The House should move forward with legislation to combat online sex trafficking, Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said at a Thursday hearing on a House bill to amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Congress is confronting the “very ugly subject” of sex trafficking and “driving toward effective action,” Blackburn said. She's committed to finding the right legislative solution that gives victims "adequate recourse" (see 1711290052). Ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., hopes legislation can soon be marked up and go to the floor for a vote, a move officials told us is likely early next year.
The House should move forward with legislation to combat online sex trafficking, Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said at a Thursday hearing on a House bill to amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Congress is confronting the “very ugly subject” of sex trafficking and “driving toward effective action,” Blackburn said. She's committed to finding the right legislative solution that gives victims "adequate recourse" (see 1711290052). Ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., hopes legislation can soon be marked up and go to the floor for a vote, a move officials told us is likely early next year.
First responder groups criticized what they said was an Office of Management and Budget decision Tuesday to not reclassify "public safety telecommunicators" in a "protective service” category in its standard occupational classification, as advocates sought so that 911 call takers are in a category that includes police and firefighters (see 1704100015). OMB staff has failed 911 professionals as "call takers & dispatchers aren’t 'protective' occupations," tweeted APCO. "@realDonaldTrump @POTUS Please fix." The group "consulted with a top law firm in DC and decided that pursuing a remedy in court is not a viable option," it said on its website. "This decision is within OMB’s discretion, which means OMB, or even President Trump, has the power to correct it." National Emergency Number Association President Rob McMullen, calling it an "emotionally-charged issue," said NENA made evidence-based comments consistent with "OMB’s data-driven approach to this statistical classification. OMB has made it clear that this is the only way to achieve our long-term goal of full reclassification." OMB didn't comment Wednesday.
Sidley Austin hires Christopher Fonzone, ex-National Security Council aide under then-President Barack Obama, as partner, member of global Privacy and Cybersecurity practice ... Back at Globalstar from Speedcast: David Kagan as president-chief operating officer, effective Dec. 6; Speedcast names Energy Division Executive Vice President Keith Johnson to also succeed Kagan as COO; Erwan Emilian comes to Speedcast from IEC Telecom Group to lead Enterprise & Emerging Markets, succeeding Andrew Burdall, who left to pursue another opportunity.
Booz Allen Executive Vice President Joseph Logue, who leads defense and intelligence businesses, retires, effective June 30; effective April 1, executive vice presidents Karen Dahut heads defense business, Christopher Ling for intelligence and Kristine Martin Anderson at civil business ... Sidley Austin hires Christopher Fonzone, ex-National Security Council aide under then-President Barack Obama, as partner, member of global Privacy and Cybersecurity practice ... American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers hires Stephanie Ruyle, ex-Participant Media’s Pivot, as executive vice president/head-licensing, succeeding Vincent Candilora, who in 2016 announced planned retirement at end of this year.
Cheap and easy-to-use distributed denial of service attack services are driving up the rate of DDoS attacks and exploiting insecure IoT devices, cyber experts said. For less than $100, DDoS-for-hire services can easily take a company down, Corero Network Security CEO Ashley Stephenson told us. Corero's third quarter report showed a 35 percent uptick in DDoS attacks, and Akamai recently reported a 28 percent hike in attacks in the second quarter, notable after three quarters of decline. Neustar’s twice yearly cyber report said attackers are “quite proficient at achieving higher breach rates while using fewer DDoS attacks.”
Cheap and easy-to-use distributed denial of service attack services are driving up the rate of DDoS attacks and exploiting insecure IoT devices, cyber experts said. For less than $100, DDoS-for-hire services can easily take a company down, Corero Network Security CEO Ashley Stephenson told us. Corero's third quarter report showed a 35 percent uptick in DDoS attacks, and Akamai recently reported a 28 percent hike in attacks in the second quarter, notable after three quarters of decline. Neustar’s twice yearly cyber report said attackers are “quite proficient at achieving higher breach rates while using fewer DDoS attacks.”
Cheap and easy-to-use distributed denial of service attack services are driving up the rate of DDoS attacks and exploiting insecure IoT devices, cyber experts said. For less than $100, DDoS-for-hire services can easily take a company down, Corero Network Security CEO Ashley Stephenson told us. Corero's third quarter report showed a 35 percent uptick in DDoS attacks, and Akamai recently reported a 28 percent hike in attacks in the second quarter, notable after three quarters of decline. Neustar’s twice yearly cyber report said attackers are “quite proficient at achieving higher breach rates while using fewer DDoS attacks.”
A paragraph in the FCC’s draft Blue Alerts order set for the December agenda gives the nod to a change in the way emergency alerts are handled that could have effects beyond the order's creation of a single BLU emergency alert system (EAS) code for law enforcement officers in danger. “We encourage EAS manufacturers and EAS Participants to take technical steps to facilitate the delivery of IPAWS [Integrated Public Alert Warning System]-based EAS Blue Alerts to the public where an alert is first delivered to an EAS Participant via broadcast,” the draft order said, giving EAS participants permission to favor the internet-based, more-information rich common alerting protocol (CAP) alerts over the more simple alerts transmitted by the legacy “daisy-chain” system.
An FCC draft ruling and orders would undo 2015 net neutrality regulation and Title II broadband classification under the Communications Act, as Chairman Ajit Pai and staffers outlined Tuesday (see 1711210020). The 210-page draft declaratory ruling, report and order, and order released Wednesday would "reverse heavy-handed utility-style" broadband regulation "and return to the light-touch framework" that promoted a "free and open internet" before Title II classification, it said.