USTelecom promotes Trevor Jones to vice president-government affairs ... Analog Devices taps Janene Asgeirsson from Acacia Communications as senior vice president-chief legal officer and corporate secretary ... International Trade Commission promotes Monica Bhattacharyya from its Office of Unfair Import Investigations to administrative law judge for Tariff Act Section 337 patent infringement cases.
Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Danielle Forrest and Mary Schroeder asked about FCC preemptive authority after reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title I service, at oral argument Tuesday on ISP associations challenging a lower court denying preliminary injunction against California’s 2018 net neutrality law (case 21-15430). Judge Clifford Wallace asked why the 9th Circuit should bother with a preliminary appeal.
President Joe Biden is expected to swiftly follow up his Monday nomination of Alvaro Bedoya as an FTC commissioner by announcing his pick of Mozilla Foundation Senior Adviser Alan Davidson for NTIA administrator (see 2108020061), Democratic Capitol Hill aides and telecom industry lobbyists told us. Bedoya is expected to replace Commissioner Rohit Chopra as the third FTC Democrat. Chopra awaits Senate confirmation to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. FTC Chair Lina Khan, consumer advocates and USTelecom welcomed the pick. See also our news bulletin here.
Utility companies are hopeful the FCC will act on the Edison Electric Institute’s petition for clarification that the statute of limitations on all pole attachment complaint proceedings is two years and refunds aren't "appropriate" before a "good faith notice of dispute” (see 2104210046). ISPs remain opposed to the petition and say the issue has been addressed by the commission in recent rulings. Replies are due Sept. 10 in docket 17-84.
The FCC revived its proceeding on broadband access in multiple tenant environment buildings Tuesday, announcing it will seek comments on revenue sharing and exclusivity agreements. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in July encouraging the FCC to prevent ISPs from signing exclusivity agreements with landlords and promote competition (see 2107090006).
Congress should establish a 72-hour window for critical infrastructure entities to report confirmed cyber breaches, industry witnesses told the House Cybersecurity Subcommittee (see 2108310060). A hearing considered draft legislation from Chairwoman Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and House Homeland Security Committee ranking member John Katko, R-N.Y.
Industry witnesses will suggest refining cyber incident reporting legislation that the House Cybersecurity Subcommittee will consider at Wednesday’s noon virtual hearing (see 2108270066). The U.S. government should consider a federal incident reporting program that includes mandatory disclosure requirements, said FireEye Mandiant Global Government Chief Technology Officer Ronald Bushar in a statement. The focus of mandatory reporting should be compliance support, not punishment for noncompliance, said Bushar, who is to testify. “Fines and other financial or legal punishments do not properly reflect the truth that, barring gross negligence or willful misconduct, organizations that suffer a cyber attack are victims of a crime.”
Congress should limit the scope of any cyber incident reporting legislation, CTA, the Internet Association, Information Technology Industry Council and 15 other industry groups wrote lawmakers Friday, before the House Cybersecurity Subcommittee’s Wednesday hearing on incident reporting. The Business Roundtable, BSA|The Software Alliance, ACT|The App Association, CompTIA, Software & Information Industry Association, TechNet and Telecommunications Industry Association also signed. Legislation should include reporting timelines no less than 72 hours, they wrote. Reporting should be limited to verified incidents and reporting obligations limited to victim organizations, they said. Hearing witnesses are: USTelecom Senior Vice President-Cybersecurity Robert Mayer, ITI Senior Vice President-Policy John Miller, Heather Hogsett, Bank Policy Institute senior vice president-technology and risk strategy for its technology policy division, FireEye Mandiant Vice President Ronald Bushar, and American Gas Association Managing Director-Security and Operations Kimberly Denbow.
Transaction Network Services asked FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff to grant USTelecom's petition to clarify its call blocking notification rules and allow the use of session initiation protocol code 603 "exclusively," said an ex parte letter posted Friday in docket 17-59. The FCC should "defer any requirement relating to SIP Codes 607 or 608 until standards bodies have finalized the standards and the technical complexities have been addressed," TNS said.
The House Homeland Security Cybersecurity Subcommittee plans a Wednesday virtual hearing on the draft Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act. The measure, led by subpanel Chairwoman Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., would direct the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to work with stakeholders to establish requirements and processes for critical infrastructure owners and operators to report some cyber incidents to a new Cyber Incident Review Office within the agency. Cyber “first responders” would receive the information to prevent similar attacks, the bill said. The new office would be separate from CISA’s other voluntary programs, the bill said. “In the many hearings, briefings, and oversight that followed” the SolarWinds and other recent cyberattacks, “we consistently heard that the Federal government -- and CISA in particular -- needs better situational awareness about where, when, and how these attacks are happening,” Clarke said in a news release. “With better information, CISA will be able to detect malicious campaigns early, help owners and operators defend their networks, and understand long-term trends in adversary behavior.” USTelecom Senior Vice President-Cybersecurity Robert Mayer and Information Technology Industry Council General Counsel John Miller are among those set to testify. Ronald Bushar, Mandiant Global government chief technology officer, and Heather Hogsett, Bank Policy Institute senior vice president-technology and risk strategy, are also witnesses. The panel will begin at noon EDT.