Notice of Public Information Collection(s) Being Reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission, Comments Requested, 52374-52375 [E7-18058]

Agencies

• FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 177 (Thursday, September 13, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52374-52375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-18058]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION


Notice of Public Information Collection(s) Being Reviewed by the 
Federal Communications Commission, Comments Requested

September 7, 2007.
SUMMARY: The Federal Communications Commission, as part of its 
continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden, invites the general 
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment 
on the following information collection, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. An agency may not conduct or 
sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently 
valid control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for 
failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the 
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) that does not display a valid control 
number. Comments are requested concerning (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the Commission, including whether the information 
shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's 
burden estimate; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of 
the collection of information on the respondents, including the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.

DATES: Written Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) comments should be 
submitted on or before October 15, 2007. If you anticipate that you 
will be submitting comments, but find it difficult to do so within the 
period of time allowed by this notice, you should advise the contacts 
listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Direct all PRA comments to Nicholas A. Fraser of Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB), via Internet at Nicholas--A.--
Fraser@omb.eop.gov or via fax at (202) 395-5167 and to Cathy Williams, 
Federal Communications Commission, Room 1-C823, 445 12th Street, SW., 
Washington, DC.
    If you would like to obtain or view a copy of this information 
collection, you may do so by visiting the FCC PRA Web page at: https://
www.fcc.gov/omd/pra.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or copies 
of the information collection(s), contact Cathy Williams at (202) 418-
2918 or via the Internet at PRA@fcc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    OMB Control Number: 3060-1089.
    Title: Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech 
Services for Individuals with Hearing and Speech Disabilities; 
Emergency Access Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and Internet-
Protocol (IP) Relay/Video Relay Service (VRS) Fraud Further Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM); and Interoperability Declaratory and 
FNPRM, CG Docket No. 03-123.
    Form No.: Not applicable.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities; State, Local or 
Tribal Government.
    Number of Respondents: 8--(6 of which provides VRS and IP Relay 
service; 2 of which provides VRS).
    Estimated Time per Response: 4 to 1,000 hours.
    Frequency of Response: Annual reporting requirement; One-time 
reporting requirement; On occasion reporting requirement; Recordkeeping 
requirement; Monthly reporting requirement; Third party disclosure 
requirement.
    Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
    Total Annual Burden: 34,688 hours.
    Total Annual Costs: None.
    Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: An assurance of 
confidentiality is not offered because this information collection does 
not require the collection of personally identifiable information (PII) 
from individuals.
    Privacy Act Impact Assessment: No impact(s).
    Needs and Uses: Note: The Commission is revising information 
collection 3060-1089 to consolidate/merge the information collection 
requirements of 3060-1091 into this collection per the Office of 
Management and Budget's (OMB) request. Presently, the Commission 
concludes that these two proposed information collections are similar 
because these collections involve same respondents and contain similar 
data of identifiable information in order: (1) To facilitate 911 
emergency calls; (2) to improve interoperability for VRS and IP Relay 
services; and (3) to curtail misuse of VRS and IP Relay services. The 
Commission does not collect this information. The Commission requires 
respondents to collect this information. Once OMB approval is received 
for the consolidated/merged information collection requirements, the 
Commission will eliminate OMB information collection No. 3060-1091.
    On November 30 2005, the Commission released a Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking (NPRM), CG Docket No. 03-123, which addressed the issue of 
access to emergency services for Internet-based forms of 
Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS), namely VRS and IP Relay 
Service. The Commission sought to adopt means to ensure that such calls 
promptly reach the appropriate emergency service provider. By doing so, 
the NPRM sought comment on various issues: (1) Whether the Commission 
should require VRS and IP Relay service providers to establish a 
registration process in which VRS and IP Relay service users provide, 
in advance, the primary location from which they will be making VRS or 
IP Relay service calls (the Registered Location), so that a 
communication assistant (CA) can identify the appropriate Public Safety 
Answering Point (PSAP) to contact; (2) should VRS and IP Relay 
providers be required to register their customers and obtain a 
Registered Location from their customers so that they will be able to 
make the outbound call to the appropriate PSAP; (3) whether there are 
other means by which VRS and IP Relay service providers may obtain 
Registered Location information, for example, by linking the serial 
number of the customer VRS or IP Relay service terminal or equipment to 
their registered location; (4) any privacy considerations that might be 
raised by requiring VRS and IP Relay service users to provide location 
information as a prerequisite to using these services; (5) whether, 
assuming some type of location registration requirement is adopted, the 
Commission should require specific information or place limits on the 
scope of information that providers should be able to obtain; (6) 
whether the Commission should require VRS and IP Relay providers to 
provide appropriate warning labels for installation on customer 
premises equipment (CPE) used in connection with VRS and IP Relay 
services; (7) whether the Commission should require

[[Page 52375]]

VRS and IP Relay providers to obtain and keep a record of affirmative 
acknowledgement by every subscriber of having received and understood 
the advisory that E911 service may not be available through VRS and IP 
Relay or may be in some way limited by comparison to traditional E911 
service; and (8) how the Commission may ensure that providers have 
updated location information, and the respective obligations of the 
providers and the consumers in this regard.
    On May 8, 2006, the Commission released the Misuse of IP Relay 
Service and VRS Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, (IP Relay Fraud 
FNPRM), CG Docket No. 03-123, FCC 06-58 which contained the following 
information collection requirements involving user registration, e.g., 
callers register to use VRS and IP Relay and provide their requisite 
information as necessary: The IP Relay Fraud FNPRM sought comment on: 
(1) Whether IP Relay and VRS providers should be required to implement 
user registration system in which users provide certain information to 
their providers, in advance, as a means of curbing illegitimate IP 
Relay and VRS calls; (2) what information should be required of the 
user; (3) whether there are steps that could be taken, or technology 
implemented, to prevent the wrongful use of registration information; 
and (4) whether the Commission should require VRS and IP Relay 
providers to maintain records of apparently illegitimate calls that 
were terminated by the providers.
    On May 9, 2006, the Commission released the VRS Interoperability 
Declaratory Ruling and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
(Interoperability FNPRM), In the Matter of Telecommunications Relay 
Services and Speech-to-Speech Services for individuals with Hearing and 
Speech Disabilities, CG Docket No. 03-123, FCC 06-57. In the 
Interoperability FNPRM, the Commission sought comment on the 
feasibility of establishing a single, open, and global database of 
proxy numbers for VRS users that would be available to all service 
providers, so that a hearing person can call a VRS user through any VRS 
provider, and without having first to ascertain the VRS user's current 
IP address. The Commission also sought comment on nature of the proxy 
numbers that might be used and how they might be administered. The 
Commission sought comment on the role of the Commission in creating and 
maintaining the database. In the Interoperability FNPRM, the Commission 
recognized: (a) That when a hearing person contact a VRS user by 
calling a VRS provider, the calling party has to know in advance the IP 
address of the VRS user so that the calling party can give that address 
to the VRS CA (b) that because most consumers' IP addresses are 
dynamic, the VRS consumer may not know the IP address of his or her VRS 
equipment at a particular time; (c) that some VRS providers have 
created their own database of ``proxy'' or ``alias'' numbers that 
associate with the IP address of their customers, even if a particular 
person's IP address is dynamic and changes; (d) that databases are 
maintained by the service provider and, generally, are not shared with 
other service providers; and (e) that a person desiring to call a VRS 
consumer via the consumer's proxy number can only use the services of 
the VRS provider that generates the number.
    The Interoperability FNPRM contained the following information 
collection requirements involving an open, global database of VRS proxy 
numbers. The Interoperability FNPRM sought comment on: (1) Whether VRS 
providers should be required to provide information to populate an 
open, global database of VRS proxy numbers and to keep the information 
current; (2) whether the Interstate TRS Fund administrator, a separate 
entity, or a consortium of service providers should be responsible for 
the maintenance and operation of an open, global database of VRS proxy 
numbers; (3) whether Deaf and hard of hearing individuals using video 
broadband communication need uniform and static end-point numbers 
should be linked to the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) that would 
remain consistent across all VRS providers so that they can contact one 
another and be contacted to the same extent that Public Switched 
Telephone Network (PSTN) and VoIP users are able to identify and call 
one another; (4) whether participation by service providers should be 
mandatory so that all VRS users can receive incoming calls.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E7-18058 Filed 9-12-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P