Wednesday, June 21, 2006

FCC Order: Updates Approach for Assessing Contributions to the Federal Universal Service Fund

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                   NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
June 21, 2006                                                              Mark Wigfield, 202-418-0253
                                                                                    Email: mark.wigfield@fcc.gov
 
 
FCC UPDATES APPROACH FOR ASSESSING CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FEDERAL UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND
Interim Modifications Reflect Changes in Technology, Competitive Environment
Washington, D.C. – Preserving and advancing universal service remains one of the core principles set forth by Congress in section 254 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.  Today, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) adopts two modifications to its approach for assessing contributions.
First, the Commission raises the existing wireless “safe harbor” percentage used to estimate interstate revenue from 28.5 percent to 37.1 percent of total end-user telecommunications revenue to better reflect growing demand for wireless services.  This interim wireless safe harbor was last updated in 2002.  Wireless carriers continue to retain the option to base contributions on their actual revenues or on traffic studies that estimate their actual interstate revenues. 
Second, the Commission expands the base of USF contributions by extending universal service contribution obligations to providers of interconnected voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, service.  For interconnected VoIP providers, the Commission establishes a safe harbor percentage of interstate revenue at 64.9 percent of total VoIP service revenue.  Interconnected VoIP providers also may calculate their interstate revenues based on their actual revenues or by using traffic studies.
The Commission also adopts a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on interim contribution obligations imposed in this Order.
The Commission’s measured interim steps will stabilize the contribution base for the Fund in the near-term and minimize the impact of any changes on consumers, Fund contributors, and Fund administration, while the Commission considers more fundamental reform of the contribution methodology. 
Action by the Commission, June 21, 2006, by Report and Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, (FCC 06-94).  Chairman Martin, Commissioners Tate and McDowell, with Commissioners Copps and Adelstein approving and concurring in part.  Separate statements issued by Chairman Martin, Commissioners Copps, Adelstein, Tate, and McDowell.
 
Docket Nos. 06-122, 04-36, 96-45, 98-171, 90-571, 92-237, 99-200, 95-116, 98-170.
 
Wireline Competition Bureau Staff Contact:  Amy Bender at 202-418-1469, amy.bender@fcc.gov.
           
-FCC-

6.21.6 :: Bruce for Free :: Will The Real Internet Stand Up? :: Net Neutrality ::

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CyberTelecom News
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Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong
government.
Alexander Hamilton

Broadband Scandal E-Book - Kushnick offers it free for
a week, Broadband Reports, 6/21/2006
Telco critic Bruce Kushnick is offering up his e-book,
"$200 Billion Broadband Scandal", for free over at his
website for one week. Bogus phone bill fees, botched
FCC data, sophisticated disinformation campaigns and a
history of undelivered promises; Kushnick tries to dig
into all of them while demanding an investigation into
why the United States isn't seeing higher quality
broadband deployment.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/75553
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/

Fee Vs. Free - Sacramento feels ad-driven Wi-Fi the
future, Broadband Reports, 6/21/2006
The Wall Street Journal explores how the city of
Sacramento backed out of a muni-wireless deal with
MobilePro Corp after the city got a glimpse of the
free citizen Wi-Fi deals in Portland and San
Francisco.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/75554
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/muni.htm

The End User: Neutrality? Yes and no, IHT, 6/21/2006
While U.S. Internet surfers are getting whipsawed by
the debate over "network neutrality," Europe is
getting recognition in many quarters for its, well,
neutral stance on the issue.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/21/business/ptend22.php
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

Network Neutrality V Internet Neutrality: Nonprofit
Group Draws Line, Internet Week, 6/21/2006
The debate in Congress over network neutrality should
be narrowed to focus specifically on the portion of
broadband networks dedicated to the Internet, a
prominent nonprofit public advocacy group said
Tuesday.
http://internetweek.cmp.com/189501119?cid=rssfeed_pl_inw
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

Net Neutrality Backers Pin Hopes on Senate Action,
Ecommerce Times, 6/21/2006
Less than two weeks after hopes were dashed that the
House of Representatives would include strong net
neutrality language in a telecom bill, backers of the
approach to ensure Web services companies unfettered
access to consumers across high-speed networks are
pinning their hopes on lawmakers in the U.S. Senate.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/51223.html
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

CDT Paper Calls For Focused Internet Neutrality
Legislation, CDT, 6/21/2006
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) today
called on lawmakers to enact narrowly tailored
legislation to preserve the essential neutrality and
openness of the Internet, while leaving broadband
network providers free to experiment with non-neutral
arrangements elsewhere on their networks.
http://www.cdt.org/headlines/903
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

Resolution from Cox and Authentium re Craigslist
Blocking, Craigslist, 6/21/2006
I just spent a lot of time talking to the folks at
both, and things look good; in brief, the problem
involves a genuine bug, but was made much worse by
lack of communication. It was not deliberate, just
communication issues that are pretty human. Here's the
short version of the story.
http://www.cnewmark.com/
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

ICANN needs to clamp down on domain name abuse, CNET,
6/21/2006
Attorney Doug Isenberg believes the current Whois
system and domain name abuses are bad enough; ICANN
shouldn't make them worse.
http://news.com.com/2010-1030_3-6084970.html?part=rss&tag=6084970&subj=news
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/icann.htm

Groups Call on Congress to Immediately Disable
Technology that Blocks E-Mails from Constituents, GT
News, 6/21/2006
Say logic puzzle computer program is real threat to
democratic principles
http://www.govtech.net/rss/news_rss.php?id=99939&ti=Groups+Call+on+Congress+to+Immediately+Disable+Technology+that+Blocks+E-Mails+from+Constituents
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/egov/

Verizon sues Vonage in Internet patent flap, IHT,
6/21/2006
Vonage, the Internet telephone startup, said that it
was being sued by Verizon Communications in a dispute
over the underlying technology that allows for
Internet telephone calls.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/20/business/vonage.php
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/vonage.htm

What is the internet?, Susan Crawford, 6/21/2006
For the engineers, particularly the Original
Engineers, the internet is a logical architecture that
allows us to connect virtually any kind of networking
machine together. That architecture can change
http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2006/6/20/2045138.html
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/internet.htm

China unblocks search engines of popular Chinese
portals, AFP, 6/21/2006
The search engines of two of China's most popular web
portals were back in operation Wednesday after they
were upgraded to censor Internet content more
effectively.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060621/tc_afp/chinainternet
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/intl/china.htm

Broadcast Flag Hidden in Telecom Bill, PK, 6/21/2006
If you’re saying, “Broadcast Flag? I thought we
defeated that?” You’re right! But we’ll have to do it
again. But we’ll have to do it now, as the bill is
being marked up THIS THURSDAY…
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/475
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/flag.htm

ABC Broadband Video a Success - 11 million downloads;
service will re-launch this fall, Broadband Reports,
6/21/2006
In May, Disney launched a two month trial website to
see if Internet downloads of some of ABC's top
properties, with ads included, would be popular. The
answer is yes, according to the company. Shows were
downloaded 11 million times the first month; in
contrast since October, Disney/ABC has sold more than
6 million downloads via iTunes (with shows priced at
$1.99 each). The website will be taken down June 30
and re-launched this fall.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/75561
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/media/ipv.htm

Internet2 and Level 3 Communications to Deploy Next
Generation Nationwide Research Network, Southwest
Nebraska News, 6/21/2006
Internet2 and Level 3 Communications, Inc. today
announced an agreement to develop and deploy a new
nationwide ...
http://www.swnebr.net/newspaper/cgi-bin/articles/articlearchiver.pl?158654
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/internet2.htm

MySpace to tighten rules to protect its younger users,
IHT, 6/21/2006
Starting next week, MySpace, the popular online
hangout, will make it harder for strangers to send
messages to younger teenagers.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/21/yourmoney/myspace.php
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/privacy/

Google, other tech giants call for law to protect
consumers, AFP, 6/21/2006
Fresh from a fight with US officials over the sanctity
of online search information, Google joined an
alliance of technology firms calling for federal
legislation protecting consumer privacy.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060620/tc_afp/usinternetgovernment
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/privacy/

OASIS Ratifies Data Exchange Standard, eWeek,
6/21/2006
The EDXL-DE standard is expected to facilitate data
exchange during national and international crises.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1979420,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/emergency.htm

Recommendations of the Independent Panel Reviewing the
Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Communications
Networks., FCC, 6/21/2006
In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Notice), we
initiate a comprehensive rulemaking
to address and implement the recommendations presented
by the Independent Panel Reviewing the
Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Communications Networks
(Independent Panel). Congress has charged
the Commission with promoting the safety of life and
property through the use of wire and radio
communications.1 In this regard, the Commission has
already taken a number of steps to fulfill this
mandate and we will continue to do so. The Independent
Panel’s report described the impact of the worst
natural disaster in the Nation’s history, as well as
the overall public and private response and recovery
efforts. Our goal in this proceeding is to take the
lessons learned from this disaster and build upon them
to promote more effective, efficient response and
recovery efforts, as well as heightened readiness and
preparedness, in the future. To accomplish this goal,
we invite comment on what actions the Commission
can take to address the Independent Panel’s
recommendations.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-83A1.pdf
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/reliability.htm

Microsoft confirms security flaw in Excel, MSNBC,
6/21/2006
A flaw in Microsoft Corp.'s Excel spreadsheet could
allow criminals to remotely control a computer, the
company confirmed Monday. In order to become
infected,the user must open a maliciously formatted
Excel document that is sent via e-mail or other means.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13447717/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/vulnerable.htm

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Friday, June 09, 2006

RFC :: NIST :: draft Special Publication (SP) 800-97, Guide to IEEE 802.11i: Robust Security Networks

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/drafts.html#sp800-97

NIST is pleased to announce the release of draft Special Publication (SP) 800-97, Guide to IEEE 802.11i: Robust Security Networks. SP 800-97 provides detailed information on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11i standard for wireless local area network (WLAN) security. IEEE 802.11i provides security enhancements over the previous 802.11 security method, Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), which has several well-documented security deficiencies. IEEE 802.11i introduces a range of new security features that are designed to overcome the shortcomings of WEP. This document explains these security features and provides specific recommendations to ensure the security of the WLAN operating environment. It gives extensive guidance on protecting the confidentiality and integrity of WLAN communications, authenticating users and devices using several methods, and incorporating WLAN security considerations into each phase of the WLAN life cycle. The document complements, and does not replace, NIST SP 800-48, Wireless Network Security: 802.11, Bluetooth and Handheld Devices.
 
NIST requests comments on NIST SP 800-97 by July 7, 2006. Please submit comments to 800-97comments@nist.gov with "Comments SP800-97/802.11i" in the subject line.


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