All federal cybersecurity efforts that don’t directly relate to defense should be consolidated within the Department of Commerce, former Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., told the House Commerce Committee’s Oversight subcommittee Tuesday. The subcommittee hearing focused on determining ways to best solve cybersecurity threats to U.S. intellectual property.

The telecom industry is deeply divided on the potential scope of the FCC’s Internet Protocol transition trials. In comments filed Monday in docket 13-5, some opposed the trials because they went too far; some opposed the trials because they didn’t go far enough. Many CLECs, expressing resentment at what they called an ILEC refusal to interconnect in IP, encouraged the FCC to skip the trials in favor of mandating IP interconnection. Other stakeholders urged the FCC to stay out of it, and let businesses decide the best way to interconnect in an IP world.

A House Communications and Technology Subcommittee hearing on proposed reforms limiting the FCC’s power to review transactions and issue new rules is unlikely to lead to new legislation, said several industry and legislative officials in interviews Tuesday. Thursday’s hearing resurrects two bills that fizzled in the Senate in 20ll (CD March 27/12 p1). HR-3310 would consolidate numerous FCC reporting requirements into one annual report to Congress, and the more expansive HR-3309 would require the FCC to consider market forces before issuing rules, allow two commissioners to discuss commission business without issuing an ex parte and limit the power of the agency’s bureaus.

Areas of general agreement among industry and state officials on cybersecurity included that the Department of Homeland Security should continue to emphasize cooperation between various companies and agencies in updating its framework, and a risk-based approach should be used, said some filings posted Tuesday. In addition to the Telecommunications Industry Association, which urged such cooperation (CD July 9 p12), the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) sought coordination among various stakeholders. Under President Barack Obama’s February directive on cybersecurity, which accompanied his executive order, DHS has until later this year to update the 2009 National Infrastructure Protection Plan, the department said in a June request for comment (http://1.usa.gov/13JMGUz).

The FCC’s Open Internet Advisory Committee, established by the FCC in the wake of the commission’s 2010 net neutrality order, has reached a crossroads, members said Tuesday during a meeting at FCC headquarters. Committee member David Clark, senior research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, questioned the role of the committee going forward as other members asked for more guidance from the FCC.

An ombudsperson, transparency and someone to play an amicus role are needed at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, civil liberties advocates and a former FISC judge told the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board during a Tuesday hearing. Former government officials defended the telephone metadata and Internet communications surveillance programs taking place under Section 215 of the Patriot Act and Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act.

Groups opposed to an FCC order approving Progeny’s controversial E-911 location service in the multilateration location and monitoring service band asked the commission to reverse itself, in various petitions for reconsideration. The FCC approved the Progeny order by a 3-0 vote soon after Mignon Clyburn became acting chairwoman, though most of the work on the order was complete before former Chairman Julius Genachowski left office May 17 (CD June 7 p1). The filings, posted by the commission Tuesday, raise challenges that could form the basis for a legal challenge to the order, industry officials said.

The Department of Defense warned the FCC Monday that any potential technology transition trial from traditional to Internet Protocol-based telecom services could have a major impact on public safety and national security interests. DoD said it “embraces” advances and “applauds” the FCC for promoting new technologies, but cautioned that any trials need to be “absolutely seamless” for the military and other federal agencies. State commissions wrote to underscore the importance of their having an integral role in the transition process.

Congress should expand its efforts to address international intellectual property theft beyond cybersecurity legislation, former Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., a member of the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property (IP Commission), is expected to say this Tuesday in testimony before the House Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations subcommittee. The IP Commission is working on issues including recommend policies that will mitigate intellectual property theft by China and others (http://1.usa.gov/11wjHmO). The subcommittee is holding the hearing to determine the scope of cybersecurity threats to U.S. intellectual property and technology, and the best legislative ways to address those threats.

"I know that you know this is a very difficult process and decision,” David Miller, UW senior vice president-administration and fiscal affairs, told legislators. “It isn’t as easy as flipping a switch.” He described the university’s ongoing efforts to separate its assets from WiscNet, which he called the most difficult part of the process, and its efforts to put together a transition timeline. “As we transition from our current vendor to provisioning our own network, we will have to address gaps,” UW said last week of the late-June announcement of the canceled RFP award (http://bit.ly/14YuhA3). “In doing so, solutions might include establishing peering relationships or issuing contracts for services, but unlike the recent RFP, it will not be all-encompassing.” The decision was to “avoid uncertainty” regarding the critical services, it said.