Vice President Joe Biden ceremonially swore in Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. On June 5, Secretary Burwell was confirmed by a strong, bipartisan majority of Senators. In a statement that day, President Barack Obama commended the Senate and reiterated his support for Secretary Burwell as a proven manager.
Earlier this year, I started an inquiry to determine how we can ensure that whenever someone dials 911 from a hotel, motel, or office building, he or she can reach emergency personnel. Like many others around the country, I was moved to act when I learned about the tragic death of Kari Rene Hunt Dunn in Marshall, Texas. My inquiry began with our nation’s hotel industry. In March, I reported my initial findings regarding the status of 911 calling at lodging properties and the steps the industry is taking to ensure that someone who dials 911 will reach emergency personnel directly. Now, there is more news to share regarding the lodging industry’s efforts. For instance, when I launched this inquiry, the Wyndham Hotel Group reported that only 80% of its owned and managed properties allowed direct 911 dialing. Since then, Wyndham reconfigured the telephone systems at the remaining 20% of its properties, and it now reports that every one of its owned and managed properties allow direct access to 911. Similarly, Hyatt initially reported that only 75% of its managed properties allowed direct 911 access, but it now reports that it provides this functionality at 99% of those properties and expects to reach 100% within a few weeks. I applaud these efforts. I also expanded my inquiry beyond the lodging industry back in March because this isn’t just an issue for hotels. In light of the data I’ve gathered from the multi-line telephone systems (MLTS) and lodging communities, I now have a better sense of the scope and nature of the direct dialing issue. And the bottom line is this: There does not appear to be any technical reason why modern MLTS systems can’t allow direct access to emergency personnel. And it shouldn’t cost much to eliminate any access code requirement for existing systems, although it may require technical expertise and coordination with MLTS manufacturers or vendors.
Who says Facebook doesn’t still have its youth? Almost 80 percent of teens are there, and they are more active on the social network than any other, according to a new survey of 12- to 17-year-olds.
Forrester's popularity poll -- taken in the US -- also found that Google+ actually registers with teenagers more than Pinterest and has an adoption rate similar to Twitter’s. "There is a yawning gap between the reality of social usage and what is commonly reported," said Nate Elliott, a researcher at Forrester. The report, polling 4,517 US teens and tweens, also had this to say:
The United States International Communications Reform Act of 2014 (HR 4490) would make several changes to U.S. non-military international broadcasting and would permanently authorize appropriations for that purpose. It would consolidate into two separate entities the federal and nonfederal entities currently providing such broadcasting, amend the principles and mission underlying international broadcasting, and place restrictions on hiring personnel at the consolidated federal entity.
CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 4490 would cost $3.7 billion over the 2015-2019 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Pay-as-you-go procedures apply to this legislation because it would affect direct spending; however, CBO estimates that those effects would not be significant. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.
[Commentary] In Iran, the government officially blocks access to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and almost all other social media platforms. Any attempt to bypass this block by using a virtual private network (VPN) connection or other software solutions is illegal. Numerous reports indicate that Iranian authorities restrict access to thousands of American and European websites, particularly those of international news sources, and even throttle down Internet connections to limit the ability of Iranians to surf the rest of the Web.
Here at the Voice of America Persian Service, we are familiar with this situation firsthand. Even though all of our satellite TV and radio programs, our website, our social media and our mobile apps are officially banned in Iran, our on-air and online audience numbers have shown steady growth, especially after the start of the P5-plus-1 talks with Iran.
The Iranian authorities admit, reluctantly, that it is almost impossible to rein in Iranians who are eager to know about the outside world and know how to use alternative means to gain access to the web.
[Setareh Derakhshesh is the director of the Voice of America Persian Service]
The US will use diplomatic and legal means to halt China’s computer theft of trade secrets, its new ambassador in Beijing said, amid escalating tensions between the two sides over cybersecurity.
“Cyber-enabled theft of trade secrets by state actors in China has emerged as a major threat to our economic and thus national security,” said Ambassador Max Baucus. “Besides being criminal in nature, this behavior runs counter to China’s WTO commitments,” Ambassador Baucus said, referring to the terms China agreed to when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. “We won’t sit idly by when a crime is committed in the real world, so why should we when it happens in cyber space? We will continue to use diplomatic and legal means to make clear that this type of behavior must stop.”
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) E-rate modernization proceeding is one of the most consequential public policy discussions in a decade. The success of this proceeding is essential to enable libraries and schools to meet the needs of America’s communities in the digital age. The gigabit broadband vision outlined by the President -- and which is a fundamental aspect of the Commission’s E-rate reforms -- is critical to support the indispensable role libraries play in our communities.
The American Library Association (ALA) recognizes the difficult task in front of the Commission to move the E-rate program from basic connections to high-capacity broadband and is supportive of its effort to do so. ALA and libraries also have fully engaged in this challenge with our school colleagues and hundreds of other stakeholders to answer an urgent call to meet 21st century learning demands. And there is broad consensus that we cannot meet these demands with funding that has hardly budged in 18 years. We must establish a sustainable foundation for the future.
Microsoft’s top lawyer is warning that US government surveillance could open the door for other countries to try to spy on data stored by tech companies in the US.
Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith criticized the US government’s attempts to compel American tech companies to hand over data about foreign users stored abroad. He pointed to a US warrant for information about a person in Europe that was being stored at the company’s data center in Ireland.
“If the data is in the US, it’s subject to the reach of US law,” but if the data is stored in a data center in a foreign country, it is subject to that country’s laws, Smith said. If the US goes after data stored abroad, other countries will be emboldened to pursue data stored in the US, he continued.
“If we want to protect the rights of Americans for data that exists in the US, we has a country need to pursue principles” that are agreed to and applied globally, he said. Rather than “deputizing” tech companies to spy on their users for government surveillance, the US should turn to established legal processes, Smith said.
Senate Homeland Security Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) introduced two cybersecurity bills that will advance to a vote in the panel. The pair of bills should make it easier for government agencies and private companies to share information about hackers and focus federal efforts towards preventing stopping major hacks, Sen Carper said.
“Cybersecurity is one of our nation’s biggest challenges,” he said. “While our work in this area is far from finished, these bills are an important step in our effort to modernize our nation’s cybersecurity programs and help the public and private sectors work together to tackle cyber threats more effectively in the future.”
The National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center Act would codify an existing cybersecurity center run by the Homeland Security Department and make sure that it operators as a sort of clearinghouse for the issue. The Federal Information Security Modernization Act would reshuffle administrative roles and put more focus on stopping data beaches.
Could an AT&T merger with DirecTV result in savings for consumers? Senate lawmakers pressed the two companies' chief executives on that question.
But although both firms said that the acquisition would lower their operating costs, consumers wouldn't likely see those savings reflected in their monthly bills immediately, if ever. The most that TV viewers can expect right now, said AT&T chief executive Randall Stephenson, would be that prices simply rise less quickly.
That didn't seem very comforting to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who kept asking variations of the same question in an attempt to secure a commitment by AT&T to price relief.
AT&T expects the DirecTV deal would eliminate the need for both companies to seek profits on the products they each sell to consumers separately. That would give AT&T greater bargaining leverage with content companies. AT&T might be able to save as much as 15 percent on programming costs, said Stephenson. But citing complexities in the programming industry, Stephenson stopped short of predicting any effects on consumers' bills.
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