BRUSSELS -- The importance of private sector leadership, privatization, liberalization, competition, regulatory transparency and independence could be discussed in talks to revise the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) later this year, speakers said Thursday at a workshop (WID April 20 p4). Economic issues drew the strongest concerns from participants at the event hosted by the ITU and the European Telecommunications’ Network Operators Association (ETNO). An ITU Council working group meets on conference preparations the week of April 23.
BRUSSELS -- The importance of private sector leadership, privatization, liberalization, competition, regulatory transparency and independence could be discussed in talks to revise the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) later this year, speakers said Thursday at a workshop (CD April 20 p7). Economic issues drew the strongest concerns from participants at the event hosted by the ITU and the European Telecommunications’ Network Operators Association (ETNO). An ITU Council working group meets on conference preparations the week of April 23.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection's ACEopedia for July 2012 adds additional information on the process improvements created by ACE to date. A new listing of those improvements is the largest change from the previous ACEopedia.
Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., said he was disappointed by the “anemic” cybersecurity bill that emerged from a recent House Homeland Security Committee markup. His comments came during a radio interview that aired Thursday on the Sirius XM POTUS channel (http://xrl.us/bm4hwd). “It was gutted basically, really by the Republican leadership. [House] Speaker [John] Boehner [R-Ohio], and the very top members of the Republican leadership wouldn’t support it because it would have put regulation on critical infrastructure and industry has basically rejected those things, and it’s disappointing.” On Wednesday the House Homeland Security Committee approved HR-3624, the Promoting and Enhancing Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Effectiveness Act, authored by Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chairman Dan Lungren, R-Calif. (WID April 19 p1). The final bill lacked language that would have authorized the Department of Homeland Security to develop and regulate risk-based performance standards for the nation’s core critical infrastructure. Langevin, a co-chairman of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, reaffirmed his endorsement for the House Intelligence Committee cybersecurity bill, HR-3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. “We are bending over backwards to protect privacy and civil liberties. I believe the House Intelligence bill does that [but] it could always be stronger.”
The FCC rescinded a ban on text-to-speech emergency alert system warnings four days before new EAS rules take effect (CD March 23 p4). A new format of emergency alert system messages that all pay-TV providers and broadcasters must implement by June 30 couldn’t have included text-to-speech warnings, under a January order on equipment certification for the Common Alerting Protocol format. An order approved by commissioners Thursday -- nine days after circulating for a vote (http://xrl.us/bmxdnu) -- reversed that ban and left consideration of part of the issue for another day.
ISPs should have to filter at the network level and set up an opt-in system to prevent children from seeing pornography online, a U.K. Parliament inquiry into child online protection said Wednesday. Youngsters are seeing more inappropriate content, and device-level filters don’t seem to be working well anymore, the independent panel of lawmakers said. With no central control point on the Internet at global, regional or national levels, and millions of new websites emerging, many think it’s easier to tackle the problem of children seeing harmful content by using filters on individual computers -- device-level filters -- rather than by blocking content at the network level, the report said. There are exceptions, such as the British Internet industry’s creation of the Internet Watch Foundation to counter sites known to contain illegal abuse images, it said. ISPs also filter at the network level under various laws or practices in individual countries and, sometimes, in response to commercial considerations, it said. Many feel that device-level filters don’t offer enough protection for children, because few parents use them, the number of Internet-connected devices is mushrooming and children are often more tech-savvy than their parents, it said. The result is that young people are stumbling across or seeking access to pornographic material, especially violent, degrading content, and that’s having a negative effect, it said. It would be “difficult and wrong” to propose mandatory government censorship of Internet pornography, but “clearly a new approach is required,” it said. ISPs should have to maintain a network-level “opt-in” system that delivers a clean Internet feed to consumers as standard but lets them choose to receive adult material, it said. That would protect consumer choice and set up an additional content barrier to shield children from age-inappropriate material, it said. That model could copy the system already used by most major U.K. mobile phone providers, where access to adult content is blocked until an age verification check takes place, and could use the same filtering technology already at work in schools and on some public Wi-Fi networks, it said. Britain’s top four ISPs recently agreed to install Active Choice controls where consumers actively decide whether to install device-level filters as part of signing up for an account, it said. This will be marketed to all new subscribers by October, it said. Although this is a step in the right direction, given that nine out of 10 children already live in homes with Internet access, ISP plans to roll out the product to all customers “are lacklustre at best,” it said. With the exception of TalkTalk, the product won’t protect all the devices in the home, it said. Active Choice won’t do much to address the underlying problem of inadequate filtering unless ISPs take a more “energetic approach,” it said. ISPs working together will deliver a more effective opt-in system on a self-regulatory basis, and any government regulation should be light-touch, it said. But given the “strength of the ideological resistance” to making the change, the government should plan to intervene if industry fails to make progress, it said. Forcing ISPs to filter adult content at the network level unless users opt out “is neither the most effective nor most appropriate way to prevent access” to inappropriate content, said Internet Services Providers’ Association UK Secretary General Nicholas Lansman. That kind of filtering is easy to circumvent, reduces the degree of active parental interest and mediation, and has clear implications for free speech, he said. Parents should choose how to restrict access to content, whether on the device or network level, with the tools ISPs already provide, he said. Lansman warned against treating a network-level filter as a “silver bullet.” Education is important, and industry already does a great deal to inform parents about age restrictions and parental controls, he said. The government should focus on helping educate consumers, he said. Also, he added, there’s a question of who decides what inappropriate material is and for whom, and “whether there is a guarantee that filtering will not be used for other content."
ISPs should have to filter at the network level and set up an opt-in system to prevent children from seeing pornography online, a U.K. Parliament inquiry into child online protection said Wednesday. Youngsters are seeing more inappropriate content, and device-level filters don’t seem to be working well anymore, the independent panel of lawmakers said. With no central control point on the Internet at global, regional or national levels, and millions of new websites emerging, many think it’s easier to tackle the problem of children seeing harmful content by using filters on individual computers -- device-level filters -- rather than by blocking content at the network level, the report said. There are exceptions, such as the British Internet industry’s creation of the Internet Watch Foundation to counter sites known to contain illegal abuse images, it said. ISPs also filter at the network level under various laws or practices in individual countries and, sometimes, in response to commercial considerations, it said. Many feel that device-level filters don’t offer enough protection for children, because few parents use them, the number of Internet-connected devices is mushrooming and children are often more tech-savvy than their parents, it said. The result is that young people are stumbling across or seeking access to pornographic material, especially violent, degrading content, and that’s having a negative effect, it said. It would be “difficult and wrong” to propose mandatory government censorship of Internet pornography, but “clearly a new approach is required,” it said. ISPs should have to maintain a network-level “opt-in” system that delivers a clean Internet feed to consumers as standard but lets them choose to receive adult material, it said. That would protect consumer choice and set up an additional content barrier to shield children from age-inappropriate material, it said. That model could copy the system already used by most major U.K. mobile phone providers, where access to adult content is blocked until an age verification check takes place, and could use the same filtering technology already at work in schools and on some public Wi-Fi networks, it said. Britain’s top four ISPs recently agreed to install Active Choice controls where consumers actively decide whether to install device-level filters as part of signing up for an account, it said. This will be marketed to all new subscribers by October, it said. Although this is a step in the right direction, given that nine out of 10 children already live in homes with Internet access, ISP plans to roll out the product to all customers “are lacklustre at best,” it said. With the exception of TalkTalk, the product won’t protect all the devices in the home, it said. Active Choice won’t do much to address the underlying problem of inadequate filtering unless ISPs take a more “energetic approach,” it said. ISPs working together will deliver a more effective opt-in system on a self-regulatory basis, and any government regulation should be light-touch, it said. But given the “strength of the ideological resistance” to making the change, the government should plan to intervene if industry fails to make progress, it said. Forcing ISPs to filter adult content at the network level unless users opt out “is neither the most effective nor most appropriate way to prevent access” to inappropriate content, said Internet Services Providers’ Association UK Secretary General Nicholas Lansman. That kind of filtering is easy to circumvent, reduces the degree of active parental interest and mediation, and has clear implications for free speech, he said. Parents should choose how to restrict access to content, whether on the device or network level, with the tools ISPs already provide, he said. Lansman warned against treating a network-level filter as a “silver bullet.” Education is important, and industry already does a great deal to inform parents about age restrictions and parental controls, he said. The government should focus on helping educate consumers, he said. Also, he added, there’s a question of who decides what inappropriate material is and for whom, and “whether there is a guarantee that filtering will not be used for other content."
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is inviting recommendations and suggestions for workshops covering specific sectors and targeted countries or regions where training in the U.S. approaches to development and use of standards may facilitate trade, increase U.S. exports, and/or benefit U.S. industry. NIST will offer a limited number of these Standards in Trade (SIT) workshops each year, which are designed to introduce U.S. stakeholders to emerging standards and conformity assesment in other countries and regions; identify regulatory information and market access issues; etc. Recommendations may be submitted at any time and will be considered on a quarterly basis.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a final rule, effective April 13, 2012, amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by establishing a new Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) “500” series, 0Y521, for items that warrant control on the CCL but are not yet identified in an existing ECCN (for example, because the item is an emerging technology). BIS said the 500 series is equivalent to United States Munitions List (USML) Category XXI (Miscellaneous Articles), but is a temporary classification while the Government either works to adopt a multilateral control; determines a longer-term control; or determines that the item does not warrant control. These items are subject to a case-by-case license review policy through regional stability (RS1) controls, with GOV and item-specific license exceptions.
The Verizon Wireless/cable deals, unveiled in December, have raised opposition that looks similar on some levels to that for AT&T’s proposed buy of T-Mobile last year. Most of the foes of AT&T/T-Mobile reorganized against the latter deal, with the addition of T-Mobile, which may have the most at stake. Opponents of Verizon’s buy of AWS licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox say marketing agreements unveiled concurrent with the spectrum buys are partly to blame. Then too, the spectrum landscape has changed in recent months, with the FCC facing huge obstacles bringing any new spectrum online for commercial use anytime soon (CD March 30 p1).