This week, there has been a good deal of Congressional activity on legislation of interest to TIA and our member companies that was altogether positive. It’s evidence that light-touch regulation with feedback from all parties can be positive for the tech and telecom industry.
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Not only was the panel a total success, addressing question on various emerging and established technologies for the deaf and hard-of-hearing applicable to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, but it was great to see one of our regulatory staff who works so tirelessly on accessibility issues out in public showing her knowledge and highlighting TIA’s advocacy in that space.

Other panelists included Jim House of Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing; Karl Ewan of Sprint; and Michael Young of the Department of Defense Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program.

At 2 p.m. the House Energy & Commerce Committee will mark up, among several other bills, HR-3403, Rep. Gordon’s 911 Modernization and Safety Act of 2007 and an amended version of HR-3919, Chmn. Markey’s Broadband Census of America Act of 2007. As Cisco points out, a comprehensive broadband deployment map is long overdue, and Markey seems to agree.

At 2:30 the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee will mark up S-1853, the Community Broadband Act of 2007. This speaks to municipal broadband networks, and local governments’ ability to decide on their own terms whether a municipal network is right for them.

And then there’s the pending Internet Tax renewal. It looks like this Congress really does take its role as a high-tech Congress seriously. Hopefully they’ll keep the ball rolling.

There are so many separate ways to look at our industry, so many different sectors and components that drive the larger whole. The ICT economy, as a microcosm of the world economy, is so multifaceted it almost defies analysis.

There’s one facet of the industry so important nothing else could go on without it, yet it very rarely gets any attention. That’s standards and the process of standards-setting that goes on every day, not only in our industry but in every corner of the global developed economy — from construction to plastics to telecom to environmental compliance.

In a sense, the work of the standards sector — from large, accredited international bodies at the macro level to the individuals who volunteer their time and energy at the micro level — is like oxygen to the economy. No one really notices when air is plentiful, but we couldn’t live without it. Standards are the same — while most of the world’s manufacturing, public safety, and even service sectors hum along blissfully unaware of their presence, consensus standards continue to support those sectors’ very existence.
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Keep your eyes on this legislation, brought to you courtesy of Tech Daily Dose, which sets about cushioning the blow to any workers displaced by international trade. TDD’s Aliya Sternstein details various reactions in the tech community, which run the gamut.

Oh man. The 463 on Lou Dobbs. Not taking sides here: just a highly amusing flogging.

When tech news is slow, apparently, stories just get made up — via Engadget. Worth noting that the ongoing coverage of the iPhone phenomenon has revealed some hard-core self loathing in the ICT pundit community (’real loser,’ etc.).

As ICT technology continues to migrate to IP, as speed and capacity increase – and the challenge of meeting the growing demand for bandwidth increases, as well – there’s a new focus on the end user. Each vendor wants to be the first into new product markets and service niches and truly adopt the right business model. Each wants to reach the customer in an efficient, effective way. There are countless opportunities in this respect, but in such a competitive, convergent market, also countless questions.
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