GENEVA -- Countries are at odds over what’s needed to protect critical networks and stem cyberthreats, they said in preparations for U.N. meetings this week and next year on information security. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council meet this week with 10 other countries for the first time on the issue. The organizational meeting through Thursday will set the stage for future talks on strengthening security in the global information and telecommunications systems, documents said.
The FCC is continuing to hold off deciding on three petitions against AT&T and Comcast over the companies’ digital carriage of public, education and government (PEG) channels, several commission and industry officials said. The petitions from December and January by towns and municipal groups ask the commission to require pay-TV providers to treat PEG channels the same as others. The petitions are among the media items that could get FCC approval this or next quarter, and in the past some officials there have sought action, but the regulator for now is taking a wait-and-see approach, said commission officials and communications lawyers.
GENEVA -- Countries are at odds over what’s needed to protect critical networks and stem cyberthreats, they said in preparations for U.N. meetings this week and next year on information security. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council meet this week with 10 other countries for the first time on the issue. The organizational meeting through Thursday will set the stage for future talks on strengthening security in the global information and telecommunications systems, documents said.
GENEVA -- Countries are at odds over what’s needed to protect critical networks and stem cyberthreats, they said in preparations for U.N. meetings this week and next year on information security. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council meet this week with 10 other countries for the first time on the issue. The organizational meeting through Thursday will set the stage for future talks on strengthening security in the global information and telecommunications systems, documents said.
The Media Bureau is working on an order addressing the FCC terrestrial video exemption that lets cable operators withhold from subscription-TV rivals programming they own but don’t distribute using satellites, several commission and industry officials said Friday. The bureau hasn’t circulated an item yet, but it appears to be close to finalizing an item that may address a commission rulemaking on program access, said several FCC and industry officials.
The FCC probably will put out a public notice that it’s studying spectrum that could be reallocated to meet the growing needs of the wireless industry, but not until early December, commission and industry officials said last week. With broadcasters vigorously defending their frequencies, there are few other places for the government to look, officials said.
Net neutrality opponents, including Rep. Gene Green, D- Texas, and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., were assembled Thursday by the free-market American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research (CRI) to warn about its impact on consumer welfare, innovation, competition and investment. CRI also put out a collection of essays from many of the panelists sounding the same themes.
Net neutrality opponents, including Rep. Gene Green, D- Texas, and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., were assembled Thursday by the free-market American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research (CRI) to warn about its impact on consumer welfare, innovation, competition and investment. CRI also put out a collection of essays from many of the panelists sounding the same themes.
Members of the International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO on November 17, 2009 ratified a two-year Master Contract extension -to September 30, 2012 - that calls for raises in pay, begins to bridge the gap for lower-tiered ILA workers, eliminates the container royalty cap and addresses the issues of jurisdiction and new technology. The ILA represents some 65,000 waterfront employees on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, the Great Lakes, major U.S. rivers, Eastern Canada, and Puerto Rico. (ILA 11/17/09 press release available at http://www.ilaunion.org/news_contract_ratified.html )
Many Web sites mis-selling ring tones and other mobile phone services cleaned up their act after a European Commission (EC) crackdown, Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said on Tuesday. An EC enforcement “sweep” launched in June 2008 netted 301 Web sites across the 27 EU states, Norway and Iceland found to be scamming consumers seeking ring tones, wallpaper and other services, she said. Of those, 52 percent were corrected and 17 percent of the Web sites have closed, she said. The three main problems were unclear pricing, failure to provide complete contact information, and misleading advertising, particularly when ring tones offered as “free” instead tied buyers into paying subscriptions, she said. More than half of the sites investigated targeted children through the use of cartoon or well-known TV characters, and many had multiple irregularities, the EC said. Ring tones accounted for about 29 percent of Europe’s overall mobile content market in 2007, bringing in an estimated $1 billion, it said. The EC targeted the mobile phone services sector for enforcement because of growing consumer complaints, it said. This sweep and an earlier one on Web sites selling airline tickets are ratcheting up pressure to comply with consumer protection laws, Kuneva said. National authorities are working together more effectively and homing in on problem areas of the consumer market more precisely, she said. The increased media attention is deterring bad business practices and raising consumer awareness, she said. The investigations are “a totally new way of doing business at the EU level,” she added.