The President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) Friday released its report that asks the Obama administration to move to spectrum sharing and away from attempting to clear federal users off the radio band offering carriers “exclusive-use” licenses. Most of the components were unveiled in May when the report was approved by PCAST (CD May 29 p1). In a key conclusion, PCAST recommended that the administration direct agencies to identify 1,000 MHz of spectrum that could be shared with the private sector.
“Much work remains to be done” on negotiating a United Nations treaty on trade in arms as the third week of the treaty conference neared an end, said Conference President Roberto Garcia Moritan of Argentina. Talks continued July 20. U.N. officials said some common ground had emerged, though diverging views, multiple proposals and intense debate continued.
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials released Recommended Best Practices for PSAPs When Processing Vehicle Telematics Calls from Telematics Service Providers (TSPs). The public safety answering point document revises best practices released by the APCO Telematics Taskforce in 2009. “It offers clear guidelines for PSAP personnel in the handling of vehicle telematics and Advanced Automatic Crash Notification (AACN) calls from TSPs and updates the information the telematics operator is expected to provide,” APCO said. “It also contains updated TSP contact information, escalation procedures and a glossary of terms that clarifies new in-vehicle technologies. It does not define local response procedures or protocols, allowing each agency to establish appropriate call handling and dispatch policies.” APCO also announced approval of the Vehicular Emergency Data Set (VEDS) for transmission of critical vehicle crash data to PSAPs. APCO developed VEDS in combination with the National Emergency Number Association.
The National Weather Service is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get more emergency coordinators authorized to use its non-weather emergency message (NWEM) system, said Chief Michael Szkil of NWS’s Climate, Water and Weather Services awareness branch. Such alerts, about emergencies such as earthquakes, avalanches and volcanic eruptions, would then be passed on to the NWS radio and wire services, he said on a FEMA webinar Wednesday. The service’s HazCollect system is another way to distribute emergency alerts through the integrated public alert and warning system, in addition to the emergency alert system and the commercial mobile alert system.
While it’s admirable that the FCC freely granted waivers for disasters and emergencies, “these do not exhaust the other worthy public causes that could potentially be advanced through the broadcast medium of non-commercial stations,” the National Religious Broadcasters association said in comments in docket 12-106 (http://xrl.us/bng3b3). Comments on proposed changes to the process of obtaining a waiver for non-commercial educational stations to conduct on-air fundraising for third parties are due July 23. Where a non-commercial station raises funds for a for-profit organization, “this may indicate that the fundraising effort lacks a broad public interest,” NRB said. The problem disappears where the activities seek to benefit a worthy non-profit cause, it said. “Non-commercial licensees should rely on their own fund-raising appeals to cover the expenses of their own operations.” NRB proposed that all non-commercial broadcasters be exempted from restrictions on conducting fundraising activities for other organizations which are non-profit under Section 501(c) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code provided that “such activities do not alter or suspend more than one percent of the broadcaster’s total program airtime annually.” The fundraising activities exempted shall be directed to an identified, bona fide charitable, educational or religious need which the nonprofit’s equipped and committed to aid, the association said. The station “during such exempt fundraising activities” should “fairly inform its audience of the nature and extent of the need, its possible causes, and the benefits likely to result from public financial support,” NRB said. “Nothing in this provision shall affect the ability of the commission to grant waivers to non-commercial broadcasters."
Two men accused of creating a global network of shell companies to deceive U.S. companies into supplying nuclear-related materials to Iran were indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia, reported Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to a superseding indictment made public Friday, Iranian national Parviz Khaki and Chinese national Zongcheng Yi allegedly attempted to obtain and illegally export U.S.-origin materials to Iran that can be used to construct, operate and maintain gas centrifuges to enrich uranium, ICE said. This includes materials such as maraging steel, aluminum alloys, mass spectrometers, vacuum pumps and other items. Khaki is also accused of conspiring to procure radioactive source materials from the U. S. for customers in Iran, said ICE.
A third company is involved in a retransmission consent dispute between Hearst Television and Time Warner Cable that went into its fourth full day Friday (CD July 13 p2). Nexstar, owner of three TV stations that Time Warner Cable is importing network programming from in five areas, filed a complaint at the FCC against the operator over the practice. Time Warner Cable said it’s within its rights to import the signals of Nexstar stations from other markets that have the same affiliation as Hearst stations blacked out on TWC’s systems.
The Department of Justice reported the unsealing of charges against Saeed Talebi, an Iranian national arrested July 12 in connection with a scheme to illegally export from the United States to Iran parts and goods designed for use in industrial operations. According to the indictment, on numerous occasions throughout 2011, Talebi and others worked to ship industrial parts and goods from United States-based firms to Dubai, acting through a company identified in the Indictment as “Company-1.” These items were then to be sent to various petrochemical companies located in Iran without the required OFAC export license, DOJ said. In the course of this scheme, Talebi also caused money to be wired to the United States, including over $300,000 sent to a bank account in Manhattan.
The FCC needs to make clear to carriers that it can’t prevent subscribers from making political contributions via text message, as recently permitted by the Federal Election Commission, said Michael Weinberg, vice president of Public Knowledge’s Institute for Emerging Innovation. Weinberg commented on reports that to date none of the major national carriers allow the practice. “Carriers should not have the power to drag their feet and prevent people from donating to political campaigns,” he said. “For five years we have been demanding that the FCC make it clear that carriers do not get to decide what consumers can and cannot do with text messaging. … The FCC continues to ignore the fact that text messaging exists and is used billions of times each year. It is well past time that the FCC make it clear that consumers -- not carriers -- get to choose what they do with text messaging."
More transparency and oversight must govern the way law enforcement agencies acquire personal information from wireless companies, lawmakers and privacy groups said Monday. The reactions came after nine wireless carriers, in responses made public Monday, said they had received more than 1.3 million federal, state and local law enforcement requests for cellphone records in 2011. The carriers emphasized that they are legally required to respond to police warrants, court orders and subpoenas and sought to reassure lawmakers that they do not sell their customers’ personal information to law enforcement agencies.