The privacy and civil liberties protections being included in the White House’s Cybersecurity Framework are still in the early stages of development, but policy experts at leading privacy groups tell us they do not believe the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is likely to be a factor. Privacy groups criticized CISPA when the House passed it earlier this month because of what they saw as insufficient privacy protections (WID April 19 p1). But those groups also see the Senate as unlikely to take up the bill, scuttling its chances of affecting the framework. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Tuesday that he views CISPA as a “sort of useless bill” that “can’t guide us at all” (WID April 24 p4). The committee did not respond to a request for further comment. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are collaborating to lead development of the Cybersecurity Framework, a set of standards and best practices, in response to President Barack Obama’s February cybersecurity order (WID Feb 14 p1).
House lawmakers stressed concerns over revamped export controls potentially allowing defense materials to slip into the hands of unsavory countries -- while stressing the Obama administration’s reform initiative must craft simple, effective and job-creating controls -- at an April 24 hearing on the agenda for Export Control Reform.
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials said it’s launching “AppComm,” a website dedicated to public safety and emergency response apps for use by the public, app developers and first responders (http://bit.ly/ZKtTlj). APCO is creating AppComm “because it recognizes the importance of providing a platform that the public safety community can trust and rely upon to aggregate and develop the most effective apps for public safety and emergency response,” APCO said Tuesday. The website initially features 60 apps “selected by APCO staff that are intended to be representative of the value and diversity of existing public safety apps,” the group said. “For too long our nation’s public safety officials have been limited to using radios that are unable to perform some of the basic functions most of us expect on the phones we carry in our pockets,” said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, responding to the announcement. “But now APCO’s Application Community, which is inspired by the work of the First Responder Network Authority, is providing a first glimpse at the power a nationwide wireless broadband network can deliver to our first responders."
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials said it’s launching “AppComm,” a website dedicated to public safety and emergency response apps for use by the public, app developers and first responders (http://bit.ly/ZKtTlj). APCO is creating AppComm “because it recognizes the importance of providing a platform that the public safety community can trust and rely upon to aggregate and develop the most effective apps for public safety and emergency response,” APCO said Tuesday. The website initially features 60 apps “selected by APCO staff that are intended to be representative of the value and diversity of existing public safety apps,” the group said. “For too long our nation’s public safety officials have been limited to using radios that are unable to perform some of the basic functions most of us expect on the phones we carry in our pockets,” said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, responding to the announcement. “But now APCO’s Application Community, which is inspired by the work of the First Responder Network Authority, is providing a first glimpse at the power a nationwide wireless broadband network can deliver to our first responders."
Financial cybercrime and state-affiliated espionage made up a combined 95 percent of all cybersecurity incidents in 2012 included in a Verizon Communications study released Monday. The report examined 47,000 security incident reports from Verizon and 18 other organizations, including the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) and two of its Computer Emergency Readiness Team units, as well as the U.S. Secret Service. Verizon focused its study on the 621 confirmed data breaches included in those reports, said Jay Jacobs, principal with Verizon Enterprise Solutions’ RISK Team, which writes the annual data breach report. A final version of the report had not been made public at our deadline.
Financial cybercrime and state-affiliated espionage made up a combined 95 percent of all cybersecurity incidents in 2012 included in a Verizon Communications study released Monday. The report examined 47,000 security incident reports from Verizon and 18 other organizations, including the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) and two of its Computer Emergency Readiness Team units, as well as the U.S. Secret Service. Verizon focused its study on the 621 confirmed data breaches included in those reports, said Jay Jacobs, principal with Verizon Enterprise Solutions’ RISK Team, which writes the annual data breach report. A final version of the report had not been made public at our deadline.
The European Commission wants input on commitments offered by Penguin to resolve EU concerns that the publisher was part of a cartel involving the sale of e-books, it said in an announcement Friday (http://bit.ly/15mfZNd). Penguin’s proposal is substantially the same as those by Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, Hachette and Holtzbrinck, which were made legally binding in December, the EC said. The four publishers and Apple may have violated EU antitrust rules by jointly switching the sale of e-books from a wholesale model to agency contracts containing the same key terms, including an “unusual so-called ‘Most Favoured Nation’ (MFN)” clause for retail prices, the EC said. The agency model gives publishers more control over retail prices, it said. The EC believes the change may have resulted from collusion among competing publishers, with Apple’s help, may have been intended to hike retail prices of e-books in the European Economic Area or prevent lower prices from emerging, it said. Penguin has offered to terminate existing agency agreements and refrain from adopting price MFN provisions for five years, the EC said. If the publisher enters into new agency agreements, retailers will be free to set e-book prices for two years, provided the aggregate value of price discounts doesn’t exceed the total annual amount of the commissions the seller receives from the publisher, it said. If the market test shows that Penguin’s commitments are suitable to address EU antitrust concerns, the EC may make them binding, it said. Interested parties have one month to submit comments.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is doing tests in New York City of emergency communications in underground tunnels and in “other large, complicated structures, posing a safety hazard for emergency responders,” NIST said Wednesday. “In a series of experiments conducted in New York City, an epicenter of underground tunnels and high-rise buildings, NIST researchers measured path loss, or reduced signal strength, which can occur when signals must travel through thick walls and dense material,” the agency said. “NIST researchers also found that wireless emergency beacons could be unreliable beyond the street-level stairwell entrance to a four-level subway station, and that signal strength depended on the frequency used in the 100-story Empire State Building.” The findings are part of a new report (http://1.usa.gov/Zs0yPB).
EU governments and lawmakers compromised on new financing and governance rules for satellite navigation systems Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the European Council said Wednesday. The package still needs formal approval by the European Parliament and council, and the amount allocated to the programs can’t be settled until the EU finalizes its next budget, it said. The compromise includes: (1) Adding as an objective the development of applications based on the satellite navigation systems such as chipsets and receivers. (2) Giving the European Commission responsibility for the security of the programs, and for setting the necessary technical specifications and other measures, subject to endorsement by national administrations. (3) Making changes to some other governance provisions, including use of best-practice management techniques. (4) Placing more emphasis on the possibility of extending EGNOS coverage to other regions of the world. The draft regulation sets a budget for 2014-2020 of 6.3 billion euros ($8.3 billion), to be fully funded by the EU, the council said. It defines the satellite navigation systems and programs and the services they will provide, as well a new governance regime that sets strict divisions of tasks among the EC, European Global Navigation Satellite System Agency and European Space Agency. It also establishes rules on public procurement to ensure the widest possible participation throughout the EU and fair competition conditions. Galileo will be an independent European global satellite navigation system that provides five services, the council said. There will be an open service free for users that offers timing and positioning; a commercial service for applications for professional or commercial use requiring higher performance than that of the open service; and a public regulated service that uses strong, encrypted signals and is restricted to government-authorized users. Galileo will also contribute to international search and rescue services by detecting emergency signals, and help integrity monitoring services aimed at users of safety-of-life applications, in cooperation with the U.S. Global Positioning Service. Initial services are expected to be available by 2014-2015, with the entire system fully operational by 2019-2020, the council said.
Competitive providers are uneasy -- about the future of interconnection in a world where copper is gone; about the monopoly power they believe is still enjoyed by many incumbents; and about AT&T’s proposed wire center trials, which they fear could bring the industry a step closer to massive deregulation. No matter what AT&T and its supporters say to assuage CLECs, to many industry officials the trials are inextricable from their history -- such as an August ex parte FCC filing in which AT&T detailed its ideal path toward deregulation. In interviews with several CLEC officials, a common theme emerged: Confusion about the scope of the trials, and fear of what it could mean for the future of competition.