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April 2010

Google Gets in Bed With Verizon

[Commentary] The Google-Verizon Wall Street Journal op-ed is mostly boring; until it gets to the punchline and tells us that government should have as little role as possible in delivering broadband to America. Just like government should stay out of banking regulation, I take it?

Let me translate their rhetoric: The FCC's plan is great -- as long as they don't try to implement it. Or rather, as long as they don't do anything that doesn't fit within Verizon and Google's idea of "minimal government involvement." It's no accident that the CEOs don't try to explain what they mean. If they did, they would step directly into a big, steaming pile of hypocrisy. Most agree that the market is the preferred mechanism for achieving the goals of the nation in digital technology and infrastructure. If the market is working, government plays cheerleader. But, hello, the whole reason the Congress mandated a National Broadband Plan from the FCC is because the market isn't working; we're slipping perilously behind the rest of the world. The objectives set out in the plan, all of which are applauded by these companies -- world-class fiber networks, the expansion of broadband for universal availability and adoption, and the extension of broadband into every aspect of our lives -- aren't being delivered without government action. Like most big companies, Google and Verizon hate regulation and government involvement in business when it limits bad behavior and anti-competitive activity. But they absolutely love it when it helps them. In fact, both of these companies maintain small armies of lobbyists to ply the government for all the regulations that they want, even as they fight off all the regulations they don't want.

AT&T, Verizon Fault FCC Wireless Decision on Leases

AT&T and Verizon Wireless faulted federal regulators for adopting restrictions on airwave leases the two companies can negotiate with a wholesaler of wireless Internet service.

The Federal Communications Commission on March 26 approved Harbinger Capital Partners Funds' acquisition of SkyTerra Communications, a Reston, Virginia-based provider of mobile satellite services that plans to sell access to operators of high-speed wireless data, or broadband, networks. The FCC required SkyTerra to seek approval before leasing capacity to "the largest or second-largest wireless provider," a condition Harbinger had proposed. Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone, is the biggest wireless company, followed by AT&T.

"The commission is setting a very disturbing precedent when it implies that it may use allocation of spectrum to manipulate the wireless market," Jim Cicconi, AT&T's senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, said in an e-mailed statement. "This action is manifestly unwise and potentially unlawful."

The requirements on Harbinger "do not prohibit any specific transactions," Paul de Sa, chief of the FCC's Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, said today in a blog posting. "They do provide some reassurance that the approval will ignite new broadband competition while protecting the public from any potential harms."

Cue the "Mission Impossible" Theme for Harbinger's LTE Plans

[Commentary] Harbinger Capital Partner's bold plan to build out an open 4G wireless network has more moving parts than the latest OK Go video, and would require a minimum of $6 billion for the terrestrial and satellite infrastructure alone. Based on the expenses and the difficulty of building a cellular network, Higginbotham is skeptical that a competitive LTE network will come out of the plan. The proposed network will be expensive, hard to deploy and face opposition from AT&T and Verizon.

Missouri Governor Supports 12 Broadband Stimulus Proposals

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (D) is supporting 12 different proposals from across Missouri that would expand broadband Internet access in rural and underserved parts of the state for health care, business, education and consumers.

Those proposals - from private companies, local governments and rural electric cooperatives - have been submitted for federal funding through the Recovery Act. Missouri is partnering with those businesses and agencies to expand broadband through MoBroadbandNow, a five-year initiative launched by Gov. Nixon last summer. The initiative coordinates efforts to obtain funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Commerce specifically set aside for broadband expansion. MoBrandbandNow seeks to expand broadband accessibility to 95 percent of the total population, a significant increase from current projected accessibility of 79.7 percent. Five of the applications supported by the State of Missouri are for developing middle-mile infrastructure for broadband; six are for developing last-mile projects; and one is for developing public computing centers, which will provide broadband access in public locations, often targeting a specific vulnerable population such as low-income, minority, disabled or unemployed Missourians.

Better Coordination Needed to Map Local Media Ecologies

[Commentary] Back in 2008, I co-organized a conference called Beyond Broadcast. That year's theme was "mapping public media," and was designed to both call out the rising importance of maps as a platform for sharing digital media, and to "map" the fragmented universe of public service media projects. The maps I found at the time underscored the siloed nature of news production. There were maps of public TV stations, community media projects, and citizen bloggers, all maintained separately by different entities and aimed at very different users. Such isolation made it difficult to trace the relationships between these different kinds of outlets in any one place.

However, as concerns about local media ecologies have sharpened -- spurred in part by the focus of the Knight Commission on the information needs of communities -- such mapping has taken on a new urgency. Knight provides interested locales with a starting point: A simple survey for assessing the health of their information environment. The Knight Media Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation (NAF), where I'm now a fellow, has begun to develop a set of analyses of local media/governance ecologies. The goal is to "align policy recommendations with needs on the ground," said Tom Glaisyer, who is coordinating NAF's initiative, and plans to work with others seeking similar information. Various scans of the community media landscape have already been launched, including a survey by the Free Press, a field scan by NAMAC, and this crowdsourced directory of cable access stations.

April 6, 2010 (Paying for the National Broadband Plan)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2010

For this week's events -- and, yes, there are a couple... http://bit.ly/bgbQd3


BROADBAND/INTERNET
   Paying for the American National Broadband Internet Plan
   Google fiber losers, unite
   Gloves off, telecom giants to FCC: It's on!
   FCC forms strategy to defend broadband powers
   FCC Or Comcast? Who Should Control Broadband?
   Windstream Hijacking Firefox Google Toolbar Results
   The Internet packs a punch in the evolution of institutions
   Cerf: Share use of spectrum, make sure everyone gets on
   Smith: Internet freedom bill has 'very good' prospects; early Dem support
   FTC eyes COPPA, mobile Web rules for possible revision

TELEVISION/RADIO
   Indecency, Obscenity Complaints Down In FCC's Most Recent Accounting
   Lawmakers Seek FCC Action In AT&T-Cox Spat
   Cable vs. broadcast: TV's different mindsets
   Advertisers returning to baseball telecasts

DIGITAL CONTENT
   Department of Justice Supports the Associated Press's Proposed Digital News Registry
   Bad U.K. Copyright Bill Will Leap The Pond In No Time
   Is permission needed to retweet hot news?

PRIVACY
   Google changes Buzz privacy settings
   German minister criticizes Facebook on privacy

CYBERSECURITY
   Researchers Trace Data Theft to Intruders in China
   Cyber Insecurity: US Struggles To Confront Threat
   Uncle Sam Wants You To Fight Hackers
   Cybercrime concerns grow in China

MORE ONLINE
   Updating the Federal Health Information Technology Strategic Plan
   Google, venture capitalists ask Obama let consumers track energy use
   Japan and mobile phone operators agree on unlocking handsets
   Microsoft and Apple square up in phone battle
   How much impact will the iPad have?

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BROADBAND/INTERNET

PAYING FOR THE BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Eli Noam]
[Commentary] The National broadband Plan claims that all of its provisions will cost the government nothing. This claim is misleading. The money to implement the plan would be raised in several ways. First, by selling a lot more spectrum licenses. This makes sense in terms of efficiency but it's not free money. Spectrum isn't just sitting around. Present users would be pushed off their band and would need compensation or relocation to another band. New buyers deduct the expense from their taxable income. And, of course, the money raised from the sale of the spectrum could support other worthy causes, such as energy research or the renovation of schools and bridges. It may make sense to sell spectrum but it does not follow that the proceeds should go to rural broadband, or that the revenue collected has no budgetary offsets. It would be one thing if the money would be used to for investment in long-lasting infrastructure. But part of it would be used to subsidize lower Internet prices. In other words, we would be selling scarce long-term public assets to pay for current private consumption. A second funding mechanism that is proposed is a charge on TV stations' using their free TV. To deal with the consequences to poor people would require their receiving instead free cable TV or satellite service. This would either have to be paid for by government or mandated on cable and satellite companies. Either way, this too is money that could be spent in alternative ways. Next, the plan wants to take money from the telecom 'universal service fund' and 'lifeline" programs and move it to a new 'Connect America' fund which would support the buildout of high speed broadband. This means that phone service for many people would become more expensive in order to subsidize rural and low income Internet. These are not necessarily the same users. Those with no interest in broadband would only see their phone bill going up. It is doubtful that the support for rural telecom companies and users would be cut, given its political strength. More likely, the new programs would be additive and require a new support source for support.
benton.org/node/33899 | Financial Times
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GOOGLE FIBER LOSERS, UNITE
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Now that Google has wrapped up the application period for its open access, 1Gbps fiber testbed, we know that more than 1,000 US cities want the network. Only a couple will get it, though; what's going to happen to everyone else? Broadband consultant Craig Settles and Greensboro, North Carolina fiber booster Jay Ovittore have joined forces to start "Communities United for Broadband." The idea is simple: create a place where communities can share strategies for moving forward with high-speed broadband plans -- even if Google says no to their bid.
benton.org/node/33898 | Ars Technica | Communities United for Broadband
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GLOVES OFF
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Soon after the Federal Communications Commission released its national broadband plan a few weeks ago, the nation's biggest telecom companies began a battle against specific measures and questioned the agency's ability to regulate broadband services. Verizon Wireless and AT&T sent petitions last week to the agency, protesting a condition to a satellite broadband merger that would exclude them from partnering up with the new company. The condition isn't part of the national broadband plan, but some communications policy experts say the requirement was a signal of similar policies to come. The move could signal, for example, spectrum caps or other rules attached to spectrum auctions and the formation of a public safety network that would exclude the biggest players in favor of smaller competitors. Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, said those comments were meant to counter any move by the agency to classify broadband as a common carrier service, under which the FCC has clear authority. Comcast, the nation's biggest cable and broadband services company, hasn't weighed in on reclassification or specific elements of the national broadband plan. The company, whose lawsuit against the FCC began the debate over the agency's jurisdiction, is seeking FCC approval for its merger with NBC Universal. "The biggest caveats and concerns for the Bells would be if the FCC, in response to court review, moves to reclassify broadband as a more heavily regulated Title II telecom services, and/or crafts strict net neutrality rules," Arbogast wrote in a research note. "The significance of these fundamental issues were reflected in Verizon's strategic decision to call on Congress to revise the central foundation of the Communications Act." The comments also signal a change in tone, observers said. Aside from protests of a net neutrality policy proposal last fall, analysts and telecom attorneys said the top telecom and cable companies had been reluctant to criticize FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
benton.org/node/33889 | Washington Post
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FCC STRATEGY TO DEFEND REGULATORY POWER
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: John Poirier]
With a looming court case that could derail his broadband agenda, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and his circle of advisers are weighing options to put the centerpiece of his administration on a solid footing. His alternatives appear limited if the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decides that the FCC lacks sufficient authority to regulate broadband services. Within the next few months, the three-judge panel is expected to issue a ruling based on oral arguments held in January involving a case in which Comcast challenged the FCC's power to regulate management of online content. The case centers on a 2008 decision by the FCC to censure Comcast for throttling bandwidth-hogging online file sharing services for video and TV shows. Experts say there are two undesirable options for the FCC if the court rules the regulator overstepped its authority. The FCC could appeal the case to the Supreme Court which might not hear the case or take years to deliver a final ruling. Congress could alternatively rewrite the laws to explicitly state the FCC's powers over broadband access and content.
benton.org/node/33888 | Reuters
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WHO SHOULD CONTROL BROADBAND?
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Joel Rose]
Does the Federal Communications Commission have the legal authority to regulate Internet access? It's a question that could throw a monkey wrench into the FCC's national broadband plan. A case brought by Comcast against the FCC is pending before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the big telecoms are pressing Congress to step in. Sascha Meinrath, who directs the Open Technology Initiative at the non-partisan New America Foundation, says, "We could end up with a moment where all rules and regulations go out the window. It would have profoundly detrimental impacts on our privacy, detrimental impacts on what we pay every month. It would have detrimental impacts on just creating and maintaining a healthy marketplace."
benton.org/node/33887 | National Public Radio
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WINDSTREAM HIJACKING SEARCH RESULTS
[SOURCE: dslreports.com, AUTHOR: Karl Bode]
Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) out there have now implemented some form of Domain Name System (DNS) advertising redirection, which redirects users who type in nonexistent or misspelled URLs to an ISP-branded search portal. The technology allows ISPs to create an additional revenue stream off of your lousy typing. Some ISPs have at least done a good job implementing the technology, giving users "clean" DNS servers, some extra DSL tools, and working opt-out mechanisms. Others haven't, implementing opt out solutions that are cookie-based and often just don't work very well, rushing right for the cash reward without offering consumer value. Windstream implemented DNS redirection ads back in 2008, and only after some complaining from our users did they offer users clean DNS servers. Since then however, Windstream's DNS redirection appears to have gotten rather ambitious, and according to user posts in our Windstream forum, has started hijacking Firefox Google toolbar results -- even if users are using OpenDNS or an alternative DNS provider. Free Press released a statement saying, "We hope the FCC will investigate Windstream's practices immediately, and move expeditiously to pass open Internet rules without loopholes allowing pernicious activity such as the alleged search engine hijacking."
benton.org/node/33886 | dslreports.com | www.freepress.net
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THE INTERNET AND THE EVOLUTION OF INSTITUTIONS
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: ]
A survey of nearly 900 Internet stakeholders reveals new perspectives on the way the Internet is affecting human interaction and the evolution of businesses and governments. The web-based survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University, gathered opinions on 10 important issues from a select group of experts and the highly engaged Internet public. Results from this survey are being released in four major 2010 reports. The first came out in February; this second report outlines expert responses to the sixth survey question, in which people were asked to share their views of the Internet's influence on the future of institutional relationships between now and 2020. While 72 percent of survey respondents agreed that innovative online cooperation will result in more efficient and responsive bureaucracies, most people hedged their answers, noting, for instance, that change will be varied and in some cases the rate of change will be slow. Some of the 26 percent who expressed pessimism about the advancement of institutions said communications networks and new digital tools give entrenched institutions new abilities to control and track people.
benton.org/node/33885 | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project | Read the report
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INTERNET FREEDOM BILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
It has been four years since Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) first introduced a bill that in part would penalize Web companies that turn over information to Internet-censoring countries. But he now thinks the Global Online Freedom Act now faces "very good" prospects for passage in 2010. "It's an idea whose time is right now, it's come," stressed Smith, a co-founder of his chamber's Global Internet Freedom Caucus. "We've proven our point beyond any reasonable doubt." According to Smith, that point is simple: Companies that abide by free speech and expression rules domestically should not be so quick to censor their content abroad. Consequently, his bill would address that concern by levying stiff penalties on companies whose Web practices result in the detention or torture of Web protesters. Moreover, the legislation would establish the Office of Global Internet Freedom as part of the State Department to identify and monitor countries that repress online speech. According to Smith, a number of lawmakers have recently expressed support for his efforts, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), whom Smith described to as "very interested" in his proposal.
benton.org/node/33883 | Hill, The
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FTC EYES COPPS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
The Federal Trade Commission is now eying changes to rules that require websites to seek parental consent whenever they collect information from children under age 13. The agency must review the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), passed in 2000, every five years as required by law. While the FTC fielded "extensive public comment" on the rule in 2005, it ultimately decided after intense debate to "retain the COPPA rule without change." But the FTC signaled a new willingness Monday to alter some of law's wording to keep pace with changes in technology, as part of its scheduled 2010 COPPA review.
benton.org/node/33882 | Hill, The | FTC
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TELEVISION/RADIO

INDECENCY COMPLAINTS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In July, August and September 2009, the Federal Communications Commission received 1,827 indecency and obscenity complaints, down dramatically from the 12,940 it received in the previous three months. In the second quarter, indecency complaints were more than two thirds of the 17,047 total radio and TV-related complaints to the FCC, while they were less than a third of the 6,700 radio and TV complaints registered in the third quarter. Other such complaints were about marketing and advertising, general programming criticisms and DTV issues.
benton.org/node/33881 | Broadcasting&Cable | 2nd Quarter complaints | 3rd Quarter complaints
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LAWMAKERS SEEK FCC ACTION IN CABLE DISPUTE
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
In a letter last week to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, Reps Bob Filner (D-CA) and Duncan Hunter (R-CA) have asked the agency to act on AT&T's complaint against Cox, saying "Cox Communications, our incumbent cable provider in San Diego, continues to refuse the licensing of Padres' games to competitive video providers in the San Diego market." The issue relates to AT&T's request to air San Diego Padres Major League Baseball games on its U-Verse television service in the San Diego area. Using a loophole in FCC program access rules, Cox and other cable providers have been able to withhold some programming such as sporting events from their rivals. The FCC, however, voted to close this loophole in January.
benton.org/node/33880 | CongressDaily
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CABLE VS BROADCAST
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Neal Gabler]
The real difference between broadcast television and cable is not that the Federal Communications Commission restricts one from doing what the other can. It's a matter of cosmology -- the way they perceive the universe. Cable TV and broadcast TV purvey different worlds, and cable's is darker, bleaker, more complicated and less forgiving. This shouldn't be too surprising. Broadcast television was devised in the late 1940s to reach the broadest possible audience in order to sell sponsors' products. Because it would eventually enter nearly every living room in America, it was compelled both by government regulation and its own sense of decorum to behave like a proper guest. From its earliest variety shows, which were direct descendants of vaudeville and shared vaudeville's family appeal, to its earliest sitcoms, which were descendants of radio and shared radio's disinclination to offend, to its earliest dramas, which descended from the movies and made a similar appeal to the middle, television felt safe. Cable television purveys a very different world view.
benton.org/node/33877 | Los Angeles Times
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ADVERTISERS RETURNING TO BASEBALL
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: John Consoli]
Of course, nothing's as important as Opening Day this week and despite a laggard economy and tepid ratings for the sport in 2009, advertisers have returned to Major League Baseball telecasts this season, and baseball's TV rights holders are close to selling out commercial time on their first few months of games. Fox is virtually sold out for April and May, buoyed by a doubling in automotive ad dollars and a 75% hike in financial advertising compared with this time last season for its Saturday afternoon games and two primetime contests. Turner has taken in 15%-20% more ad dollars than it did last year for its Sunday afternoon MLB games. ESPN, which televises the most games nationally, also is pacing ahead of last year. Its telecast of the Home Run Derby the night before the All-Star Game is almost sold out. And MLB Network, in its second year, added 30 new advertisers this season to the 200 clients from its first year in business.
benton.org/node/33890 | Reuters
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DIGITAL CONTENT

JUSTICE AND THE AP'S DIGITAL NEWS REGISTRY
[SOURCE: Department of Justice, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Department of Justice announced today that it supports a proposal by The Associated Press (AP) to develop and operate a voluntary news registry to facilitate the licensing and Internet distribution of news content created by the AP, its members, and other news originators. The department said that the development and operation of the registry is not likely to reduce competition among news content owners and could provide procompetitive benefits to both participating content owners and content users. The Department of Justice's position was stated in a business review letter to counsel for the AP from Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. The registry would consist of a centralized digital database containing news content from multiple content owners. It would allow content owners to register and list individual items of news content, specify the uses others may make of that content, and detail the terms on which such content may be licensed. The registry would enable content users to determine quickly the licensing and use terms applicable to a specific content owner or to individual items of registered content. The registry would be a non-exclusive method of accessing, licensing and using content on the Internet. It would be open, on nondiscriminatory terms, to all owners and users of Internet news content. Content owners would be free to select which, if any, content to include in the registry. They would be allowed to offer registered news content outside of the registry. They would also be free to join other competing Internet registry services.
benton.org/node/33878 | Department of Justice
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BAD BILL WILL COME HERE SOON
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] Barring some unforeseen development, the House of Commons in the U.K. will approve a dreadful piece of legislation called the Digital Economy Bill being pushed by the entertainment, sports and other industries. The implications for the U.S. are enormous. The legislation, which would allow Internet users to be thrown off line for copyright infringement, or even to block access to entire Web sites, is scheduled to come up for consideration tomorrow (Tues.) under a fast-track process called "wash-up," used at the end of Parliamentary sessions, much as the "wrap-up" is used in the U.S. Congress ­ for bills to be taken up with little debate. The bill has already been passed by the House of Lords, so action by Commons would be the final step in approvals before the current session of Parliament ends, expected to be on April 12. About 20,000 people have already sent letters to their Members of Parliament asking that the bill receive proper debate. It now appears as if several hours of discussion have been scheduled for tomorrow (April 6).
benton.org/node/33873 | Public Knowledge
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RETWEETING HOT NEWS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
When an aggregator like Google News publishes newspaper headlines, is the company treading on thin ice? What about aggregators that publish headlines and a one-line excerpt? What about those that simply rewrite the facts contained in the story and publish a new account in their own words? Newspapers have long objected to these practices, arguing that they dilute the value of their own work. The argument here is about copyright law, since the sites in questions are reproducing verbatim headlines and leads. The key defense would be "fair use," though it's not clear exactly where it's limits would be. But think about our third question above, the one involving rewrites. These don't implicate copyright law, since nothing is being copied excepts the facts from the original article -- and copyright law famously does not extend to facts and ideas. Yet it's easy to see what might happen. One company might sit back, read AP stories, and simply rewrite them and market the new stories as its own, all without doing the work of actual reporting. This famously happened during World War I, and it lead to the Supreme Court's finding of a "hot news" right for journalists. In essence, the right does protect facts and ideas for a limited time in order to prevent rampant freeloading in breaking news stories.
benton.org/node/33897 | Ars Technica
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PRIVACY

GOOGLE CHANGES BUZZ SETTINGS
[SOURCE: San Francisco Business Times, AUTHOR: Steven Brown]
Google said Monday it "didn't get everything right" with its Buzz social network. The company said it "moved as fast as possible to improve the Buzz experience." Monday afternoon a message on the company's blog asked users to "confirm" their settings. Some people had complained about privacy issues around a controversial feature called "auto-following." That was an automatic move by the system to create a list of followers from addresses in the user's Gmail account. Now, Google said, that's been replaced by "suggestions for people to follow."
benton.org/node/33875 | San Francisco Business Times | Google
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GERMAN MINISTER CRITICIZES FACEBOOK ON PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR:]
Consumer protection minister Ilse Aigner has sharply criticized Facebook's handling of personal data and is calling on the social network to upgrade its privacy settings. Minister Aigner urges Facebook's CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg in an open letter "to revise the privacy policy without delay" and calls on the company not to allow personal data to be passed on to third parties for commercial purposes without users' consent.
This headline is presented in partnership with:

benton.org/node/33874 | Associated Press
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CYBERSECURITY
   Researchers Trace Data Theft to Intruders in China
   Cyber Insecurity: US Struggles To Confront Threat
   Uncle Sam Wants You To Fight Hackers
   Cybercrime concerns grow in China

DATA THEFT INTRUDERS FROM CHINA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Markoff, David Barboza]
Turning the tables on a China-based computer espionage gang, Canadian and United States computer security researchers have monitored a spying operation for the past eight months, observing while the intruders pilfered classified and restricted documents from the highest levels of the Indian Defense Ministry. In a report issued Monday night, the researchers, based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, provide a detailed account of how a spy operation it called the Shadow Network systematically hacked into personal computers in government offices on several continents. The Toronto spy hunters not only learned what kinds of material had been stolen, but were able to see some of the documents, including classified assessments about security in several Indian states, and confidential embassy documents about India's relationships in West Africa, Russia and the Middle East. The intruders breached the systems of independent analysts, taking reports on several Indian missile systems. They also obtained a year's worth of the Dalai Lama's personal e-mail messages. The intruders even stole documents related to the travel of NATO forces in Afghanistan, illustrating that even though the Indian government was the primary target of the attacks, one chink in computer security can leave many nations exposed.
benton.org/node/33896 | New York Times | Bloomberg
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CYBER INSECURITY
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Tom Gjelten]
Americans do not often hear that someone has found a way to overcome US defenses, but military and intelligence officials have been sounding downright alarmist lately with their warnings that the country is ill-prepared to deal with a cyberattack. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair opened his annual survey of security threats in February by advising Congress that "malicious cyberactivity is growing at an unprecedented rate," and that the country's efforts to defend against cyberattacks "are not strong enough." Blair's predecessor as intelligence chief, Mike McConnell, was even more candid in a Washington Post commentary later that month. "The United States is fighting a cyberwar today," McConnell wrote, "and we are losing." No country in the world is more dependent on its computers than the United States. Data networks now underlie the U.S. power grid, its military operations and the telecommunications, banking and transportation systems. That means the U.S. is uniquely vulnerable to sophisticated computer hackers.
benton.org/node/33895 | National Public Radio
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Paying for the American National Broadband Internet Plan

[Commentary] The National broadband Plan is an impressive document in terms of sheer information and scope. Its recommendations, though not especially novel, taken together will make a positive difference to the country's infrastructure. The plan recommends support for rural broadband and mobile networks, broadband subsidies for the poor, support for small business use, for job creation, public safety, Native American tribes, digital literacy, a national 'geek corps', plus various governmental efforts for e-health, education, energy conservation, and more.

An ambitious agenda, no doubt. Given the scope of the plan one would expect a hefty price tag, with justifications provided for its importance. Yet it is here that a plan for innovation veers off into a more traditional Washington mode of communications, that of smoke and mirrors. The plan claims that all of its provisions will cost the government nothing. This claim is misleading. The money to implement the plan would be raised in several ways.

First, by selling a lot more spectrum licenses. This makes sense in terms of efficiency but it's not free money. Spectrum isn't just sitting around. Present users would be pushed off their band and would need compensation or relocation to another band. New buyers deduct the expense from their taxable income. And, of course, the money raised from the sale of the spectrum could support other worthy causes, such as energy research or the renovation of schools and bridges. It may make sense to sell spectrum but it does not follow that the proceeds should go to rural broadband, or that the revenue collected has no budgetary offsets. It would be one thing if the money would be used to for investment in long-lasting infrastructure. But part of it would be used to subsidize lower Internet prices. In other words, we would be selling scarce long-term public assets to pay for current private consumption.

A second funding mechanism that is proposed is a charge on TV stations' using their free TV. To deal with the consequences to poor people would require their receiving instead free cable TV or satellite service. This would either have to be paid for by government or mandated on cable and satellite companies. Either way, this too is money that could be spent in alternative ways.

Next, the plan wants to take money from the telecom 'universal service fund' and 'lifeline" programs and move it to a new 'Connect America' fund which would support the buildout of high speed broadband. This means that phone service for many people would become more expensive in order to subsidize rural and low income Internet. These are not necessarily the same users. Those with no interest in broadband would only see their phone bill going up. It is doubtful that the support for rural telecom companies and users would be cut, given its political strength. More likely, the new programs would be additive and require a new support source for support.

Google fiber losers, unite

Now that Google has wrapped up the application period for its open access, 1Gbps fiber testbed, we know that more than 1,000 US cities want the network. Only a couple will get it, though; what's going to happen to everyone else? Broadband consultant Craig Settles and Greensboro, North Carolina fiber booster Jay Ovittore have joined forces to start "Communities United for Broadband." The idea is simple: create a place where communities can share strategies for moving forward with high-speed broadband plans -- even if Google says no to their bid.

Is permission needed to retweet hot news?

When an aggregator like Google News publishes newspaper headlines, is the company treading on thin ice? What about aggregators that publish headlines and a one-line excerpt? What about those that simply rewrite the facts contained in the story and publish a new account in their own words?

Newspapers have long objected to these practices, arguing that they dilute the value of their own work. The argument here is about copyright law, since the sites in questions are reproducing verbatim headlines and leads. The key defense would be "fair use," though it's not clear exactly where it's limits would be. But think about our third question above, the one involving rewrites. These don't implicate copyright law, since nothing is being copied excepts the facts from the original article -- and copyright law famously does not extend to facts and ideas. Yet it's easy to see what might happen. One company might sit back, read AP stories, and simply rewrite them and market the new stories as its own, all without doing the work of actual reporting. This famously happened during World War I, and it lead to the Supreme Court's finding of a "hot news" right for journalists. In essence, the right does protect facts and ideas for a limited time in order to prevent rampant freeloading in breaking news stories.

Researchers Trace Data Theft to Intruders in China

Turning the tables on a China-based computer espionage gang, Canadian and United States computer security researchers have monitored a spying operation for the past eight months, observing while the intruders pilfered classified and restricted documents from the highest levels of the Indian Defense Ministry.

In a report issued Monday night, the researchers, based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, provide a detailed account of how a spy operation it called the Shadow Network systematically hacked into personal computers in government offices on several continents. The Toronto spy hunters not only learned what kinds of material had been stolen, but were able to see some of the documents, including classified assessments about security in several Indian states, and confidential embassy documents about India's relationships in West Africa, Russia and the Middle East. The intruders breached the systems of independent analysts, taking reports on several Indian missile systems. They also obtained a year's worth of the Dalai Lama's personal e-mail messages. The intruders even stole documents related to the travel of NATO forces in Afghanistan, illustrating that even though the Indian government was the primary target of the attacks, one chink in computer security can leave many nations exposed.

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