A tech-communications industry coalition plans to publish a white paper this quarter proposing baseline IoT security standards, said CTA Vice President-Technology and Standards Michael Bergman Tuesday. The document for the so-called C2 Consensus on IoT Device Security will parallel similar IoT baseline setting efforts (see 1908010054) from NIST, he said during a workshop at agency headquarters.
Five of the top eight consumer tech product categories in terms of 2018 customs value temporarily escaped 10 percent List 4 Section 301 tariff exposure at least until Dec. 15 (see 1908130015), well after imports will have arrived for the peak holiday selling season, per Office of the U.S. Trade Representative documents released Tuesday. Bluetooth headphones, smartwatches, smart speakers and finished TVs from China face immediate 10 percent tariff exposure Sept. 1.
BALTIMORE -- Chairman Ajit Pai said the FCC expects major carriers to meet a Nov. 30 deadline for more targeted wireless emergency alerts. “I am re-emphasizing my call to all stakeholders to continue working cooperatively and expeditiously to meet the Nov. 30 deadline,” Pai told APCO Tuesday. He stopped short of discussing what the agency will do if carriers are unable to meet the deadline. His remarks were later posted.
BALTIMORE -- The T band remains a big concern for some APCO members, based on questions at an FCC session Tuesday at the group's annual meeting. Commission officials didn’t focus on the band during a presentation, but almost all the questions afterwards were on the topic. “I didn’t know it would be the first question, but I did know it would be one of the questions,” joked Public Safety Bureau Deputy Chief David Furth, who led the session.
Viacom, CBS and those worried about their long-expected combination (see 1908130039) foresee more retransmission and affiliate fee pressures. The combined company will have 22 percent of U.S. TV viewership, and will look to greatly beef up its affiliate fees as part of its growth strategy, CBS acting CEO Joe Ianniello said in a call with analysts Tuesday as the two programmers announced the recombination; the companies split in 2006.
Residential broadband small-network equipment is inching ever closer to universally meeting energy efficiency standards in the 2015 voluntary agreement set up by NCTA and CTA (see 1506260038). The two pointed Monday to the latest annual report showing 99.6 percent of small network equipment bought or sold by signatories in 2018 met those standards, up from 99.2 percent in 2017. Consumer electronics can pose a thornier problem, environmental interests say.
DOJ should defer to Congress before potentially altering the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees, broadcast and film associations commented. They joined consumer and tech industry groups in supporting preserving the decrees. Comments (see 1906050060) were due Friday night.
The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee is gearing up for its first meeting since being rechartered, likely in early fall, said CSMAC members and federal officials Monday. CSMAC last met in July 2018 (see 1807240057). “We are finalizing the topics and questions that we wish the CSMAC to address prior to our first meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for early October,” an NTIA spokesperson emailed: The location and exact time haven't been decided.
An FCC notice of inquiry for its annual national broadband deployment report could be released this month after it went on circulation with the commissioners in late July (see 1908020048). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel has already voted in dissent, an aide said, because she wants changes such as new questions about whether the FCC should look at performance speed thresholds above the 25 Mbps upstream/3 downstream current minimum standard for broadband. The aide expects the NOI will go public once each commissioner casts a vote. Nothing material has changed in the language since last year's NOI on the same topic, the aide said. An FCC spokesperson didn't comment on the release date for the NOI or say Friday whether all the commissioner votes had been cast.
Congress should bring more transparency to data broker practices through the FTC, Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Martha McSally, R-Ariz., told us after introduction of their bill (see 1908010043) to require data brokers to register annually with the FTC for acquisition, use and protection of brokered personal data.