|
 |
 |
|
OVERNIGHT TECH: Senators to attend cybersecurity demonstration
The Lead: Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) will host a cybersecurity demonstration on Wednesday morning showing hackers' methods and ways to defend against them.
Homeland Security Department officials will conduct two demonstrations: one for senators and one for members of the media.
The sessions are part of a push for cybersecurity legislation. Lieberman and Collins, the top lawmakers on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, are the lead sponsors of a bill that would empower the Homeland Security Department to set mandatory standards for critical infrastructure systems such as electrical grids and gas pipelines.
Supporters of the legislation say the standards are necessary to protect vital systems from attack, but many Republicans, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), say the standards would unnecessarily burden businesses.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told The Hill on Tuesday that he is working with Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) to develop a compromise proposal.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday that he will bring the legislation to the floor "at the earliest possible date."
AT&T eyes Verizon's spectrum: AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said on Tuesday that his company plans to bid for a block of spectrum that Verizon has said it will sell if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approves its deal with a group of cable companies.
Verizon has said it will sell the valuable spectrum as a condition of the FCC approving its $3.6 billion deal with a coalition of cable companies, including Comcast and Time Warner. The deal would allow Verizon to buy a larger chunk of spectrum and let the companies cross-sell services.
But consumer groups worry that the wireless industry is tilting towards a duopoly of Verizon and AT&T, and AT&T is the last company they would want to see pick up Verizon's spectrum.
Senate defends FCC political ad rule: Senate appropriators voted to advance a spending a bill on Tuesday and, unlike their House counterparts, they did not include a provision to block the FCC's political ad rule.
The rule requires television stations to post data online about political ad buys. Republicans on the House Appropriations subcommittee on Financial Services voted to block the rule, saying it would burden broadcasters.
But Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Financial Services, vowed he would fight to strip that provision in conference committee and said he supports the FCC ruling. The report language accompanying the Senate bill also supports the FCC ruling.
ICANN set to reveal domain names: The nonprofit organization that manages the Web's address system will unveil thousands of applications for new Web domain names on Wednesday.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) began accepting applications for the new Web address endings, known as generic top-level domains, earlier this year. Soon websites will be able to end in almost any word or phrase, such as .bank or .food, in addition to traditional endings like .com and .org.
The deadline to apply for a new domain was last month. ICANN had expected about 500 applications but received more than 1,900.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Cable industry cheers FCC vote to kill 'viewability rule'
Text donations to campaigns gets approval from FEC
FTC cracks down on personal-data site Spokeo
Holder tells Senate he's been questioned on national security leaks
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
