FCC Probing US Phones That Use Signals From Foreign Satellites
Source: Bloomberg
March 14, 2024 at 5:00 PM EDT
The Federal Communications Commission is investigating whether mobile devices in the US that receive and process signals from satellites controlled by foreign adversaries are violating federal rules.
It’s not clear whether the practice poses a security threat, the FCC said in an emailed statement Thursday, disclosing the investigation that it described as “ongoing.” The agency is looking into device makers including Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Samsung Electronics Co. and Nokia Oyj in a probe that began several months ago, an agency official said on Thursday.
Mobile phones compare signals from satellites in order to determine the device’s location — a technology pioneered by the US but joined in recent years by other countries. US companies use an American satellite fleet and, in 2018, won leeway to also use the European Union’s constellation, known as Galileo. Russia and China also have constellations aloft, but their use hasn’t been authorized by the FCC.
“There is no established record of what security threats, if any, these signals carry and whether the manufacturers of handheld devices are processing these signals in violation of the commission’s rules,” the FCC said. The FCC is asking manufacturers whether their devices are in compliance with FCC rules and what vulnerabilities, if any, may exist in the way their products receive and process satellite signals.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-14/fcc-probing-us-phones-that-use-signals-from-foreign-satellites?srnd=homepage-americas
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