Tech companies and industry groups largely shied away Friday from reacting to Thursday’s decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denying an emergency motion to stay a lower court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) that blocked enforcement of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 immigration executive order.
Tech companies and industry groups largely shied away Friday from reacting to Thursday’s decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denying an emergency motion to stay a lower court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) that blocked enforcement of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 immigration executive order.
CTIA disagrees with states over how to split text-to-911 costs, it said in comments due Wednesday in docket 11-153 and posted there Thursday. To resolve a conflict holding up Maine's adoption of text-to-911 via message session relay protocol, and so the state may appropriately assess costs, the Maine Public Utilities Commission asked the FCC to clarify where the point of demarcation is between wireless providers and the state’s next-generation 911 network (see 1701090027). Wireless service providers should pay to connect from the text control center (TCC) to the state’s NG-911 system, the Maine PUC commented. “Placing the burden on a 911 authority, even on an interim basis, is fundamentally unfair when the requirement to provide the service lies with the carriers.” The point of demarcation should be at the ingress designated by the state’s session border controller, “which governs inputs to the statewide ESInet and routes calls using an Emergency Service Routing Proxy (ESRP),” it said. CTIA said the egress side of the wireless providers’ TCC is the appropriate demarcation point: “The Maine PUC offers no justification for upending the established cost allocation paradigm that public safety representatives and wireless providers have instituted and the FCC has recognized for interim text-to-911 solutions.” The National Association of State 911 Administrators supported the Maine PUC. The FCC should set a standard point of interconnection that could be applied to future multimedia communication in NG-911, NASNA commented. “This would aid states that are moving aggressively toward NG911 to better serve the evolving communication preferences of consumers and hopefully minimize the transition timeline.” APCO said the information provided by Maine seemed to support its suggested demarcation point. “To ensure comprehensive applicability across network designs and naming conventions, the Commission might benefit from considering the need for a functional definition of the demarcation point, rather than identifying a specific piece of equipment or network element,” the public safety group commented. The National Emergency Number Association urged the FCC to resolve the matter soon. "Unless and until critical demarcation questions, such as the one raised by Maine, are resolved, states like Maine and other local 9-1-1 authorities will face continued uncertainty and potentially conflicting service provider demands with respect to the structure of legacy voice, interim SMS, and end-stage Next Generation 9-1-1 service."
CTIA disagrees with states over how to split text-to-911 costs, it said in comments due Wednesday in docket 11-153 and posted there Thursday. To resolve a conflict holding up Maine's adoption of text-to-911 via message session relay protocol, and so the state may appropriately assess costs, the Maine Public Utilities Commission asked the FCC to clarify where the point of demarcation is between wireless providers and the state’s next-generation 911 network (see 1701090027). Wireless service providers should pay to connect from the text control center (TCC) to the state’s NG-911 system, the Maine PUC commented. “Placing the burden on a 911 authority, even on an interim basis, is fundamentally unfair when the requirement to provide the service lies with the carriers.” The point of demarcation should be at the ingress designated by the state’s session border controller, “which governs inputs to the statewide ESInet and routes calls using an Emergency Service Routing Proxy (ESRP),” it said. CTIA said the egress side of the wireless providers’ TCC is the appropriate demarcation point: “The Maine PUC offers no justification for upending the established cost allocation paradigm that public safety representatives and wireless providers have instituted and the FCC has recognized for interim text-to-911 solutions.” The National Association of State 911 Administrators supported the Maine PUC. The FCC should set a standard point of interconnection that could be applied to future multimedia communication in NG-911, NASNA commented. “This would aid states that are moving aggressively toward NG911 to better serve the evolving communication preferences of consumers and hopefully minimize the transition timeline.” APCO said the information provided by Maine seemed to support its suggested demarcation point. “To ensure comprehensive applicability across network designs and naming conventions, the Commission might benefit from considering the need for a functional definition of the demarcation point, rather than identifying a specific piece of equipment or network element,” the public safety group commented. The National Emergency Number Association urged the FCC to resolve the matter soon. "Unless and until critical demarcation questions, such as the one raised by Maine, are resolved, states like Maine and other local 9-1-1 authorities will face continued uncertainty and potentially conflicting service provider demands with respect to the structure of legacy voice, interim SMS, and end-stage Next Generation 9-1-1 service."
Balloons, drones, fiber, satellites, TV white spaces and other technologies are being used worldwide to try to give the roughly 4 billion offline people, many in developing countries, affordable and fast internet service, said representatives from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, the U.S. government and others during a New America event Thursday. They highlighted the difficulties and challenges of bringing connectivity, and the importance of such efforts. The way to solve the world's problems is to include everyone, said former U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith.
Balloons, drones, fiber, satellites, TV white spaces and other technologies are being used worldwide to try to give the roughly 4 billion offline people, many in developing countries, affordable and fast internet service, said representatives from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, the U.S. government and others during a New America event Thursday. They highlighted the difficulties and challenges of bringing connectivity, and the importance of such efforts. The way to solve the world's problems is to include everyone, said former U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith.
India again ranked near the bottom among 45 “global economies” included in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Intellectual Property Center’s annual IP index report. GIPC ranks the 45 countries based on patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, enforcement and international treaties. GIPC ranked India at 43, ahead of Pakistan and last-place Venezuela. India ranked in either last place or next-to-last in GIPC’s previous four index reports. The U.S., UK, EU-member nations and Japan continued to rank at the top of the index, with those nations holding all but two of the top 10 spots. The U.S. ranked No. 1, and Singapore and South Korea ranked at No. 8 and 9, respectively. “Emerging markets, such as India, have made incremental gains and embraced positive rhetoric with their IPR [intellectual property rights] policies, but they have not yet followed up with the legislative reforms innovators need,” said GIPC Executive Vice President Mark Elliot in a news release. “Some developed countries, including Canada and Australia, continue to implement policies that undermine their proud traditions of IP-led innovation. And even world leaders such as the U.S. have room to grow and improve.”
India again ranked near the bottom among 45 “global economies” included in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Intellectual Property Center’s annual IP index report. GIPC ranks the 45 countries based on patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, enforcement and international treaties. GIPC ranked India at 43, ahead of Pakistan and last-place Venezuela. India ranked in either last place or next-to-last in GIPC’s previous four index reports. The U.S., UK, EU-member nations and Japan continued to rank at the top of the index, with those nations holding all but two of the top 10 spots. The U.S. ranked No. 1, and Singapore and South Korea ranked at No. 8 and 9, respectively. “Emerging markets, such as India, have made incremental gains and embraced positive rhetoric with their IPR [intellectual property rights] policies, but they have not yet followed up with the legislative reforms innovators need,” said GIPC Executive Vice President Mark Elliot in a news release. “Some developed countries, including Canada and Australia, continue to implement policies that undermine their proud traditions of IP-led innovation. And even world leaders such as the U.S. have room to grow and improve.”
The Navajo Nation has "grave concerns" about a Universal Service Administrative Co. decision "that would force over 1,000 low-income Navajo Nation residents to lose essential phone service" under the Lifeline USF subsidy program. USAC has directed Cellular One (Smith Bagley) to obtain documentation from about 3,000 customers to verify their identities, said a filing by Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye posted Wednesday in FCC docket 11-42. Most of the residents live in "unreachable areas" and have limited access to mail and electric service, and many are elderly and disabled. He said travel is particularly difficult in winter, and a local state of emergency was declared in recent days. "Yet USAC demands that all of these people travel these distances by February 18, 2017, in the middle of the long Navajo winter or lose their phones," he wrote. Cellular One is doing extensive outreach, but more than 1,000 customers remain and need more time, Begaye said, asking the FCC to direct USAC to resolve the issue without jeopardizing the safety of Navajo people.
The Trump administration hasn't contacted FCC Inspector General David Hunt and Commerce Department IG Peggy Gustafson about the possibility of removing them from their positions, they told Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., in letters dated from this week and provided to us Wednesday by a Nelson spokesman. But the administration told some IGs they would be held over only temporarily, some IGs told Nelson. Senate Commerce held a hearing focused on IGs Wednesday, with testimony from Gustafson, confirmed to the position in December, as well as Homeland Security Department IG John Roth, Transportation Department IG Calvin Scovel and National Science Foundation IG Allison Lerner.