“To continue providing high quality wireless services to underserved rural areas,” an FCC priority especially after the 2005 storms, SouthernLINC needs fast action on its bid for ECT status in 3 Gulf Coast states, it told the FCC. The company, which runs an 800 MHz digital radio system using Motorola iDEN technology, said its application for ECT status in Ala., Fla. and Ga. has been pending since Sept. 2004. “Many hospitals, public safety entities and emergency management agencies in these rural areas have chosen SouthernLINC Wireless as their carrier due to the coverage and rugged design of SouthernLINC Wireless’s network,” the carrier said: “SouthernLINC Wireless is furthering Commission goals of bringing wireless service to rural areas and ensuring that these areas remain connected during national emergencies and natural disasters.”
Brussels European Commission (EC) telecom networks and service providers would be regulated separately and a single European Union regulator would oversee the telecommunications sector under a Thurs. proposal by EC telecom commissioner Viviane Reding. Separating a telecom company’s network from its services would inject competition into the sector and “the moment the market is open we can scrap the rules or phase them out,” Reding said.
IBM, Lexis-Nexis, the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI will collaborate in a new Center for Identity Management & Information Protection (CIMIP). The effort will set up shop at Utica College. Higher education partners include Carnegie Mellon U., Indiana U. and Syracuse U. Utica cybercrime expert Gary Gordon will head CIMIP, which will study rising threats to personal and national security posed by ID theft and fraud.
The Senate Commerce Committee Wed. passed 15-7 an 11- title telecom bill the excludes Democrats’ strict net neutrality provisions. The panel concluded work after 3 days spent marking up the sweeping measure, dealing with about 215 amendments. Wed. the committee adopted amendments that would institutionalize a moratorium on Internet taxation, turning away amendments on net neutrality, a la carte programming and buildout requirements in franchise areas for video providers.
The Senate Commerce Committee Wed. passed 15-7 an 11- title telecom bill the excludes Democrats’ strict net neutrality provisions. The panel concluded work after 3 days spent marking up the sweeping measure, dealing with about 215 amendments. Wed. the committee adopted amendments that would institutionalize a moratorium on Internet taxation (see below), turning away amendments on net neutrality, a la carte programming and buildout requirements in franchise areas for video providers.
Consumers would have to be likely to suffer “substantial harm,” not simply “embarrassment,” from a data breach, for breached entities to have to notify them, under a bill introduced this week by Sens. Bennett (R-Wyo.) and Carper (D- Del.). The Data Security Act (S-3568) would set a national notification standard, preempt state trigger laws, and require breached entities to notify relevant agencies, police authorities, account-holding institutions, credit reporting agencies and affected consumers. The FTC would handle oversight for entities not covered by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), which covers financial institutions. The bill was referred to the Senate Banking Committee.
Reports of online enticement of minors have multiplied in the past year due to increased media attention and more parent awareness, an official who tracks child exploitation reports said. A startling factor is 10% of minors enticed online have posted lewd photos of themselves, said Michelle Collins, dir. of the exploited children unit at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). Collins spoke at the organization’s conference on social networking sites in D.C.
Decades of the Universal Service Fund contributed to 98% of U.S. households having phone service. This includes 88% of low-income households. But that feat hasn’t come cheaply, especially with the addition of the costly E-rate program that connects schools and libraries to the Internet. During 1998-2005, the USF spent $37.8 billion, according to the National Regulatory Research Institute, which pegs fiscal 2006 USF outlays at $7.3 billion. In fiscal 2006, requests for school and library funding alone will total $3.55 billion to be disbursed among 39,416 applicants, the Universal Service Administration Co. reported (CD March 22 p11).
The sweeping telecom legislation scheduled for markup Thurs. appeared to be in peril, with senators on both sides of the aisle concerned about preemption language that would free wireless carriers from most state regulation, sources said Tues. According to some groups working the issue, state preemption in recent days replaced net neutrality as the most important issue in the legislation (CD June 20 p3).
Public TV digital programs will get carriage on Verizon’s FiOS network under an agreement announced Fri. The deal is the 2nd of its kind. Last Jan., the Assn. of Public TV Stations (APTS) and NCTA made a voluntary carriage pact under which MSOs will carry up to 4 multicast channels of public TV stations. The Verizon deal resembles the NCTA agreement, said APTS Pres. John Lawson.