The Senate on Monday agreed to a 77-day extension to vote on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reauthorization. The USA Freedom Reauthorization Act, which would end NSA’s call detail records program (see 2003110077), passed the House 278-136 Wednesday. Key Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authorities, including the CDR program, expired Sunday.
Russia export controls and sanctions
The use of export controls and sanctions on Russia has surged since the country's invasion of Crimea in 2014, and especially its invasion of Ukraine in in February 2022. Similar export controls and sanctions have been imposed by U.S. allies, including the EU, U.K. and Japan. The following is a listing of recent articles in Export Compliance Daily on export controls and sanctions imposed on Russia:
The launch market is oversaturated, with room for two U.S. launchers in the medium and heavy payload space, United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno said Tuesday at Satellite 2020. Those two would be alongside Arianespace and Russia's launch capabilities, since Europe and Russia will guarantee those two persist, he said. In the small payload space, SpaceX anticipates "two or so" launches a month this year, either for customers or its own StarLink satellites, said President Gwynne Shotwell. She said SpaceX pricing is about as low it can go for its existing rockets. She said its Starship under development could change the economics of crewed spaceflight.
Don’t expect to see other nations to follow the FCC’s lead on how it’s repurposing part of the C band for terrestrial use, especially on satellite operator compensation, satellite experts said Monday at Satellite 2020. Morgan Lewis satellite and wireless lawyer Tim Bransford said other nations often can take a more unilateral approach, such as sunsetting the use of some spectrum, and compensation is typically less part of the process. Organizers of the trade show/conference said it was little harmed by COVID-19 worries.
Big U.S. accomplishments at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference include getting various millimeter wave bands identified for 5G, rules allowing coordination of geostationary and non-geostationary orbit satellites in the V band, and setting up a regulatory framework for NGSO mega constellations, said WRC-19 U.S. Ambassador Grace Koh in a Technology Policy Institute podcast released Thursday. Koh said a disappointment was failure to get the world to go along with higher power usage for outdoor Wi-Fi. She said Russia, China and Europe raised climate change issues in discussions about 5G use in the 24 GHz band and possible impacts to weather satellites, with those regions championing stringent protection values for those scientific services. Ultimately, the out-of-band emission power level adopted was "a political decision [but still] a good outcome," splitting the difference between what the various parties were advocating, she said.
The space economy is growing rapidly, but that means increased potential problems with orbital debris and the need for space traffic management (STM), speakers said at a Space Foundation event Tuesday. Rep. Kendra Horn, D-Okla., co-chairwoman of the House Space Power Caucus, said with looming satellite mega constellations, there's a need to "set some lanes" for STM.
China, India and the EU are among the regions tech and intellectual property groups recommended the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative monitor for international IP infractions. Public comments were due Friday for USTR’s 2020 Special 301 Review (see 1902080063). USTR has a Feb. 26 hearing. The Internet Association cited the EU’s new “onerous systems of copyright liability for internet services,” specifically the copyright directive. It “directly conflicts with U.S. law and requires a broad range of U.S. consumer and enterprise firms to install filtering technologies, pay European organizations for activities that are entirely lawful under the U.S. copyright framework, and face direct liability for third-party content,” IA said. IA didn’t recommend any specific countries for USTR’s priority watch list or watch list, raising concerns about China, India, Vietnam, Chile, Japan, Hong Kong and many others. BSA|The Software Alliance recommended USTR include Chile, China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam on its priority watch list; Argentina, Brazil, Korea, Mexico and Thailand on its watch list; and the EU as a region of concern. BSA cited measures that create market access barriers in the EU. The Computer & Communications Industry Association didn’t offer specific recommendations for the priority watch list or watch list. CCIA cited the EU’s recently enacted Copyright Directive and policies India is pursuing, which “pose significant negative consequences for the digital economy and depart from global norms.” Any “discriminatory practices under the guise of intellectual property that target U.S. exports should be identified and discouraged by USTR,” CCIA said. The International Intellectual Property Alliance recommended Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Ukraine and Vietnam for the priority watch list. It recommended Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Switzerland, Thailand and UAE for the watch list. IIPA suggested the U.S. engage trading partners to “remove discriminatory and restrictive trade barriers in those countries that harm exports of U.S. creative goods and services.”
Likely marquee items for the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference will include space-to-space satellite links, and big mobile and satellite industry focus on the 6 GHz band, U.S. WRC delegates said at an FCBA event Thursday. Boeing Global Spectrum Management Vice President Audrey Allison said as spectrum use increases, such issues are becoming more contentious.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blasted Facebook during a Thursday news conference, calling the company’s behavior “shameful” and claiming the company acted in an “irresponsible” manner. Pelosi announced House Democrats “will be rolling out” a new infrastructure legislative package the week the chamber returns from its Martin Luther King Jr. week recess.
As governments increasingly seek to control aspects of the internet, debate is growing over what they're trying to achieve. Some argue countries such as China and Russia aim for a technical break from the global domain name system (DNS). Others said nations are seeking to align the internet with their jurisdictional boundaries. The issues came up in recent academic writings and a Nov. 27 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) session.
On the cusp of an expected boom, commercial space sector worries range from a space business "bubble" to outdated rules regimes that require replacing and the need to show investors regulatory burdens are waning, said corporate and government space executives Tuesday at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the agency is committed to matching the tempo of the commercial satellite industry and avoiding a "Byzantine approval system" that could be a regulatory bottleneck. He remains concerned about prospects for orbital debris. His prepared remarks were later posted.