SAN FRANCISCO -- The administration is struggling with the “legal and policy framework” that are needed to allow it to share classified signatures and technologies to allow the operators of critical private networks to benefit from advances that the government has made in preventing cyber attacks through “active defense,” said Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn Tuesday.
The Utilities Telecom Council supported a public safety bill by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y. HR-607, introduced Thursday, would give the 700 MHz D-block away to public safety (CD Feb 11 p3). The King bill “recognizes the important role utilities play in our nation’s emergency response communications,” said UTC President William Moroney. Giving utilities shared access to the public safety network will improve the national response to emergencies, he said.
The following are highlights of the trade-related Executive Communications sent to Congress from February 3-10, 2011:
Momentum is emerging for the idea of adding a regulatory provision in the International Telecommunication Regulations to prohibit international double taxation, according to an ITU-T submission by a group of Latin American and Caribbean countries that backs an African regional proposal. “Countries are free to levy fiscal taxes on international telecommunications services in accordance with their national laws, but international double taxation must be avoided,” the African proposal said. The exact wording should be further studied, the Latin American and Caribbean nations said, to ensure countries don’t lose various options for taxing operators. The regional group of countries in the Americas also backs an Asia-Pacific proposal that the regulations can only be significantly revised during a world conference, but the quadrennial ITU policy setting conference can make editorial changes.
A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration representative told the FCC’s Emergency Access Advisory Committee Friday that without a federal push there’s little chance a next-generation 911 (NG911) system will be interoperable. The committee was set up by the FCC to ensure that the network is fully accessible to people with disabilities.
On February 8, 2011, the House read a message from the President wherein he notified Congress that the national emergency declared with respect to the situation in or in relation to Cote d'Ivoire is to continue in effect beyond February 7, 2011. The message was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered printed (H. Doc. 112-8).
The FCC took its first steps toward remaking the Universal Service Fund and the intercarrier compensation system Tuesday with a 5-0 vote in favor of a broadly worded rulemaking notice. The commission also voted to adopt a notice for a separate rulemaking that commission officials said will “streamline its data collection program” and eliminate “unneeded data collections that impose unnecessary burdens on filers.”
Feb. 7 FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski speaks on universal service overhaul, 10:30 a.m., ITIF, 1101 K St. NW, Washington -- www.itif.org
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., reintroduced broadband legislation that takes on small business recommendations in the National Broadband Plan. Landrieu is chair of the Senate Small Business Committee. The bill, S-257, was co-sponsored again by Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass. Landrieu made a few revisions to the bill. Among other things, it would require the Small Business Administration to appoint a broadband and emerging IT coordinator to help small businesses adopt and use broadband, and identify best practices (CD June 22 p8). The new version no longer sets up a pilot program to provide up to 1,000 excess government-owned computers each year to small businesses in rural areas. The section on capital access no longer includes SBA 504 Loans. And it no longer adds broadband training to services offered by women’s business centers.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., reintroduced broadband legislation that takes on small business recommendations in the National Broadband Plan. Landrieu is chair of the Senate Small Business Committee. The bill, S-257, was co-sponsored again by Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass. Landrieu made a few revisions to the bill. Among other things, it would require the Small Business Administration to appoint a broadband and emerging IT coordinator to help small businesses adopt and use broadband, and identify best practices (WID June 22 p3). The new version no longer sets up a pilot program to provide up to 1,000 excess government-owned computers each year to small businesses in rural areas. The section on capital access no longer includes SBA 504 Loans. And it no longer adds broadband training to services offered by women’s business centers.