A U.K. government plan to ramp up communications traffic data collection and storage for police and security services sparked concern from ISPs and privacy advocates Thursday. The draft Communications Bill aims to make it easier for law enforcement agencies to access data from new technologies, Home Secretary Theresa May said in a foreword. “Without action there is a serious and growing risk that crime enabled by email and the internet will go undetected and unpunished.” The measure doesn’t require retention of message content, the draft said. Communications services providers are currently required to store some communications data which they have business reasons to generate or process, it said. They don’t have to keep data they don’t need, it said. The police and other public authorities can access specified communications data on a case-by-case basis, and they must first show that the information is necessary to their investigation and proportionate to its objectives, it said. Law enforcement bodies can’t access data that’s not connected to a specific operation, it said. As communications technologies and services change, and more take place online via a wider range of service, including VoIP, online gaming and instant messaging, ISPs and other providers must be required to obtain and store some traffic data they have no reason to collect, it said. The draft calls for “filtering” that data when authorized in response to a lawful data request from a public authority, although it also says that only those parts of the netted data covered by the authorization can be handed over. May said she recognizes “that these proposals raise important issues around personal privacy,” so the bill will undergo pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint parliamentary committee. The Internet Services Providers’ Association “has concerns about the new powers to require network operators to capture and retain third party communications data,” said ISPA Secretary General Nicholas Lansman. Those concerns include scope and proportionality, privacy and data protection implications and technical feasibility, he said. ISPs understand that the technological developments are forcing the government to revisit its communications data capabilities, but its powers must be clear and contain sufficient safeguards, he said. ISPA will try to address its key concerns during the parliamentary review, he said. The measure is almost identical to a 2009 proposal from the Labour Party which was strongly opposed by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, Privacy International Press Officer Emma Draper told us. The public outcry in April when the story of the plan first broke “has clearly not discouraged the Home Office,” which has “thrown us the bone of restricting access for local authorities and confirmed our worst fears in every other respect,” she said after a briefing with Open Rights Group and Big Brother Watch. One member of Parliament at the briefing said he didn’t think the measure in its current form could even be put before the House of Commons, she said. There’s a distinct possibility that the government has “deliberately designed a completely outrageous draft bill” to allow it to make token concessions later, while keeping every provision it really cares about, Draper said.
"It would be dangerous to the public, and harmful to communities, to attempt to develop federal rules that prevented localities from fully considering the impact of installations, or modifications to installations in the right-of-way,” the city of Lafayette, Calif., told the FCC. The city submitted a video to the commission showing problems it encountered with modifications to a cell site by AT&T. “Modifications to existing wireless facilities --particularly facilities in the rights of way -- can raise significant issues, and the industry cannot be relied upon to address those issues itself,” the city said in an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bnbr4w). The city description of the video said “the result was a new structure that significantly altered the appearance of the neighborhood, and which the video states created safety hazards.”
The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee scheduled its next meeting July 24. CSMAC, which is examining spectrum sharing between carriers and federal agencies, will meet at the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, Boulder, Colo., from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., MDT (http://xrl.us/bnbr2q).
The FCC Wireless Bureau rejected a request by Icom that the FCC find that a 250 millisecond data burst from a control channel idle message does not constitute “harmful interference” for trunking systems in the 150-512 MHz bands. The FCC sought comment last year. The Telecommunications Industry Association expressed general support while Motorola Solutions and the Land Mobile Communications Council expressed general concerns (CD Nov 29 p14). Icom argued that the short bursts “would be barely discernible white noise” and not an interference threat. “In light of our discretion as to whether or when to address requests for clarification or declaratory ruling, we decline to issue a blanket response on the definition of harmful interference,” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bnbrzr). “Instead, the determination of harmful interference shall continue to require a case-by-case analysis of each specific situation.”
The Social Security Administration (SSA) gave CenturyLink a $233 million five-year order under the General Services Administration’s Networx Universal contract. CenturyLink will provide the SSA’s primary data, video and voice services network infrastructure to data centers, remote operations communications centers and global field office locations. CenturyLink previously provided audio and video conferencing services for the SSA.
The FCC appears more likely than not to allow non-public safety use of the 4.9 GHz band, the agency indicated in a further note of proposed rulemaking (http://xrl.us/bnbrv7). At the FCC’s meeting Wednesday, commissioners complained that public safety has made almost no use of the band to date (CD June 14 p2). “While we believe that all primary uses of the 4.9 GHz band should remain limited to operations in support of public safety ... we tentatively conclude that expanding eligibility for commercial use on a secondary basis would benefit and reduce regulatory burdens on non-public safety entities by removing a barrier to entry to use the 4.9 GHz band,” the FCC said. The notice observes the proximity of the band to the 5 GHz band, already widely used by unlicensed Wi-Fi networks. “We seek comment on whether expanding eligibility might improve the availability, variety, and economics of equipment that uses the band, to the benefit of public safety operations,” the notice said. “Should the Commission open eligibility to commercial users on a secondary or other noninterfering basis subject to a shutdown feature to enable priority access by public safety entities?” The notice asks if business should be allowed to use the band possibly “based upon dynamic access control using a database similar to the TV White Spaces database.” The FCC also asks whether critical infrastructure industry entities, including utilities, “should be eligible to hold 4.9 GHz licenses on a primary basis, thus removing the requirement for a sharing agreement” with public safety. The FCC also asks for hard data on the relative costs and benefits of requiring greater coordination in the band. “Although quantifying the benefits of coordination to primary users and the added costs imposed on applicants may be difficult, we believe it is important to determine whether adopting a coordination procedure will significantly benefit the public,” the FCC said. “Are there interference issues today that cannot be resolved by the requirements of this rule? How would the 4.9 GHz license environment look if the Commission does not alter 4.9 GHz coordination requirements? ... Are there non-regulatory alternatives to new coordination procedures?"
Low-cost backhaul is crucial to the success of small-cell networks, which are likely to see increased deployment as U.S. carriers build out LTE in urban areas, said a new report by consulting firm Senza Fili. “Backhaul for small cells requires more than just re-purposing existing backhaul solutions,” said Monica Paolini, the report’s author. “This is a new market for backhaul vendors -- a big opportunity but also a big challenge as they strive to meet a very different set of requirements from what they are used to in the macro-cellular environment.” Fiber will be important, the report said. “At a $2,500/year lease price [per link], fiber becomes more cost-effective than wireless. But in most markets lease prices are higher than this, and wireless backhaul is expected to be prevalent."
The Federal Aviation Administration released a report making a number of recommendations on changes to how communications towers are lighted, in an effort to curb bird deaths (http://xrl.us/bnbo6c). Among its recommendations is a proposal to omit or flash steady-burning red lights from several obstruction lighting configurations. The report said LED and other types of “rapid discharge” lights offer a signal more likely to get attention than incandescent light fixtures. “Past research has comprehensively documented the phenomenon of migrating birds confusing certain nighttime tower lighting with stars,” said Darin Schroeder, vice president for conservation advocacy at the American Bird Conservancy. “The birds become trapped in a corridor or cone of light and either collide with the structure or circle repeatedly until they drop exhausted to the ground, where they then become easy targets for predators. This new FAA study offers a solution to reduce that mortality, and as such, provides a major step forward for the conservation of our declining songbirds."
Communications Workers of America held a rally at the FCC as expected (CD June 13 p10) Wednesday to press for conditions as part of any orders approving Verizon Wireless’s buy of spectrum licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox. CWA has been most concerned about the marketing deals also agreed to by Verizon and the cable operators. “Companies like Verizon, Cox, and Comcast that have enjoyed monopoly arrangements in Virginia and elsewhere for many years have turned their backs on their employees and this impacts the service we provide customers,” said Richard Hatch, president of CWA local 2201 in Richmond, Va. “Verizon has cut more than 1,800 wireline jobs of frontline workers in Virginia so far this year. If this deal goes through, and Verizon’s subsidiary Verizon Wireless sells Cox and Comcast service, we'll see even more job cuts."
The FCC should not favor carriers who seek special treatment via direct access to numbers “without the related obligations,” the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners told Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, in an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bnbo3b). Waiver petitions should be handled in the context of a separate rulemaking and all service providers should “comply with numbering utilization and optimization requirements,” NARUC said.