More than 150 House members pledged in a Nov. 13 letter to President Barack Obama to oppose Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) that fails to address the 21st Century trade environment by usurping Congressional power to shape trade policy. The opaque Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks demonstrate the current exclusion of Congress from influencing trade negotiations, said the letter. The 151 members vowed to oppose an “outdated,” “twentieth century” TPA, or “any other mechanism” that perpetuates that exclusion.
CEA is promising shorter registration lines and a sleeker showgoing experience from a new CES badging system that packs near field communication (NFC) technology onto a paper credential and relies on a check-in process that emulates that of airport kiosks. Through the new system, CES officials say they also hope to reduce the waste and inefficiency of past shows when tens of thousands of badges were unnecessarily printed and mailed to people who preregistered for the show but didn’t attend.
As the Copyright Alert System is being implemented, CAS operator Center for Copyright Information (CCI) is hoping to get its educational curriculum running sometime this academic year, said the head of CCI in an interview. Questions remain, others told us, about the CAS’s effectiveness and whether some consumers will receive unwarranted alerts. Without hard data to highlight the new system’s strengths and weaknesses, it will be difficult to determine the merits of the CAS, said some who advocate for rules allowing more content to be more freely shared.
As the Copyright Alert System is being implemented, CAS operator Center for Copyright Information (CCI) is hoping to get its educational curriculum running sometime this academic year, said the head of CCI in an interview. Questions remain, others told us, about the CAS’s effectiveness and whether some consumers will receive unwarranted alerts. Without hard data to highlight the new system’s strengths and weaknesses, it will be difficult to determine the merits of the CAS, said some who advocate for rules allowing more content to be more freely shared.
Enterprise Wireless Alliance President Mark Crosby said the FCC should “examine the licensing and ancillary regulatory activities” tied to Private Land Mobile Radio licensees and ask whether they are paying an appropriate percentage of FCC regulatory fees. EWA said in an ex parte filing that Crosby recently met with staff for the FCC Office of Managing Director (http://bit.ly/16sGpwH). “EWA agreed with the FCC’s decision that changes in the telecommunications marketplace since the regulatory fee structure was enacted warranted a review of the data on which those fees are based through a comprehensive analysis of the regulatory fee program,” the filing said.
The Federal Aviation Administration approved a rule change that will allow use of portable electronic devices during all aspects of flight and that’s good news for travelers, Mitchell Lazarus of Fletcher Heald wrote on the firm’s blog. “A lot of us hate turning off our electronic devices for take-off and landing,” Lazarus said (http://bit.ly/1dYePvH). “We have to sit there, bored, and leaf through the SkyMall catalogue, hoping the pilot knows what he’s doing.” The technical argument for forcing people to turn off their tablets was always thin, Lazarus said. “The alleged reason was that emissions from a Kindle reader or other personal electronic device somehow interfered with the cockpit equipment and would take the plane off course, or something like that,” he said. “We were always suspicious of that argument; the maximum emissions from a device in Airplane Mode are extremely low, measured in nanowatts. The argument sounded even thinner when we learned the pilots were allowed to use iPads in the cockpit. Right next to all the supposedly interference-prone equipment."
The Federal Aviation Administration’s rule change that will allow use of portable electronic devices during all phases of commercial flights (CED Nov 1 p4) is good news for travelers, Mitchell Lazarus of Fletcher Heald wrote on the firm’s blog. “A lot of us hate turning off our electronic devices for take-off and landing,” Lazarus said (http://bit.ly/1dYePvH). “We have to sit there, bored, and leaf through the SkyMall catalogue, hoping the pilot knows what he’s doing.” The technical argument for forcing people to turn off their tablets was always thin, Lazarus said. “The alleged reason was that emissions from a Kindle reader or other personal electronic device somehow interfered with the cockpit equipment and would take the plane off course, or something like that,” he said. “We were always suspicious of that argument; the maximum emissions from a device in Airplane Mode are extremely low, measured in nanowatts. The argument sounded even thinner when we learned the pilots were allowed to use iPads in the cockpit. Right next to all the supposedly interference-prone equipment."
The Federal Aviation Administration approved a rule change that will allow use of portable electronic devices during all aspects of flight and that’s good news for travelers, Mitchell Lazarus of Fletcher Heald wrote on the firm’s blog. “A lot of us hate turning off our electronic devices for take-off and landing,” Lazarus said (http://bit.ly/1dYePvH). “We have to sit there, bored, and leaf through the SkyMall catalogue, hoping the pilot knows what he’s doing.” The technical argument for forcing people to turn off their tablets was always thin, Lazarus said. “The alleged reason was that emissions from a Kindle reader or other personal electronic device somehow interfered with the cockpit equipment and would take the plane off course, or something like that,” he said. “We were always suspicious of that argument; the maximum emissions from a device in Airplane Mode are extremely low, measured in nanowatts. The argument sounded even thinner when we learned the pilots were allowed to use iPads in the cockpit. Right next to all the supposedly interference-prone equipment."
The Federal Aviation Administration gave its long-awaited go-ahead Thursday for travelers to use iPads, Kindles and other non-connected portable electronic devices (PEDs) during all phases of commercial flights and not just above 10,000 feet. But implementation won’t be instant and is at the discretion of individual airlines. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., urged caution. CEA, CTIA and other industry groups called for a change in U.S. policy last year in filings at the FAA (CED Nov 2/12 p6). A PED Aviation Rulemaking Committee filed a report at the FAA recommending the change.
The Federal Aviation Administration gave its long-awaited go-ahead Thursday for travelers to use iPads, Kindles and other non-connected portable electronic devices (PEDs) during all aspects of flight and not just above 10,000 feet. But implementation won’t be instant and is at the discretion of individual airlines. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., urged caution. CEA, CTIA and other industry groups called for a change in U.S. policy last year in filings at the FAA. A PED Aviation Rulemaking Committee filed a report at the FAA recommending the change.