National 911 groups will explore how operators could field calls from home, heads of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and National Association of State 911 Administrators (NASNA) said in interviews last week. Operators began working remotely in Alexandria, Virginia, when the coronavirus struck the U.S. Most public safety answering points (PSAPs) don’t allow that, despite widespread safety concerns of having call takers working near each other indoors (see 2003180033).
The Internet Archive will close its National Emergency Library Tuesday rather than June 30 due to a lawsuit from publishers (see 2006010026), IA said Wednesday. The lawsuit is broader than the NEL, IA said. It “stands in contrast to some academic publishers who initially expressed concerns about the NEL, but ultimately decided to work with us to provide access to people cut off from their physical schools and libraries,” founder Brewster Kahle wrote. “We hope that similar cooperation is possible here, and the publishers call off their costly assault.” The NEL “was an enormously important program that acted as a short-term band-aid to alleviate real, documented needs during a time of national crisis, providing access to books when library collections were inaccessible,” Public Knowledge Policy Counsel Meredith Rose said. The Association of American Publishers didn’t comment.
The Internet Archive will close its National Emergency Library Tuesday rather than June 30 due to a lawsuit from publishers (see 2006010026), IA said Wednesday. The lawsuit is broader than the NEL, IA said. It “stands in contrast to some academic publishers who initially expressed concerns about the NEL, but ultimately decided to work with us to provide access to people cut off from their physical schools and libraries,” founder Brewster Kahle wrote. “We hope that similar cooperation is possible here, and the publishers call off their costly assault.” The NEL “was an enormously important program that acted as a short-term band-aid to alleviate real, documented needs during a time of national crisis, providing access to books when library collections were inaccessible,” Public Knowledge Policy Counsel Meredith Rose said. The Association of American Publishers didn’t comment.
The second round of comment collections on retaliatory tariffs in the Airbus agreement should be free-form, as the first set was, the National Association of Beverage Importers said in June 9 comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The trade group said the fact that almost 26,000 comments were submitted in the last round shows strong public interest, and the pull-down menus in the online form that the USTR has offered is confusing. “The form portal approach does not minimize the burden on the public; rather, it reduces the review burden on USTR. The latter is not the goal of the Paperwork Reduction Act,” NABI President Robert Tobiassen said. The association “respectfully requests that the existing process is maintained as it is, and that this emergency information collection request be approved only as a non-mandatory option for those who are willing and able to provide the information in the format USTR is seeking to receive,” it said. The USTR requested comments about the coming portal changes last month (see 2005260026).
The FCC approved clarity on wireless siting rules to speed the collocation of wireless infrastructure on existing cell towers 3-2, over dissents by Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks. They objected, as some expected (see 2006030057), after the agency declined to delay a vote to give state and local governments more time to respond due to the demands because of the COVID-19 pandemic and protests. Republicans said change is needed as companies struggle to build out 5G networks. The ruling takes effect upon release.
USTelecom and its members urged the FCC to launch an order soon on a February consensus proposal on toll-free access rates. Rural and competitive LECs want to make sure they don't lose revenue in the process or face added costs. Activity in docket 18-156 heated up in recent weeks as stakeholders lobby Wireline Bureau staff and commissioner offices. The commission issued a Further NPRM two years ago (see 1807020040). At issue is who pays to move toll-free traffic and who gets revenue for it.
Agriculture groups and the New York State Wireless Association supported revised wireless infrastructure rules set for an FCC commissioners' vote Tuesday. Both filed in docket 19-250 letters posted Friday (see here and here). Among those signing the agriculture letter were the Rural & Agriculture Council of America, the American Dairy Coalition, the Intertribal Agriculture Council, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, the National Farmers Union and the U.S. Cattlemen's Association. “Whether it be its use in facilitating online video sales for livestock, staying up to date with local news and weather, or having access to new and emerging technologies, now more than ever broadband access is needed by our members,” the agriculture groups said. On Thursday, Commissioner Brendan Carr released a promised list of supporters with comments (see 2006030057).
The Justice Department is seeking a $20 million forfeiture from Kenneth Zong, who allegedly violated U.S. sanctions against Iran and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the agency said in a June 3 news release. Zong worked with three Iranian nationals to illegally convert their money in a South Korean bank account into U.S. dollars, the Justice Department said. To do this, Zong engaged in “fraudulent transactions” and laundered money through a “host” of shell company bank accounts “in multiple jurisdictions,” including the U.S., the United Arab Emirates and South Korea. The funds were valued at about $1 billion, but about $20 million was used to try to buy a hotel in Tbilisi, Georgia, the agency said.
Staying the FCC's Ligado approval won't cause harm but is needed to prevent serious harm from harmful interference to GPS devices and satellite communications, said nearly six dozen aeronautical, GPS and satellite interests in a docket 11-109 posting Wednesday. Citing NTIA concerns about Ligado's L-band terrestrial wireless plan, the coalition said the FCC "made little, if any, cognizable effort to accommodate or address those concerns. Letter signatories included American Airlines, American Meteorological Society, FedEx, Iridium, JetBlue, National Emergency Number Association, Spire Global, Trimble and UPS. The FCC, which was asked to reconsider the approval (see 2005210043), didn't comment. The Association of Equipment Manufacturers said that in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks it urged reconsideration of the Ligado approval, noting the harmful interference to GPS.
Internet Archive should be blocked from scanning and sharing millions of literary works, the Association of American Publishers said Monday in a lawsuit at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. AAP accused IA of sharing “some 1.3 million bootleg scans of print books” through public-facing online libraries. Plaintiffs are Hachette, HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons and Penguin Random House. The lawsuit “condemns the fact that IA solicits and collects truckloads of in-copyright books in order to copy and make them available without permission,” AAP said, arguing there are no exceptions for this activity under fair use, the first sale doctrine or in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. IA founder Brewster Kahle called the lawsuit “disappointing.” IA “acquires books and lends them, as libraries have always done,” which supports the publishing industry, he emailed. “Publishers suing libraries for lending books, in this case, protected digitized versions, and while schools and libraries are closed, is not in anyone's interest.” For too long, "IA has brazenly scanned and distributed published works while refusing to abide by the traditional contours of copyright law,” Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid said. Public Knowledge Legal Director John Bergmayer wrote in support of IA, saying controlled digital lending is fair use under copyright law: "The National Emergency Library, which expands on CDL, is justified under the circumstances of the pandemic, when so many print books paid for by the public are inaccessible." He urged Congress to support legislation "clarifying the right of libraries to make print books available to patrons electronically, and to serve their constituencies during times of emergency.”