Wisconsin Democratic senators tried to amend a broadband bill to revive ISP privacy rules after they appeared to fall off the vehicle in the Republican-controlled state legislature. The broadband bill, scheduled for floor vote Wednesday though it never came up, appears in flux. At least 16 states have introduced bills or amendments responding to the federal repeal, reports the National Conference of State Legislatures. Wireline, cable and wireless industries are fighting the state measures, which generally require them to seek customers’ permission before using their data, though federal law doesn’t seem to pre-empt state action (see 1704190048).
Wisconsin Democratic senators tried to amend a broadband bill to revive ISP privacy rules after they appeared to fall off the vehicle in the Republican-controlled state legislature. The broadband bill, scheduled for floor vote Wednesday though it never came up, appears in flux. At least 16 states have introduced bills or amendments responding to the federal repeal, reports the National Conference of State Legislatures. Wireline, cable and wireless industries are fighting the state measures, which generally require them to seek customers’ permission before using their data, though federal law doesn’t seem to pre-empt state action (see 1704190048).
White House said Tuesday evening that President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey; we couldn't reach anyone at the bureau to comment by our deadline ... Attorney and ex-state Sen. Keith Jordan named to Tennessee Public Utility Commission to fill balance of an unexpired term, until June 30, 2018 ... Leaving NAB for 21st Century Fox: Jamie Gillespie becomes vice president in the Global Public Affairs and Policy group, effective June 5 ... Ready Wireless hires Joe Peterson, ex-Telit, as president, Ready IoT ... General Electric appointments include Mo Cowan, ex-ML Strategies and Mintz Levin, named vice president-litigation and legal policy, and Kevin Ichhpurani, ex-Ernst & Young, as executive vice president-global ecosystem and channels, GE Digital ... Polycom hires Tarun Loomba, ex-SanDisk, as executive vice president-solutions management.
Witnesses were divided on the merits of federal pre-emption for telecom equipment siting challenges, during a Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee broadband deployment hearing. Lawmakers held the infrastructure hearing with an eye toward the Trump administration’s priority of a bigger infrastructure package, which is widely expected to address broadband funding. There's no White House proposal released so far.
Witnesses were divided on the merits of federal pre-emption for telecom equipment siting challenges, during a Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee broadband deployment hearing. Lawmakers held the infrastructure hearing with an eye toward the Trump administration’s priority of a bigger infrastructure package, which is widely expected to address broadband funding. There's no White House proposal released so far.
Fiscal year 2017 spending legislation expected to be voted on by the House Appropriations Committee on May 3 contains language to provide ICE $15 million to investigate intellectual property rights violations, including operation of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, as well as $6 million for ICE enforcement of laws against child labor, according to a House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee report on the bill (here). Those funds are expended through ICE’s operations and support account, which House appropriators are proposing to fund at $6.2 billion in FY 2017, $900 million less than President Donald Trump’s March request (see 1703160022). The legislation (here) would also add $31 million to the CBP operations and support account for FY 2017, an amount which could be offset by amounts collected from outside entities for preclearance operations.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative maintained the 11 countries included on its 2016 mid-tier priority watch list for copyright and other IP rights violations and 23 countries on that year’s lower-tier watch list (see 1604270049) in the same rankings for USTR’s 2017 Special 301 report on the global status of IP rights enforcement. On the 2017 priority watch list: China and India, which perennially appear on that list because of ongoing IP rights enforcement problems. The office again didn't include any countries on its top-tier priority foreign country list.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative maintained the 11 countries included on its 2016 mid-tier priority watch list for copyright and other IP rights violations and 23 countries on that year’s lower-tier watch list (see 1604270049) in the same rankings for USTR’s 2017 Special 301 report on the global status of IP rights enforcement. On the 2017 priority watch list: China and India, which perennially appear on that list because of ongoing IP rights enforcement problems. The office again didn't include any countries on its top-tier priority foreign country list.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative maintained the 11 countries included on its 2016 mid-tier priority watch list for copyright and other IP rights violations and 23 countries on that year’s lower-tier watch list (see 1604270049) in the same rankings for USTR’s 2017 Special 301 report on the global status of IP rights enforcement. On the 2017 priority watch list: China and India, which perennially appear on that list because of ongoing IP rights enforcement problems. The office again didn't include any countries on its top-tier priority foreign country list.
Wireless carriers want to include embedded, “clickable” links in wireless emergency alerts but warned the FCC against mandates for that functionality without adequate feasibility testing. CTIA said it contacted aides for the three FCC commissioners on the topic. “CTIA continues to urge the FCC and other governmental stakeholders to be mindful of the potential limitations of embedded reference functionality beyond the control of wireless carriers,” said a Friday filing in docket 15-91. “For example, last year, the National Hurricane Center website was not available for a period of time during Hurricane Matthew.” CTIA also emphasized that work remains on standards for alerts. “While the wireless industry worked diligently to complete the necessary standards work within a few months after adoption of the rule, implementation by handset manufacturers and operating system providers will be necessary before consumers will be able to ‘click’ on embedded references,” CTIA said.