CapITol Insider: FCC slaps limits on ultrawideband

Got ultrawideband? The Federal Communications Commission has approved a new wireless technology that could be used in everything from cell phones and Internet devices to automobile crash-avoidance systems and corporate communications networks. But the Pentagon and some wireless voice carriers may have the last word on the final deployment of ultrawideband technology. Military users and some in the wireless industry have argued that the signal used by the technology is so powerful that it would interfere with sensitive military communications and other commercial services that are already deployed.
Manufacturers could begin rolling out consumer devices using the technology later this year. But the FCC has already responded to the Pentagon's concerns by restricting users of the technology to operating above the 3.1-GHz range, dealing a blow to manufacturers that had hoped to operate in lower ranges, which allow easier, clearer signal transmission. The FCC also plans to impose limits on the power of ultrawideband devices but has promised to revisit the issue in a year.

Privacy notices: Food for thought? Less than 5% of all financial services customers opted out of information sharing after being invited to do so in notices sent out last summer under the privacy-notification requirements of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act. The reason so few customers opted out was the notices' "dense, high reading level," according to a letter sent recently by attorneys general in 45 states and the District of Columbia to the Federal Trade Commission. The attorneys general think the notices should be standardized in much the same way food labels are, making them accessible and easy to understand.

Department of Emerging Trends. California recently established an Office of Privacy Protection, making it the first state to set up a department specifically to tackle privacy issues raised by consumers. The office will help educate consumers and businesses on best privacy practices, but it may also undertake enforcement actions. The Federal Trade Commission is the chief privacy enforcement authority on a national level, but if other states follow California's lead, the number of potential privacy enforcers may rise.

Mr. Clarke's mirror image. The president's chief cybersecurity adviser, Richard Clarke, has once again pointed an accusatory finger at the private sector for its lackluster approach to information security. Speaking this week at the RSA Conference 2002 security event, Clarke told the crowd of corporate security officers, "If you spend as much on information security as you do on coffee, you will be hacked. And you deserve to be hacked."
Meanwhile, the White House Office of Management