RE: [emergency] Public Warning in FCC Proposed Rule Making 04-296

["Tom Merkle" <TMerkle@capwin.org>]

Eliot,
Thank you! I have forwarded this on to the National Public Safety
Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) so we can discuss this at our meeting
later this month. 


Regards,
 
Tom Merkle
 
CapWIN:        www.capwin.org 
Phone:        (301) 614-3720
Cell Phone:   (240) 375-1966
Fax:          (301) 614-0581
e-mail:        tmerkle@capwin.org
 
CapWIN
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-----Original Message-----
From: Eliot Christian [mailto:echristi@usgs.gov] 
Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2005 9:34 AM
To: emergency@lists.oasis-open.org
Cc: Art Botterell; Peter Ward; Chris Warner; Jim Devine;
Gene_Whitney@ostp.eop.gov; David Applegate; Emily Wallace; Teresa
Fryberger; helen.wood@noaa.gov; ideloatch@usgs.gov;
kevin.briggs@dhs.gov; David Oppenheimer
Subject: [emergency] Public Warning in FCC Proposed Rule Making 04-296

Please encourage people involved in public warning to comment on a
proposed rule-making by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission:

  Emergency Alert System (EAS) NPRM - Docket 04-296
  Comment on whether EAS can be improved to be a more effective
mechanism for warning the American public of an emergency 

This proposed rule-making states: "We also seek additional comment on
what actions the Commission, along with our Federal, State and industry
partners, should take to help expedite the development of a robust,
state-of-the-art, digitally-based public alert and warning system." (see
also http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-262016A1.doc
)

The deadline seems to be January 5. An upload facility for filing
comments is at http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/ecfs/Upload/ (linked from
http://www.fcc.gov )

Comments are solicited on the document available at
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-191A1.doc 

This document contains, for example, the following statements:

  67. Common protocols.  The National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children (NCMEC) argues that emergency alerts should flow rapidly and
simultaneously through all available information conduits to first
responders and the public.[1]  Should such a ubiquitous distribution be
a goal of a digitally-based alert system?  Most commenters agree that in
order for a digitally-based alert and warning system to be distributed
simultaneously over multiple platforms, a common messaging protocol must
be adopted.[2]  We seek comment on this assertion.  SWN Communications,
Inc. contends that the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), endorsed by the
PPW and many public and private organizations responsible for alerts,
offers the most practical means of quickly creating an effective
interface between the emergency manager and multiple emergency alert and
notification systems to significantly improve national alert and warning
capability.[3]  Should CAP be adopted as the common messaging protocol!
  for a
ny future digitally-based alert system?  Should we require the adoption
of CAP for EAS alerts?  If CAP were to be adopted, would it allow
simultaneous distribution to radio, television, and wireless media such
as mobile telephones and PDAs?  How would CAP be used to ensure
uniformity of alerts across such multiple platforms?  For example, if
the White House were to issue a national message how would CAP
accommodate an audio message with a shorter, text-based message
appropriate for a PDA screen?


[1] National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) Comments at
11.

[2] LogicaCMG plc (LogicaCMG) Comments at 15; NAB/MSTV Comments at
15-16; National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO)
Comments at 3-4; RERC Comments at 9; SWN Communications, Inc. (SWN)
Comments at 2; Timm Comments at 7; Trilithic, Inc. (Trilithic) Comments
at 4; Cellular Emergency Alert Systems Association (CEASA) Reply
Comments at 3-4.

[3] SWN Comments at 2.






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