The House Homeland Security Committee needs help drafting cybersecurity bills for the North American electricity grid, said Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chairman William Langevin, D-R.I. In a letter to House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., they cited a recent hearing at which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chief said the agency needs more legal authority to protect the bulk power system (BPS) against cyberattack (WID May 22 p2). Section 215 of the Federal Power Act suffices to protect the BPS from “reliability threats,” but cybersecurity involves national security considerations, perhaps demanding mandatory fast action under news blackout -- not available under that provision, Thompson and Langevin said. They urged revision of the law to give the FERC “emergency authority to order temporary interim cybersecurity or other emergency standards” to protect against national security threats to the BPS, they said. House Homeland Security needs Commerce help to write and pass legislation enabling the emergency authority once the threat is confirmed by a national security or intelligence agency, and that sets standards for when emergency orders can be kept confidential, they said.
GENEVA -- The broadband divide and an urban/rural accessibility gap gained traction as areas of international concern during last week’s U.N. Commission on Science and Technology for Development meetings, officials said. They tried to avoid rehashing the World Summit on the Information Society and grapple with new issues for a resolution to be considered for July adoption by the U.N. Economic and Social Council, officials said.
GENEVA -- The broadband divide and an urban/rural accessibility gap gained traction as areas of international concern during last week’s U.N. Commission on Science and Technology for Development meetings, officials said. They tried to avoid rehashing the World Summit on the Information Society and grapple with new issues for a resolution to be considered for July adoption by the U.N. Economic and Social Council, officials said.
France’s Internet Rights Forum plans research on legal questions in online advertising. Spending is up more than 36 percent last year, showing the Net to be increasingly attractive to advertisers, the body said Thursday. France’s National Consumer Council is considering governance and advertising regulation, and a report ordered by President Nicolas Sarkozy on banning public TV ads is due June 25. Two recent court rulings protected online ads for alcoholic drinks, and, more generally, emergence of social networking sites, the forum said. The creation of vast databases is spurring development of new forms of advertising, including contextual ads. A Forum working group will study ads for alcoholic beverages, tobacco, medicines and other products, as well as ads for lawyers and practitioners in other regulated professions. The panel of Internet users, legal experts, business representatives and consumer advocates also will consider contextual ads, viral marketing and other new forms of online advertising, the Forum said. It begins work next month.
In testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee, Department of Homeland Security acting Deputy Secretary Schneider stated that the change in administration in 2009 will have a minimal impact on DHS' day-to-day operations or its ability to respond in the event of a national incident.
The National Emergency Number Association reported on various meetings at the FCC at which the group expressed “continued strong support for a public private partnership as the most viable option to establish a national interoperable wireless public safety broadband network” when the agency reauctions the 700 MHz D-block. NENA officials met with Commissioners Michael Copps, Jonathan Adelstein and Robert McDowell, among others, NENA said in an ex parte letter filed with the FCC.
Industry Canada Tuesday began its version of an advanced wireless services auction, selling licenses covering 105 MHz. The agency is requiring a 40 MHz set-aside open to bidding only by a new entrant that would compete against established carriers Rogers, Telus and BCE. Canadian analysts told us the rules virtually guarantee emergence of a new national rival or at least regional competitors. The FCC did not do likewise in the recently concluded 700 MHz auction and no new national competitor emerged.
EU countries have far to go to protect the e-economy, the European Network and Information Security Agency said Tuesday in its annual report for 2007. Europe should “not wait for a digital 9/11” but should close national security gaps now, the agency said. Governments must take threats more seriously and invest more in network and information security and in cross-border cooperation, Executive Director Andrea Pirotti said. He urged the EU to require companies to report Internet security breaches. The U.S. reporting requirement is an example but has “flaws that the EU has to do better,” an agency spokesman told us later. EU nations can’t have varying systems as American states do, he said. A common approach is needed on when confidentiality rules apply, to whom reports are submitted and what they should contain, the spokesman said. Businesses must help set up the system, to ensure fairness, he said. Pirotti stressed to reporters Tuesday the security risks of Internet social networking sites, subject of an October report. The agency this year began a three-year program to strengthen public electronic communications networks, he said. It’s also supporting creation of computer emergency response teams in more countries, he said. Threats include fraud in virtual worlds, ENISA said. This year it plans to issue several papers, including one on interoperable electronic identification, it said. The agency’s charter expires in 2009 but probably will be extended two or three years, the agency spokesman said. The European Commission has proposed combining it with a new body, the European Electronic Communications Market Authority. But the idea hasn’t won over EU lawmakers, who see the merger as hard to understand and a hobble on ENISA. EC President Manuel Barroso has said no new agencies will be created until existing entities’ efficiency is evaluated and, if necessary, streamlined, the spokesman said. And the EC and European Parliament change next year, he said. The agency will learn its fate in June, the spokesman said.
On May 22, 2008, the Senate overrode the President's veto of H.R. 2419, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Farm Bill), enacting 14 of 15 Farm Bill titles into law (one was inadvertently omitted from the enrolled bill). On May 22, 2008, the House passed the complete farm bill (all 15 titles) under a new bill number (H.R. 6124). (S. 2419 information available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.02419.)
The Department of Homeland Security’s indecision about whether it will adopt the common alerting protocol (CAP) for emergency alert system warnings and in what form CAP should take is slowing the progress of broadcasters and others in developing a more robust emergency alert system, officials said Monday during an FCC summit on the nation’s EAS. Meanwhile, broadcasters warned that they feel in danger of becoming irrelevant.