Telecom
Administration Declines To Appeal Rejection Of FCC Rules
     U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson decided this week that the Bush administration will not appeal a federal court's ruling against new FCC telecommunications rules, handing a major victory to the regional Bell telecom providers. A day after that decision, AT&T and MCI joined the effort to get the Supreme Court to stop the appeals-court decision, which would overturn FCC rules requiring the Bell telephone companies to share their network lines with competitors in local markets. If the Supreme Court does not side with the telecom companies, the rules dictating line-sharing rates will take effect Tuesday. A group of state regulators filed a separate request on the rules because they believe the decision usurps their authority to regulate local telephone markets.

Spectrum
FCC Adopts Plan For Sharing Spectrum Of Educators
     The FCC adopted proposed rules aimed at fostering the growth of wireless, high-speed Internet services while also preserving educational institutions' access to spectrum. The commission adopted a report and order, and announced plans for more rulemaking, that would substantially change the rules governing the portion of the spectrum used by educational institutions and wireless operators. The changes aim to give the operators more flexibility in deciding what technologies they need to deploy new telecommunications services. They also aim to simplify the licensing rules to enable wider deployment of the services, and allow for spectrum leasing under the FCC's secondary-market rules. The actions preserve the rules for instructional television fixed-service spectrum, which means that educational institutions still will be the primary lessees of that spectrum and have the right to sublet unused portions to commercial companies.

Cyber Security
Official: No Updates To Strategy Planned Despite Flaws
     The time for reviewing the federal cyber-security strategy has not come yet despite flaws that need to be addressed, a top official said this week. "There is no effort to update" the strategy issued by the White House early in 2003, said Amit Yoran, director of the Homeland Security Department cyber-security division. The strategy was identified as a "snapshot in time," he said. Yoran said after a speech at a SecureE-Biz.net conference that new issues have arisen since the strategy was released, such as a focus on securing "control systems" for infrastructure like chemical manufacturing or power systems. In addition, he acknowledged that problems exist in areas such as information-sharing analysis centers for various sectors and full industry support for federal efforts.

Cyber Security
Administration Officials Call For More Research, Talent
     Bush administration officials and information technology industry experts identified areas of cyber security that need to be addressed, including more research and development and the training of the next generation of cyber experts in government. "There is an incredibly shrinking pool of IT security professionals in government," said Jack Johnson, chief security officer at the Homeland Security Department. "The bench is not just thin; the bench is non-existent," he added in a sports reference to backup players. "We need to train the next generation" of IT professionals. Johnson said Homeland Security does not have the IT workforce to build the systems it needs and is "absolutely dependent" on help from the research and academic communities. The department contracts a lot of work outside government, he said, but there are a limited number of cleared contractors and high turnover of personnel.

Security
Markup Of Homeland Authorization Bill Delayed
     The House Homeland Security Committee has pushed to July its plans to mark up the first-ever authorization bill for the Homeland Security Department this year, according to a committee aide. The panel had told its members it would release a draft of the legislation Friday and debate the bill June 22. But due to events to honor the life of former President Ronald Reagan, Chairman Christopher Cox decided to reschedule both deadlines to give lawmakers more time to discuss the legislation. The committee aide said the panel is hoping to debate the bill the first week of July. Democrats and Republicans on the panel have been publicly and privately wrangling over provisions to improve homeland security. Cox, R-Calif., is attempting to draft a bill with substantive language to address security issues while not crossing into other committees' turf.

Antitrust
Microsoft To Pay EU Fine, Leave Product Unchanged
     Microsoft plans to pay the roughly $609 million fine due the European Commission later this month, but it does not plan to make other changes ordered by the commission unless it loses an upcoming request for a temporary stay of an antitrust ruling against the firm. The European Commission ruled March 23 that Microsoft violated European Union competition law by exploiting its dominant position in the software market. As expected, Microsoft this week filed an appeal, asking Europe's highest court to annul the decision and either annul or substantially reduce the fine. That appeal process could take several years. Meanwhile, by the end of June, 90 days after the company received the EU decision, several changes in the way Microsoft does business are mandated, including making its product fully workable with other firms' products, providing technical information to competitors and offering its Windows computer-operating system without the condition that it include Microsoft's MediaPlayer.

Education
Study Offers Ideas For Bolstering School Tech Budgets
     The support of education leaders and communities can impact how school districts maintain or bolster their technology budgets, according to a new study. The "overall mood" of the 455 respondents who completed an online survey in March was a mix of optimism and concern that current technology disparities will widen, said Peter Grunwald of Grunwald Associates, the firm hired by the Consortium for School Networking to conduct the survey. The key indicator of how a district's technology investment will fare is the attitude of a district's decision maker, Grunwald said. At this point, however, many district budgets are flat, so while the idea of integrating technology into schools is growing in popularity, many school districts must say no to technology investment, he said. Meanwhile, the New York City Council released a report that offers principles for effectively integrating technology into public schools and that profiles schools that have done so successfully.