What, you haven’t had enough paparazzi already?
Mohamed Al Fayed, owner of Harrods and the man who might have been father-in-law to the late Princess Di, is back in the news. He’s in court challenging a 70-foot mobile phone tower near his estate at Oxted, Surrey, on health grounds.
That’s in Jolly Olde England.
Meanwhile, Ireland is gearing up for a fight against the “March of the Masts.” Again, health effects is driving the debate.
… Maybe FCC officials, at least, were able to straighten things out with Medina, Wash., tower busters.
By the way, which way will Rep. Rick White (R-Wash.), the young and restless telecom lawmaker with AT&T Wireless and anti-tower constituents, jump come election time?
…. Byte me. Yet another electronic gizmo for the holidays: Apoptosis (means programmed cell death), from WormWare Productions. For $4.95, Apoptosis empowers you to disconnect pocket phones when you’ve had it with the guy yakking away on his phone at the table next to you at Starbucks. Apoptosis is highlighted in the “Improbable” column in this month’s issue of Byte magazine. Wonder if it can off Bond’s Ericsson phone. Not to worry Pierce, Tomorrow Never Dies.
…. Chairman Welcome Wagon. Senate Commerce Committee chief John McCain (R-Ariz.) dropped a note to new FCC Chairman Bill Kennard last week to remind him the implementation of the ’96 telecom act is a mess and he should fix it.
Kennard will be hearing a lot from telecom lawmakers in coming weeks, months and years. You see, having given up on the bygone Hundt, lawmakers have had letters queued up for some time.
McCain also dropped a line to GAO Comptroller General James Hinchman, asking him to investigate Portalgate.
… More CALEA clues. TIA and ATIS announced the publication of the Lawfully Authorized Electronic Surveillance industry standard. The bad guys, of course, have their own version known as the Unlawfully Authorized Electronic Surveillance criminal standard. On that note, CTIA recently hosted a forum in St. Louis on CALEA implementation by vendors.
… Nice try Bill. Commerce Secretary William Daley, pledging early on to purge politics from overseas trade missions, is taking all Dem high rollers with him to India, Dec. 7-13. Some say business is trying to “curry” favor with Daley.
… Israel, already a big wireless consumer, is poised to make more demands on mobile phones. A massive labor strike has shut down the national telephone system and other infrastructure. Oy vey.
