Policy Announcements

NIST’s Technology Innovation Program (TIP) Advisory Board will hold a public meeting on December 8 in Gaithersburg, MD. TIP "supports, promotes, and accelerates innovation in the United States through high-risk, high-reward research in areas of critical national need." Additionally, the program supports "targeted investments in transformational R&D that will ensure our Nation’s future through sustained technological leadership."

The Federal Trade Commission has announced another extension of the enforcement of the "Red Flags" Rule. At the request of Members of Congress, the Federal Trade Commission is delaying enforcement of the “Red Flags” Rule until June 1, 2010. For more information, see the EDUCAUSE Resource Center page on Identity Theft and Red Flags.

Yesterday, the FCC issued a lengthy Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) relating to possible new network neutrality regulations. They are seeking public feedback on the Commission's "draft rules [for an] open Internet" through January 14, 2010. Reply comments will be due March 5, 2010.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced plans to hold a series of roundtable discussions relating to consumer privacy. The FTC is particularly interested in looking at the privacy challenges "posed by the vast array of 21st century technology and business practices," including: social networking, cloud computing, online behavioral advertising, mobile marketing, and the collection and use of information by retailers, data brokers, third-party applications, and other diverse businesses. For more details, please click here. Comments are due November 6, 2009.

Since issuing their notice of inquiry for a National Broadband Plan in April, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has tried to promote open communications between the commission and stakeholders. After taking a look at the feedback they have gathered so far, the FCC is now seeking focused comments on specific subjects. The agency recently released a National Broadband Plan Public Notice #1, which seeks feedback on three different aspects of "broadband," including: 1) general form, characteristics, and performance indicators that should be included in a definition, 2) thresholds that should be assigned to these performance indicators, and 3) how the definition should be reevaluated over time. Comments are due to the FCC by August 31, 2009 and should be posted online. Reply comments (or responses to those comments already posted) will be due September 8.

In order to provide guidance on how to handle the H1N1 flu in colleges and universities, the U.S. Department of Education is holding a conference call tomorrow afternoon (Thursday, August 20, 2009) at 3 pm EDT. Education Secretary Duncan, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius and CDC officials, will discuss ways the higher education community might prepare for and prevent the H1N1 flu. Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions. Call-in details below:

THURSDAY, Aug. 20
3:00 PM EDT
Call-in: 888-790-5527
Passcode: FLU

NACUBO and ACE are hosting a higher education policy webinar at 2 pm EDT on Friday, August 7, 2009. Featured guests include Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Under Secretary Martha Kanter, and Deputy Under Secretary Robert Shireman. The group plans to focus on the Obama Administration's higher education agenda, and will allow for a Q&A session. If you are interested in participating in this special opportunity, you must register for the event beforehand.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has announced that it is seeking volunteer panelists for reviewing grant proposals submitted under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). Members of the EDUCAUSE and Internet2 community are encouraged to apply. Last week, the NTIA said it was collecting the first round of grant applications for the $4.7 billion program between July 14 and August 14, 2009. The agency says it plans to conduct panel reviews through "at least the end of September," and says the volunteer reviewers' contributions will "be an important factor ... in determining whether to award grant funding."

For more information, please visit the EDUCAUSE Resource Center: Economic Stimulus.

This year's ICPL Annual Seminar in Ithaca, NY kicks off in a little less than a month and there are still slots available (click here to register). Monday-Thursday, July 20-23, starting Monday with a half-day introduction to Internet Law and Policy from Steve McDonald. Topics Tuesday-Thursday range from Self-Snooping to In Loco Parentis and include Cloud Computing (our featured topic), P2P, Outsourcing E-Mail, the Google Book Project, and many others. EDUCAUSE's own Richard Katz will be our dinner speaker Tuesday evening, talking about Cloud Computing. See the full schedule.

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding requirements of vendors of personal health records and related entities to notify individuals when the security of their individually identifiable health information is breached. Comments are due on June 1, 2009. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 includes provisions to advance the use of health information technology and, at the same time, strengthen privacy and security protections for health information. Accordingly, the ARRA mandated that the Federal Trade Commission issue rules of health breach notifications. A news release (FTC Publishes Proposed Breach Notification Rule for Electronic Health Information) is also available.