The Bureau of Industry and Security is requesting comments by August 18, 2008 on two recommendations made by the Deemed Export Advisory Committee in 20071 with respect to BIS' deemed export licensing policy, as follows:
At the April 2008 National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's Annual Conference, an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) official discussed a variety of export-related issues. Highlights of her remarks include the following points:
The FCC’s discovery in the past year that many DTV makers “have been selling units that ignore FCC rules requiring V-chip 2.0 compatibility” shows why the agency should consider requiring automatic software update capability in DTV sets and set-top boxes, six consumer, civil rights and disability groups told FCC Chairman Kevin Martin in a letter last week. Consumers “are at risk because the manufacturers are knowingly selling products that are likely to become obsolete long before they should,” the letter said. “If the manufacturers would include an inexpensive automatic software upgrade capability, new DTVs and converter boxes will be more durable and useful for consumers than is the case without that capability,” said the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Consumer Federation of America, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the New America Foundation, the Telecom Research and Action Center and the World Institute on Disability. Martin should launch an immediate inquiry “to shed light on these issues and see “if the industry will behave responsibly or if some stronger action is required to protect consumers,” they said. As yet they aren’t proposing rules like mandatory automatic update capability as part of product certification or “clear labeling” that tells consumers if gear has that capability, they said. House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., and Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey, D- Mass., put the issue “on the table” in November 2006 when they urged NTIA to require automatic update capability in coupon-eligible converter boxes, the letter said. But NTIA decided to make it a permitted rather than required CECB feature in its March 2007 final rules. Automatic software upgrades “could benefit both manufacturers in updating software and the users in upgrading a CECB’s authorized features,” the agency said then. “It is NTIA’s understanding that this automatic software update feature was only recently field-tested and is not currently commercially available, even in expensive television receivers,” NTIA said. “NTIA is reluctant to require that manufacturers include in a CECB this new technology which is just emerging from field tests.” In their letter to Martin, the six groups said NTIA “would have been wise to listen to the Congressmen,” given Microtune claims that tuner chips in most certified CECBs don’t meet ATSC A/74 performance standards. CEA has many concerns “about this effort to impose technology mandates on this robustly competitive marketplace,” a spokesman said. “These proposals come a year after the government gave all parties a full and fair opportunity to participate in the formation of the DTV coupon program,” he said. Imposing them would “undermine” program implementation and imperil the DTV transition, he said.
The FCC’s discovery in the last year that many DTV makers “have been selling units that ignore FCC rules requiring V-chip 2.0 compatibility” shows why the agency should consider requiring automatic software update capability in DTV sets and set-top boxes, six consumer, civil rights and disability groups told FCC Chairman Kevin Martin in a letter last week. But CEA thinks automatic update mandates are a bad idea and the FCC lacks the authority to impose them, it said Friday.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is reopening the comment period for its March 2007 notice regarding the merits of a petition to designate polyurethane (PU) foam and certain finished products containing PU foam (e.g. sofas, insulation)1 as hazardous materials when transported in commerce.
The FCC approved 5-0 Wednesday a rulemaking notice that sets the stage to reauction the 700 MHz D-block. The spectrum is all but sure to be offered a second time for a private-public partnership to build a national interoperable network for public safety. As expected, the rulemaking asks questions but draws no tentative conclusions, FCC officials said. The questions include whether to reauction the spectrum without conditions if no buyer emerges to build a public-safety network.
Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., introduced a bill Wednesday to authorize $4 million to fund the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corp. The entity would work with the winning 700 MHz D-block spectrum bidder to build a national public safety broadband network. “Police, fire, and emergency medical service agencies across the country still rely on a balkanized patchwork of aging radio systems that hampers interagency coordination and puts lives at risk,” Harman said. “This year is our best chance, and maybe our last chance for years, to change our emergency communications landscape with a single, interoperable network for all of our nation’s… first responders.” Congress should set up the trust as “an independent and effective voice for first responders.”
GENEVA -- “Parliaments need to be particularly vigilant about protecting net neutrality,” said Jane Bornick Griffith, senior adviser at the Global Center for Information and Communications Technology in Parliament, at a forum on carrying out the results of the World Summit on the Information Society. Also crucial is balancing national security, filtering of inappropriate content and information exchange, she said.
Increased PC use in piracy hotspots has made the problem even worse in those locales, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) said. Annual dollar losses to piracy grew $8 billion in 2007 to nearly $48 billion, the BSA said. Of 108 nations studied, use of pirate software fell in 67, rose in eight. But because PC sales grew fastest in high-piracy countries, the world PC software piracy rate rose 3 percentage points to 38% in 2007, BSA said.
Rural communities could qualify for loans to expand 911 services and interoperable communications networks, according to a conference agreement released Tuesday on the farm bill. The emergency-services provision, new to the farm bill, would tap into $690 million set for telephone loans. The bill includes $125 million for loans to build rural broadband services. The House Rules Committee was expected to vote on terms of debate at our deadline.