New FCC Boss Brendan Carr Is Big Mad The Biden FCC Tried To Shore Up Telecom Cybersecurity Rules After Embarrassing Industry Hack

Late last year eight major U.S. telecoms were the victim of a massive intrusion by Chinese hackers who managed to spy on public U.S. officials for months. The “Salt Typhoon” hack was so severe, the intruders spent much of the last year rooting around the ISP networks even after discovery. AT&T and Verizon, two of the compromised companies, apparently didn’t think it was worth informing subscribers this happened.

The hack, caused in part by our mindless deregulation of telecom monopolies, only saw a tiny fraction of the press and public attention reserved for our multi-year, mass hyperventilation about TikTok. But on their way out the door, Biden FCC officials did try to implement some semi-meaningful cybersecurity safeguards, requiring that telecoms do a better job securing their networks and informing customers of breaches.

The FCC claimed the authority to tighten up the rules under Section 105 of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. The agency also published a notice of proposed rulemaking calling for telecoms to develop and implement cybersecurity and supply chain risk management plans. It’s really pretty common sense stuff, and in a sane country wouldn’t be seen as controversial.

But it’s not clear any of this will actually be implemented. Incoming FCC boss Brendan Carr has historically refused to stand up to telecom giants like AT&T on absolutely any subject that matters. His primary objective, once he gets done leveraging FCC authority to harass tech and media companies that don’t kiss Trump’s ass, will be to dismantle what’s left of telecom oversight and consumer protection.

We know this because Carr was integral part of the first Trump administration’s, and Ajit Pai’s, ham-fisted efforts to roll back net neutrality and most FCC broadband consumer protection.

The traditional Republican and Libertarian argument has been that if you let giant lumbering telecom and cable monopolies like AT&T and Comcast do whatever they want free of coherent state or federal government oversight, innovation and magic springs forth from the sidewalk.

Of course, in reality, that never actually happens; and the pseudo-ideology is flimsy pseudo-intellectual cover from what’s really just a desire for unconstrained wealth accumulation. The result has most commonly been slow speeds, high prices, terrible customer service, and telecom giants that don’t try very hard to secure their networks because they know there’s no meaningful oversight if they don’t.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the Jessica Rosenworcel FCC. Especially after Democrats and Republicans joined forces to scuttle the nomination of popular reformer Gigi Sohn to head the FCC.

I thought a lot of Rosenworcel’s efforts were regulatory theater, and she pretty broadly lacked the political backbone to take clear aim at the real problem: consolidated monopoly power and the corruption that protects it. But however feckless the Biden FCC was, Carr is the textbook definition of regulatory capture, and is absolutely petrified of standing up to telecoms like AT&T on any issue of substance.

Carr was apparently upset that Biden’s FCC tried to actually address an obvious problem on the way out the door:

“Carr, in a statement released independently, accused Rosenworcel of “forc[ing] a vote on a partisan, uncoordinated, and counterproductive approach to the Salt Typhoon cybersecurity threats.” 

Carr’s preferred alternative solutions were vague, and included “working more closely” with intelligence agencies.

One of the reasons the Biden FCC wanted to restore net neutrality is because it would have granted the FCC additional authority to hold telecom monopolies accountable for lax security standards. Carr of course opposed that as well, again under the belief that if you take a “light touch” with telecoms (read: let them do whatever they want), somehow everything will just magically work out.

That’s not how reality works. Carr will likely do his best to undermine these latest improvements, and this problem will happen again. At which point Carr, who spent much of the last year whining about TikTok (a company he has no authority over) to get on cable TV, will offer a platter of proposals, none of which involve actually holding giant telecoms like AT&T, Verizon, or Comcast genuinely accountable for anything.