Agencies

An FCC proposal to require “broadcast flag” copy protection in DTV sets “represents an alarming and illegal reversal of consumer rights to record and watch television programming,” a coalition of consumer groups said in a filing on an FCC rulemaking (MB 02-230). More than 1,000 comments were filed in the proceeding, virtually all by individuals, including hundreds via Citizens for a Sound Economy. The consumer groups also said a broadcast flag wouldn’t be effective in preventing commercial piracy of digital content and wouldn’t significantly speed the DTV transition, which they said also was being slowed by factors such as a lack of cable compatibility and weak consumer awareness. “By reducing functionality, the broadcast flag is much more likely to slow the transition and leave the new digital media far less innovative and consumer friendly than they could be,” said Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America. The groups said Hollywood and broadcasters were trying to use the broadcast flag to reverse the freedom consumers have had since VCRs arrived to record programming. They also questioned the FCC’s authority to mandate broadcast flag technology. The filing also was signed by 11 state consumer groups and 2 other groups. — MF ——

Lawrence Livermore National Lab developed network technology that it said could be used to build advanced fiber systems. It seeks potential licensees to commercialize its coarse wave division multiplexing (CWDM) technology, which transmits data using photonic devices. Lab also has developed related technologies “to implement photonic LAN systems,” including a CWDM wavelength router as well as an interconnection system, known as Lambdabus, that relies on source routing to provide “wide-bandwidth, single-hop communications for all of the nodes on the network,” it said — 925-422-1072. ——

Information security requirements applicable to contractors would be extended to recipients of grants and cooperative agreements under a proposed NASA rule. NASA acknowledged that such recipients typically didn’t “collect, process, transmit, store or disseminate unique agency data of substantial value using information technology.” However, the proposed rule would allow the agency in appropriate cases to insert a provision in a grant or cooperative agreement requiring compliance with existing NASA IT security and automated data security procedures. Comments are due Jan. 3 — 202-358-0481.