EU governments will be barred from restricting Internet access unless it’s necessary, proportionate and follows a fair and impartial procedure that guarantees human rights, government and European Parliament negotiators said on Thursday following a late-night compromise on the final remaining piece of the e-communications regulatory reform package. Restrictions can be imposed in “duly substantiated cases of urgency” but they must also be in line with EU rights guarantees, they said. Lawmakers and government officials said the agreement gives Internet users more rights than they previously had. Digital rights and consumer groups, however, said the text salvages some protections for Netizens, but it still doesn’t fully protect them from threats to Internet freedom.
Though they filed a lawsuit to stop New York City’s e- waste program from taking effect, neither CEA nor the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) “is challenging the concept of producer responsibility,” CEA President Gary Shapiro and ITI President Dean Garfield said in a joint statement Thursday. They were commenting on a letter that 50 local and state government officials from 18 states sent the trade groups earlier in the day asking them to withdraw their lawsuit against New York City’s e-waste program. The lawsuit is “a direct challenge to state and local government efforts to protect public health and the environment,” the letter said.
EU governments will be barred from restricting Internet access unless it’s necessary, proportionate and follows a fair and impartial procedure that guarantees human rights, government and European Parliament negotiators said on Thursday following a late-night compromise on the final remaining piece of the e-communications regulatory reform package. Restrictions can be imposed in “duly substantiated cases of urgency” but they must also be in line with EU rights guarantees, they said. Lawmakers and government officials said the agreement gives Internet users more rights than they previously had. Digital rights and consumer groups, however, said the text salvages some protections for Netizens, but it still doesn’t fully protect them from threats to Internet freedom.
It’s too early to tell where the FTC’s privacy roundtables will take the commission, but its actions probably will be based on a few principles, said Chris Olsen, an assistant director of the division of privacy and identity protection, who discussed them at an American Constitution Society forum. The first roundtable will be Dec. 7.
The FCC is discussing ways to step up the agency’s involvement in cybersecurity matters, but it isn’t seeking to broaden its responsibilities, said Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau spokesman Robert Kenny. The commission collected big phone companies’ opinions in a meeting last month (CD Oct 27 p10). So far, industry officials have revealed no concerns.
The FCC is discussing ways to step up the agency’s involvement in cybersecurity matters, but it isn’t seeking to broaden its responsibilities, said Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau spokesman Robert Kenny. The commission collected big phone companies’ opinions in a meeting last month (WID Oct 27 p4). So far, industry officials have revealed no concerns.
Broadcasters and their trade groups probably will counter a CEA-financed study of spectrum valuations with research of their own, industry executives said. There’s no bigger business or regulatory issue for TV stations than the prospect of reuse of broadcast spectrum, said several of the dozen-plus industry officials we surveyed at companies that own more than 150 stations.
Public safety groups are circulating a legislative proposal on Capitol Hill that would take the D block off the auction block at the FCC and ask Congress to pay for building an interoperable network. Some congressional offices said they've reviewed the proposal but they haven’t taken a position yet. Some offices heavily involved in public safety said they hadn’t seen the proposal. Verizon Wireless strongly backs the principle of giving spectrum back to public safety, General Counsel Steven Zipperstein told Virginia public safety officials Thursday. “Our message has been consistent,” he told us. “Public safety ought to be able to control its own destiny.”
On October 29, 2009, Secretary of State Clinton announced a breakthrough in negotiations in Honduras. According to the Secretary, there will be elections held on November 29, 2009 and the U.S. will work with the people and government of Honduras to realize the full return of democracy and a better future for the Honduran people. (Press release, dated 10/30/09, available at http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/10/131078.htm.)
European Commission (EC) plans for use of spectrum freed by digital switchover pose interference risks for consumer electronics equipment, Cable Europe said on Wednesday. The EC recommendations, announced the same day, call for EU states to coordinate their allocation of the 790-862 MHz band to support the emergence of new wireless services such as 3G and 4G mobile phone services with video streaming. A coordinated approach could boost Europe’s economy by as much as $74 billion over 15 years, the EC said. The proposal also asks countries to switch off analog services by Jan. 1, 2012, and to use the digital dividend spectrum in a way that increases competition. The EC said it will harmonize technical conditions for using the band and promised to address, with the European Parliament and Council, strategic goals such as the pace of opening the spectrum to uses other than high-power broadcasting, arriving at a common European position in negotiations with neighboring countries on the digital dividend, and the possibility of agreement on future EU targets for using more efficient technologies in the band. Talks with lawmakers and governments will start in the first half of 2010, the EC said. But Cable Europe said laboratory testing has uncovered potential interference with consumer electronics devices such as TVs, cable broadband modems, set- top boxes, audio equipment used in live performances, personal video recorders, in-house wiring and gaming consoles. The problem could affect 115 million TV viewers, nearly a quarter of total EU population, it said. The organization said it shared the data on potential interference with EU and national authorities and asked them to investigate problems for TV viewers and broadband users before allocating and auctioning the spectrum. Cable Europe is “calling for careful national attention to this newly discovered interference so that January 1st 2012 will be a cause for celebration rather than frustration,” said Managing Director Caroline Van Weede. The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) welcomed the EC’s approach, but said the competitive consequences of allocating digital dividend spectrum must be addressed. If allocation is allowed to favor one or two dominant players, competition and consumers will suffer, said ECTA Chairman Innocenzo Genna. He pointed to developments in Germany, where plans to allocate and sell spectrum in the 790-862 MHz band, and the controversial approach by regulators to the 900 MHz band, “clearly discriminate” against two small mobile operators.