weekend. The maintenance work should be completed by 1200
UTC on Tuesday, September 8. During the ULS outage, it will not be possible to
file any Amateur Radio applications.
"[M]ost Commission
resources normally accessible through the Commission's website, including
access to all electronic filing systems and electronic dockets, will be
inaccessible for the same period, with the exception of the Network Outage
Reporting System (NORS), the Consumer Help Center (CHC), and the Disaster
Information Reporting System (DIRS), which will remain available," an FCC
Public Notice said on August 20. "The Commission's website will remain
available, but with reduced content and limited search capabilities."
According to the Public Notice, the FCC will follow its normal schedule of
operation during the maintenance period, but voicemail will be offline, and
most Commission staffers will not have access to e-mail. Static content
webpages on the fcc.gov domain, such as the FCC consumer guides, should remain
available during the outage.
The FCC will extend filing
deadlines for all regulatory and enforcement filings that fall during the
maintenance period. Filings due on September 2, 3, 4, or 8 now will be due on
Wednesday, September 9. "Except for the due dates specified herein, we are
not automatically extending the deadlines for any other comment or filing
periods that will be running during this time period, but requests for
extension of time will be considered consistent with the Commission's normal
practice," the FCC Public Notice said. "To the extent the due dates
for filings to which reply or responsive pleadings are allowed are affected by
this Public Notice, the due dates for reply or responsive pleadings shall be
extended by the same number of days."
In a blog, "Modernizing
the FCC's IT," FCC CIO David Bray said that with the world and the
technology we use are changing rapidly, "the information technology used
by the Federal Communications Commission must change as well." Bray said
the FCC has "made significant progress to upgrade and modernize our
infrastructure, and we continue to work on modernizing the FCC's legacy IT
systems with the resources we have available."
"We understand that this
temporary downtime before and during the Labor Day Weekend may be inconvenient
for some FCC stakeholders,"
Bray added.
****
From Kay, N3KN..
Facebook post (08/24/15)..
Kay Cothran Craigie to the ARRL
Ohio Section..
Ohio ham friends -- thanks
for the contacts in last weekend's Ohio QSO Party. Now I want to request your
help. At the present time, the Amateur Radio Party Act of 2015, H.R. 1301, has
3 co-sponsors from Ohio. They are Representatives Wenstrup (2nd district),
Johnson (6th district), and Joyce (14th district). If you live in one of those
districts, please take a minute to phone the Representative's local office and
say "thanks" for supporting amateur radio. If you live in another
Ohio district, your help is needed right now to get your member of Congress to
become a co-sponsor.
Without messages from
constituents, they just won't do it. Please, today, phone a local office,
e-mail the office, and/or write a letter sent c/o ARRL HQ. Full how-to
information is on the ARRL web site at
http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-parity-act. To find your Representative's web
site for e-mail and local phone numbers, Google your district, such as Ohio 1st
congressional district. To find your Senators' web sites, Google on Senator Rob
Portman and Senator Sherrod Brown.
In little more than the time
it's taken to read this post, you can make your voice heard not just for
ourselves but for the youth whose photos are shown in posts on this page. They
will be the active hams of tomorrow if we do our job today.
Thanks and 73, Kay N3KN,
President, ARRL
****
Open Internet Rules now in
force..
FCC..
An Open Internet means
consumers can go where they want, when they want. This principle is often
referred to as Net Neutrality. It means innovators can develop products and
services without asking for permission. It means consumers will demand more and
better broadband as they enjoy new lawful Internet services, applications and
content, and broadband providers cannot block, throttle, or create special
"fast lanes" for that content. The FCC's Open Internet rules protect
and maintain open, uninhibited access to legal online content without broadband
Internet access providers being allowed to block, impair, or establish
fast/slow lanes to lawful content.
The Rules:
Adopted on February 26, 2015,
the FCC's Open Internet rules are designed to protect free expression and
innovation on the Internet and promote investment in the nation's broadband
networks. The Open Internet rules are grounded in the strongest possible legal
foundation by relying on multiple sources of authority, including: Title II of
the Communications Act and Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
As part of this decision, the Commission also refrains (or
"forbears") from enforcing provisions of Title II that are not
relevant to modern broadband service. Together Title II and Section 706 support
clear rules of the road, providing the certainty needed for innovators and
investors, and the competitive choices and freedom demanded by consumers.
The Open Internet rules went
into effect on June 12, 2015. They are ensuring consumers and businesses have
access to a fast, fair, and open Internet.
The new rules apply to both
fixed and mobile broadband service. This approach recognizes advances in
technology and the growing significance of mobile broadband Internet access in
recent years. These rules will protect consumers no matter how they access the
Internet, whether on a desktop computer or a mobile device.
Bright Line Rules:
No Blocking: broadband
providers may not block access to legal content, applications, services, or
non-harmful devices.
No Throttling: broadband
providers may not impair or degrade lawful Internet traffic on the basis of
content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices.
No Paid Prioritization:
broadband providers may not favor some lawful Internet traffic over other
lawful traffic in exchange for consideration of any kind—in other words, no
"fast lanes." This rule also bans ISPs from prioritizing content and
services of their affiliates.
To ensure an open Internet
now and in the future, the Open Internet rules also establish a legal standard
for other broadband provider practices to ensure that they do not unreasonably
interfere with or disadvantage consumers' access to the Internet. The rules
build upon existing, strong transparency requirements. They ensure that
broadband providers maintain the ability to manage the technical and
engineering aspects of their networks.
The legal framework used to
support these rules also positions the Commission for the first time to be able
to address issues that may arise in the exchange of traffic between mass-market
broadband providers and other networks and services.
****
eof..
