November 2010

House bill would give DHS authority over private sector networks

A new bill unveiled by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) would give the Department of Homeland Security the authority to enforce federal cybersecurity standards on private sector companies deemed critical to national security.

The Homeland Security Cyber and Physical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2010 authorizes DHS to establish and enforce risk and performance-based cybersecurity standards on federal agencies and private sector companies consider part of the country's critical infrastructure. Such firms include utilities, communications providers and financial institutions. The legislation is co-sponsored by Reps. Jane Harman (D-CA) and Yvette Clark (D-NY). It will also create a new Cybersecurity Compliance Division within DHS that would make sure organizations comply with the new security regulations. The lawmakers argue DHS has not had sufficient authority or resources to fulfill its mission as the lead federal agency for cyversecurity. The bill does not include any provision for a cybersecurity office within the White House. Instead it concentrates authority to prevent and respond to cyber attacks within DHS, where it would be subject to Congressional oversight.

CBO Scores Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act

The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (S. 3480) would amend the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) to strengthen and coordinate security controls over computer information systems across federal civilian agencies. In addition, the legislation would aim to increase the security of privately owned computer networks for online communication and prevent intentional disruptions of such networks. S. 3480 would establish new offices, require additional testing of computer systems, and provide federal agencies with new authorities and responsibilities related to information security.

Based on information from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and other major agencies involved in cybersecurity, CBO estimates that implementing S. 3480 would cost $1.5 billion over the 2011-2015 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Most of those funds would be spent on salaries, expenses, and computer hardware and software.

The bill would, under certain circumstances, indemnify owners of critical infrastructure who implement emergency-response plans required by the federal government. CBO estimates that this authority would increase direct spending by $10 million over the 2011-2020 period to pay claims against the U.S. government; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting the legislation would not affect revenues. S. 3480 would impose intergovernmental and private-sector mandates, as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA), on owners and operators of information systems designated as critical infrastructure by DHS. Owners and operators of such systems would have to comply with new security standards and procedures. The bill also would impose a mandate by limiting the damages that users of critical infrastructure can seek from owners and operators of such systems for incidents related to cyber risks.

State Utility Regulators Want Broadband Oversight Funding

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners approved a resolution urging Congress to provide two key agencies with the funding they need to oversee two grants programs aimed at helping to spur broadband access and adoption.

At its annual meeting in Atlanta, NARUC adopted two telecommunications resolutions. The first calls on Congress to provide the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service with the funding they need after the continuing resolution passed by Congress expires on Dec. 3 to provide adequate oversight of the programs used to distribute broadband funding from the 2009 economic stimulus package. The group said the funding could be allocated by adding a provision to the next continuing resolution Congress passes to provide both agencies with broadband oversight funds or by passing the fiscal year 2011 spending bills that fund the agencies. The group also approved a resolution urging the Federal Communications Commission to crack down on "traffic pumping" by some telecommunications firms. It involves charging excessive access fees to complete calls by driving up call volumes by working with high-traffic Web sites that may offer conference calling services or adult chat lines.

Five Museums and Five Libraries to Receive Nation's Highest Honor

The Institute of Museum and Library Service (IMLS) has selected five museums and five libraries to receive the 2010 National Medal for Museum and Library Service.

The National Medal is the nation's highest honor for museums and libraries that make extraordinary civic, educational, economic, environmental, and social contributions.

Winners of the 2010 National Medal for Museum and Library Service are:

Conner Prairie Interactive History Park, Fishers, IN
Explora, Albuquerque, NM
Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
Nashville Public Library, Nashville, TN
The New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY
Patchogue-Medford Library, Patchogue, NY
Peter White Public Library, Marquette, MI
Rangeview Library District and Anythink Libraries, Adams County, CO
West Bloomfield Township Public Library, West Bloomfield Township, MI

In addition to the National Medal, which will be awarded in an upcoming Washington, D.C. ceremony, each institution receives a $10,000 award and visit from StoryCorps. The winners of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service are selected each year by the Director of IMLS, following an open nomination process and based on the recommendations of the National Museum and Library Services Board.

BBC says it can counter web-throttling by ISPs

The BBC has issued a veiled threat to Internet service providers not to degrade the quality of its iPlayer service, following a clear signal from the government that it will give network owners more leeway to favour some online services over others.

Speaking at a Financial Times conference, Erik Huggers, BBC director of future media and technology, said his team was developing software that would warn broadband users if their ISP was degrading the quality of their iPlayer using a red, amber and green system. He said the system would be rolled out only if it became necessary to allow "consumers to see that their ISP is behaving appropriately". He said it was "highly unlikely" the BBC would agree to pay more to ISPs to guarantee the quality of its video service. The prominence of its services would give the BBC sufficient influence to keep ISPs in line, he said, though companies offering weaker online services would have to rely on vaguer assurances from the government designed to prevent discrimination.

Lebanon not up to telecoms speed

Mobile phone shops in Lebanon are crammed with handset and BlackBerry cases in a dazzling variety of colors and textures. In contrast with the range of accessories on offer, however, customers can only opt for one of two service providers. Both Alfa and MTC Touch, the country's mobile phone operators, are controlled by the state, and both charge some of the highest tariffs in the region for what are widely viewed as under-developed services.

Lebanon was among the first Arab countries to introduce Internet and mobile phone services in the mid-1990s. Since then however, in spite of undertakings to liberalize the sector, the state has continued to monopolize telephony and dominate Internet service provision. MTC Touch and Alfa are operated for the government under management contracts by Zain of Kuwait and Orascom of Egypt, respectively. Now Lebanon is ranked below the regional average in a 2010 survey of connectivity in the Arab world by the Arab Advisors Group, a research and consultancy specializing in media markets, trailing not only the Gulf countries but also Libya and Algeria. According to the Lebanese Broadband Stakeholders Group, a coalition of professional bodies, companies and non-governmental organizations lobbying for faster Internet access, the maximum connection speed available in Lebanon is currently only about 1 megabit per second. Businesses need at least 100Mbit/s in order to obtain the full benefits of voice-over Internet, video-conferencing and data-sharing programmes their competitors are using, according to the group.

FCC Chief Sees Clouds Darkening Broadband Skies

What keeps a man like Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski up at night? Try 40th out of 40. That's the US ranking in broadband improvements from 1999-2009 according to a study last year by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation.

The bottom line is Genachowski is worried that the US is not keeping pace with global broadband competition and is in danger of losing its competitive advantage. In an interview at the Web 2.0 Summit, Chairman Genachowski apparently rehashed a speech he gave on Monday and cited the move by Applied Materials to relocate its CTO Mark Pinto to Beijing, something he chalked up to America's technology challenges. "The question we have to ask ourselves is how long before another company moves their CTO away before we fix this," he said at the Web 2.0 Summit. Chairman Genachowski said the U.S. is struggling to contend with some of the forward-looking policies and progress of the 20th century, which are making it harder to push ahead with broadband in the 21st century. He flogged the need for spectrum and reiterated the need to take some of the spectrum set aside for the television industry and move it over to serve the needs of mobile broadband, a process the FCC is working on with broadcasters. The dependence on copper for voice and DSL has also hampered the growth of broadband, which he said requires "fatter pipes."

Chairman Genachowski also blamed Google and Verizon for slowing down the process of agreeing on network neutrality rules. "I would've preferred if they didn't do exactly what they did when they did it." "It had the effect of slowing down some other processes," he said, noting that the FCC's own efforts were making progress. He confirmed that the contentious rules are still on the way. "That'll happen," Chairman Genachowski said of creating network neutrality rules, which would constrain how phone and cable companies manage Internet traffic on their networks. Chairman Genachowski also touted network neutrality regulations as one of the most important policies the country can adopt to improve its broadband deployment efforts, which he described as lagging behind other countries.

On Nov 15, Google CEO Eric Schmidt made his own assessment of the issue: "We spent a lot of time with the FCC. Indeed, the FCC was in a series of meetings with them that I was in." What he had wrought was not what he intended to reap. "Unfortunately, election fever took over,. Nothing will happen until January-February, or a while longer. All we were trying to do was move the ball a little bit forward."

Network Neutrality Groups Push for FCC Action to Buck GOP Tide

With the patience of his natural allies wearing thin, and a hostile new Congress taking over in January, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is under intense pressure to make good on his and President Obama's pledge to force fairness rules on the nation's Internet service providers.

But to do so, Chairman Genachowski will have to buck a Republican-controlled House and unilaterally move to undo Bush-era deregulation. He has few options in order to restore and extend so-called network neutrality -- the principle that Internet providers shouldn't pick favorites on the web, control what software people use, or discriminate against rival content. The network neutrality debate has become a flash point for the broader discussion about how the Internet will be regulated and how services like web phone calls and streaming video will be treated.

Public interest groups are cautiously hopeful that Genachowski will act before the new Congress is seated, at which time the environment for the FCC and net neutrality advocates will become much more difficult. But network neutrality isn't even on the agenda for November -- the FCC meets once a month. That means the agency has one shot, the December meeting, to make it so. The agenda for December should be public by Nov. 24. That's cutting it very close, but interest groups that want the FCC to assert itself aren't giving up hope -- at least not publicly.

FCC's Baker says agency should pick its battles

Federal Communications Commission member Meredith Baker reiterated her opposition to a controversial proposal to increase the FCC's power, suggesting the FCC needs to be more "judicious" in picking its battles.

Commissioner Baker, a Republican, panned the proposal from Democratic FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to place broadband Internet service under "Title II" rules, which are stricter than the current framework. "More judicious self-selection of the issues and proceedings we tackle would help us become a more predictable agency that fosters greater legal certainty, which can translate into private sector investment and jobs," she said. "The Title II fight has underscored that this agency has limited authority and cannot create jurisdiction on its own," she said.

Wireless Firms Count On The Future Of The Internet

The Internet has been an economic bonanza for innovators and entrepreneurs. The world wide web allowed start-ups to thrive at the expense of established companies. But as the Internet age matures, there are concerns big business is trying to exert more control.

Benton

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