The electronics waste (e-waste) problem won’t go away soon, especially given the impending digital transition, House Environment & Hazardous Waste Subcommittee Chmn. Gillmor (R-Ohio) said Wed. as Congress began acknowledging calls for a federal solution. In the first phase of hearings by Gillmor’s panel, representatives of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and Commerce Dept. and officials from 3 states -- Cal., Me. and Md. -- with e- waste laws were called to testify.
Mobile phones invade privacy in several ways, most participants agreed in a debate on London-based Spiked- Online.com. Location-based services add another layer of data govts. are likely to want held for antiterrorism and criminal inquiries. Newly emerging mobile commerce (m- commerce) services could be deluged by the same spam and malware attacks e-mail systems now suffer. And, in the U.K. at least, “happy slapping” -- capturing photos of practical jokes and assaults on cellphones and circulating them electronically -- while rare, is seen as a growing problem.
Homeland Security Dept. cybersecurity got a harsh review in the Senate Tues. at a Homeland Security subcommittee hearing. The agency recently drew Govt. Accountability Office (GAO) fire for lagging on cybersecurity. GAO cited flaws included a failure to develop national cyberthreat and vulnerability assessments or contingency plans, especially against a successful Internet attack. DHS’s National Cyber Security Div. (NCSD) is making slow progress on those, NCSD Acting Dir. Andy Purdy told the subcommittee.
The NARUC broadband over power line (BPL) task force soon will “switch gears” to look into homeland security and regulatory issues, Mich. PSC Comr. Laura Chappelle, who heads the panel, told us. The group of state regulators is trying to distill facts on BPL’s potential for rural broadband connectivity, she said: “We are trying to find out what the status is -- if it’s increasing and, if it’s not happening, why isn’t it happening?”
Issues such as intercarrier compensation must be solved to keep old regulatory models from stunting VoIP technology, said CommPartners. In a white paper, CommPartners Regulatory Counsel Kris Twomey said “the emergence of VoIP accentuates the need for the reformation of the existing intercarrier compensation structure and… a bill-and-keep system is the most logical solution going forward.” Other areas needing attention, according to the paper: (1) Telecom Act reform to “create stability” for VoIP. (2) “Payment issues” such as what access charges apply to VoIP, overhaul of the “tax and surcharge” structure and how VoIP providers pay into the Universal Service Fund. (3) Public safety issues such as VoIP providers’ ability to offer E-911 and meet CALEA requirements. “There should be no economic regulation of VoIP on either federal or state levels, i.e. no tariffing requirements, price ceilings or revenue reporting requirements beyond that which is absolutely necessary to protect the public,” the paper said. The paper pushed for “regulation of the physical layer only.” It said national VoIP policies “would be preferable,” but states should have some role such as ensuring service quality, “ubiquity of service,” numbering resources and possibly enforcement of interconnection rules. -- www.commpartners.us.
Law enforcement agencies asked the FCC to add in- flight satellite broadband to the technologies covered by federal wiretap law, in comments filed last week with the Commission. The Dept. of Justice, FBI and Dept. of Homeland Security said the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) “is a technology-neutral statute that applies to all ’telecommunications carriers,'” regardless of whether the platform is wireline, wireless, cable, satellite or others. The comments were in response to the Commission’s rulemaking (05-20) on creating a regulatory framework for aeronautical mobile satellite service (AMSS), which includes broadband service on aircraft.
The Office of Management & Budget (OMB) approved the FCC’s E-911 rules for VoIP providers (CD May 20 p1), triggering a July 29 effective date. That means providers must comply with the order’s customer notification requirements by that date. OMB approval also triggers a Nov. 28 deadline for providers to offer full emergency calling capability. OMB approval was needed because the order triggered some information collection requirements. Meanwhile, Vonage told the FCC it has started informing new and existing customers of limitations in the company’s E-911 capability, as required by the Commission. In a July 8 letter, the company said it changed its customer subscription process to inform new customers that, although upgrades are underway, they don’t have access to fully enhanced 911 service. Existing customers are urged to visit their web accounts to read a similar notice about the E-911 limits. Both notices tell customers “Vonage is in the process of a nationwide rollout of Enhanced 911 service” but now offers only “a form of 911 that is similar to E-911 but has some important differences.” The notice says that among those differences is that calls go to a “general number” at the nearest emergency response center. “When the center receives your call, the call taker will not have your address and may not have your phone number on hand, thus you must provide that information in order to get help,” the notice explains. In some local emergency response centers, general numbers aren’t manned by live operators around the clock, the notice says: “If Vonage learns that this is the case, Vonage will send your call instead to a national emergency calling center and a trained agent will contact an emergency center near you to dispatch help.” Vonage said it began making the changes June 28 and plans to send customers additional material before the July 29 deadline for customer notification.
Law enforcement agencies asked the FCC to add in- flight satellite broadband to the technologies covered by federal wiretap law, in comments filed last week with the Commission. The Dept. of Justice, FBI and Dept. of Homeland Security said the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) “is a technology-neutral statute that applies to all ’telecommunications carriers,'” regardless of whether the platform is wireline, wireless, cable, satellite or others. The comments were in response to the Commission’s rulemaking (05-20) on creating a regulatory framework for aeronautical mobile satellite service (AMSS), which includes broadband service on aircraft.
Last week’s London bombings intensified debate over the need for -- and wisdom of -- requiring retention of Internet and telephony traffic data. Home Secy. Charles Clarke set an emergency meeting tomorrow (Wed.) with other justice and home affairs ministers to discuss a “response to the terrorist threat.” He’s expected to push a controversial proposal to require retention of communications traffic data. In June, ministers provisionally backed the proposal, which is opposed strongly by the European Commission, communications services providers and civil libertarians. The proposal would impose a standard holding period of 12 months, leaving member states free to allow retention for 6-48 months, a Home Office spokeswoman said. The move would have scant impact in the U.K., where ISPs, under a voluntary code, routinely hold some subscriber data up to a year, the spokeswoman said. Authorities want data held because phone and Internet traffic information often has proven essential to criminal investigations, the spokeswoman said. Mobile phone records were critical to finding those accused of the March 2003 Madrid bombing and a high-profile U.K. child murder. The U.K., which now holds the European presidency -- and which was one of 4 countries that originally sought a data retention directive -- has concerns about a patchwork of national data retention laws, she said. After the July 7 blasts, ISPs contacted the Home Office to offer practical assistance, said the Internet Services Providers’ Assn. (ISPA) U.K. The National High Tech Crime Unit asked ISPA members to preserve data now on their systems, including content of e-mail servers, e-mail server logs and pager, SMS and MMS messages on network platforms, plus call data for fixed, mobile and VoIP. ISPA said it will encourage members to “focus on endeavors that will be effective in combatting terrorism,” but added that keeping data of no use to criminal investigations “will make the extraction of vital evidence even harder.”
Last week’s London bombings intensified debate over the need for -- and wisdom of -- requiring retention of Internet and telephony traffic data. Home Secy. Charles Clarke set an emergency meeting tomorrow (Wed.) with other justice and home affairs ministers to discuss a “response to the terrorist threat.” He’s expected to push a controversial proposal to require retention of communications traffic data. In June, ministers provisionally backed the proposal (WID June 3 p5), which is opposed strongly by the European Commission, communications services providers and civil libertarians. The proposal would impose a standard holding period of 12 months, leaving member states free to allow retention for 6-48 months, a Home Office spokeswoman said. The move would have scant impact in the U.K., where ISPs, under a voluntary code, routinely hold some subscriber data up to a year, the spokeswoman said. Authorities want data held because phone and Internet traffic information often has proven essential to criminal investigations, the spokeswoman said. Mobile phone records were critical to finding those accused of the March 2003 Madrid bombing and a high-profile U.K. child murder. The U.K., which now holds the European presidency -- and which was one of 4 countries that originally sought a data retention directive -- has concerns about a patchwork of national data retention laws, she said. After the July 7 blasts, ISPs contacted the Home Office to offer practical assistance, said the Internet Services Providers’ Assn. (ISPA) U.K. The National High Tech Crime Unit asked ISPA members to preserve data now on their systems, including content of e-mail servers, e-mail server logs and pager, SMS and MMS messages on network platforms, plus call data for fixed, mobile and VoIP. ISPA said it will encourage members to “focus on endeavors that will be effective in combatting terrorism,” but added that keeping data of no use to criminal investigations “will make the extraction of vital evidence even harder.”