Achieving interoperability among public safety communications systems is “an ongoing issue and problem” that “continues to evolve” with technology, said Amanda Hilliard, a branch chief at the Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) under the Homeland Security Department. “As soon as we declare it done and stop investing the resources, we potentially lose all the great work that’s been done so far,” she said Wednesday at the FOSE conference. OEC is working with the FCC and the Commerce and Justice departments to implement spectrum legislation, Hilliard said. OEC has a coordinating role on the interoperability board at the FCC, which aims to finish technical requirements by a May deadline, she said. NTIA plans by August to launch the First Responder Network Authority to govern the network, as well as a grant program for state and local implementation, she said. Another DHS group, the National Communications System, is also working on implementation of the spectrum legislation, said Michael Echolson, NCS chief of government-industry planning. A scoping group within the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee is “looking at recommendations to the president” to address areas not covered in the spectrum legislation, he said.
Persuading regulatory agencies and industry associations in developed nations to share their food and drug safety inspection results is among the steps recommended by a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report on ways to boost the safety systems in developing countries. The FDA and its “technologically advanced “counterparts in the European Union, Canada, Japan, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand should devise a system for mutual recognition of one another's inspections, which would eliminate the wasteful duplication of effort, the report said.
A Maryland communications tax bill (HB-563) that’s expected to be signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley is only the start of an effort. Under the bill, a tax commission would be created to review telecom tax and submit findings and recommendations before June 30, 2013. A telecom tax restructuring bill would then be considered during the 2014 legislative session. While localities urged preserving their tax authorities, telecom companies sought a new tax framework that would lower tax rates and encourage investment in broadband infrastructure, county and company officials said.
Members of Congress from Louisiana, a state still recovering from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, pressed the FCC to act on a waiver request allowing early construction of a public safety network in the 700 MHz band. The letter was signed by both senators and all seven representatives from the state. Baton Rouge filed the initial petition from the state asking for “expedited” action on a waiver in July 2010.
The U.K. may be preparing to broaden Internet traffic data retention powers to include social networks, online gaming chat rooms and Skype, as well as real-time monitoring. The plan, expected to be announced next month in the Queen’s Speech, aims to maintain continued availability of communications data as technology changes, the Home Office said. But privacy advocates said the proposal, which was proposed several years ago by the Labor government and then scrapped due to strong opposition, would put the U.K. in the same surveillance league as China and Iran. Moreover, said one, it could be a back-stop if the European Commission decides to make major changes to the controversial EU data retention directive, which is currently under review.
The U.K. may be preparing to broaden Internet traffic data retention powers to include social networks, online gaming chat rooms and Skype, as well as real-time monitoring. The plan, expected to be announced next month in the Queen’s Speech, aims to maintain continued availability of communications data as technology changes, the Home Office said. But privacy advocates said the proposal, which was proposed several years ago by the Labor government and then scrapped due to strong opposition, would put the U.K. in the same surveillance league as China and Iran. Moreover, said one, it could be a back-stop if the European Commission decides to make major changes to the controversial EU data retention directive, which is currently under review.
NexGen Global Technologies has a solution for texting to 911, but was unable to exhibit it an Emergency Access Advisory Committee exhibition this week “under advice from legal counsel (due to our technology waiting to be protected under U.S. Patent laws),” the company said in a filing at the FCC. The solution “is web based and easily accessible via a basic web browser,” the filing said (http://xrl.us/bmzttx). “NexGen technology does not require any hardware or software to be installed onsite and no changes need to be made to the existing infrastructure in order for 9-1-1 Communications Centers to use our technology. It is also estimated that a national roll out of the NexGen solution can be handled remotely and within a compressed time frame."
The FCC Public Safety Bureau is working hard to wrap up a decision on the various longstanding applications from Oklahoma, New Orleans and other jurisdictions for waivers so they can build out early networks in the 700 MHz band, Chief Jamie Burnett said Wednesday. But Barnett, who spoke at a National Emergency Number Association conference, declined to provide a timetable for when the FCC will make a decision.
FCC, NTIA and Homeland Security Department officials are scheduled to testify Wednesday about threats to communications networks and public-sector responses, the House Commerce Committee said Monday. The House Communications Subcommittee hearing is at 10 a.m. in Room 2322, Rayburn Building. Scheduled witnesses are FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett, NTIA Associate Administrator Fiona Alexander, DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Robert Stempfley, Sandia National Laboratories Senior Manager Bob Hutchinson and Greg Shannon, Carnegie Mellon University chief scientist for the Software Engineering Institute’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team program. In previous hearings and meetings with the Communications Subcommittee’s cybersecurity working group, private sector officials urged the federal government to focus on “education, information sharing advancing voluntary best practices, and eliminating regulatory obstacles to collaboration between and among the private and public sectors,” the subcommittee said in a memo released Monday. The cybersecurity working group aims to at minimum issue recommendations this month or in early April (CD March 21 p6).
FCC, NTIA and Homeland Security Department officials are scheduled to testify Wednesday about threats to communications networks and public-sector responses, the House Commerce Committee said Monday. The House Communications Subcommittee hearing is at 10 a.m. in Room 2322, Rayburn Building. Scheduled witnesses are FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett, NTIA Associate Administrator Fiona Alexander, DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Robert Stempfley, Sandia National Laboratories Senior Manager Bob Hutchinson and Greg Shannon, Carnegie Mellon University chief scientist for the Software Engineering Institute’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team program. In previous hearings and meetings with the Communications Subcommittee’s cybersecurity working group, private sector officials urged the federal government to focus on “education, information sharing advancing voluntary best practices, and eliminating regulatory obstacles to collaboration between and among the private and public sectors,” the subcommittee said in a memo released Monday. The cybersecurity working group aims to at minimum issue recommendations this month or in early April (WID March 21 p1).