Today’s Regulatory Mix: Provisional Ballots for California Emergency Workers, FCC Warns Consumers About Fake Emergency Broadband Benefit Website
Provisional Ballots for California Emergency Workers
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-14-21 (Order) yesterday in response to the ongoing fires in the state. Among other things, the Order provides that emergency workers who are engaged in responding to emergencies in Alpine, Butte, El Dorado, Lassen, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity counties may cast provisional ballots if they are unable to cast ballots in their home precincts. Local officials in these counties are directed to issue such provisional ballots offered to other voters in the county. The process shall be determined by elections officials, consistent with rules and guidance from the Secretary of State.
FCC Warns Consumers About Fake Emergency Broadband Benefit Website
The FCC issued a consumer advisory warning the public about a website falsely offering enrollment in the FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit Program and collecting consumers’ personal information. The website, purportedly run by “WiFi Freedom USA,” mimics the legitimate Emergency Broadband Benefit enrollment site, GetEmergencyBroadband.org. According to the advisory, this website falsely claimed to administer the FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, including offering connected devices and services. The FCC and USAC have taken steps to have the website disabled and the known social media page removed. The FCC is now working with law enforcement agencies to address this issue.
The FCC advises consumers to only use the official Emergency Broadband Benefit website, GetEmergencyBroadband.org, to enroll in the program. Consumers can also contact a participating provider directly, but should first verify that a provider is approved to participate in the program by visiting https://www.fcc.gov/emergency-broadband-benefitproviders and searching by their state or territory.
____________________________
The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.
