U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an updated version of its frequently asked questions (FAQ) and responses on its final rule requiring, among other things, the advance electronic presentation of information for all modes of inbound transportation.
With FCC Chmn. Martin and Comr. Abernathy concurring, the FCC clarified the National Programmatic Agreement (NPA) Thurs., clearing tower notifications referred to the agency by applicants before Sept. 10. Many applications arrived at the FCC when carriers wishing to build towers got no responses from Indian tribes on whether projects would affect historic preservation lands. Carriers can file notification with the FCC after 2 failed attempts to contact a tribe, and hundreds of applications are pending at the agency, slowing siting of new antennas. The FCC clarified Thurs. that a wireless provider or other tower applicant “will have fulfilled its obligations under the NPA” 20 days after the FCC sent a latter or e-mail to the tribe asking if it wanted to participate in the proposed tower review and got no response. “If the Indian tribe or NHO [Native Hawaiian Organization] does not respond within 20 days of the FCC’s letter and/or e-mail, which will be followed up by an attempted FCC telephone contact during the same 20-day period, it will be deemed to have no interest in the review of the proposed facility,” the FCC said. Backing an FCC goal of eliminating “a significant backlog of tower referrals,” Martin and Abernathy concurred with the order. “We continue to believe that siting of towers or antennas is not a federal or federally assisted undertaking, and we would have preferred that the Commission reconsider its decision on that issue,” they said in a joint statement: “We also would have preferred an even more streamlined review process that would have allowed construction to proceed faster.” Martin and Abernathy said they support a CTIA “3-strikes” proposal backed by industry and the United South & Eastern Tribes. “While we concur in today’s ruling, we worry that this process may still add needless layers of bureaucracy to the tower siting process and lead to unnecessary delay,” they said. Comr. Copps said he supports the decision “first and foremost because it maintains the basic procedures adopted in [NPA] and continues the vitally important government-to-government relationship that guides FCC interactions” with Indian tribes and NHOs. Although the decision is “not as perfect or as rigorous as I would have preferred,” Copps said, he is “optimistic” that the new clarification “will enable the timely deployment of communications infrastructure, while, at the same time, allowing us to protect our valuable historic places.” Comr. Adelstein said the order “strikes the right balance between the Commission’s consultation obligations to Indian tribes and [NHOs] under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1996 and the need for certainty when Indian tribes and NHOs” don’t respond to industry and FCC’s requests. “The NPA can and will work,” Adelstein said: “We have taken important steps in this item, and we should continue to improve the consultation process through periodic reviews of the notification provisions of the NPA.”
Universal Home Entertainment said it will release George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead on Universal Media Disc (UMD) for Sony’s PSP Oct. 18 - the same day it releases the movie on DVD and VHS. Each version will cost $29.98. Universal is releasing the movie in its original R-rated theatrical version and in an “Unrated Director’s Cut” on DVD. Only the unrated version will be available on UMD and the R-rated version will be only on VHS. Groove Games also is releasing first person shooter game Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler’s Green, developed by Brainbox Games, the week of Oct. 17 for Xbox at $29.99 and PC at $19.99.
The Wireless Philadelphia panel selected EarthLink to provide service for the city’s Wi-Fi network, city officials said, a major step in developing what remains a disputed municipal service. Watched by large cities around the U.S., the service will involve vouchers for low-income residents. Atlanta-based EarthLink will not only pay for the network and its maintenance but will also contribute to a profit-sharing plan aimed at closing the digital divide in the city, Philadelphia CIO Dianah Neff told Washington Internet Daily.
The FCC is expected as soon as today (Wed.) to release an order that would clear all tower siting applications pending before early Sept., an FCC source said: “The commissioners found the common ground on how to more completely address the backlog.”
As some seek more intellectual property (IP) rights protection, the new Property Rights Alliance (PRA) is stressing the interplay between IP and private property issues like land rights and rent control.
Telecom and media firms were reporting less damage from Hurricane Rita than they had earlier from Hurricane Katrina, in the first days after the storm. Most were reporting some outages, but fewer, and most were optimistic about quicker repairs.
A library participating in the project rose to Google Print’s defense after the Authors Guild sued Google (WID Sept 22 p11). Speaking on behalf of the U. of Mich. library, a Google Print participant, Assoc. Provost James Hilton said those concerned about copyright infringement “cannot lose sight of the tremendous benefits this project will bring for society.” Predicting research and learning largely will move to the digital world, Hilton added: “Material that does not exist in digital form will effectively disappear.” It’s up to libraries to archive the world’s written works, and Google is a partner in that, he said. Fair-use advocates continued to pile on to critics of the project. Creative Commons Chmn. Lawrence Lessig said the suit’s roots date back a century, when farmers sued the then-new airline industry for flying over their land without permission. “Google Print could be the most important contribution to the spread of knowledge since Jefferson dreamed of national libraries,” said Lessig, a law prof. at project participant Stanford U.: “Given the total mess of copyright records, there is absolutely no way to enable this sort of access to our past while asking permission of authors up front… Even if Google could afford that cost, no one else could.” Google could win the suit by arguing the “individualized snippets” in search results are “a fair use because it greatly reduces overall transaction costs in the society,” James DeLong, Progress & Freedom Foundation senior fellow, said. Some writers spoke out. Sci-fi writer and blogger Roger Simon said Google doesn’t make it easy to opt out: “I don’t know whether they plan on scanning any of my books, but they certainly haven’t contacted me -- nor have they, to my knowledge, contacted any other writers… Most of us wouldn’t even know how to contact them.” He continued: “Yahoo, Microsoft and Google act these days almost as transnational online super states with no one to restrict them.”
The FCC is circulating a proposed ruling to help clear a tower-siting application backlog, a source said. The applications were forwarded to the Commission after carriers wishing to build towers couldn’t get responses from Indian tribes on whether the projects would affect historic preservation lands. Carriers can file notifications with the FCC after 2 failed attempts to contact a tribe; now, hundreds of them are pending at the Commission, slowing siting of new antennas. The issue rankles the wireless industry. CTIA proposed a “3-strike” proposal, under which a notification would be deemed granted after 2 failed attempts by a tower applicant and one by the FCC to contact a tribe. Specifically, a carrier would be able to refer a case to the FCC if it didn’t get a response 40 days after first notifying a tribe. The FCC then would have 20 days to reach out to the tribe. United South & Eastern Tribes (USET), which represents 24 tribes, backed that proposal. “We are moving toward [the 3-strike proposal] but are still working on edges of it,” the source said. If adopted, the proposal would reverse a Nationwide Programmatic Agreement (NPA) provision barring a carrier from proceeding with a tower siting until it gets a green light from a tribe. The NPA was signed last year by the FCC, the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NSCHPO) and the Advisory Council of Historic Preservation. Comr. Adelstein has backed the 3-strike method. Adelstein thinks that regime “would resolve the backlog problem right away,” his aide has said. The order is expected to be adopted “in the next day or 2,” the source said: “We are very focused on having it done soon.”
PHILADELPHIA -- Local radio broadcasters shouldn’t worry about competition from satellite radio, FCC Comrs. Adelstein and Abernathy said at the NAB Radio Show here. “There is a place for satellite radio, but I don’t think they will ever be able to replicate what local broadcasters do,” Abernathy said. “I think we have the right rules in place.”