  Let $G$ be a finite group of Lie type and $\ell$ be a prime which is not
equal to the defining characteristic of $G$. In this note we discuss some open
problems concerning the $\ell$-modular irreducible representations of $G$. We
also establish a strengthening of the results in [13] on the classification of
the $\ell$-modular principal series representations of $G$.
