Russia export controls and sanctions

While still hoping to see up to 300 MHz of the C band freed up for 5G use, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly on Saturday said he's amenable to clearing 200 MHz now and a structure that sees more opened up in the future. He said at the FCBA annual retreat that his top priority is clearing the band as quickly as possible. Panels at the event in Hot Springs, Virginia, also covered topics ranging from cybersecurity to autonomous vehicles.

The U.S. likely will be headed to the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference with an agenda that ranges from a possible fight over high-band spectrum to efforts again to reduce the problem of registration of nonexistent satellite systems, an FCBA event heard Wednesday.

C band made available for terrestrial 5G in the U.S. could carry a price tag of tens of billions of dollars, with the investment community generally expecting the FCC to opt for the C-Band Alliance proposal and satellite operators all likely to get a windfall, financial analysts said at the Satellite 2019 show Monday. Raymond James' Ric Prentiss said the FCC wants more consensus before it decides on a C-band approach.

The voluntary approach to privacy, including IoT devices, has failed, and it’s time for government intervention to address this “crisis,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday, citing progress on legislation. During a Senate Security Subcommittee hearing, industry officials urged legislators to pass comprehensive privacy legislation. A National Institute of Standards and Technology official noted his agency is developing a federal baseline for core cyber capabilities of IoT devices.

Additional hearings are needed to examine questions about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and other tech issues, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., told us. Members of both parties blamed each other for not properly addressing hate- and race-related activity, at a hearing earlier Tuesday.

The U.S. was naive in hopes its satellites were safe from attack because they were out of reach or "that other nations would not dare," and other countries have surpassed it in anti-satellite technology, said House Armed Services Committee member Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., in a Center for Strategic and International Studies space threat report Thursday. CSIS said for nations that have successfully tested kinetic physical anti-satellite capabilities, like Russia and China, it's important to watch for development of testing new boost systems. It said there's evidence Iran and North Korea are interested in orbital space launch capabilities, which could be a precursor to kinetic physical counterspace weapons.

Universal Service Administrative Co. will do all Lifeline de-enrollments itself, after some providers of the government-subsidized broadband and phone service for the poor and others said they might need to yank recipients whose eligibility wasn't newly verified. The Lifeline administrator's reminder was about a reverification process that has caused provider confusion as an FCC-mandated national verifier (NV) is rolled out in states.

The growing number of satellites in orbit and increasing orbital debris make tracking satellites, identifying threats, and predicting and preventing collisions more difficult, the Defense Intelligence Agency said Monday. DIA said the U.S. advantage in space, plus perceived dependence on it, will drive rivals including Russia, China, North Korea and Iran to improve their space capabilities, which could threaten commercial, military and civil space-based services.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should defend U.S. interests against intellectual property threats in the EU, China and various countries, tech groups commented through Thursday night. USTR collected comments for its Special 301 report on international IP practices. Copyright safe harbors included in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and exceptions like fair use are critical, the Internet Association said, citing IP threats from the EU, China and others. Efforts to chip away at the safe harbor framework “threaten the ability of internet companies to expand globally by eliminating” copyright certainty, IA said. BSA|The Software Alliance cited “digital protectionism and isolationism.” Restrictions on “cross-border data transfers; coercive technology transfer; and discrimination against foreign companies, products, and technologies” are counter to U.S. interests, BSA said. The Computer & Communications Industry Association asked USTR to recognize that Europe is attempting to weaken liability protections and enact “copyright policies that will likely have significant negative consequences for the digital economy” like “snippet taxes.” Counterfeiting and piracy in China “remain at epidemic levels,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said. Ongoing trade negotiations offer opportunity for the U.S. and China to address IP protection and technology transfer issues, the chamber said. Theft and infringement in China continue to put the software industry at risk, ACT|The App Association said, recommending China remain on the priority watch list. Algeria, Argentina, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Russia and Ukraine also should remain on the list, ACT said. Public Citizen raised concerns about Malaysia, which hasn't been on the watch list since 2012.

The U.S., UK and Sweden have the strongest intellectual property systems, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported Thursday. They had respective overall scores of 37.98, 37.97 and 37.03, based on “40 discrete indicators covering policy, law, regulation, and enforcement.” CEO David Hirschmann said the scores seek to determine if the IP systems “provide a reliable basis for investment in the innovation and creativity lifecycle.” China ranked 25th with 19.08 and Russia 29th with 17.29.