The Senate Republican High Tech Task Force (HTTF) unveiled an ambitious agenda for the 109th Congress Wed.. The schedule aims to consider federal spyware legislation and examine whether the U.S. needs national policies to curb phishing, pharming and falsifying digital certificates. Chmn. Ensign (R-Nev.), along with Majority Leader Frist (Tenn.), Sens. Hatch (Utah), Allen (Va.) and others, unveil their priorities and announced new task force members. Participants want to build on the success of the CAN-SPAM Act, ensure spammers get “swift and certain” FTC enforcement and support efforts to give law enforcement, agencies and industry tools to fight foreign and domestic network attacks. They will advocate aggressive enforcement of existing laws to protect intellectual property and encourage legitimate, legal distribution of copyrighted works. To strengthen the economy, HTTF wants to cast in stone the Internet tax moratorium, seek a permanent R&D tax credit and make federal IT systems more secure and efficient. Members said they wanted to move beyond the Class Action Reform bill with additional tort reforms to “eliminate frivolous lawsuits and protect innovators.” The task force also vowed to protect new technologies from premature controls -- “legislation in search of a problem,” as they called it -- and said RFID could help the economy. The Retail Industry Leaders Assn. lauded the agenda, saying HTTF adheres to its view that “lawmakers should tread very lightly when considering whether to regulate the emerging applications of this important technology.” In regard to protecting privacy and e-commerce, HTTF said market-based solutions should lead the way, with fairness to both online and offline stakeholders. A notable addition to HTTF’s 40-point agenda called for e-health initiatives using technology to cut administrative overhead, minimize risk such as errors in filling prescriptions and eliminate barriers to legitimate sharing of medical information. Ensign and several colleagues said they would pay more attention to math and science education. “We've got our priorities messed up,” he said, noting the frequency with which students opt not to study math and science, pursuing other careers instead.
Several public safety groups sent a letter to all members of Congress urging them to support the proposed Dec. 31, 2006, deadline for DTV transition. In the letter, the groups said issues like new commercial wireless services and spectrum revenue have gotten a lot of attention, but perhaps the most important issue in the DTV transition is reclaiming spectrum for police, firefighters and other public safety officials. “Public safety agencies have been waiting since 1997 for this spectrum,” the letter said. Without the spectrum, “many public safety agencies will be forced to continue operating on dangerously congested radio systems, to postpone activation of fully interoperable radio networks in their regions, and to [forgo] new communications tools needed to enhance law enforcement, fire protection, emergency medical services and homeland security,” the letter said. In 1997, Congress allocated 24 MHz of spectrum for public safety in the analog broadcast spectrum. House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) has proposed establishing a deadline for broadcasters to vacate the spectrum. He’s said a bill is coming soon and has the votes to pass. The groups urged Congress to pass the legislation this year. Groups signing the letter included the Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials, Congressional Fire Services Institute, International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, National Assn. of Counties, National League of Cities and National Sheriffs’ Assn.
House Rural Caucus Chmn. Peterson (R-Pa.) expressed frustration about the lack of advanced services in rural areas and said he would support the rights of municipalities to build their own broadband networks. During Wed.’s Rural Caucus Telecom Task Force forum on VoIP, Peterson pushed the issue of municipal deployment of telecom services. “I don’t have a lot of hope” about broadband deployment in rural areas, he said.
The House Rural Caucus Telecom Task Force will hold its 3rd hearing of the year Wed. when it examines VoIP. The hearing will feature House Commerce Committee Vice- Chmn. Pickering (R-Miss.) and Rep. Boucher (D-Va.) as witnesses. Both sponsored legislation last year that would preempt state action on VoIP. Boucher, along with Rep. Stearns (R-Fla.), has reintroduced the bill this year (HR-214) while Pickering hasn’t yet introduced any VoIP- related legislation. Other witnesses will include Vonage CEO Jeff Citron, BellSouth Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Bill Smith, NCTA State Telecom Policy Senior Dir. Richard Cimerman, Alcatel CTO Jeffrey Young, TDS Telecom Vp- Federal Affairs Kevin Hess and National Emergency Number Assn. Dir.-Govt. Affairs Steve Seitz. The hearing is scheduled 2:30 p.m. Wed., Rm. 2105 Rayburn Bldg. The last Telecom Task Force hearing drew an overflow crowd.
According to Shippers' NewsWire, Senator Hutchinson introduced a bill (S. 376) on February 15, 2005, which calls for at least 50% of containers, beginning in 2007, to be equipped with tracking and monitoring technology that can notify authorities that the container has been breeched by terrorists or criminals. The article notes that Hutchinson's bill also calls for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to report on how requiring advance submission of purchase orders, shipper's letter of instruction, commercial invoices, letters of credit, certificates of origin, and other transaction information can enhance U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP's) container inspection targeting system. After being introduced, S. 376 was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (SNW dated 03/03/05, www.americanshipper.com.)
GENEVA -- Public safety answering points (PSAP) are struggling with 9-1-1 emergency wireless calls that are difficult to locate, officials said here Thurs. Officials added that if VoIP hits the mainstream and the mass market abandons landlines, the 9-1-1 system could be in real trouble,
XM Satellite Radio’s 30% price hike is great news for Sirius, CEO Mel Karmazin told analysts Weed. at the Bear Stearns conference in Palm Beach, Fla. “I couldn’t think of anything that could be better for us,” he said, adding that XM’s decision to raise the basic service package charge to $12.95 “opens up all kinds of options” for Sirius’s next move -- including boosting its own subscription price.
XM Satellite Radio’s 30% price hike (CD March 1 p11) is great news for Sirius, CEO Mel Karmazin told analysts at the Bear Stearns conference Wed. “I couldn’t think of anything that could be better for us,” he said, adding that XM’s decision to raise the basic service package charge to $12.95 “opens up all kinds of options” for Sirius’s next move -- including boosting its own subscription price.
The FCC should set national standards to make sure the location of E-911 calls can be identified when callers are on multiline telephone systems (MLTS), several organizations told the FCC in comments filed Mon. Although Verizon disagreed and said a national standard would be too restrictive, many said the FCC shouldn’t wait any longer for states to act.
Voom HD LLC, a firm formed by Cablevision Chmn. Charles Dolan and his son Thomas, has the funding to buy the satellite service’s remaining assets from the MSO, sources said. In an internal memo sent to Voom employees after Cablevision announced Mon. that it would pull the plug on the HD service within 30 days, Charles Dolan claimed he had the financing needed to buy Voom and “it was just question” of getting approval from the Cablevision board, a source said.