BRUSSELS -- Nearly everyone agrees that the Internet of Things is coming, but not when or in what form, speakers said Monday at the Internet of Things Europe summit. The IoT always seems to be “just a few years around the corner,” said Carl-Christian Buhr, a member of cabinet for Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes. The IoT should be, but often isn’t, distinguished from cyber-physical systems (CPS), said Geoff Mulligan, U.S. presidential innovation fellow on CPS and founder of the IPSO (Internet Protocol for Smart Objects) Alliance. The U.S. and EU approaches to IoT development differ but are complementary, speakers said.
Signs are that FirstNet could be stalled two years after the law approving the national first responder network was enacted, former Seattle Chief Technology Officer Bill Schrier warned in a blog post. Schrier, who is FirstNet’s designated point of contact in Washington State, said the network has made a only few dozen hires to date. “Two years into a $7 billion project and only 25 full-time staff have been hired!?” he asked (http://bit.ly/OzFEwv). The public reaction to FirstNet also seems to be changing, he said. “I've been speaking to groups of public officials and police chiefs and emergency managers and firefighters and other responders in Washington State about FirstNet since May, 2013,” Schrier said. “Lately, the mood of the audiences is starting to change. ‘Yeah, yeah, we've heard you say that before, Bill, but what’s happening now? Where’s the beef?’ I'm starting to feel a bit like a computer software salesman pushing vaporware. ‘Oh yes, that feature will be in our next release slated to come out in 2017.'” In a separate blog posted by Urgent Communications, FirstNet General Manager Bill D'Agostino said real progress is being made. “Our work so far has been focused on putting the foundational building blocks in place for getting this network up and running,” he said (http://bit.ly/MrWSK7). “We want to get the job done as expeditiously as possible, but we have one opportunity to get it right and we understand this tremendous responsibility.”
Recent high-profile data breaches have spurred the FTC and Congress to accentuate the need for heightened authority for the commission to regulate data security. One company is trying to take away that authority altogether.
Inmarsat hires Tony Bates, ex-Hibu, as chief financial officer … Time Warner hires Virginia Lazalde-McPherson, ex-MTV, as senior vice president-business affairs, truTV … Eric Meyrowitz, ex-Tribune Co., rejoins Hearst Television as vice president-sales, effective March 1 … Viacom promotes Audrey Diehl to vice president-animation development, Nickelodeon Group … NABPAC, NAB’s PAC, names as co-chairs Bill McElveen, L&L Broadcasting, and Ralph Oakley, Quincy … National Public Safety Telecommunications Council adds as vice chairman Terry Hall, Virginia’s York-Poquoson-Williamsburg Emergency Communications Center.
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) participant nations Japan and Canada may be unwilling to accept comprehensive market access liberalization in a final trade pact, warned more than 40 U.S. Business Coalition for TPP members in a Feb. 20 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. “Both countries seem intent on preserving the status quo for their most protected sectors,” said the letter. “Not only would the tariff barriers that Japan seeks to maintain be unprecedented, but they are in the very sectors that have the greatest potential for future trade growth between the United States and Japan.” Froman is due to attend the next TPP ministerial in Singapore from Feb. 22-25.
The FCC approved Thursday 5-0, despite concerns of its two Republican members, an NPRM that seeks comments on how the agency can ensure that wireless calls to 911 forward accurate location information to dispatchers. The vote came at the commission’s monthly meeting. The notice proposes revised location accuracy standards for all wireless calls, as well as rules for calls made indoors. The FCC last updated its wireless location accuracy rules in 2011. States led by California have raised concerns that current requirements aren’t strong enough. In November, the FCC held a workshop on the topic (CD Nov 19 p1).
The rapid expansion of telehealth, using a communications network for supporting healthcare functions, highlights an area of regulatory overlap among the FTC, Food and Drug Administration and the FDA’s parent agency, Health and Human Services (HHS), said industry and consumer advocates in interviews. They agreed mobile health apps will proliferate at a brisk rate in 2014, but differ on the need to regulate the sector. Consumer groups, industry groups and the government are working to decide the best way to oversee the occasionally lax, and minimally regulated, data security standards of telehealth devices like mobile health apps.
The FCC under new Chairman Tom Wheeler is making cybersecurity a much bigger part of its public safety focus, said David Simpson, new chief of the Public Safety Bureau, during a Tuesday brown-bag lunch with members of the Federal Communications Bar Association. Industry should not fear that the FCC wants to be a cybersecurity cop, Simpson said.
The FCC under new Chairman Tom Wheeler is making cybersecurity a much bigger part of its public safety focus, said David Simpson, new chief of the Public Safety Bureau, during a Tuesday brown-bag lunch with members of the Federal Communications Bar Association. Industry should not fear that the FCC wants to be a cybersecurity cop, Simpson said.
Raising fears it would pave the way for AT&T to eliminate landlines in three years, a controversial bill is expected to come to a vote in the Michigan House any day, said advocates involved in the debates, in interviews Tuesday. SB-636 (http://1.usa.gov/1feaIv2), which passed the Michigan Senate 32-3 in December, would allow ILECs including AT&T to stop providing landline service as of Jan. 1, 2017, without necessarily getting approval from the Public Service Commission.