The FCC unanimously launched its long-awaited rulemaking on reforms to the E-rate program Friday. But beyond some broad “aspirational” goals, the specifics are anything but settled, officials said. The NPRM will take into consideration “a whole host of comments and options and opportunities and proposals,” said acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. Only after comments are received will the commission make a “comprehensive decision” on best ways forward, she said. The item is expected to be released early next week.
The FCC unanimously launched its long-awaited rulemaking on reforms to the E-rate program Friday. But beyond some broad “aspirational” goals, the specifics are anything but settled, officials said. The NPRM will take into consideration “a whole host of comments and options and opportunities and proposals,” said acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. Only after comments are received will the commission make a “comprehensive decision” on best ways forward, she said. The item is expected to be released early next week.
CTIA and the National Emergency Number Association raised objections to a key idea for fighting contraband cellphones in prisons, proposed in a May rulemaking notice(CD May 1 p1). The NPRM asks a battery of questions about what the FCC concedes is a growing problem. A top focus of the NPRM is speeding up the licensing process for managed access systems -- systems that use wireless base stations located within the prison itself to capture and block transmissions to or from unauthorized devices. The proposal was based in part on a rule change requested in September 2011 by CellAntenna, a company that builds systems for combating the use of contraband cellphones by prisoners.
ICANN could still delay its rollout of new generic top-level domains if security issues will “impact the global DNS,” said ICANN Chief Security Officer Jeff Moss Wednesday at ICANN’s meeting in Durban, South Africa. ICANN has remained committed to a timeline under which new gTLDs will roll out in the beginning of September (WID July 16 p1), but a new security study, the preliminary results of which were released Wednesday, said nearly every applied-for new gTLD could have some potential for an internal name collision. “I'm not going to recommend that we do anything that has any substantial [security, stability and resiliency] impact. It’s not worth the risk,” Moss said. “If there’s something that we find that we think is a showstopper, deadlines will have to move.”
AT&T’s proposed buy of Leap Wireless for $1.2 billon is a small fraction of the size of AT&T’s failed pursuit of T-Mobile in 2011, a $39 billion deal. In fact, the $3 billion breakup fee AT&T paid T-Mobile, plus spectrum, was bigger than the Leap deal. Nonetheless, the newly proposed transaction quickly stirred up opposition and is likely to see more as regulators at the FCC and Department of Justice consider it. The announcement (CD July 15 p1) caught FCC officials mostly by surprise, though CEO Randall Stephenson made a round of calls to the commission just before the news release went out, agency officials told us.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday she will resign in September. Napolitano, who was one of the first cabinet officials President Obama appointed at the start of his first term in 2009, said she’s stepping down to become president of the University of California system. While Napolitano’s departure is unlikely to fundamentally alter DHS’s role in federal cybersecurity matters, it may slow progress on implementing President Obama’s cybersecurity executive order, industry experts told us.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday she will resign in September. Napolitano, who was one of the first cabinet officials President Obama appointed at the start of his first term in 2009, said she’s stepping down to become president of the University of California system. While Napolitano’s departure is unlikely to fundamentally alter DHS’s role in federal cybersecurity matters, it may slow progress on implementing President Obama’s cybersecurity executive order, industry experts told us.
House Republicans and Democrats again delved into the acrimonious topic of FCC reform Thursday at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing. Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said there’s a real need to improve the transparency and accountability of the FCC and stumped for two draft bills similar to FCC reform legislation (HR-3310, HR-3309) that failed to advance last session (CD March 27/12 p1). Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., bemoaned the draft bills, which they said would slow FCC processes and subject the commission to special rules and more litigation.
A draft outline of the preliminary Cybersecurity Framework the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released last week will be the basis for most of the discussion that occurs through Friday at NIST’s third framework development workshop, NIST officials told participants Wednesday at the University of California-San Diego. The draft outlines portions of the preliminary framework, set to be released in October for public comment (CD July 8 p9). A final version of the framework will be released in February in accordance with deadlines set in President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order (CD Feb 14 p1). NIST hopes participants at the San Diego workshop will help the agency refine the outline and fill in “gaps” where NIST has not been able to collect what they feel are sufficient standards and best practices, including addressing privacy and civil liberties issues, said Donna Dodson, NIST division chief-Computer Security Division. NIST didn’t receive many responses to its initial request for information that included best practices on privacy; while the agency has since received further information, it wants to ensure it receives “enough to fill that gap,” Dodson said. NIST wants to ensure the framework that emerges from the development process is one that is “truly industry-led” and can result in strong voluntary implementation programs, said Adam Sedgewick, NIST senior information technology policy adviser. The output from the San Diego workshop will form the basis of discussion at NIST’s final framework development workshop, which is to occur in September.
A draft outline of the preliminary Cybersecurity Framework the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released last week will be the basis for most of the discussion that occurs through Friday at NIST’s third framework development workshop, NIST officials told participants Wednesday at the University of California-San Diego. The draft outlines portions of the preliminary framework, set to be released in October for public comment (WID July 8 p1). A final version of the framework will be released in February in accordance with deadlines set in President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order (WID Feb 14 p1). NIST hopes participants at the San Diego workshop will help the agency refine the outline and fill in “gaps” where NIST has not been able to collect what they feel are sufficient standards and best practices, including addressing privacy and civil liberties issues, said Donna Dodson, NIST division chief-Computer Security Division. NIST didn’t receive many responses to its initial request for information that included best practices on privacy; while the agency has since received further information, it wants to ensure it receives “enough to fill that gap,” Dodson said. NIST wants to ensure the framework that emerges from the development process is one that is “truly industry-led” and can result in strong voluntary implementation programs, said Adam Sedgewick, NIST senior information technology policy adviser. The output from the San Diego workshop will form the basis of discussion at NIST’s final framework development workshop, which is to occur in September.