The Senate Homeland Security Committee marked up a comprehensive cybersecurity defense measure that critics claim gives the president a “kill switch” to shut down the Internet if the president declares a national emergency. But that’s not accurate, say the bill’s authors, who say it actually limits presidential power that already exists to halt Internet traffic. The bill, S-3480, would establish a national cybersecurity center and a formal cybersecurity czar appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate (WID June 11 p1). It also requires owners of infrastructure deemed critical to the nation to adopt a range of security measures that they would choose to meet security requirements.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee marked up a comprehensive cybersecurity defense measure that critics claim gives the president a “kill switch” to shut down the Internet if the president declares a national emergency. But that’s not accurate, say the bill’s authors, who say it actually limits presidential power that already exists to halt Internet traffic. The bill, S-3480, would establish a national cybersecurity center and a formal cybersecurity czar appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate (WID June 11 p1). It also requires owners of infrastructure deemed critical to the nation to adopt a range of security measures that they would choose to meet security requirements.
IP theft is a serious drag on the U.S. economy demanding a stepped-up federal response, agreed U.S. Intellectual Property Coordinator Victoria Espinel with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., at a Wednesday hearing on U.S. anti-piracy efforts. Members of private industry groups called for greater policing of IP theft.
AT&T plans to spend more in 2010 on wireline and wireless networks in Illinois, including building more than 80 new cell sites and upgrading nearly 300 existing cell sites statewide to 3G, the company said Tuesday. The state’s recent update of its telecom law “made Illinois an attractive place for AT&T to invest in broadband, wireless and emerging technologies,” said Paul La Schiazza, president of AT&T Illinois. AT&T’s wireless strategy in Illinois is part of an $18 to $19 billion outlay the company plans nationally in 2010 on wireline and wireless, “assuming the regulatory environment remains favorable,” it said. The buildout and upgrade plans for Illinois are specific to that state, a spokeswoman said. “Clearly, states with modern telecom regulatory policies are best positioned to win additional private sector investment. Illinois had a unique, outdated regulatory environment while neighboring states had passed modernization laws years earlier,” she told us by e-mail. “Illinois needed to catch up and it did in 2010. Today’s announcement simply confirms that when Gov. Dan Quinn signed the new policy into law, Illinois could boast a strong, modern telecom policy to help keep and create jobs in the state while attracting more private sector investment in broadband and wireless.”
BRUSSELS -- ICANN’s plan for dealing with applications for controversial new generic top-level domains is faulty and a viable solution may not exist, governments said Tuesday at the ICANN meeting. The mechanisms, which are set out in version 4 of the draft applicant guidebook for new gTLDs, permits objections to gTLDs that are “contrary to generally accepted legal norms of morality and public order (MOPO)” recognized under international principles of law. But ICANN’s plan for a dispute resolution process involving three internationally recognized judges is “completely unworkable,” said Suzanne Sene, of NTIA’s international affairs office.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau Monday announced the appointment of 20 members of the new Emergency Response Interoperability Center Technical Advisory Committee, which is charged with implementing national interoperability standards for public safety broadband network. New York is heavily represented in the group, with two appointees from the New York Police Department, and one each from the New York Fire Department, the state, the New York City Transit Authority and the Clarkstown, N.Y., Police Department. Among others appointed were officials from Oakland, San Francisco, Texas A&M University, Guam, the state of Oregon, Washington State Police, the city of Seattle, the Missouri Department of Public Safety, Virginia and Pennsylvania state police and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Each appointee is a federal official, an elected officer of a state or local government, “or a designated employee authorized to act on behalf of such an officer,” the bureau said. The appointments are effective immediately.
New legislation in the Senate takes on small business recommendations in the National Broadband Plan. Senate Small Business Committee Chair Mary Landrieu, D-La., and committee member Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., last week introduced S-3506, which would require the U.S. Small Business Administration to appoint a broadband and emerging IT coordinator who would help small businesses adopt and use broadband, and identify best practices. The bill would require the Small Business Administrator to provide broadband training to employees so they can help small businesses. It would add broadband training to services offered by small business development centers and women’s business centers. It would provide loans and microloans to help small companies buy broadband equipment. And it would set up a “small business technology pilot program” to provide up to 1,000 excess government-owned computers each year to small business in rural areas “at no cost or a reduced cost.” The pilot program would open no later than 180 days after the law’s enactment and last three years. The Landrieu bill also would require several reports.
New legislation in the Senate takes on small business recommendations in the National Broadband Plan. Senate Small Business Committee Chair Mary Landrieu, D-La., and committee member Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., last week introduced S-3506, which would require the U.S. Small Business Administration to appoint a broadband and emerging IT coordinator who would help small businesses adopt and use broadband, and identify best practices. The bill would require the Small Business Administrator to provide broadband training to employees so they can help small businesses. It would add broadband training to services offered by small business development centers and women’s business centers. It would provide loans and microloans to help small companies buy broadband equipment. And it would set up a “small business technology pilot program” to provide up to 1,000 excess government-owned computers each year to small business in rural areas “at no cost or a reduced cost.” The pilot program would open no later than 180 days after the law’s enactment and last three years. The Landrieu bill also would require several reports.
A tightening of bank credit and rapid-fire compression of advanced technology to mass market prices is dealing a blow to CE specialty retailers, industry executives said. Ken Crane’s and Flanner’s Home Entertainment are the latest specialty retailers to liquidate amid a drying up of the once-lucrative custom install business and increased consumer appetite for lower-priced products, they said.
On May 28, 2010, the House passed H.R. 5136, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 to authorize fiscal year 2011 appropriations for the Department of Defense, etc.