The FCC’s “top-to-bottom” review of communications companies’ ties to Russia, announced by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Wednesday (see 2203160031), likely has a broad focus, covering media companies, telecom and infrastructure providers, submarine cable operators and any Russian companies carrying U.S.-international phone traffic, industry experts told us. But compared with China, a recurring focus of the FCC, ties to Russia appear to be minimal.
Russia export controls and sanctions
The use of export controls and sanctions on Russia has surged since the country's invasion of Crimea in 2014, and especially its invasion of Ukraine in in February 2022. Similar export controls and sanctions have been imposed by U.S. allies, including the EU, U.K. and Japan. The following is a listing of recent articles in Export Compliance Daily on export controls and sanctions imposed on Russia:
There’s a “danger of complacency” in the information and communications tech supply chain that the economic risks of the Russia-Ukraine conflict will stay confined to Europe, Stephen Minton, IDC program vice president-data and analytics, told an IDC “first look” webinar Thursday on the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the global ICT market. Minton estimates $240 billion or more in global ICT spending could be “wiped out” from the war through 2025, and that’s assuming the most “optimistic scenario” of a diplomatic end to the hostilities within three months.
Ukraine accounts for 26% of the 2022 downloads of SpaceX's Starlink app, intelligence firm 42Matters said Thursday. The app is used to help Starlink position its receivers. Ukrainians downloaded the app 90,878 times Feb. 21 to March 15, it said. Russia invaded Ukraine Feb. 24. Before then, downloads had averaged closer to 1,000 to 2,000 daily, only to surge to a peak of more than 17,000 March 6, it said.
The CTA executive board approved a resolution March 12 that the association “stands with the Ukrainian people and strongly condemns Russia’s tragic and illegal war,” said the trade group Wednesday. “Our thoughts are especially with the 88 people from Ukraine who attended CES 2022 including employees of the 15 Ukrainian technology companies who exhibited,” said the resolution. “This was a record number of companies from Ukraine and speaks to the innovation of the Ukrainian people.” CTA hails the “decisive actions” taken by consumer tech companies that have “voluntarily refused to sell products or make their services available in Russia," it said. "We also recognize technologies such as digital currencies and encrypted messaging platforms that allow Ukrainians to communicate, organize and raise resources as they defend their country.”
FCC commissioners held their monthly meeting Wednesday at the agency’s new headquarters for the first time, making it the first in-person meeting for commissioners since the COVID-19 pandemic caused the agency to shift to remote work. "We hope to use today's open meeting as a first step toward welcoming the agency and the public into our new building," Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said at the meeting, which was also in part held virtually. Media and the public couldn't attend in person.
The SMPTE board of governors is “suspending the activities” of its Russian chapter until further notice in protest over the Ukraine invasion, said the society Tuesday. The board issued a resolution “condemning the unprovoked invasion by Russia of the sovereign country of Ukraine, the slaughter of innocent Ukrainian citizens, the destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, and the suppression of individual rights of Russian citizens to speak and associate freely.” It urged Moscow to “immediately cease its invasion, withdraw all its troops from Ukrainian territory, and restore the rights of Ukrainian and Russian citizens.” The board also asked SMPTE’s “partner associations” in the TV, movie, social media and related industries “to join us in our resolve against the actions of the Russian government.”
Russia's exclusion from ITU Standardization Sector working group chair or vice chair positions is widely seen as a sign of international outrage over Ukraine being felt within the U.N. body. Industry experts said Russia can still make member-state contributions but will be left out of leadership and setting the agenda for years to come.
Two weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “we don't know how this evolves going forward, and it's really too early to tell what the overall impact of this on our business will be,” Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal told a Morgan Stanley investment conference Thursday. “In this moment that reminds us why public conversation is important in the world,” said Agrawal: “It gives us this opportunity to showcase the value of Twitter to all of these people, but it also has us feel this immense responsibility.” Twitter has been “doing work proactively to be prepared for this moment” for years, he said. In 2019, it banned all ads from “state-affiliated media organizations,” and two years ago it started “labeling and de-amplifying all state-affiliated media entities,” he said: “We've been very, very transparent about any attempt that we've seen from state actors to manipulate the conversation on Twitter.” Former Chief Technology Officer Agrawal took over as Twitter CEO in November after Jack Dorsey abruptly left the company (see 2111290038).
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday he hopes the chamber will pass the FY 2022 omnibus appropriations package that includes funding increases for the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other tech-related federal agencies (see 2203090068). The House voted 361-69 Wednesday to pass part the measure, filed as an amendment to shell bill HR-2471, that included funding for NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies, the DOJ Antitrust Division and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The chamber voted 260-171 to pass other parts of the HR-2471 amendment, including funding for the FCC and FTC. The omnibus would give the FCC $381.95 million and the FTC $376.5 million. NTIA would get $50 million, the Patent Office $4.06 billion, the National Institute of Standards and Technology $1.23 billion, and the Bureau of Industry and Security $141 million. BIS would also get a separate $22 million allocation to “respond to” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. CISA would get $2.59 billion and DOJ Antitrust $192.78 million. CPB would get $525 million annually beginning in FY 2024. The omnibus hadn’t reached the Senate Thursday afternoon because House clerks were still processing the measure. “Once this bill arrives at the Senate, Republicans must work with Democrats to pass the bill as soon as possible, hopefully tonight,” Schumer said in a floor speech: “There’s every reason in the world to believe we can arrive at a path forward quickly.” Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Thursday there were “better than even” odds the chamber would pass the measure that night but cautioned a speedy process depends on Democrats allowing votes on four GOP amendments. If talks continue into Friday, Senate leaders may choose to move on a House-passed continuing resolution (House Joint Resolution 75) to extend federal funding through Tuesday. An existing CR to fund the government expires Friday night. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, touted the inclusion of language from his Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies for Health Act (HR-2903/S-1512) in the omnibus that would extend for 151 days a waiver of geographic restrictions on access to telehealth services and several other temporary rules changes allowing expanded use of the technology made during the COVID-19 pandemic. The full HR-2903/S-1512 would permanently end those restrictions (see 2110080002). “While this extension is helpful, these changes should be made permanent” by separately passing HR-2903/S-1512, Schatz said.
To counter malicious domain name registrations involving Russia's invasion of Ukraine, ICANN has begun adding terms in English, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and other languages to its domain name security threat information collection and reporting system, it said. The watchlist, originally rolled out to fight COVID-19 DNS security threats, searches for phishing or malware names that match a set of related keywords. When evidence of malice appears, the results are reported to the corresponding registrars. Measures European telecom companies are taking to help Ukraine are updated here. Telcos welcomed governments' call to reinforce cybersecurity measures (see 2203090038) and promised to "remain trusted partners to public institutions in countering cyber threats to digital infrastructure." The European Telecommunications Network Operators Association stressed, however, that critical IT infrastructures in sectors such as energy, finance and transport will be increasingly in the sights of cyberattackers, and that there, too, "adequate regulatory precautions must be taken." It urged officials to consider the need to allocate more responsibility for risk management in digital infrastructures to providers of ICT products and services that become integral parts of communication networks.