May 2011

Cybersecurity enforcement plan could backfire, Sen Collins warns

A key lawmaker assessing a White House bill to strengthen cybersecurity warned that the proposal's plan for policing critical commercial networks -- by disclosing audits of their security practices -- could inadvertently steer US adversaries to vulnerable targets.

"The evaluation of that [company's security] plan would be publicly accessible," Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said at a hearing. "We don't want to give those that would do us harm a roadmap on to how to attack our critical infrastructure."
The panel's chairman, Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Sen Collins -- despite her criticism -- have introduced wide-ranging cyber legislation that largely dovetails with the executive branch's ideas. One of the exceptions is the regulation of critical infrastructure systems, or networks such as power grids that, if attacked, could devastate the economy or harm public safety. The private sector operates the majority of such cyberspace services.

The Administration's proposal takes the light-handed approach of publicly naming companies that fail in independent inspections of their network protections -- instead of shutting down their networks or fining them.

"The biggest lever here would be transparency," said Philip Reitinger, the top cybersecurity policy official at the Homeland Security Department. He stressed that the purpose of the openness is not just to shame companies into compliance, but also to let the financial markets and customers take into account a firm's privacy and security protections.

Added Ari Schwartz, senior Internet policy adviser for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, "If they do it deadly wrong, you're going to have brand impact potentially." The White House text also offers a carrot: Companies with stellar cyber records could be given preference in competitions for federal business contracts.

Chairman Walden slams FCC's broadband report

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) was incredulous about the Federal Communications Commission report that found broadband is not being deployed in a speedy manner.

The report emphasized that "more than 100 million Americans do not subscribe to broadband." The report is controversial because industry sees it as a pretext for regulation. The FCC used last year's negative findings to help justify network neutrality regulations passed in December. Chairman Walden made it clear that he thinks the findings are without merit. “It is one thing to recognize that some areas of the country -- typically rural -- are difficult to serve; it is quite another to say that broadband is not being reasonably and timely deployed to all Americans," he said. "The former only requires the FCC to consider reform of the Universal Service Fund; the latter is a claimed excuse to impose network neutrality and to further regulate the Internet,” he said.

The AT&T/T-Mobile Merger -- Benefits for Consumers and Workers

In a filing at the Federal Communications Commission, the Communications Workers of America argues that AT&T’s $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile is good for U.S. consumers and workers. It presents a real opportunity to accelerate deployment of high-speed Internet, narrow the digital divide, improve quality of service and expand workers’ rights in the wireless industry.

The merger’s benefits for consumers, workers and the general public include the following:

T-Mobile was going to be sold to either AT&T or Sprint. AT&T is the better option. AT&T is financially strong, has a good track record with past mergers, uses the same technologies as T-Mobile, has worked with the union to bring back 3,000 outsourced jobs and allows its workers to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union. Sprint is financially weak, has a poor merger track record, uses different technologies than T-Mobile, and actively interferes in workers’ decisions about whether or not to join a union.
The merger will expand access to high-speed wireless Internet to 97% of the population.
The merger could have a positive impact on prices and service quality. Wireless prices declined 33% from 1999-2011 despite significant mergers. Even after this merger there will still be many competitors in individual markets. Furthermore, the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice will likely require AT&T to sell all or part of its assets in specific markets where it is determined to have too much market power.
The impact of the merger on jobs. CWA will work to ensure that there will be no involuntary job loss, that any workers adversely affected will be able to transition into other jobs, and that T-Mobile workers are given the opportunity to obtain a voice in the transition. In the long term, a post-merger AT&T will be better able to retain and increase jobs than either company could do separately.
The merger will give T-Mobile’s 20,000+ non-management workers a voice in the workplace.

Rural Kansas fiber optic network almost ready

A 2,600-mile fiber optic network that promises to bring broadband access to large sections of rural Kansas should be completed by the end of summer, according to an official with a company building the network. Kansas Fiber Network, a consortium of 29 independent, rural telephone companies in the state and based in Wichita, is building the network to provide high-speed Internet and data to rural areas. KFN president Steven Dorf says construction began last July and he expects the project to be completed by the end of summer, with member owners having invested $28 million in the company and network by the time it's finished.

Matt Wood to Join Free Press as Policy Director

Matt Wood, associate director for Media Access Project, will be joining Free Press as policy director. He will join Free Press next week, following the Memorial Day holiday. "He is a tremendous asset and we are happy to have him come aboard," said Free Press Policy Counsel Corrie Wright. Former Free Press policy director Ben Scott exited a year ago to become an adviser at the State Department. In the interim, Free Press research director Derek Turner had been handling the policy team as well.

Yes, Clearwire really is on the ropes

There's no doubt that Clearwire faces a cash crunch among many other challenges as it tries to build its nationwide 4G WiMax network. But will the company be able to weather the storm and stay afloat? That's the big question that investors and Clearwire's customers are asking as the company continues to look for more funding to support its network expansion and deal with growing competition. In November, Clearwire said it might not have enough cash to keep its network running through the middle of 2011. Since then it's taken on more debt and settled a wholesale pricing dispute with Sprint Nextel, which has secured its short-term viability.

Netflix isn't swamping the Internet; ISPs are overstating their congestion problems

[Commentary] A report showing Netflix makes up a third of total Internet traffic is inaccurate enough – or at least the reports about it are inaccurate enough – to show not very many people in either the press or vendor marketing understand the network they base their business on.

There are two important points here, both relevant to people who do IT for a living, not just those who either dislike data caps or do like Netflix:

First, the report didn't say Netflix eats a third of the whole Internet; that assumption was off base enough to prompt Forbes to run a piece trying to correct it, but not quite succeeding. Sandvine – an Ontario-based networking vendor – issued a report estimating that streaming media from Netflix make up 30 percent of downstream traffic during peak times. What Sandvine meant was that Netflix traffic spiked heavily during prime time – when most people are home and watching something other than what's on TV – but only across the last mile. TechCrunch posted some graphics showing what's travelling across the nation's networks during peak times, and in what volumes. Netflix comes out on top, but only with the caveats below. Netflix uses content-distribution services to make sure its content is located close to customers, so when you click Play the file you see is being downloaded from somewhere nearby, not from Netflix' central database. The portion of the network Netflix hogs is only the ISP's edge connections – from a distribution hub to the house of Netflix' subscribers.

Is Netflix Poised To Replace Much Of The TV Syndication Business?

Netflix continues to be a game-changer. But its new business model may be a reincarnation of an older formula, at least for one area of the TV business. Long known for offering older TV and movie content, the 22 million-plus-subscriber service may now look to take away one of the big pieces of the traditional syndication business: reruns.

Grants for Investigative Reporting

The George Polk Awards grants are given to experienced reporters from newspapers, radio or television to pursue specific investigative projects. The intent is to provide short-term relief to journalists and also to promote investigative articles on the Web. The curator and other officials of the Polk Awards program will select the grantees.

Special consideration will be given to journalists who have been laid off or are otherwise no longer employed by their news organizations, but this is not an absolute requirement. Ideally, an applicant should have a proven track record as an investigative reporter and propose an article or series of articles on a subject with which he or she is familiar. This program is intended as a resource for the reporter who always has wanted to dig into a particular topic or who has developed useful expertise – who knows “where the bodies are buried” – on a matter of public interest that may be local, national or international in scope. Grants will range from $2500 to $10,000, depending on the duration and complexity of the proposed project. Most projects are expected to take a couple of months but projects taking longer will be considered if the merits warrant. The Polk Awards Program will provide editorial supervision once an application is approved and will attempt to place the resulting article on the Web and also in print or on radio or television

Facebook to assemble global team of 'diplomats'

With 70 percent of its more than 600 million members outside the United States, Facebook is creating its own foreign service, hiring a network of ambassadors from India to Ireland to represent the social network with foreign governments and cultures.

Facebook's new global policy team will monitor the local political landscape and act as multilingual, TV-friendly communicators in countries and for cultures that, in many cases, have very different values and laws about privacy and personal communications than the US. Facebook is confronting its emergence as a global organization whose membership is much larger than the population of most countries, and whose technology can antagonize both Middle Eastern dictators and European democracies fretful about privacy. The international directors of policy, as Facebook calls them, will grapple with those challenges. "This is the right investment for us to make because we want to have better relationships with regulators and policymakers across Europe and around the world," said Debbie Frost, a Facebook spokeswoman. "It's important that we have a presence, so people can have a direct line into Facebook. You limit the scope for misunderstandings."

Benton

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