The House approved legislation Friday to require the U.S. Trade Representative to report annually on Russian discrimination against U.S. digital trade. The Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal Act (HR-6156) passed on a 365-43 vote. The legislation also includes a provision to spur the Russian Federation to provide better protections for intellectual property rights. The vote was hailed by Computer & Communications Industry Association CEO Ed Black, who said it’s “encouraging to see signs that Congress is taking action to build in better provisions to discourage Internet censorship as part of our future trade relations."
The Rural Utilities Service unveiled a plan for spurring broadband installation in rural America. Amended Community Connect Grant Program details were published in the Federal Register Friday (http://xrl.us/bnz2pt), which said they were designed to “provide flexibility to address the dynamic broadband needs of rural Americans and enhance the Agency’s ability to target funds to areas where they are needed the most.” The item describes eligibility and reporting requirements as well as many details of the opportunities available. Priority now goes to broadband projects “in areas of greatest need,” RUS said in a Friday release (http://xrl.us/bnz2pr). The new streamlined process takes into account factors such as broadband speed and services to people with disabilities and allows for more flexible matching of funds, RUS said. Comments are due Jan. 15, according to the Federal Register.
Qualcomm Technologies said Friday it bought the assets of EPOS Development. Israel-based EPOS develops low-cost digital ultrasound positioning technologies that are used in input systems like pen/stylus and gesture recognition. “Ultrasound technology provides device manufacturers a low-cost approach for integrating pen and stylus-based user interfaces into their products while gaining the benefit of a slew of new capabilities,” EPOS CEO Oded Turbahn said in a Qualcomm news release. “Relative to other pen and stylus input solutions, the additional bill of material cost for the device is minimal as the technology does not require changes to the device’s screen and is independent of screen size,” he said. Qualcomm said it will incorporate EPOS’s assets into its Snapdragon processor, which is used in many Android and Windows Phone-capable mobile devices. The addition of those assets will “further strengthen and differentiate [Snapdragon], allowing unique and powerful next-generation user experiences for smartphones, tablets and e-readers,” Qualcomm said (http://xrl.us/bnz2ow).
The FCC Wireless Bureau extended the deadline for comments in its wireless microphone proceeding, said an order released Friday (http://xrl.us/bnz2n9). Earlier in the month, a group of parties in the proceeding, including Shure, Audio-Technica, ESPN, the National Football League, Lectrosonics and others had asked for additional time because some of the issues raised in the proceeding are related to those in the incentive spectrum auction notice of proposed rulemaking (http://xrl.us/bnz2o4). “This extension of time ... will enable parties to fully evaluate and take into account in their comments any related issues in the incentive auctions proceeding that may affect wireless microphones,” the bureau order said. The new deadline for comments is Dec. 21. Replies are due Feb. 19.
Governments need to engage with a broad range of stakeholders from across industry and civil society to ensure all voices are heard at the World Conference on International Telecommunications next month, said Hamadoun Toure, the ITU secretary general, in a press release (http://xrl.us/bnz2qj). It said conference proposals address: (1) ways to spur the global rollout of broadband with an increased focus on energy efficiency and cutting e-waste; (2) initiatives to further spur accessibility of technology to persons with disabilities; (3) support for continuing investment in networks, services and applications; (4) strategies to address the high cost of mobile roaming and taxation of international telecommunications services, and; (5) the need for a harmonious and conducive international environment that drives future innovation. Tunisia has proposed including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the release said. “This proposal is supported by many,” it said.
Dan Lungren, R-Calif., lost his seat to Ami Bera, a Democratic physician, Lungren’s spokesman confirmed last week. The House Cybersecurity Subcommittee chairman lost by less than 4,000 votes, in a race that pitted the four-term incumbent against a well-funded challenger in a recently redistricted region. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee Lungren was a strong technology advocate who was not shy about criticizing the Stop Online Piracy Act because he said it was undermining of other legislative efforts to secure the Web. During the spring “cyberweek” markups, House Republican leaders steamrolled Lungren’s PRECISE Act (HR-3674), which aimed to create baseline cybersecurity guidelines for owners and operators of critical infrastructure.
DirecTV began carrying Time Warner Cable’s Los Angeles regional sports networks Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes Thursday, the companies said. “We appreciate our customers’ patience and are happy to have arrived at an outcome that benefits everyone involved,” DirecTV Chief Content Officer Dan York said.
Three Democrats on the House Commerce Committee called Verizon’s argument to overturn the FCC’s open Internet order based on the company’s First Amendment rights “troubling.” Their comments came in a “Dear Colleague” letter sent Friday (http://xrl.us/bnz2o8). Verizon’s challenge before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Verizon vs. FCC argues, in part, that the company has a First Amendment right to decide what it transmits online, and that right trumps the commission’s December 2010 net neutrality order. But such an argument would have sweeping implications on Congress’s ability to govern telecom policy, said Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. “Although this First Amendment issue is being raised by Verizon in the context of the Open Internet Order, there is no apparent limit to the company’s claim,” the letter said. “If the court accepts Verizon’s argument, the role of Congress in enacting communications policy through power granted by the Commerce Clause -- including efforts to protect consumers and promote competition in contexts far removed from the Open Internet rules themselves -- could be radically undermined.” The letter also pointed to an amicus brief recently filed with the court by a collection of academics, engineers, regulators and former FCC officials who slammed Verizon’s argument as incorrect and startling (CD Nov 16 p7). A Verizon spokesman said the company’s filing “makes clear that we remain concerned that the FCC’s sweeping assertion in this case exceeds its statutory authority and constitutional limits.” An amicus brief signed by 25 investors supports the FCC in its case against Verizon at the D.C. Circuit. They praise the “freedom and openness” of the Internet and credit the 2010 net neutrality order with upholding that. The order’s opponents are “wrong” in insisting the Internet isn’t broken, they said in the Thursday brief, saying the Internet is now “threatened in unprecedented ways, because of structural changes in the way the Internet is being offered to consumers.” Internet providers are pushed to interfere with content and would discriminate against applications without net neutrality rules, they said. Accordingly, investors and venture capitalists would be less likely to “put money behind new technologies,” the brief argued. A Verizon spokesman declining to comment specifically on the brief Friday, saying the company is reviewing it.
TDS Telecom agreed to voluntarily pay $350,000 as part of an FCC consent decree that ends an investigation into whether the company violated FCC rules on customer proprietary network information (CPNI), the commission said Friday. TDS notified the FCC in February 2011 about failures in the company’s CPNI opt-out mechanism, noting that when it began replacing its manual process for delivering welcome packets to subscribers with an automated one, it failed to provide the packets to some subscribers. TDS estimated about 41,660 residential customers did not receive the packets, which contained notifications about the CPNI opt-out, between January 2008 and February 2011, the FCC said. The company believed it may have used the CPNI of 30,254 subscribers without their authorization, the FCC said. TDS also told the FCC that while its CPNI opt-out interactive voice response system functioned properly, its method of incorporating requests into the company’s records database did not. TDS also reported that some subscriber opt-out requests it had previously received were not “properly maintained” in the database, the FCC said. In addition to the payment into the U.S. Treasury, TDS agreed to implement procedures to ensure CPNI compliance. The company also agreed to test those procedures and file compliance reports with the FCC (http://xrl.us/bnz2f6).
The FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking comment on an LL License Holdings request for a one-year extension to meet its tribal lands construction requirements on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota and the Santee Sioux Reservation in Nebraska. The FCC gave LL $890,500 in May 2009 through its Tribal Land Bidding Credit (TLBC) program toward LL’s purchase of lower 700 MHz A-block licenses for BEA 115 and BEA 116. That TLBC funding equaled 50 percent of LL’s gross bid for the two licenses, the FCC said. In order to receive that funding, LL agreed to build and operate “a system capable of serving [75] percent of the population of the qualifying tribal land ... for which the credit was awarded.” LL filed its extension request May 11, about a month prior to its June 13 tribal lands construction deadline, citing “current unavailability of LTE equipment and devices for use in connection with licenses in the Lower 700 MHz Band A Block stemming from a lack of interoperability with operations in the Lower 700 MHz B and C Blocks.” The FCC said Friday it set a Dec. 16 deadline for comments on the request, with a Dec. 31 deadline for submission of replies to those comments (http://xrl.us/bnzz9o).