Amid FCC pressure, PayPal made changes to its user policy to clarify that it will use robocalls and texts to contact customers “for marketing purposes” only when they have provided “express written consent.” The agency recently approved an order and declaratory ruling designed to get tough on companies that violate the Telephone Consumers Protection Act (see 1506180046).

The U.S. needs to invest in technologies that not only prevent cyberattacks from occurring, but also quickly detect an intrusion to allow a faster containment and remediation, U.S. Chief Information Officer (CIO) Tony Scott said Thursday during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on the two Office of Personnel Management (OPM) breaches that were announced this month. The breaches put people’s lives and the nation’s security at risk, said Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Iowa. OPM has been hacked at least three times in the past five years, Johnson said. The U.S. has to recognize it has a “significant” cybersecurity problem, he said. Ranking member Thomas Carper, D-Del., said the breach required “all hands on deck.”

The U.S. needs to invest in technologies that not only prevent cyberattacks from occurring, but also quickly detect an intrusion to allow a faster containment and remediation, U.S. Chief Information Officer (CIO) Tony Scott said Thursday during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on the two Office of Personnel Management (OPM) breaches that were announced this month. The breaches put people’s lives and the nation’s security at risk, said Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Iowa. OPM has been hacked at least three times in the past five years, Johnson said. The U.S. has to recognize it has a “significant” cybersecurity problem, he said. Ranking member Thomas Carper, D-Del., said the breach required “all hands on deck.”

Some of the radio communications worked during the Jan. 20 Washington Metrorail smoke incident inside L’Enfant Plaza station, but emergency responders from outside of the Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority had trouble with communications, said witnesses during a National Transportation Safety Board investigative hearing Tuesday. From the early stages of the incident, one of the rescue squads experienced radio problems, said Derron Hawkins, deputy chief of D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services. Once the first arriving unit entered the station from the mezzanine level, responders started experiencing more problems, he said. The commander had problems with his radio on the day of the incident, he said. When the system failed to operate, the commander used his BlackBerry phone to communicate with the officials on the scene, Hawkins said. “The process may not have run smooth as we would like it to become, but we are doing things to improve that.” The underground public safety radio system works but is delicate and requires a high level of maintenance, said Scott Goldstein, acting fire chief for Montgomery County (Maryland) Fire and Rescue Service. There were no reported issues on WMATA's communications channel, said Ronald Bodmer, director of Metro Transit Police Department's Office of Emergency Management. In the station, some officers reported some blocking of the radio during the incident. Before the incident, ongoing testing was an informal process, said Marshall Epler, deputy chief of COM and NET systems for WMATA's Department of Transit Infrastructure and Engineering Services. If one of the local jurisdictions found fault with its system, it would contact the WMATA maintenance radio manager who would put in a work ticket and the department would rectify the problem, he said. Now, the first thing WMATA is doing is testing local jurisdictions weekly, Epler said. “We animated a map,” he said. “On this map, you can now tell carriers that have poor radio coverage based on maximum work tickets.” It's extremely difficult to maintain a radio system, Epler said. WMATA’s current radio system was designed to provide radio coverage in 95 percent of the public areas in a station 95 percent of the time, he said. April 17, WMATA announced early action items, which included a radio maintenance program. Last week, a Federal Transit Administration report raised some issues with the quality of the rail system's radio communications (see 1506170053).

All cars need to be equipped with dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) radio technology, Cisco Global Transportation Executive Barry Einsig plans to testify Thursday before the House Commerce Trade Subcommittee during its hearing on vehicle-to-vehicle communication. Einsig will testify that the “private sector is poised to deploy DSRC” in cars and “the corresponding IP network that will connect our roadways in ways never before possible.” Other witnesses will address the spectrum concerns in the upper 5 GHz, currently held by automotive interests for vehicle-to-vehicle tech but under debate about whether that spectrum can be used for licensed purposes. “Thorough and robust testing” is needed to evaluate that sharing, General Motors Executive Director-Global Connected Customer Experience Harry Lightsey will testify. The Wi-Fi Innovation Act (S-424/HR-821) raises “concerns of substantial delay and uncertainty with regards to the viability of the spectrum for DSRC that should be addressed before any legislation is considered further,” Lightsey will say. “We are very optimistic about a sharing proposal from Cisco that would operate on a ‘listen, detect and vacate’ basis. We have engaged with Cisco and plan to begin testing their technology as soon as possible.” The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

All cars need to be equipped with dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) radio technology, Cisco Global Transportation Executive Barry Einsig plans to testify Thursday before the House Commerce Trade Subcommittee during its hearing on vehicle-to-vehicle communication. Einsig will testify that the “private sector is poised to deploy DSRC” in cars and “the corresponding IP network that will connect our roadways in ways never before possible.” Other witnesses will address the spectrum concerns in the upper 5 GHz, currently held by automotive interests for vehicle-to-vehicle tech but under debate about whether that spectrum can be used for licensed purposes. “Thorough and robust testing” is needed to evaluate that sharing, General Motors Executive Director-Global Connected Customer Experience Harry Lightsey will testify. The Wi-Fi Innovation Act (S-424/HR-821) raises “concerns of substantial delay and uncertainty with regards to the viability of the spectrum for DSRC that should be addressed before any legislation is considered further,” Lightsey will say. “We are very optimistic about a sharing proposal from Cisco that would operate on a ‘listen, detect and vacate’ basis. We have engaged with Cisco and plan to begin testing their technology as soon as possible.” The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

All cars need to be equipped with dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) radio technology, Cisco Global Transportation Executive Barry Einsig plans to testify Thursday before the House Commerce Trade Subcommittee during its hearing on vehicle-to-vehicle communication. Einsig will testify that the “private sector is poised to deploy DSRC” in cars and “the corresponding IP network that will connect our roadways in ways never before possible.” Other witnesses will address the spectrum concerns in the upper 5 GHz, currently held by automotive interests for vehicle-to-vehicle tech but under debate about whether that spectrum can be used for licensed purposes. “Thorough and robust testing” is needed to evaluate that sharing, General Motors Executive Director-Global Connected Customer Experience Harry Lightsey will testify. The Wi-Fi Innovation Act (S-424/HR-821) raises “concerns of substantial delay and uncertainty with regards to the viability of the spectrum for DSRC that should be addressed before any legislation is considered further,” Lightsey will say. “We are very optimistic about a sharing proposal from Cisco that would operate on a ‘listen, detect and vacate’ basis. We have engaged with Cisco and plan to begin testing their technology as soon as possible.” The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

ICANN stakeholders urged leaders of the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) during ICANN’s meeting in Buenos Aires Wednesday to consider moving to the back burner some issues it’s considering addressing in a proposal on new ICANN accountability. It's a bid to simplify the proposal to include only changes deemed critical for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition. CCWG-Accountability and the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) are working on plans for the IANA transition process, evaluating several community proposals on the transition. The IANA transition process has been, as expected (see 1506190061), the dominant topic at ICANN’s Buenos Aires meeting, which is taking place amid a legislative push to give Congress more oversight over the transition.

U.S. agriculture producers hit back at a congressional draft plan to revise country-of-origin labeling law to give voluntary authority to label meat muscle cuts during a Senate Agriculture Committee COOL hearing on June 25, arguing the new approach would put the U.S. at risk of costly retaliatory tariffs in the coming months. Agriculture ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., floated the draft proposal the day before (here).

By 2019, the U.S. will need more than 350 MHz additional licensed spectrum to support projected commercial mobile wireless demand, said a study prepared for CTIA by The Brattle Group. The forecast uses the FCC’s formula and approach to update the projected licensed spectrum deficit from five years ago, it said. The FCC said by 2014 the licensed spectrum deficit would be 300 MHz, which means over the next five years the U.S. must increase its existing supply of licensed broadband spectrum by over 50 percent, the report said. CTIA said recently only 135 MHz of the 300 MHz goal the FCC National Broadband Plan called to be cleared had been cleared (see 1506230014).