(Eoneren via Getty)
The US’s Federal Communications Commission is making a push to ban Chinese companies and technology from undersea internet cables connected to the US.
On Wednesday, the FCC’s Chair Brendan Carr introduced the proposal, citing the need to protect the undersea fiber optic cables from potential spying threats, including foreign governments.
“We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China. We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats,” Carr said in a statement.
The proposal calls for automatically blocking “foreign adversary-controlled license applicants” from owning a stake in an undersea cable. It would also limit “capacity leasing agreements to such entities” while banning the use of certain equipment from being used in the undersea cables.
(Photo by ANDER GILLENEA/AFP via Getty)In addition, the proposal would establish new “cybersecurity and physical security requirements, and more—all while streamlining the Commission’s license review procedures,” the FCC said. Whether the measures apply to existing or just new cables was left unclear.
Although Carr didn't cite any specific examples, there's been a growing number of incidents involving Chinese ships allegedly disrupting undersea cables, especially those to Taiwan.
Carr introduced the measure after the FCC voted in May to ban electronic vendors from hiring Chinese labs to test their products before receiving FCC clearance to import and sell them in the US. The Commission also cited national security concerns, warning that foreign government-linked labs could exploit the certification process to slip insecure telecom gear into the US market for potential surveillance use.
“The FCC estimates that today, roughly 75% of all electronics are tested in labs located inside China,” Carr noted at the time.
The Commission’s push to block Chinese tech from US-connected undersea cables could also be far reaching. If passed, the measure will also look at “various additional measures to protect submarine cable security against foreign adversary equipment and services, while incentivizing the use of American submarine cable repair and maintenance ships and the use of trusted technology abroad,” the FCC said.
The Commission is slated to vote on the undersea cable proposal during the Commission’s next meeting on August 7th. In a blog post, Carr also said the proposal follows President Trump’s “America First Investment Policy Memorandum.”