LONDON -- Police and other authorities could begin as early as next year to force disclosure of encrypted e-data, Home Office Covert Investigation Policy Team member Simon Watkin said Mon. Under a code of practice (CoP) in the last stages of public comment before parliamentary debate in 2006, individuals in criminal or civil cases could be forced to make encrypted data intelligible or hand over the key to unlock them. One aspect of the CoP worries civil rights advocates and technologists, they said at the “Scrambling for Safety 8” meeting here.
An FCC rulemaking on 4.5 degrees “tweener” satellite spacing was circulating the 8th floor late last week with a Mon. vote deadline, multiple sources said. The NPRM, which Fri. had all 3 Republican commissioners’ approval, goes further than many in the DBS industry had expected, they said. Besides raising a bevy of questions that accompany the ’tweener concept, the rulemaking would grant the International Bureau authority to approve long-pending tweener applications on file. The item is “definitely more than an NPRM,” a source said.
More interim changes to the Universal Service Fund (USF) contributions system simply will delay reform, VoIP providers and others told the FCC in comments filed Wed. The FCC in a June order making interim fixes (CD June 22 p1), asked if more temporary changes were due. Commenters told the FCC not to waste time on interim fixes but to replace the revenue- based system.
Federal privacy law probably doesn’t cover posting of search query data on the Internet by an AOL Research team (WID Aug 8 p6), lawyers and Hill staff told us. The AOL posting “may violate” the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) as well as AOL’s own privacy policy, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Activist Derek Slater said on the group’s blog, but we had trouble finding others to agree with him.
ORLANDO -- Two years after the FCC released its massive 800 MHz rebanding order on the eve of the Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials 2004 meeting, concern is growing in the public safety community about whether the rebanding will be finished, in a way that protects public safety licensees, in the 36 months allowed. The rebanding officially got under way in June 2005.
The FCC sought industry advice on the need to revise rules for the 700 MHz auction, scheduled to begin by early 2008, offering 90 MHz of highly coveted spectrum. The NPRM doesn’t ask about a proposal by Nextel founder Morgan O'Brien, chmn. of Cyren Call, to dedicate 30 MHz of the spectrum (CD June 28 p3) to a nationwide wireless network for public safety rather than sell it at auction, sources said.
The FCC kept its Oct. 2004 BPL rules largely intact as it voted on petitions for reconsideration Thurs. But late Wed. the Commission pulled from its agenda an order on classifying BPL as an interstate information service. Chmn. Martin told reporters there was no hold-up and all commissioners supported the order. It could be adopted in circulation, he added. Industry sources said the order was withdrawn because the text wasn’t finished.
The FCC kept its Oct. 2004 BPL rules largely intact as it voted on petitions for reconsideration Thurs. But late Wed. the Commission pulled from its agenda an order on classifying BPL as an interstate information service. Chmn. Martin told reporters there was no hold-up and all commissioners supported the order. It could be adopted in circulation, he added. Industry sources said the order was withdrawn because the text wasn’t finished.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a proposed rule that would amend 19 CFR Part 24 to increase the user fee for customs services provided to express consignment carrier facilities or centralized hub facilities in connection with the entry or release of shipments to $1.00 (from $0.66) for each individual air waybill or bill of lading.
A lengthy shareholder dispute involving Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) and sister satellite firm TerreStar has landed in the FCC’s lap. In a proposed ownership shuffle that would separate the satellite firms, controlling companies Motient and SkyTerra recently sought transfer of MSV’s FCC licenses from Motient to SkyTerra. The transaction’s docket saw only one set of comments, from Highland Capital, run by Motient shareholder and former Motient director James Dondero, long a critic of Motient’s management.