Caron Carlson

Despite a steady stream of reported data thefts this year—most recently by CardSystems Solutions Inc.—members of Congress are unable to agree on how to combat the growing threat to consumer privacy. The roster of divergent potential solutions grew again Thursday. “We need to do everything possible to ensure that our personal information remains privileged and […]

Despite a steady stream of data breach disclosures this year—most recently by CardSystems Solutions Inc. —members of Congress are unable to agree on how to combat the growing threat to consumer privacy, and the roster of divergent measures grew again Thursday. “We need to do everything possible to ensure that our personal information re-mains privileged […]

Before Congress leaves Washington for its annual recess next month, both the House and the Senate are expected to vote to renew police powers that were granted in the 2001 Patriot Act and are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Among the most controversial provisions up for renewal is the FBIs power […]

The near-complete overhaul of the Department of Homeland Security, announced last week by department Secretary Michael Chertoff, may finally give the countrys cyber-security chief the power and authority needed to make real improvements, according to experts. A new Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security and Telecommunications will be responsible for assessing the security of critical telecommunications […]

Explosive growth in the lending industry has come as a boon to Provident Funding Associates LP in recent years. But for the companys small systems group, led by Jason Lukitsch, the boon brought a logistical nightmare: how to administer disparate telephone systems at a growing number of small branch offices coast to coast. Many of […]

Senators who approved the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement late last month championed it as a way to reduce tariffs on American-made goods, but the governments own International Trade Commission found that its impact on the gross domestic product would be too small to register. “CAFTA, by all accounts, has minimal benefits for our […]

Congressional leaders appear eager to pass an identity-theft law this week, and their proposals are becoming tougher. Last week, Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and John Dingell, D-Mich., the chairman and ranking minority member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, respectively, floated a draft bill requiring businesses engaged in interstate commerce to encrypt sensitive […]

Recent efforts to improve cooperation and coordination between the federal government and the IT industry have shown mixed results, including the aborted attempt this spring to create a Chief Information Security Officer Exchange. The ongoing struggle to improve the dialogue increases the pressure on the original public/private-sector forum—the Industry Advisory Council—and its new chairman, Ellen […]

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, who took the helm of the agency this spring, last week outlined an agenda that will extend the deregulatory program of his predecessor, Michael Powell. Addressing the telecommunications industry at its annual Supercomm gathering in Chicago, Martin said his top priority is to create a regulatory environment conducive to […]

For an industry made up of companies long accustomed to going their own way, telecommunications is becoming increasingly dependent on partnerships. At the Supercomm show here last week, service providers and software developers unveiled a series of intriguing partnerships. IBM, which for years has helped network operators team up with other vendors to maximize efficiency […]

Privacy advocates have toiled for three years to rein in the governments enhanced power under the USA Patriot Act to demand confidential customer records from American businesses, but congressional leaders instead are poised to expand the power and make it permanent. Several of the most invasive provisions of the Patriot Act, passed hastily in the […]

CHICAGO—The chiefs of the countrys largest network equipment makers are sending a clear signal that security and reliability will remain top challenges for network operators, both in the enterprise and service provider markets. While IP networking and converged services promise untold benefits, they also expose the network to more sophisticated attacks. At the Supercomm conference […]