Promoting widespread use of the term “transmitters disabled” and corresponding screen icons is at the heart of a CEA draft of a standardized “recommended practice” that is circulating for comment and ultimately could ease restrictions on use of wireless personal electronic devices (PEDs) aboard commercial aircraft . CEA has set a Sept. 27 deadline for comments on the draft, with the aim of releasing it as a final voluntary standard Oct. 18, opening day of the CEA Industry Forum in San Francisco.
Twenty-first Century crimes of voyeurism, software and media piracy, and online fraud were targeted on the House floor Mon., as that body approved 3 bills creating new criminal and civil penalties. One bill outlaws broadcasting or online posting of an individual’s private areas without their knowledge, a 2nd bill aims to close what sponsors call a “loophole” in anti-piracy law, and a 3rd makes it illegal to falsely identify ownership of a web site if it’s involved in criminal activity such as fraud or intellectual property theft.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and responses regarding the mandatory advance electronic information requirements for truck carriers.
A State Department Washington File article reports that the during its markup of the fiscal year (FY) 2005 appropriations bill for the Department of Agriculture, the Senate Appropriations Committee rejected an amendment to move the date for mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) for certain meats, fruits, vegetables, and other food products to January 1, 2005 (from September 30, 2006). The article notes that although the amendment was defeated in committee, it may be reintroduced when the appropriations bill reaches the Senate floor. (Washington File dated 09/15/04, http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=September&x=20040915150424AKllennoCcM0.4739954&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html.)
After adopting numerous amendments, on September 14, 2004 the Senate passed its version of H.R. 4567, the fiscal year (FY) 2005 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). (See ITT's Online Archives or 07/08/04 news, 04070810, for BP summary of the June 18, 2004 passage by the House of Representatives of its own version of H.R. 4567.) (Congressional Record dated 09/14/04, available at http://thomas.loc.gov/r108/r108d14se4.html.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a general notice announcing that, in conjunction with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), it plans to conduct a National Customs Automation Program (NCAP) test concerning the transmission of automated truck manifest (ATM) data.
A group of 37 CLECs asked the FCC to clarify that SBC and Verizon are still subject to unbundling obligations under agreements they made as part of their respective mergers with Ameritech and GTE several years ago, despite recent changes in UNE rules. The CLECs petitioned the FCC for a declaratory ruling to enforce the UNE access conditions that were approved when the FCC approved the mergers. The Commission had demanded these commitments to assure competitive access “to a minimum set of UNEs” once the mergers occurred, the filing said: “The merger conditions were intended to serve, if needed, as a bridge to the promised land of certain UNE rules. The Bells would now render the conditions a bridge to nowhere, arguing they simply expired… That is not what the conditions say.” The CLECs said the FCC had been hesitant to approve the mergers because of concern the larger companies created by the unions would impede competition. The Commission approved the mergers only after SBC and Verizon pledged, among other things, to continue to provide access to their networks, the CLEC group said.
Harman Kardon will supply the entertainment bundle for Land Rover’s 2005 Range Rover, which makes its debut Sept. 23 at the Paris Motor Show. The partners gave reporters a sneak peek at the SUV and its H/K-branded Logic 7 discrete surround sound system in the U.K. Wed. at musician Peter Gabriel’s recording studio, built alongside a 200-year-old water mill deep in the Wiltshire countryside. For the event, Gabriel’s recording engineer, Ben Findlay, made and mixed a live recording of Daby Toure, an artist for Gabriel’s Real World label, for playback demonstrations in the new Rover. The Logic 7 car system uses an optical bus and a 7.1 decoder to feed 14 speakers powered by a 710-w digital amp. The design goal for the system was to give rear seat passengers a frontal soundstage as good as the image front seat passengers hear, “even though a car is a small space and everyone is sitting off-axis,” said Tim Nind, vp of Harman’s Acoustic Systems Group. The Logic 7 decoder generates surround from stereo, or reproduces discrete Dolby and DTS multichannel source material for music, with movie playback possible in the rear seats. Progressive staggered-delays and frequency roll-off to the rear of the car -- combined with logic steering and stronger separation between the center and stereo front channels than usual for home systems -- hold the image of music vocals or movie dialog firm at the front even for rear seat passengers. Harman has been working with Land Rover for 13 years and the 2005 car will be the first use of Logic 7 discrete playback for autosound. Despite the multiple music sources included, DAB terrestrial digital radio isn’t among them. “It’s something we are looking into. But DAB digital radio won’t be standard before the 2008 range,” a Land Rover spokeswoman told us. Recently in the U.S., Cadillac previewed its 2005 STS sedan with DTS-supplied multichannel audio system. It plays DTS audio titles in surround but DVD-Audio only in stereo, and has the first factory-implementation of a rear center- channel speaker. An AV input under the front console armrest lets drivers connect an MP3-type portable to the system.
Harman Kardon will supply the entertainment bundle for Land Rover’s 2005 Range Rover, which makes its debut Sept. 23 at the Paris Motor Show. The partners gave reporters a sneak peek at the SUV and its H/K-branded Logic 7 discrete surround sound system in the U.K. Wed. at musician Peter Gabriel’s recording studio, built alongside a 200-year-old water mill deep in the Wiltshire countryside. For the event, Gabriel’s recording engineer, Ben Findlay, made and mixed a live recording of Daby Toure, an artist for Gabriel’s Real World label, for playback demonstrations in the new Rover. The Logic 7 car system uses an optical bus and a 7.1 decoder to feed 14 speakers powered by a 710-w digital amp. The design goal for the system was to give rear seat passengers a frontal soundstage as good as the image front seat passengers hear, “even though a car is a small space and everyone is sitting off-axis,” said Tim Nind, vp of Harman’s Acoustic Systems Group. The Logic 7 decoder generates surround from stereo, or reproduces discrete Dolby and DTS multichannel source material for music, with movie playback possible in the rear seats. Progressive staggered-delays and frequency roll-off to the rear of the car -- combined with logic steering and stronger separation between the center and stereo front channels than usual for home systems -- hold the image of music vocals or movie dialog firm at the front even for rear seat passengers. Harman has been working with Land Rover for 13 years and the 2005 car will be the first use of Logic 7 discrete playback for autosound. Despite the multiple music sources included, DAB terrestrial digital radio isn’t among them. “It’s something we are looking into. But DAB digital radio won’t be standard before the 2008 range,” a Land Rover spokeswoman told us. Recently in the U.S., Cadillac previewed its 2005 STS sedan with DTS-supplied multichannel audio system. It plays DTS audio titles in surround but DVD-Audio only in stereo, and has the first factory-implementation of a rear center- channel speaker. An AV input under the front console armrest lets drivers connect an MP3-type portable to the system.
A provision in the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act exempting certain land remote sensing data from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is unnecessary and should be rejected, said RTNDA Pres. Barbara Cochran in a letter. The bill, which would allocate funds to the DoD for 2005, hasn’t been to conference for reconciliation of House and Senate versions. The Senate proposed to exempt “data that are collected by land remote sensing and are prohibited from sale to customers other than” the U.S. and affiliates, as well as imagery and products based on the data. In a letter to House Armed Services Committee Chmn. Hunter (R- Cal.), Cochran said RTNDA has acknowledged that national security threats justify withholding certain imagery. However, the proposal would also restrict nonconfidential imagery from the public, she said, essentially using tax money to keep the media from getting the data even when national security implications don’t exist. Additionally, “exemption 1 of the FOIA already protects from disclosure properly classified records, release of which would cause some ‘damage’ to national security,” she said. The provision in the bill, however, would “circumvent the well-established checks and balances that have been created under exemption 1, and [give] the Executive Branch astonishing leeway to prevent public release of unclassified material without appropriate oversight,” she said.