Canadian Prime Minister Harper has announced a new initiative to use the International Airport in Winnipeg Canada and surrounding land as a hub to import goods from Asia and Europe and then distribute those goods throughout North America by air, rail and road. The governments of Canada and Manitoba are jointly funding the next phase of this project, which involves building a high-speed transportation corridor. (Notice, dated 04/14/09, available at http://pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=2521)
The 2008 election cycle probably wasn’t the breakthrough that online advertising was hoping for, but it was full of useful experimentation, campaign consultants told an Interactive Advertising Bureau event in Washington Friday. Especially noteworthy was the Yes on Proposition 8 anti-gay marriage initiative in California, whose successful use of the Web to overturn a state Supreme Court ruling surprised even its leaders, said Kate Kaye. She wrote Campaign ‘08: A Turning Point for Digital Media. One big question for candidates is whether to jump into behavioral targeting, whose privacy issues may dog candidates more than business advertisers -- and whose value is debatable after a point, consultants said.
The FCC will likely get lengthy input on a vast array of controversial telecom issues, as it attempts to develop a national broadband plan, said industry officials we polled for reaction Thursday. In a 52-page notice of inquiry released Wednesday (CD April 9 p1), the FCC asks questions on universal service reform, open networks and nondiscrimination, the role of competition, how to define broadband, and several other big issues. The FCC is required under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to deliver its national broadband plan to Congress by Feb. 17.
CBP has posted April 7, 2009 versions of the following previously posted ACE Customs Automated Manifest Interface Requirements (CAMIR)-Air documents: Appendix A - Codes and the Message Line Identifiers chapter. These documents are posted for informational purposes and final versions of all ACE CAMIR-Air documents are expected soon. (See ITT's Online Archives or 12/10/08 news, 08121005, for BP summary on the ACE CAMIR-Air documents.)(ACE CAMIR-Air documents, posted 04/07/09 available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/automated/modernization/ace_edi_messages/camir_air/)
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has finalized its International Strategic Plan that defines the international safety priorities that will be the focus of PHMSA's U.S. and international decision-making for the next several years. PHMSA seeks input on specific initiatives that are or should be included in the plan.
Canada Border Services Agency has announced that its residents of British Columbia can start applying for B.C.'s Enhanced Driver's Licence (EDL) - a driver's licence that also allows the cardholder to cross into the U.S. at land or water ports of entry between Canada and the U.S. with a single piece of identification. (News Release, dated 04/06/09, available at http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/media/release-communique/2009/2009-04-06-eng.html)
Rising termination rates, regulatory transparency and equipment trade topped concerns in an annual review of U.S. international telecom trade agreements, the U.S. Trade Representative said. The review is based on public comments filed by interested parties. Eight companies and trade associations and two foreign governments commented or replied to comments.
Rising termination rates, regulatory transparency and equipment trade topped concerns in an annual review of U.S. international telecom trade agreements, the U.S. Trade Representative said. The review is based on public comments filed by interested parties. Eight companies and trade associations and two foreign governments commented or replied to comments.
A petition to stop prerecorded calls to consumers who port landline numbers to wireless was denounced by creditors, phone companies and others involved in automated messaging. In comments in an FCC rulemaking, they said a customer who has consented to calls on a landline number probably still wants them after cutting the cord. But consumer activists said cellphones are more private than wireless phones and deserve different treatment under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
Some federal rules and practices don’t recognize the “special characteristics” of tribal lands, Sacred Wind Communications said in comments on the FCC’s development of a rural broadband strategy (CD April 3 p15). For example, the definition of a rural community for the Rural Utility Service’s Community Connect broadband grant program “excludes communities that are not registered as Census Designated Places,” and only a handful of the 111 Navajo chapters are registered, Sacred Wind said. Federal law requires environmental and archeological surveys before any construction using federal dollars, even in tribal lands that have either been surveyed or within utility easements, said the carrier, which serves Navajos. Sacred Wind also asked the FCC to give “special consideration” to small rural local exchange carriers for the purchase of wireless spectrum to serve their own customer base. It should give eligible telecom carrier status to national wireless carriers in RLEC territory only where the rural carrier has already been provided affordable spectrum of its own, it said. Sacred Wind also asked the FCC to make arrangements with satellite providers to make satellite service more affordable for RLECs. The carrier discouraged government agencies from setting a broadband speed minimum for grants and loans. “On Navajo lands, for example, the most feasible delivery system to reach all of its communities would differ from one Chapter to the next,” it said.