On December 14, 2009, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4284, a bill to extend the Generalized System of Preferences and Trade Preference Act/Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPA/ATPDEA) through December 31, 2010, by a voice vote.
Data portability and cloud computing bring new challenges to privacy and security, groups said in comments at the FCC on a National Broadband Plan public notice about data portability and cloud computing and their implications on broadband.
Data portability and cloud computing bring new challenges to privacy and security, groups said in comments at the FCC on a National Broadband Plan public notice about data portability and cloud computing and their implications on broadband.
The Public Utilities Commission is sponsoring Maine’s first mandatory basic training course for public safety dispatchers. The 20-member inaugural class meets Monday at Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro. The course is mandatory for dispatchers hired full-time after Jan. 1, 2008, by PSAPs and local dispatch centers. Dispatchers must pass the 40-hour course within 12 months of starting work. The course is funded by the enhanced 911 surcharge. Students pay no materials fee or tuition. Topics include roles and duties of emergency telecommunicators, emergency telecommunication technologies, caller management, police, medical and fire call classification, radio procedures and legal issues. Veteran dispatchers certified by the National Academy of Emergency Dispatch will teach the course. On-the-job training will continue after classroom work ends. “The curriculum was carefully chosen,” commission Chair Sharon Reishus said.
The FCC needs to improve its oversight of wireless companies’ customer service, said a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday. Nearly 84 percent of customers are satisfied with their wireless service, the report found, but problems with billing, contract terms and customer service bring complaints from as many as 14 percent. The proportions of dissatisfied customers “represent millions of consumers” of the estimated 270 million U.S. wireless phone users, the GAO said.
The FCC needs to make solving the digital divide a high priority for its broadband plan, Commissioner Michael Copps said at a Practising Law Institute conference Thursday. People are starting to realize that the broadband plan is not just “technospeak from broadband geeks” but can lead to policies that improve peoples’ lives, said Copps, who was introduced at the conference by Chairman Julius Genachowski. But if policymakers don’t get it right, the result could be “more and even wider divides in this country,” Copps said.
FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett warned that building an interoperable wireless broadband network for the nation’s 3 million first responders in the 700 MHz band could take 10-15 years. In a speech to the Silicon Flatirons Center in Denver, Barnett also laid out a number of principles likely to be in the public safety section of the National Broadband Plan and said the FCC likely will back creation of a Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC) to coordinate emergency communications nationwide.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski opened the first meeting of the commission’s new Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) Monday, urging the group to take a hard look at communications best practices of networks “of all sizes and shapes.” Looking at ways to encourage better communications interoperability should also be an early goal of the group, Genachowski said.
Health care providers and the telecom industry urged changes to universal service rules, as the FCC collected comment Friday on how broadband helps health care delivery. Some urged more spectrum allocation and renewed calls for a national public safety wireless network. All said broadband is key to providing better health care.
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry reminds the public that Japan will act as the chair of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2010 Symposium to be held December 9-10, 2009 in Tokyo. Participants will conduct discussions on APEC free trade goals, regional economic integration, the concept of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), and strategies for prosperity in Asia-Pacific. (Press release, dated 11/27/09, available at http://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/data/20091127_01.html)