Geoffrey Starks, an assistant chief of the FCC's
Enforcement Bureau, has been nominated by President Trump to become an FCC
Commissioner. Once confirmed by the Senate, he would fill the Democratic
vacancy on the Commission created by the departure of Mignon Clyburn at the end
of her term.
A graduate of Harvard and Yale Law School, Starks worked for the
Department of Justice before joining the Enforcement Bureau three years ago,
according to a report on Politico.
His first task at the FCC was to go after fraud, abuse and waste in the
Universal Service Fund, which is intended to assure the availability of basic
telecommunications services – including broadband internet – to all Americans.
At press time, no date had been set for confirmation hearings in the Senate.
The ARRL has issued a "white paper" to
offer background and context to proposed changes in its Articles of Association
and By-Laws, as well as the so-called "code of conduct" for directors
and vice directors. It essentially says that proposed changes regarding
personal liability of directors, vice directors and officers are needed to
bring the wording into compliance with Connecticut state law; and that it wants
to add ARRL's informal name, "ARRL, the national association for Amateur
Radio," to the formal name of American Radio Relay League, Inc., that is
already in those documents.
Regarding the "code of conduct," the
paper says the process of reviewing the entire code and developing any
recommended changes "would take longer than anticipated" and would
likely not be ready for presentation to the board of directors at its summer
meeting this month. The complete white paper is at <https://bit.ly/2sM4zm8>.
Citing the prevalence of cybersecurity threats,
the leadership of Army MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio System) is urging all
members to use computers that are not connected to the internet for their MARS
activities.
According to the ARRL Letter,
Army MARS Headquarters Operations Officer David McGinnis, K7UXO, says "we
assume that all computer systems in private citizens' hands are infected with
hostile software code of some sort and are not secured," regardless of
antivirus and malware protection programs.
McGinnis says this is only a
recommendation at this point, but notes that certain exercises will require the
use of computers that are "air-gapped" from the internet.
Geoffrey Starks, an assistant chief of the FCC's
Enforcement Bureau, has been nominated by President Trump to become an FCC
Commissioner. Once confirmed by the Senate, he would fill the Democratic
vacancy on the Commission created by the departure of Mignon Clyburn at the end
of her term.