International engagement is a central cybersecurity policy of the State Department’s Bureau of Economics, Energy and Business Affairs, said the agency’s senior advisor, James Ennis, at a meeting by the Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP) Thursday. Meanwhile, interagency, intergovernmental and public-private cooperation is critical to improve security and address cybercrime and privacy challenges, State Department officials said.
International engagement is a central cybersecurity policy of the State Department’s Bureau of Economics, Energy and Business Affairs, said the agency’s senior advisor, James Ennis, at a meeting by the Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP) Thursday. Meanwhile, interagency, intergovernmental and public-private cooperation is critical to improve security and address cybercrime and privacy challenges, State Department officials said.
LAS VEGAS -- The home automation industry is still looking for the compelling benefit that will drive mass-market adoption, but the proliferation of connected devices is a step in that direction, Will West, founder of Control4, said on a connected home panel at CES sponsored by his company. In its fifth year, Control4 “is just getting out of the gate,” West said.
U.S. broadband policymakers must abandon the notion that the speed of the wireline network is the key metric that determines whether policy is working, said Blair Levin, who headed the development of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, this week. “The idea that dominates our broadband policy is that the primary metric to which our policy should aspire is to maximize the speed of the wireline network to our most rural of residents,” Levin said in a speech at the City Club of Cleveland. “This idea is hurting America. Yet that is the principal way we act. It’s wrong in almost every respect. There is no primary metric. How would it profit us to have high speeds if our devices are slow, our applications useless and our users illiterate?” A second stumbling block policymakers must get past is a “knee-jerk focus” on speed. “Speed is an input; what matters is the output,” he said. “The data [the FCC gathered] showed that while we need to increase speeds in some areas, the biggest untapped promise has more to do with applications; particularly new ways of delivering education, healthcare, public safety, job training and other critical public services.” There is also too much focus on wireline in general, Levin argued. “Wireline is important but mobile, wireless services will be every bit as important,” he said. “In terms of economic growth in the next decade, it may be more important. Wireless today is a horizon industry, an industry that points to how retail, manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, healthcare, education, and every other segment of our economy can improve their performance. … Emerging developments in nanotechnology, location awareness applications, and machine-to-machine communications will make wireless even more important."
The FCC is working closely with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as the safety agency runs a cost study of next-generation 911 (NG911), said Patrick Donovan, a Public Safety Bureau attorney adviser. The study is expected to be completed this year, and funding is critical for transition to NG911, he said Tuesday on a North American Emergency Number Association webinar. An NHTSA analysis should determine detailed costs for specific NG911 requirements and specifications, Donovan said. The FCC won’t impose new rules until a thorough analysis is completed, he said. Donovan noted that the commission adopted a notice of inquiry, stemming from a National Broadband Plan recommendation, seeking comment on capabilities that NG911 will support, the network architecture, implementation and transition issues and the proper roles of the FCC, other federal agencies and state, tribal and local governments. The notice is expected to appear in the Federal Register this week, he said. It deals more with real-time texting than other capabilities because emergency texting could be the most contentious, he said. Donovan noted that the 4G Americas industry group has released a white paper on limitations of texting to 911. The paper warned of possible delays in delivery of text messages, dispatch center problems locating senders and other vulnerabilities, he acknowledged. Some aspects of NG911 may require authority from a single agency, he said. The FCC is looking into jurisdiction issues, the ability of states to coordinate the transition to NG911 and how the commission should work with other federal agencies, Donovan said. Congress should set up a federal regulatory framework for the development of NG911 and the transition from legacy 911, he said.
As technology pushes forward, policymakers and technology professionals must understand and tackle the risks to online consumer trust and find better ways to protect identities, panelists said Tuesday during an event at the Brookings Institution. Issues in coordination, encryption and the different layers of network systems are challenges in the effort, they said.
Jan. 8-12 OPASTCO winter convention, Loews Miami Beach -- 202-659-5990
Jan. 11 Panel on intellectual property and Congress with House and Senate staffers, 8:30 a.m., Clyde’s, 707 7th St. NW, Washington -- http://ipbreakfast.eventbrite.com
On January 5, 2011, the following trade-related bills were introduced:
A new California law against online impersonation advances a little-noticed national trend that in recent years has brought statutes on the subject to five states with almost 30 percent of the U.S. population, said the National Conference of State Legislatures. An aide to the sponsor of a 2009 Texas law said it responded to a problem that continues to grow. He and other observers said additional states may enact similar statutes. Supporters call civil-libertarian critics wrong in objecting that older laws make the new ones unnecessary and that the e-personation laws threaten social satirists such as the Yes Men hoaxsters.