FCC votes to reverse telecom security rulemaking issued under Biden

Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Brendan Carr testifies before the House Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on oversight of the FCC, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on May 21, 2025. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to reverse a measure that sought to boost the security of lawful surveillance request systems in response to major Chinese hacks into telecommunications companies discovered last year.

The commission voted 2-1, with lone Democratic commissioner Anna Gomez dissenting on the measure.

The rulemaking was enacted at the tail-end of the Biden administration under then-FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and immediately required telecommunications firms to secure their networks against unauthorized access to systems that house wiretap requests from law enforcement. A related notice of proposed rulemaking passed under Rosenworcel would require communications providers to submit annual attestations to the agency about their security posture ...