While SpaceX's Starlink satellites are maneuvering more due to debris generated from Russia's 2021 anti-satellite weaponry test than any other objects in space, the low orbits it plans to use for its second-generation constellation will mean any increase in debris flux will be temporary, the company told the FCC International Bureau last week. It said in the nine months since the testing, about 62% of the resulting debris has deorbited. It said even the highest-altitude second-gen operations will passively deorbit within three to four years.
Russia export controls and sanctions
The use of export controls and sanctions on Russia has surged since the country's invasion of Crimea in 2014, and especially its invasion of Ukraine in in February 2022. Similar export controls and sanctions have been imposed by U.S. allies, including the EU, U.K. and Japan. The following is a listing of recent articles in Export Compliance Daily on export controls and sanctions imposed on Russia:
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and other House Commerce Committee members urged the chamber Tuesday to pass the Spectrum Innovation Act legislative package (HR-7624) by a lopsided bipartisan margin ahead of floor votes as soon as that evening on several telecom and tech measures. The House planned floor votes on HR-7624 and two other telecom and tech bills on the docket: the Reporting Attacks from Nations Selected for Oversight and Monitoring Web Attacks and Ransomware from Enemies Act (HR-4551) and Safe Connections Act (HR-7132). The chamber was also expected to consider the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act (HR-4990). The Rules Committee, meanwhile, began considering Tuesday afternoon a set of proposed amendments to the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act (HR-4040) amid Republicans’ concerns that the measure didn’t first get House Commerce clearance.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is focused on border gateway protocol (BGP) security and resilience and welcomes the FCC’s recent focus on gateway issues (see 2204110057), said CISA Executive Director Brandon Wales during an NTCA webinar Monday. The webinar was sponsored by the Competitive Carriers Association, the Rural Wireless Association, the Wireless ISP Association and other groups, and targeted small carriers.
The House Commerce Committee voted 53-2 Wednesday to advance bipartisan, bicameral privacy legislation to the floor (see 2207190040). Some California Democrats criticized the strength of the bill, saying they may not support the measure on the floor. Some questioned whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will bring the legislation up.
Lawmakers are proposing a range of telecom and tech-focused amendments to the House Armed Services Committee’s FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-7900). They include proposals to require more DOD transparency on its implementation of its 2020 spectrum sharing strategy, bar TikTok use on government devices, and several focusing on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The House Rules Committee Thursday afternoon hadn't set a meeting to consider the amendments.
DOD is making progress on electronic warfare (EW) and on spectrum systems survival on the battlefield, officials said during a Hudson Institute webinar Wednesday. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sharpened U.S. focus on EW, but China has been an even bigger concern, said Bryan Clark, Hudson senior fellow. “China has been expanding and modernizing its electronic warfare capabilities for a decade now, plus,” he said.
The Biden administration appears set on changing the State Department position in charge of communications policy, moving the coordinator for international communications and information policy from a Senate-confirmed political post to one held by a foreign service officer. That's raising concerns the appointee will no longer have the political standing to meet on an equivalent basis with counterparts from other nations or within the federal government, former government officials said.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J.; and panel ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., floated a discussion draft Friday of the American Data Privacy and Protection Act in a bid to advance compromise tech-focused privacy legislation before the end of this Congress. The proposal’s chances of advancing before the end of the year could be hampered by a rapidly closing legislative window and a lack of buy-in from Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., lobbyists and officials told us.
Unintended consequences of the general data protection regulation (GDPR) are blocking access to Whois domain name registration, and Congress should consider acting to fix the problem, Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, said Thursday. Whois data is a "public lands record for the internet," but an overly broad interpretation of the EU GDPR is preventing law enforcement, security experts and cybersecurity investigators from getting at bad actors, he said in a recorded statement for a Coalition for a Secure and Transparent Internet webinar. Consumers are also feeling vulnerable online and need to know their privacy and security will be protected, said House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. Panelists also urged legislative action.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine may not be a game-changer for digital cybersecurity policy, but it holds lessons for Europe, speakers said at a Wednesday Centre for European Policy Studies webinar on Ukrainian digital resistance. Cybersecurity has become "a weapon in a war," forcing mobile operators to look at the issue in a broader context, said European Telecommunications Network Operators Association Director General Lise Fuhr. The aggression heightened cybersecurity concerns in EU countries, said Lorena Boix-Alonso, European Commission director-digital society, trust and cybersecurity.