European mobile operators are making good progress in protecting children from unsuitable content on mobile phones, the GSM Association Europe said Wednesday. The sector developed several years ago and with European Commission endorsement a strategy for safer mobile use by younger teenagers and children that covers classification of commercial content, access control mechanisms, education and awareness-raising and fighting illegal content. As of this month, 83 mobile companies have put the framework in place through national codes of conduct, the GSMA said. Eight more operators have signed up, it said, meaning 96 percent of all EU mobile subscribers benefit. A review of the program found a high level of compliance, it said. Many national code requirements go beyond the scope of the operators’ agreement, showing their willingness to “go the extra mile” to encourage safe and responsible phone use, it said. Child protection bodies said the codes are playing a key role in getting operators to engage with each other and nongovernmental organizations to make the mobile environment more secure, the GSMA said. While the companies’ work so far is appreciated, there’s an expectation they can do more given the emergence of fast-developing technologies, it said. Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes welcomed the report but said operators must raise parents’ awareness of new potential risks children face when using smart phones, such as easier access to adult material online. “Parents are often not as tuned into the latest developments in mobile phones as the younger generation,” she said.
On June 8, 2010, both the House and Senate received the following messages from the President:
The FCC should limit broadcasters’ reporting duties in proposed testing rules (CD May 19 p5) for the national emergency alert system (EAS), an owner of radio stations said in a filing Tuesday in docket 04-296. “While EMF understands the need for nationwide testing of the EAS system, it does not support the Commission’s proposed reporting requirements” because thousands of broadcasters would “deluge” the FCC with reports of successful tests, said the owner, the Educational Media Foundation. The commission should “limit the scope of the reporting requirement to a small ’sampling’ of stations, and it should provide for electronic filing of data,” the foundation said. “Current logging requirements are sufficient.”
The FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Continuity Programs updated the agenda http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-298651A1.pdf for a workshop on 21st Century Emergency Alerting: Leveraging Multiple Technologies to Bring Alerts and Warnings to the Public, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at the FCC. The event will deal with the status of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, including the Next Generation Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Commercial Mobile Alert System. The public meeting also will allow the agencies and their federal partners to gather feedback on issues related to these systems, the upcoming National EAS test and the FCC’s coming proceeding on next-generation alerting.
The new Public Safety Alliance, representing leading public safety associations, unveiled a national advertising and grassroots campaign Monday urging Congress to reject an FCC move to auction the 700 MHz D-block rather than allocate it to public safety entities for a national broadband network. Ads are running in print and online this week in major Capitol Hill-focused publications. The group also put together a new website.
Requests to make and sell portable devices capable of getting mobile DTV broadcasts but without analog tuners were backed in all filings on a petition by Dell and LG, and another by Hauppauge Computer Works, in FCC docket 10-111. Commercial and public broadcasters, several CE trade groups and companies like Intel supported the requests for exemption from FCC Part 15 rules that all TV devices include analog and legacy ATSC DTV tuners. That bodes well for quick commission action on the requests, several supporters told us Monday.
Requests to make and sell portable devices capable of getting mobile DTV broadcasts but without analog tuners were backed in all filings on a petition by Dell and LG, and another by Hauppauge Computer Works, in FCC docket 10-111. Commercial and public broadcasters, several CE trade groups and companies like Intel supported the requests for exemption from FCC Part 15 rules that all TV devices include analog and legacy ATSC DTV tuners. That bodes well for quick commission action on the requests, several supporters told us Monday.
Communications should be treated as critical infrastructure and security access should be allowed during disasters and emergencies, citing lessons learned from disasters like the Haiti earthquake, speakers said during a Federal Communications Bar Association panel. Ken Moran, senior deputy chief of the FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, identified the National Response Framework as the legal framework for all levels of domestic incident response.
Communications should be treated as critical infrastructure and security access should be allowed during disasters and emergencies, citing lessons learned from disasters like the Haiti earthquake, speakers said during a Federal Communications Bar Association panel. Ken Moran, senior deputy chief of the FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, identified the National Response Framework as the legal framework for all levels of domestic incident response.
The Foreign Agriculture Service issued the following GAIN reports: