Unlicensed Use of Television White Spaces

From the Washington Post: "Preachers on the pulpit, Guns N' Roses and others who fear their wireless microphones would be disrupted by widespread public access to certain unused airwaves were drowned out by high-tech titans Google and Microsoft in a federal ruling yesterday."

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website has information about rules for unlicensed use of television white spaces. The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology conducted preliminary experiments on the impact of unlicensed operation in the TV broadcast bands and issued a report on those tests.

The FCC website also includes information on the recently approved Verizon Wireless-ALLTEL and Sprint-Nextel/Clearwire mergers.

Source: Kang, C. (5 Nov. 2008). "FCC Expands Use of Airwaves: 'White Space' to Be Opened to Devices Connected to Web." Washington Post. D01.

Homeland Security Laptop Search Policy

From the Washington Post: "Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), issued a policy dated July 16, 2008: Policy Regarding Border Search of Information.

Senator Russ Feingold issued a press release on the issue and referenced a June 25, 2008, hearing on "Laptop Searches and Other Violations of Privacy Faced by Americans Returning from Overseas Travel." The hearing was held by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights, and the hearing webpage includes prepared testimony from witnesses and an archived webcast of the hearing.

Source: Nakashima, E. (1 Aug. 2008). "Travelers' Laptops May Be Detained At Border: No Suspicion Required Under DHS Policies." Washington Post. A01.

Mobile Emergency Alerts

From the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) press release: "The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today adopted a First Report and Order (Order) that will support the ability of the nation's wireless carriers to transmit timely and accurate alerts, warnings and critical information to the cell phones and other mobile devices of consumers during disasters or other emergencies."

The press release on the FCC website provides a summary of the alerting procedures, and the First Report and Order offers more details. The FCC website includes statements by FCC Commissioners.

The FCC created these rules as a result of legislation passed in 2006. H.R. 4954, commonly known as the SAFE Ports bill, includes the Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act as Title VI of the law. The final version of the law, Public Law 109-347, is available as a text file or PDF file through GPO Access.

Source: AP. (10 April 2008). "Text Alerts to Cellphones in Emergency Are Approved." New York Times.

Operation: Bot Roast

From the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) press release: "Today the Department of Justice and FBI announced the results of an ongoing cyber crime initiative to disrupt and dismantle 'botherders' and elevate the public's cyber security awareness of botnets. OPERATION BOT ROAST is a national initiative and ongoing investigations have identified over 1 million victim computer IP addresses. The FBI is working with our industry partners, including the CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University, to notify the victim owners of the computers. Through this process the FBI may uncover additional incidents in which botnets have been used to facilitate other criminal activity."

Information on bot attacks and advice on how to protect your computer can be found on the FBI website.

Source: "FBI: Millions of computers controlled by hackers." Missoulian (AP story) June 14, 2007. A4.