The FCC shouldn’t lift its ban on airborne use of cellphones, representatives from CWA, the Assn. of Flight Attendants (AFA) and the National Consumers League said at a press conference Thurs. They released a study saying 63% of the participants support cellphone restrictions on planes while only 21% think the ban should be lifted.
LONDON -- Small U.K. companies are so vulnerable to e-crime -- and so complacent about it -- that a top Internet crime-buster pleaded Wed. with industry to engage with police on the issue. High-tech criminals bilked British companies of at least Pounds 2.4 billion last year; a survey of 200 firms found that 30% have no formal information technology risk assessment, said Len Hynds, business change & transition dir. of the National Crime Squad. Echoing others at the E-Crime Congress 2005 here, Hynds called public-private partnerships a major weapon against e-crime.
The “tricky thing” in providing enhanced 911 (E911) service to VoIP customers isn’t technology but rather access to emergency networks, Vonage Vp Chris Murray said at a panel Mon. sponsored by the National Press Club. Murray said Vonage is getting some Bells to cooperate for tests of Vonage’s VoIP-based E911 solution over their networks. Vonage has had a successful trial over Qwest’s network; Verizon is “way out front” on testing the system, he said. Vonage is working with Verizon on a “forward-looking solution” across N.Y.C., plus areas of N.Y. state and northern N.J., Murray said. BellSouth and SBC, which have voiced reservations about Vonage’s tests (CD March 31 p1), have shown willingness to talk about the project, he said: “They're at the table and we're talking.”
LONDON -- Fighting e-crime requires cooperation among govt., industry and law enforcement, but consumers also have a hand in protecting networks, speakers said here Tues. at the E-Crime Congress 2005. Increasingly, sophisticated online criminals are less interested in “hacking for fame” than in “hacking for fortune,” said Graeme Pinkney, Symantec head of threat intelligence for Europe/Middle East/Africa. Consumers -- who often fail to outfit home PCs with crime-busting software and to take other steps against attacks -- are the security chain’s weakest link, but they can expect to be asked to play a more active role in e-crime prevention, said Alan Jebson, group chief operating officer for global bank HSBC.
Technological threat to the U.S. intelligence community is a key issue govt., industry and academia must address, said former National Security Agency/Central Security Service Dir. Kenneth Minihan. Of U.S. technological preparedness, Minihan said he’s “not certain we have a full set of [golf] clubs in our bag.” American R&D superiority is fading and the U.S. routinely underperforms in technology development, heightening risks of traditional and cyber attacks on the U.S. information infrastructure, Minihan told the 4th Annual Govt. Convention on Emerging Technologies Wed. in Arlington, Va.
The Wall Street Journal reports that North America's West Coast ports and railways are choked by the exponential growth in China imports, but Canadian National Railways Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. want to move more of these arrivals to the U.S. Midwest and East Coast. (WSJ, dated 03/24/05, www.wsj.com )
Former Hollywood Entertainment CEO Mark Wattles’ offer to buy up to half of that chain’s 2,006 stores could ease antitrust worries and ease Blockbuster’s bid for Hollywood Entertainment, said industry officials polled by Consumer Electronics Daily.
Rival industry groups are pushing competing proposals on e-waste recycling at state legislatures, prompting the EIA to ask warring firms’ senior executives to seek consensus on a way to pay for e-waste recycling. EIA, made up mostly of TV manufacturers, floated a model law based on an advance recovery fee (ARF), worsening the industry split. Discord over financing has hobbled efforts to develop a unified industry position at the state and federal levels.
The Cal. PUC should “make the obligation for 911 universal service a precondition to accessing phone numbers through the North American Numbering Plan,” PUC member Susan Kennedy told the VON Conference in San Jose Wed. evening. “That is the only solution that is technologically neutral, limited to services that functionally replace traditional telephone services, at least for the foreseeable future, and is easily enforceable.” This policy would “go one step further” than “the VON Coalition’s agreement with the National Emergency Number Assn. on providing 911 services for VoIP users, and the Coalition’s express endorsement of moving to a numbers or connections based contribution mechanism for universal service,” Kennedy said. The VoIP sector needs to generate more public policy proposals and agreements with broadband providers. That would protect “Internet freedom,” as embraced by FCC Chmn. Powell and the High-Tech Broadband Coalition, and ensure the technology realizes its promise of preventing oligopoly and rendering most telecom regulation superfluous, Kennedy said.
Vonage and SBC are sparring over SBC’s refusal to join with Vonage to test a VoIP-based 911 system. Vonage asked the Bell companies to help test its 911 solution (CD Feb 28 p10). But SBC said in a March 25 letter it couldn’t participate in a “separate, proprietary trial” because Vonage was only one of several firms offering or planing to offer VoIP service.