As the smoke clears from an initial flurry of reaction, privacy advocates and some lawmakers applauded President Barack Obama's push to protect privacy, with the release of a draft of the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights (CPBR) last week, (see 1502270052), calling the first draft a step in the right direction. Consumer privacy advocates, industry -- with the exception of Microsoft -- and Democratic and Republican lawmakers initially criticized the draft. Privacy groups said in a letter that they were shown a rough draft of the bill a week before its public release and asked several changes be made, some of which were implemented, including changes to "maintain longstanding privacy protections under the Communications Act.” Privacy groups said that if other changes are adopted, the bill could protect consumers. Industry groups, however, maintain the draft is a step backward, with many expressing concerns about innovation, and some saying the bill distracts from critical data security legislation that's needed.
Commissioner Ajit Pai touted FCC progress on indoor location accuracy, at a National Emergency Number Association awards gala Tuesday. The FCC approved rules 5-0 at its January meeting (see 1501290066). Pai said the input from carriers, APCO and NENA was critical. “We’re now on a path to providing emergency responders with a ‘dispatchable location’ -- that’s the room, office, or suite number where the 911 caller is located,” Pai said, according to prepared remarks. “Public safety organizations have described this as the ‘gold standard’ for indoor location accuracy because it tells first responders exactly which door they need to knock on, or in some cases, kick in during an emergency. This is a great next step in improving our nation’s 911 system.” Pai said Americans should realize how lucky they are to be able to call a single number in an emergency. He recounted a recent trip to India. “In India, there isn’t a [unique] single number that people can call for help,” he said. “There’s one number to reach the police, another for the fire department, and yet another if you need an ambulance. There are even different numbers for senior citizens, women, and children to use.” Pai also said hotel chains have made substantial progress in another key area -- letting customers call 911 from their rooms without having to dial 9 first to get an outside line. By the end of the year, all Country Inn & Suites, Crowne Plaza, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Fairfield Inn, Four Points, Gaylord, Hampton Inn, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Hyatt, InterContinental, La Quinta, Marriott, Motel 6, Park Plaza, Radisson, Residence Inn, Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, Sheraton, Staybridge, W and Westin properties will have that capacity, he said.
Steps the government can take to ensure converged technologies aren't “tremendously disruptive” but benefit government’s ability to communicate, cooperate and address the “nation’s most significant issues” were outlined in a report to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “The power of convergence affects the nature of the relationship between individual citizens, the United States as a nation, and the United States and the world,” said Dave Zolet, co-chairman of the TechAmerica Convergence Commission and CSC executive vice president and general manager, Americas Region. The Federal Technology Convergence Commission Report released Tuesday was created by the philanthropic arm of CompTIA, Creating IT Futures, and was called the “first collaborative step between industry and the government to advance the adoption of emerging technologies” by CompTIA CEO Todd Thibodeaux. “This report provides insights and ideas about how key connectivity technologies used in combination can help our government improve mission delivery at home and abroad,” said Kay Kapoor, co-chairman of the TechAmerica Convergence Commission and president of AT&T Government Solutions.
Localized public safety answering points (PSAPs) have “an obvious leading part” in making the FCC’s 911 wireless location accuracy order and the industry-public safety road map work, FCC Public Safety Bureau Deputy Chief David Furth said on Tuesday. PSAPs “are in the best position” to monitor the on-the-ground accuracy of 911 location technologies the carriers are testing as part of the order and road map, he said during a National Emergency Number Association (NENA) conference. The 911 indoor location accuracy order the FCC adopted Jan. 29 was seen to have been influenced by the voluntary commitments included in the road map (see 1501290066).
The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) convened emergency communications officials in Washington, D.C., Monday to prepare for days of meetings with members of Congress on 911-related legislation. NENA highlighted several legislative priorities that officials should discuss during their meetings, including passage of “comprehensive” federal legislation that would require multiline telecom systems (MLTS) installed in dorms, hotels and offices to provide direct-dial access to 911. FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai also has pushed for direct-dial access to 911 on MLTS systems and has received voluntary commitments from most major hotel chains to implement direct-dial on their systems by the end of the year (see 1502170057). NENA also supports the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act to ensure local public safety answering points can access caller geolocation data when 911 is dialed. NENA is seeking parity of access so PSAPs can compete for federal grant funds on an equal basis with public safety agencies and wants members of Congress to discuss public safety telecom in speeches April 12-18.
Spectrum allocations above 24 GHz that the FCC has identified for possible wireless use “present an important opportunity to open large contiguous blocks of spectrum,” but the commission also should continue to examine bands below 24 GHz since those are the bands where 5G services “are expected to emerge first,” AT&T said in a filing posted Friday. Most other industry stakeholders also encouraged the FCC in separate filings to proceed with caution on rulemakings for spectrum above 24 GHz. The FCC, in an Oct. 17 notice of inquiry, identified six sets of bands above 24 GHz for possible wireless use: the local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) bands, the 39 GHz band, the 37/42 GHz bands, the 57-64 GHz and 64-71 GHz bands, the 71-76 GHz bands, the 81-86 GHz bands and the 24/25 GHz bands. Reply comments on the NOI were due Feb. 17.
A draft FCC emergency alert system order would implement lessons learned from the first national EAS test, following a June 26 NPRM in docket 04-296, said an agency official. The item was circulated Feb. 2, said the commission's list of circulates. A subsequent national EAS test hasn’t been announced.
Adding three emergency alert system (EAS) event codes to the National Weather Service's dissemination suite will require a factory software update, Monroe Electronics said in an ex parte notice in docket 04-296 Friday. It said it was responding to a request from the Public Safety Bureau. The NWS requested additional EAS event codes and changes to marine areas, said the company. “The sheer scale of deployment of this EAS equipment will require substantial lead time to fully implement any changes to geocodes (FIPS) [Federal Information Processing Standards] or event codes.” If the FCC approves these event codes or changes, Monroe Electronics will need to release a factory update for its four FCC EAS compliance products, and users will need to download the update from Monroe’s site and apply it to each EAS device, said the EAS equipment maker.
On Feb. 17 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
As contract talks stalled between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) heading into Presidents Day weekend, the CE industry continued efforts to manage the supply chain amid a potentially devastating situation over which it has no control, industry executives said Friday. PMA said it would halt loading activity at ports Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday because it didn’t want to pay higher wages during a long weekend with two holidays (Lincoln’s Birthday and Presidents Day) while ILWU members conduct a work slowdown.