FCC Lobbying Intensifies on Wireless Emergency Alerts

Apple representatives said they were called in by officials from the FCC Public Safety Bureau to discuss proposed updates to rules for wireless emergency alerts. “iPhones do not support device-based geo-targeting for WEA messages," so the commission should "carefully assess the feasibility of this approach,” said a filing in docket 15-91. “Using device-based geo-targeting would likely significantly increase the latency of users seeing WEA messages.” Apple expressed concerns about any requirement devices translate alerts into other languages. Apple’s operating system “does not include an on-device functionality that automatically translates WEA messages,” the company said. Meanwhile, public safety and emergency management officials from Texas raised an alarm on a December CTIA petition asking the agency to rethink some of the emergency alert system rules approved last year. Granting the relief “would do great harm by setting back the extraordinary progress that was made this past fall,” the Texas officials warned.