Satellite operators made numerous suggestions to the FCC for tweaks to its proposed set of updates to Part 2 and Part 25 rules to accommodate the boom in non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellation plans (see 1612150066). More harmonization of FCC rules with the ITU was espoused in comments posted Tuesday in docket 16-408, as were different milestone requirements.
Latest Harmonized System updates
Gracenote standardizing the ID structure of its music, sports and video databases is a big step toward the company’s goal of physically linking the trio to create a database, Simon Adams, general manager-video, told us. Gracenote, which Nielsen bought in December for $560 million (see 1612200022), set out three years ago to become a single-source provider of entertainment across its three core verticals, said a spokeswoman. “We’re in the first phase of single-point access of this phase with the persistent IDs.”
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is still drafting 911 legislation, which could carry out FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's next-generation 911 legislative goals. Nelson first mentioned he would craft a bill on the topic during a September FCC oversight hearing, promising an introduction “in the near future” but without any movement in the months that followed. Lawmakers adjourned earlier this month, but Nelson didn’t forget his pledge.
The FCC isn't expected to move on the next allocation of high-frequency spectrum for 5G with quite the same speed it authorized the first bands. The FCC approved an order in July (see 1607140052) allocating the first millimeter wave bands for 5G. As part of that order, the agency also asked about 24.25-24.45 GHz and 24.75-25.25 GHz, 31.8-33.4 GHz, 42-42.5 GHz, 47.2-50.2 GHz, 50.4-52.6 GHz, 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz in a Further NPRM. Last week, the FCC got reply comments from an array of players (see 1611010044).
The Electronic Frontier Foundation raised concerns Tuesday about the Copyright Office’s final rule establishing a new online system for designating and searching for agents to receive copyright infringement claim notifications under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The CO said Monday it had completed development of the online designation system and planned to deploy it in December (see 1610310050). The final rule for the designation system could expose website owners “to massive risk of copyright liability simply for neglecting to submit an online form on time,” EFF Activist Elliot Harmon said in a blog post: “The rule could eliminate the safe harbor status that thousands of websites receive” under DMCA Section 512. To receive Section 512’s safe harbor protections, websites must designate agents to receive infringement claim notices. The final rule for the online designation system requires all website owners to re-register their agents by the end of 2017 and to renew their registration every three years, the CO said in a notice in Tuesday’s Federal Register. “When website owners inevitably forget to renew, copyright holders will be able to take advantage of that mistake to hold them liable for their users’ infringing activities,” Harmon said. “It will be trivial for abusive copyright holders to use the Copyright Office’s own system to compile lists of sites at risk.” The rule change will disproportionately affect small companies and nonprofits, “the same groups that are most poorly poised to fight copyright infringement suits,” Harmon said. He said the section "already imposes a long list of conditions on service providers, and we’ve seen many well-meaning service providers lose their status over technicalities. Requiring providers to commit to updating their registrations indefinitely is a step too far.”
Online service providers and platforms are focuses of proposed rules outlined Wednesday by the European Commission. In reform packages for telecom and copyright, part of the digital single market strategy, the EC said it wants service providers to monitor content uploaded by subscribers to ensure it's not copyright-protected, and proposed extending rules now applied only to traditional operators to internet companies offering equivalent services. The commission wants to grant "neighboring rights" to news publishers to help them monitor the use of and seek remuneration for works posted by aggregators and search engines. The measures aren't aimed solely at American companies, and will offer legal clarity to all internet players, said EC Digital Single Market Vice-President Andrus Ansip in a webcast media briefing.
LONDON -- There's a sense of movement toward the standards, networks and industry markets that will build 5G, but the picture is still fairly unclear, speakers said Tuesday at a Wireless World Research Forum 5G "huddle" on making the vision a reality. The definition of 5G is still fuzzy, and there are issues of making enough spectrum available, preferably on a globally harmonized basis, to drive deployment, they said. Broadcasting and automotive speakers said they see the point of 5G but still question where it's going.
A three-hour FCC oversight hearing before the House Communications Subcommittee Tuesday became tangled in questions of FCC process and how commissioners can discuss items pending at the commission. Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., helped trigger what became a fierce debate with his questioning. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., raised the same issues in the last week (see 1603210052).
NTIA and FCC still plan to release a plan identifying 500 megahertz for wireless broadband by year end, NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said Friday during a meeting of the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee. But Strickling said the target is no slam dunk.
Despite a continuing lack of consensus on a new safe harbor agreement, talks between the EU and U.S. are moving quickly, stakeholders said in interviews last week. Those involved are optimistic because there's momentum, said Linklaters (Brussels) privacy and data protection lawyer Tanguy Van Overstraeten. The EU Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (WP) said Oct. 16 if there's no new arrangement with the U.S. by the end of January, and depending on assessment of other data transfer tools, national data protection authorities (DPAs) would take all necessary and appropriate actions, including enforcement, to ensure personal data sent to the U.S. are protected (see 1510160030).