CE and other industries may well bear a large burden for educating the public about the Feb. 17, 2009, analog TV cutoff, now that the House has narrowly approved a deficit- reduction package and its DTV provisions and sent it to the White House for President Bush’s signature (CD Feb 2 p1). But for the CE industry and others, for which enactment of a hard DTV transition date is a long-sought victory, the burden is one they're ready to shoulder.
CE and other industries may well bear a large burden for educating the public about the Feb. 17, 2009, analog TV cutoff, now that the House has narrowly approved a deficit- reduction package and its DTV provisions and sent it to the White House for President Bush’s signature (CED Feb 2 p1). But for the CE industry and others, for which enactment of a hard DTV transition date is a long-sought victory, the burden is one they're ready to shoulder.
A National Rural Telecom Coop (NRTC) study raising doubts about the feasibility of BPL for rural electric cooperatives (CD Jan 26 p2) isn’t the “end-all, definitive statement” that BPL will never be deployed in rural areas, said Mich. PSC Comr. Laura Chappelle, who heads NARUC’s BPL Task Force. The NRTC said it isn’t making its report public but will brief state regulators.
A National Rural Telecom Coop (NRTC) study raising doubts about the feasibility of BPL for rural electric cooperatives (CD Jan 26 p2) isn’t the “end-all, definitive statement” that BPL will never be deployed in rural areas, said Mich. PSC Comr. Laura Chappelle, who heads NARUC’s BPL Task Force. The NRTC said it isn’t making its report public but will brief state regulators.
FCC Chmn Martin said a notice of proposed rulemaking that began circulating last week “tentatively concludes” that the Commission should require all telecom carriers to certify on a specific date that they have set up operating procedures to comply with proceedings to safeguard customer proprietary network information (CPNI). He made his comments at a House Commerce Committee hearing Wed. on cellphone records. He also outlined suggestions to Congress for changing the law to help combat the theft of consumer information.
A powerful committee chairman’s enthusiasm for his gift iPod has sparked a fair-use political action committee to seek a similar change of heart by other senators on copyright issues like the broadcast and audio flag. At a hearing on the flag proposals, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said his daughter gave him an iPod for Christmas. He asked RIAA Exec. Dir. Mitch Bainwol if Stevens could record songs from the radio and transfer them to the iPod under the audio flag (WID Jan 25 p4).
China’s growing economy has resulted in greater telecom access by the Chinese people, but the govt. has “parried all of these moves, in most cases with startling effectiveness,” by deploying technological tools that censor telephonic and Internet content, track dissidents and disseminate propaganda, the head of the U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission told a Capitol Hill briefing Wed. During U.S.-China trade talks, some hoped that expanded international commerce would be the first step toward crumbling China’s Communist regime, but the Commission’s Acting Chmn. Carolyn Bartholomew said “this hope has not been realized.”
FCC Chmn Martin said a notice of proposed rulemaking that began circulating last week “tentatively concludes” that the Commission should require all telecom carriers to certify on a specific date that they have set up operating procedures to comply with proceedings to safeguard customer proprietary network information (CPNI). He made his comments at a House Commerce Committee hearing Wed. on cellphone records. He also outlined suggestions to Congress for changing the law to help combat the theft of consumer information, which occurs increasingly on the Internet.
VeriSign gave ICANN a “last, best offer” to settle a suit over the .com domain. Changes proposed to the pact were posted for public comment Sun., after a private conference call last week involving ICANN board members and staff and Verisign representatives (WID Jan 24 p8). The proposal shows significant changes from an Oct. version that irked some in the industry who said it raised antitrust concerns and expanded VeriSign’s preeminence in the space (WID Nov 30 p1). The debate sparked a hue and cry at ICANN’s year-end meeting in Vancouver, as well as lawsuits, Congressional attention and gripes to the Justice and Commerce Depts.
The major national wireless carriers clashed with smaller carriers in reply comments at the FCC over whether to revise rules to guarantee equitable roaming rates across the U.S.. With each side accusing the other of overcharging, comments on an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking are getting close scrutiny because the FCC is interested in rural issues, sources said. Commission Democrats, in particular, have raised concerns about roaming.