A new online tool will help consumers develop a 10-step security plan to protect their smartphones from cybersecurity threats, the FCC said Tuesday. The tool, which the FCC said it developed with the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Trade Commission, CTIA, the National Cyber Security Alliance, smartphone security company Lookout and others, allows consumers to develop the plan based on their smartphone’s operating system (http://xrl.us/bn63dx). The tool’s release coincides with the holiday gift-giving season, which FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said is the perfect time to remind consumers of ways to protect their mobile devices. “With less than half of smartphone owners using passwords to protect their devices, this new tool will be of particular value to millions of Americans,” he said in a statement (http://xrl.us/bn63eo).
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will convene a diplomatic conference on copyright limitations and exceptions for visually impaired persons and persons with print disabilities in Marrakesh, Morocco, in June next year, decided a WIPO extraordinary general assembly in Geneva Tuesday. It was a groundbreaking decision after four years of intensive negotiations, said the World Blind Union (WBU) in its news release. The new WIPO treaty would remove copyright barriers and open up a new world of reading to blind people, officials said. The WBU said the problem is that most books are never produced in accessible formats like audio, Braille or large print. “In many countries copyright law prevents these organisations from making accessible copies of the books, and from sending them to others in countries speaking the same language, thereby maximising their small resources,” the WBU said. James Love, director of Knowledge Ecology International and a meeting participant, said: “We are pleased the U.S.A. and the European Union have finally allowed this project to go forward, but disappointed that the U.S.A. demanded that deaf people be excluded from the treaty, opposed language to make accessible versions of audiovisual works used in education and training, and that the U.S. and the EU continue to narrow the consumer rights in the treaty.” WIPO Director General Francis Gurry agreed “there is still some distance to travel before the conclusion of the treaty.” In order to build consensus on the draft proposal, the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights will meet in February. Justin Hughes, senior adviser to the U.S. undersecretary of commerce for intellectual property, said more discussions are necessary before the Diplomatic Conference “to clarify and settle as many outstanding issues as possible before June.” Success on these issues is vital “to sustain support at home for our efforts here,” he said.
The Commerce Department Office of Inspector General is reviewing how certain stimulus grants recipients acquired their equipment. Principal Assistant Inspector General for Audit and Evaluation Ann Eilers sent a letter, released Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bn63dn), to NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling on Dec. 10 notifying him that OIG is “initiating a review of the acquisition of equipment for selected Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) infrastructure awards,” to be conducted in Washington and elsewhere as needed. The review has three goals and will check to ensure NTIA has “personnel and processes in place to effectively monitor grantees’ equipment acquisitions, including security, inventory control, and report submittals” as well as to “assess whether grantees have appropriately acquired, tested, and implemented the most effective equipment” and “are on track to complete the BTOP projects on schedule and achieve project goals,” the letter said. There are 123 infrastructure grantees with awards totaling $3.5 billion -- accounting for more than half of all BTOP grantees and three-quarters of the BTOP money, according to NTIA (http://xrl.us/bnw76m). Seven of these grants devoted to public safety (CD Dec 6 p5) as well as Colorado’s EAGLE-Net (CD Dec 10 p6) are currently suspended.
Sprint Nextel’s full buyout of Clearwire will result in redundant leases at about 2,700 Crown Castle International tower sites where both carriers have leased space, the tower company said late Monday. Sprint has an average of nine years remaining on its lease agreements with CCI, while Clearwire has an average of four years remaining on its leases. CCI said Sprint’s leases represent about 23 percent of the tower company’s annualized consolidated site rental revenue, while Clearwire represents 3 percent (http://xrl.us/bn623z). Sprint already owned 51 percent of Clearwire, and reached a deal Monday to buy the remaining ownership stake from shareholders for $2.2 billion (CD Dec 18 p7).
A next-generation wireless network in Detroit is closer to being operational, the New America Foundation said Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bn627k). The network’s located in Detroit’s Cass Corridor and the first phase of its construction is now complete. The New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute plans to use this network to test Commotion, which it calls “a cutting-edge open-source communication platform that uses laptops, mobile phones and other devices to create decentralized wireless systems known as ‘mesh networks.'” The project receives funds from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the U.S. Department of State, “which sees the potential of the technology in places like Egypt or Syria where dictators have cut off access to the Internet,” the release said. “The city is not just a backdrop for this network,” said Director-Field Operations Joshua Breitbart in a statement. “The residents are playing an active role as designers and engineers.” Detroit partners include the Allied Media Projects, the Detroit Future Media training program and The Work Department, the foundation said, referring to the help it’s received in training, designing and software development. Commotion will be released to the public in early 2013, the foundation said.
The FCC should organize a workshop on rural call termination problems with the Iowa Utilities Board and that state’s Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, he told FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in a letter (http://bit.ly/V55Uhp). There’s “additional FCC leadership needed” despite “commendable” advances and all parties should come together to discuss the issues in a small Iowa town, Branstad said. “Since Iowa has more rural telephone companies than any other state, Iowa would be a symbolic location for such a meeting,” he said. “I believe that this proposed workshop may give the attending FCC commissioners and staff a better sense of the problem and potential solutions by opening a direct dialogue with rural telecommunications experts, NARUC representatives, and impacted citizens.” Offending carriers would also realize “progress is expected,” he added.
The FCC released an order clearing the way for Dish Network to convert its mobile satellite service S-band spectrum to terrestrial use while the agency auctions the adjacent H block, subject of a rulemaking notice also released at our deadline. “With this Report and Order, we increase the Nation’s supply of spectrum for mobile broadband by adopting flexible use rules for 40 megahertz of spectrum in the 2 GHz band (2000-2020 MHz and 2180-2200 MHz), which we term the AWS-4 band,” the FCC stated (http://xrl.us/bn6w95). “We carry out a recommendation in the National Broadband Plan that the Commission enable the provision of standalone terrestrial services in the 2 GHz Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) spectrum band, thus dramatically increasing the value of this spectrum to the public.” The MSS order was approved last week (CD Dec 13 p8).
Nielsen and Twitter said they will create a “Nielsen Twitter TV Rating” for the United States. The new rating will complement existing Nielsen TV ratings, they said. “Combining the instant feedback of Twitter with Nielsen ratings will benefit us, program producers and our advertising partners,” said Peter Rice, Fox Networks Group chairman, in a press release.
Radio broadcasters backed a petition by Entercom to allow stations to post rules on their websites for contests conducted on the air. Existing rules, which require “lengthy on air announcements is archaic, cumbersome and ineffective,” Emmis said in its comments (http://xrl.us/bn6wvx). Stations should be able to post such lengthy rules online and make periodic on-air mentions of the rules, directing listeners to the site where they can be found, Emmis said. State broadcaster associations representing radio stations in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico also backed the petition (http://xrl.us/bn6wvv).
Three Sirius XM executives exercised options and sold 1.9 million shares, according to SEC filings. Chief Financial Officer David Frear and General Counsel Patrick Donnelly each sold 553,750 shares, while board member Jack Shaw disposed of 838,833. More than 30 million Sirius XM shares have been sold since the end of Q3 in September. With Liberty Media awaiting FCC approval to take control of Sirius, executives and board members of the satellite-radio company have exercised more than 170 million options and sold shares. Since the start of the year, Liberty Media has bought 650 million shares of Sirius XM. Liberty owns 49.76 percent of Sirius XM. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin, who is leaving the company Feb. 1, has 30 million options vesting on Dec. 31 at an exercise price of 43 cents.