Today, the Federal Communications Commission has proposed rules to implement the Secure Connections Act. The law was signed into law by President Joe Biden last December. Advocates see the law as a landmark move to stop the abuse of technology. Under the law, mobile service providers are required to help survivors of domestic and sexual violence access resources and maintain essential contact with friends, family and support organizations.
Under the proposed rule, mobile service providers must separate survivor lines from shared or family plans within two business days. Service providers must also “exclude certain hotline calls and text message logs from consumer-facing call and text message logs.” In addition, the FCC plans to launch a “Lifeline” program to provide up to six months of emergency telecommunications support to survivors who cannot afford mobile service.
“These proposed rules would allow survivors to obtain a separate line of service from shared accounts containing abusers, protect the privacy of calls survivors make to domestic violence hotlines, and provide economic benefits through affordable programs. It helps support survivors who are going through hardships,” the announcement said.
The FCC has already consulted with technology groups and domestic violence advocacy organizations in developing the proposed rule, and the public now has an opportunity to comment. An FCC spokesperson confirmed to Ars that the comments are now public. Crystal Justice, chief diplomatic officer for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, told Ars it was important for survivors to submit comments to inform FCC rules of their technology abuse experiences.
To express your comments, please visit this link and enter ’22-238′ as the progress number. This will automatically populate the field “Help survivors of domestic and sexual violence”.
An FCC spokesperson told Ars that the initial public comment period is the next 30 days, followed by the reply comment period for the next 30 days.
FCC President Jessica Rosenworcel issued a statement today asking the public to help the commission create a record “exploring ways to help survivors of domestic violence stay connected.”
“What I’ve learned is that domestic abuse often happens in silence,” Rosenworsel said, explaining how abusers cut their partners off of their resources and support systems. She vowed that the safe subjunctive would help “break that silence.”
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said that for the more than 12 million victims of domestic violence in the United States each year, “access to communications technology is critical and a matter of life and death.”
The public comment period will be an important time for the FCC to continue learning, Justice told Ars. She said the law is an important step in providing more resources to survivors, but that it isn’t always perfect and may need to adapt over time. “Timing is always important” when developing a personal safety plan. So while his two-day waiting period for the law to segregate phone lines may seem like a pretty quick turnaround time for the wireless industry, it’s not the time to get faster access to secure phone lines. For survivors in need, the delay could be an issue, Justice said.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which strongly supported the Safe Connections Act, published a blog by India McKinney, director of federal affairs at the EFF, stating that the EFF said the law would require “survivors to file documents to ‘prove’ abuse”. If you didn’t ask for it, you would have wanted it. The Safe Connection Act, as it is currently written, does not require that a person suspected of abuse has been convicted, but a police report, court statement, or sanctioned We are requesting copies of documentation of abuse, including signed affidavits from official sources such as A health care provider, mental health provider, or social worker.
“For many survivors, filing abuse paperwork from a third party can be burdensome and traumatic, especially if it’s required at the very moment you’re trying to free yourself from the abuser,” McKinney said. is writing
Phone company partners with domestic violence hotline
In a Rosenworcel statement, the FCC chair also announced a significant new partnership between the national domestic violence hotline and the largest wireless service provider. The partnership works to allow survivors to isolate phone lines and reach agents ready to respond to requests to connect survivors to additional resources.
Justice told Ars that Hotline has a long-standing relationship with Verizon, but the new initiative is Hotline’s “largest engagement” with the wireless industry to date. Partners include AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, US Cellular and trade association CTIA.
Through this partnership, the hotline trains customer service representatives to understand what survivors go through when trying to escape traumatic experiences such as domestic violence, stalking and human trafficking. This will give phone company representatives the language they need to communicate with survivors, support phone line switching, and referrals to hotlines, his resources and other organizations nationwide, Justice said. said Mr.
