WASHINGTON, D.C.—The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has announced two senior staff appointments, adding officials with significant experience and expertise in national security, foreign investment, privacy, data protection, cybersecurity, and consumer and civil litigation matters.  These officials join additional recent hires to the Enforcement Bureau’s front office leadership team since 2023, including deputy bureau Chief Peter S. Hyun and assistant bureau chief Hunter Deeley.

With focuses on privacy and data protection matters, Alice Suh Jou has joined the agency as assistant bureau chief and Jolina Cuaresma has joined the agency as senior policy counsel. Both will actively participate in the Enforcement Bureau-led Privacy and Data Protection Task Force, which was announced in June 2023 by the Chairwoman.

“These newest additions to our outstanding team—and the expertise they bring— reflect our ongoing commitment to keep our information and communications networks safe while also enhancing consumers’ trust in the protection of their privacy and sensitive data,” said Loyaan A. Egal, chief of the Enforcement Bureau.  “I am delighted that these talented individuals are joining the Enforcement Bureau to work with our wonderful colleagues on behalf of the American public.”

Alice Suh Jou joins the Enforcement Bureau from the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division where she previously served as an acting deputy chief for telecom-related foreign investment in the Foreign Investment Review Section and as a trial attorney in the Civil Division.  

At the Enforcement Bureau, Jou will be responsible for privacy, data security, and cybersecurity matters.  In 2022, Jou received the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security for her work related to the implementation of Executive Order 13913.  In 2023, she received the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service for her efforts to address risks to sensitive U.S. data traversing global cloud platforms and critical infrastructure.  She was most recently detailed to the Federal Trade Commission to investigate privacy and data security practices of foreign-owned entities.  Prior to government service, Jou practiced law at two major law firms.  She earned her law degree from Georgetown University and a bachelor of science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jolina Cuaresma joins the Enforcement Bureau after having served as the Head of Law & Tech Policy at Common Sense Media, where she worked with government agencies and congressional committees on legislative proposals relating to privacy, competition, and AI.  Cuaresma teaches regulatory strategy at her alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, and was a Georgetown Law Fellow.  Cuaresma also previously served in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, where she conducted rulemakings, drafted compliance examinations, and brought enforcement actions, respectively.  She also worked at two major international law firms.  She is also a graduate of Boston University Dual Degree program, earning a B.S. in Economics and B.S.B.A with a concentration in Finance.  In law school, she was a member of the California Law Review and published a Note on privacy in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal.

WASHINGTON—The FCC has issued a pair of reminders from its Enforcement Bureau and Media Bureau instructing broadcasters to provide sponsorship identification disclosures and sharing agreements in Online Public Inspection Files (OPIF).

First, the Enforcement Bureau public notice reminds broadcasters that they are obligated to comply with Sponsorship Identification Laws and the Communications Act of 1934, which requires them to disclose sponsors of paid-for programming. Not disclosing sponsor information “can mislead the public and promote unfair competition,” the notice reads.

Consequences for violating the Sponsorship Identification Laws, per the public notice, can lead to sanctions, including imprisonment or monetary forfeitures. 

The Media Bureau’s public notice restates the obligation for commercial broadcast licensees to include every “sharing” agreement pertaining to the operation of the station in their OPIF within 30 days. This also covers agreements under which a station provides or collaborates to provide station-related services to any stations with which it is not under common de jure control.

“Regardless of how an agreement is styled or labeled, if it covers the provision of programming time,  sales of advertising or provision of services among commercial broadcast stations, it must be retained in the station’s OPIF,” the notice details.

The Media Bureau also noted that if broadcasters are uncertain about certain agreements, they should err on the side of inclusion.

The FCC has made available the complete notices from the Enforcement Bureau and the Media Bureau available online. 

WASHINGTON—It’s official: The Federal Communications Commission has transferred its Equal Employment Opportunity staff to work under the umbrella of its Enforcement Bureau, according to March 15’s Federal Register.

Specifically, EEO work will now operate out of the Enforcement Bureau’s Investigations & Hearings Division. A May 2018 proposal from The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and 33 other organizations suggested that a new Civil Rights branch be created; however, when Chairman Ajit Pai took up the cause, he declined to include that as part of his proposal to shift EEO work to the Enforcement Bureau.

Later that month, the commissioners voted to approve the change, which then required approvals from the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and the Office of Management and Budget. Additionally, the FCC says it negotiated an agreement with the National Treasury Employees Union regarding the shift.

Pai views this move as one part of his larger campaign to modernize FCC rules, according to an FCC press release about the change.

WASHINGTON—Effective Jan. 9, the FCC Enforcement Bureau has created a new general email address to use when responding to an enforcement action originating from a field office.

If you need to respond to an action, you should now email field@fcc.gov, rather than the individual three regions, according to the announcement.

This applies to new enforcement actions and will be reflected in the documents sent by the Enforcement Bureau.