Wireless phone-makers and the GSM Assn. outlined steps this week to reduce mobile phone theft. The group and Alcatel, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic, Sagem, Siemens and Sony Ericsson laid out measures to enhance the integrity of handset identities -- the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). IMEI originally was introduced as a unique terminal identity so “non-type approved” wireless terminals could be prevented from connecting to GSM networks. The IMEI is now used to identify mobile station equipment in wireless networks to take steps against stolen equipment. In the latest steps, the wireless firms have agreed on handset security principles to provide guidance to handset manufacturers and give operators criteria for assessing handset security. The GSM Assn. said it expected handsets compliant with the new principles to be available in 18 months. The companies also agreed on a process to centralize the reporting of newly identified IMEI security weaknesses. “The effectiveness of Equipment Identity Registers currently in use to disable further use of phones once reported stolen, will be greatly improved,” the GSM Assn. said at the GSM World Congress in Cannes. The group launched an effort to extend the Central Equipment Identity Register, which is the international database of stolen phones. The group said GSM wireless operators could work jointly to prevent the reuse of stolen phones. The GSM Assn. said that prior to this agreement, the potential effectiveness of its database was hampered by security weaknesses in some handsets. These steps are part of an overall solution, said GSM Assn. CEO Rob Conway. “We would like to see a more comprehensive approach that includes additional government-led action, such as we have seen in the U.K.,” he said. O2 CEO Dave McGlade said U.K. operators had worked to bar the resale of 1.2 million handsets with a central registry of stolen phones.
Country of origin cases
DBS operators, broadcasters, cable operators and programmers probably will see a renewal of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA), House Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chmn. Smith (R-Tex.) said late Tues. at a SHVIA reauthorization hearing. While acknowledging the issues were more complex than expected, he said “there are some areas I think we can agree on. Inevitably, I think we are moving towards reauthorization, perhaps for 5 years, and we can talk about more of the details later on.”
The FCC should broaden its definition of “rural” for the Commission’s rural health care universal service support mechanism, according to several comments filed with the Commission. Some rural health care providers even argued that none of the definitions available could be applied to all rural areas and asked the FCC to adopt multiple methods of defining rural.
One reason satellite-fiber networks are so cost effective is there’s “so much fiber in the ground that’s not lit up,” said Bill McNamara, gen. mgr. of the BT Bcst. Services-Americas. In an interview, McNamara said the company was leveraging the hybrid networks in each area of business. Naming DTH, cable headends, occasional use and full time distribution as just a few, McNamara said “there’s no place we're not playing. Availability is the key.” Besides cost savings, McNamara said fiber makes some issues easier to deal with, such as providing return confidence feeds for international broadcasters. While a return confidence feed used to require a 2nd satellite, McNamara said, fiber takes its place. Disadvantages to fiber do exist, he cautioned, such as availability in more remote locations and the fact that fiber has an increased potential for failure due to the number of switches between origin and destination. Fiber can also experience a “fade” of signal, similar to rain fade for satellites, he said. But those issues are minor compared to the opportunity fiber has provided for program distributors, McNamara said: “The combination of satellite and fiber creates new possibilities for companies unable to come to the market before.”
Pressure is building to renew the moratorium on discriminatory Internet taxation, Sen. Alexander (R-Tenn.) said Mon. Rather than having language inserted in an omnibus bill “in the dead of night,” the Senate should focus on legislation he and Sen. Carper (D-Del.) introduced (S-2084) to extend the moratorium 2 years. Speaking at the National Governors’ Assn. meeting, he and Carper urged all governors to meet with their congressional delegations and discuss what impact a rival bill by Sens. Allen (R-Va.) and Wyden (D- Ore.), S-150, might have on their state tax revenues.
Plan A was to have Cox CEO Jim Robbins and ESPN Pres. George Bodenheimer explain to the Senate Commerce Committee in the next few months why cable customers’ bills keep going up, but it appears they may be scratched from the witness list. Cox and Disney-owned ESPN announced they had settled their differences late Thurs., and in doing so, industry sources said, they may have slightly deflated congressional pressure on the industry to ease up on rate hikes. Proposals being bandied about were re-regulating the cable industry or forcing a la carte pricing -- both opposed by the industry.
Relations between the U.S. and the European Union (EU) have had their “ups and downs” in recent years but it’s critical the 2 sides continue their dialog on Internet, e- commerce and other key issues, Rep. Goodlatte (R-Va.) said Thurs. Goodlatte has been in Europe this week talking to European Commission (EC), Parliament and EU member states’ officials about intellectual property (IP), e-commerce and the Internet. The trip included presenting EC Pres. Romano Prodi with Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN) recommendations for beefing up the partnership between the U.S. and EU, Goodlatte told us. The recommendations, endorsed by U.S. and European political and business leaders in Dec. in Washington, set out a 10-point, 10-year (2005-2015) action plan aimed at improving the transatlantic partnership. Included in the plan are: (1) Broadening the transatlantic market for the digital economy -- including security, privacy and IP -- competition policy and regulatory cooperation. (2) Building a transatlantic “community of action” for regional and global cooperation founded on 6 priorities, one of which is the war against terrorism. (3) Beefing up constructive involvement of relevant U.S. and European civil society groups in transatlantic partnership priorities. (4) Agreeing by Dec. 2005 on the major elements of a “Transatlantic Partnership Agreement” between the U.S. and EU to be implemented beginning in 2007. Goodlatte and other lawmakers also talked spam with Information Society Comr. Erkki Liikanen, urging him to let ISPs take the lead in suing spammers. The U.S.’s new CAN-SPAM Act gives only ISPs private rights of action, and EU privacy law leaves room for the EU or member states to encourage ISPs to get involved, Goodlatte said. ISPs are the right parties to take action because they're where most of the spam solution lies, he said. Goodlatte and his colleagues also discussed the controversy raging over a proposal to stiffen IP rights enforcement. Language -- originally floated by the EC -- that would limit the directive to commercial infringements or those causing significant harm to rightsholders aren’t in accord with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or the Trade-Related Aspects of IP Rights Agreement, he said. The latest draft under discussion applies to all infringements.
Wireless firms and historic preservation officials failed to reach a compromise by an FCC target date on outstanding issues connected to a tower siting pact, according to a filing Thurs. at the agency. The Commission planned to have the national program agreement (NPA) ready for its Feb. agenda meeting, but last month gave participants until Feb. 19 to work out issues in time for the March meeting. “It appears in some important ways ground has been lost since then,” said the filing by the wireless coalition.
Online auctioneer eBay ended an auction for the phone number made famous in the 1981 Tommy Tutone rock song hit “867-5309/Jenny” after Verizon and the N.Y. PSC advised that the listing seller didn’t own the number. Bidding for the number in the 212 area code had reached $80,300 when eBay pulled the plug on the auction, which originally was to run through Sun. The seller had claimed that new number portability rules allowed him to assign the number to the buyer. But Verizon and the PSC said that wasn’t the case. They said the carrier, not the customer, owns the phone number. So a customer can’t sell or otherwise assign his number to someone else without the carrier’s consent, which hadn’t been sought in this case.
Cingular Wireless CEO Stan Sigman said Tues. he would make a regulatory pitch that a $41-billion takeover of AT&T Wireless could be approved without divestitures. But analysts predicted regulators may require shedding of assets in at least some markets for a deal that would create the largest U.S. carrier. Consumers Union promptly denounced the plan, saying it comes at a time when service quality is already a problem industrywide.