GENEVA -- Preparations for the December Internet Governance Forum largely concern getting the next billion users online and broadening the concepts of running and using the Internet, officials said during a preparatory meeting Tuesday. The importance of the Internet to sustainable development, technology’s rising appetite for energy and e- waste are gaining interest as topics. National preparations are building steam in the lead-up to the third Internet Governance Forum, Dec. 3 to 6 in Hyderabad, India.
Two months before jittery agencies must obey Office of Management and Budget mandates, Karen Evans, OMB administrator for e-government and information technology, reminded agencies that they had certified their progress several times. The requirements concern the longstanding IPv6 transition, federal desktop core configuration standards and the five-month-old Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) initiative. Evans spoke Tuesday at a Federal Computer Week conference.
The Census Bureau has issued a press release announcing that the U.S.' international deficit in goods and services decreased to $58.23 billion in March 2008 from $61.7 billion (revised) in February, as imports decreased more than exports. (Census press release, dated 05/09/08, available at http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/ft900.pdf)
The Ohio Public Utilities Commission decided against conducting a rulemaking on requirements for next-generation, IP-based E-911 systems. The PUC said most issues raised by the Ohio chapters of the National Emergency Number Association and Association of Public Safety Communications Officials in their March petition for a rulemaking better fit ongoing national 911 industry forums. The PUC is addressing issues suited for state action in provider-specific arbitration proceedings and other cases, it said. The petitioners sought a rulemaking to address changes in 911 technology and the public safety marketplace that have allowed 911 competition and created a need that 911 be able to deliver not only voice but also video and data from and to any telecom device and telecom service. AT&T, Cincinnati Bell and the Ohio Telephone Association opposed the state rulemaking, saying the petition involves technical standards, reliability and accuracy issues and security safeguards best addressed at the national level. They urged the PUC to focus on monitoring national next-generation 911 forums. The PUC agreed with the telcos that it should defer to national efforts in these areas and directed its staff to monitor and report on agreements and disputes. It said competition, economic impact, interconnection, interoperability, provisioning, coverage, pricing for 911 service within Ohio and related issues can be handled through provider-specific negotiated interconnection agreements, with state arbitration for disputes. It said its decision earlier this year to authorize Intrado Communications as the state’s first competitive 911 provider came in expectation that competition will lead to 911 improvements.
The Department of Homeland Security has recently issued two notices related to critical infrastructure protection, including: (1) the designation of "critical manufacturing" as the 18th critical infrastructure sector under the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)1; and (2) the renewal of the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council.
The Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has issued a proposed rule which would modify 49 CFR Part 107 by, among other things, increasing the registration fees for 2009-2010 and following years paid by persons who transport or offer for transport certain categories and quantities of hazardous materials (hazmats), for those registrants not qualifying as a small business or not-for-profit organization.
Commission Testifies on Using Freight Fee, Customs Duties, Fuel Tax to Upgrade Transportation System
On April 22, 2008, members of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission testified before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee regarding the Commission's January 2008 report which, among other things, recommended various fees for sustaining the surface transportation system in the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security cyber chief Greg Garcia proposed a vastly expanded U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) that would share more information with the private sector than ever. Garcia, assistant secretary of cybersecurity and communications, spoke Monday at a security conference of the higher-education tech group Educause. But he admitted that his idea probably won’t see reality before he leaves DHS -- likely when the next president takes office, in January -- adding that it would leave open many legal questions about organizations’ access to the DHS cyber feed.
On May 1, 2008, both the House and Senate passed S. 2954, a bill to extend certain trade and other provisions of the 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (2002 Farm Bill) another two weeks, until May 16, 2008. This is the third extension. (S. 2954 available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:s2954enr.txt.pdf.)
The Ohio Public Utilities Commission put off to May 7 a decision on opening a 911 rulemaking to set standards for next-generation, IP-based E-911 systems. Those systems would be capable of feeding video and data to emergency responders and providing 911 voice service from every type of mobile or landline telecom device. The PUC was to vote Wednesday in Case 08-287-TP-UNC, but commissioners opted for an extra week of study. The Ohio chapters of the National Emergency Number Association and Association of Public Safety Communications Officials sought the rulemaking. They said incumbent telcos’ existing 911 services aren’t keeping pace with landline and mobile advances in the 911 market and want the state to take the lead in setting standards for applying IP-based technology to 911 service. The Ohio Telecom Association, Cincinnati Bell and AT&T opposed the petition as counterproductive. They said today’s system supports all types of provider including VoIP and wireless. They said any perception that incumbents are lagging at adopting advanced 911 technologies is caused by the need for foolproof security and integrity before IP-based 911 services can be adopted. Foes urged the PUC to keep taking part in and monitoring efforts at the FCC and elsewhere relating to next-generation 911 but refrain from developing state-specific standards at risk of being pre-empted by U.S. standards. The NENA national organization also cautioned the PUC to go slow. It said the evolution to next-generation 911 service “should be treated as a national project in which individual state action must be appropriately coordinated with other state and national activities.” The national NENA said states should analyze how their laws and regulations may slow development and deployment of next-generation 911 and make changes to help the service. But the 911 Industry Alliance and competitive 911 provider Intrado Communications urged the PUC to go ahead with its rulemaking. They said that holding off and waiting for national policies could put at risk Ohio’s ability to ensure the public’s continued safety.