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A widely used system for controlling electricity, heating and other systems inside buildings remains vulnerable to attacks over the Internet, despite warnings from U.S. officials, researchers said. The Niagara control system from Honeywell International Inc's Tridium division are configured to connect to the Internet by default, even though that is not necessary for them to function, two researchers from security firm CyLance said at a security conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Researchers warn of cyber flaws in Honeywell control systems
The report summarizes the Federal Communications Commission’s FY 2012 progress in fulfilling its strategic goals and meeting its performance commitments in the Commission’s FY 2012 Annual Performance Plan. The FCC’s FY 2012 Annual Performance Plan was issued in February of 2011 as part of the FCC’s FY 2012 budget submission to Congress.
Some of the Commission’s key actions over the past year include:
- Unleashing Spectrum for Broadband
- Connect America and Lifeline Reform
- Promoting Competition
- Empowering Consumers and Protecting Public Safety
- Agency and Regulatory Reform
FCC’s Annual Performance Report
Former Federal Communications Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate has compiled a list of some of the reforms that should be considered and implemented by the Commission (or, where necessary, by Congress).
- Allow FCC commissioners FCC to meet and work in a more collaborative manner.
- Sunset every rule or regulation unless and until the FCC affirmatively takes action to continue the rule.
- Allow the FCC to produce a single consolidated marketplace competition report, given the current era of convergence and competition.
- The FCC should exercise its forbearance and waiver authority to permit trials and experiments to test the transition to next-generation services.
- FCC dockets should be assigned a specific time period within which the relevant FCC bureau would be required to review the item and the full Commission would be required to act.
- Certain categories of issues could be combined into "rocket dockets” in order to enable parties to request expedited treatment.
- Employ a Mediation/Conflict Resolution Process
- In order to ensure truly “productive” biennial reviews that eliminate costly regulations that are no longer necessary, the FCC should undertake a comprehensive look at the compiled reports, bring pressing issues to a vote, and submit rulemaking notices addressing those issues in order to ensure that unnecessary regulations are repealed in a timely manner.
Reforming the FCC's Processes for Digital Age Effectiveness and Efficiency
Spectrum Management Advisory Committee
Department of Commerce
February 21, 2013
9:00 a.m.to 12:00 p.m., Pacific Standard Time
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/federal-register-notice/2013/csmac-notice-open-m...
The Committee will receive reports from designated committee members on the recommendations of working groups (WGs) which were established to facilitate collaboration efforts between industry and government stakeholders to develop proposed relocation, transition, and sharing arrangements and plans for the 1695—1710 MHz and the 1755—1850 MHz bands:
1. WG1 1695-1710 MHz Weather Satellite Receive Earth Stations,
2. WG2 1755-1850 MHz Law Enforcement Surveillance and other short-range fixed,
3. WG3 1755-1850 MHz Satellite Control Links and Electronic Warfare,
4. WG4 1755-1850 MHz Fixed Point-to-Point and Tactical Radio Relay, and
5. WG5 1755-1850 MHz Airborne Operations.
[Commentary] Susan Crawford is a leading telecommunications policy expert and longtime champion of net neutrality. She promotes a reasonably priced, globally competitive, ubiquitous communications infrastructure that enables American competition and innovation. Above all, she is committed to making high-speed Internet access a universal, affordable resource.
In her new book, “Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age,” Crawford relays how, 10 years ago, the United States led the Internet revolution, with the fastest speeds and bargain prices. Today that global competitive advantage has all but vanished. The government’s refusal to adequately regulate telecommunications has resulted in restrictive monopolies that have allowed countries such as Japan and South Korea to surpass us in broadband speed and price. This steady slide backward not only deprives consumers of services vital to a competitive employment and business market, it also threatens the economic future of the nation. Meanwhile, despite huge technological progress, nobody is building the advanced networks that are now possible. Where has the Federal Communications Commission been in all of this? Conspicuously absent. The current chairman, Julius Genachowski, has generally continued the corporate-friendly practices of his predecessors. So here’s a modest proposal: Make Susan Crawford the next FCC chair.
Susan Crawford for FCC chairman
Champaign city officials say Gigabit Squared has renewed its interest in expanding a high-speed, fiber-optic network throughout Champaign-Urbana months after its "competition" for which more than 500 people committed nearly $400,000.
After this summer's competition, city officials said Gigabit Squared fell somewhat silent on the proposal. Now talks are in motion, and a city council vote tonight could move them further along. The council is set to vote on a contract to pay a consultant $100,000 to assist with firming up the details of the multimillion dollar expansion of the Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband network. If the council approves the contract during its meeting at 7 p.m. in the Champaign City Building at 102 N. Neil St., that consultant would negotiate with and select a preferred business partner from among four who have expressed interest in expanding the network. One of those four is Gigabit Squared.
Gigabit Squared renews interest in Champaign-Urbana
A Google spokeswoman says the company “expects to operate profitably” and that Google Fiber is neither a loss leader nor a PR stunt. If that’s true, then why isn’t it being made available everywhere?
The answer is that there are no compelling business incentives for the established players, says Blair Levin, a former U.S. Federal Communications Commission chief of staff, who helped write the National Broadband Plan and is now executive director of Gig.U, a consortium of universities trying to deploy very fast networks in local neighborhoods. In parts of the country, slower-speed copper, fast-download cable, and a few fiber networks are already built out. The cable distribution giants like Time Warner Cable and Comcast are already making a 97 percent margin on their “almost comically profitable” Internet services, according to Craig Moffet, an analyst at the Wall Street firm Bernstein Research. As Levin points out, “If you are making that kind of margin, it’s hard to improve it.” And most Americans have no choice but to deal with their local cable company.
When Will the Rest of Us Get Google Fiber?
The Federal Communications Commission is in the process of conducting its comprehensive 2012 biennial review of telecommunications regulations pursuant to Section 11 of the Communications Act of 1934. This section requires the FCC to (1) review biennially its regulations “that apply to the operations or activities of any provider of telecommunications service,” and (2) “determine whether any such regulation is no longer necessary in the public interest as the result of meaningful economic competition between providers of such service.” Section 11 directs the FCC to repeal or modify any regulation that it finds are no longer in the public interest. Comments due March 6, 2013; reply comments are due April 5, 2013.
FCC Seeks Public Comment in 2012 Biennial Review of Telecommunications Regulations
[Commentary] Last year the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution directing the U.S. delegation in Dubai to support the multi-stakeholder model and express the United States’ unwavering support of Internet freedom. This resolution takes the radical position that if the most revolutionary advance in technology, commerce and social discourse of the last century isn’t broken, we shouldn’t be trying to “fix” it. This Congress, I will offer a bill to make this the policy of the United States. By refusing to sign a treaty that would curtail Internet freedom, we stood up to those nations that would shackle the Internet for their own purposes. We should now commit this resolve to law and affirm the United States unambiguous commitment to a global Internet free from government regulation.
Keeping the Internet free from government shackles
As the possibility of destructive cyberwarfare inches towards reality, the government is scrambling to figure out who holds the keys to America's malware arsenal. Obviously, it's President Barack Obama.
The New York Times just published the findings of an investigation into a secret legal review that set out to determine who actually had the power to order a cyberattack. Given his status as commander-in-chief, Obama seems to be the clear choice, but since cyberwarfare is such a new and unknown thing, the government hasn't actually figured out the rules of engagement yet. In the past couple of decades, the power to use America's cyberweapons has been shared between the Pentagon and the various intelligence agencies. With the exception of a series of strikes on the computer systems that run Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities — an attack that Obama ordered himself — the U.S. hasn't launched any major cyberattacks in recent memory, however. This probably won't be the case in the future. So the government is working on new rules of engagement, as it realizes that the capabilities of cyber weapons are evolving at a startling rate.
Obama Is Now America's Hacker in Chief