November 2013

Chairman Wheeler Names Admiral David Simpson Chief of PSHSB

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced his intention to name Rear Admiral David Simpson as Chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB).

Admiral Simpson brings more than twenty years of Information and Communications Technology experience supporting the Department of Defense, working closely with other agencies to provide secure communication services and improve cyberdefense readiness. Admiral Simpson was most recently the vice director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). In that capacity, he helped lead an organization responsible for planning, developing, and providing interoperable global communications for the Defense community. He also served as a senior delegate to the 2012 ITU World Radio Telecommunications Conference, and the World Conference on International Telecom (WCIT). From 2009 through 2010, as Director for Communications and Information Services for US Forces Iraq in Baghdad, he synchronized strategic and operational-level communications for US Forces and assisted the Government of Iraq in building capacity for the information and communications technology sector. Simpson’s extensive career includes assignments with responsibility for Networks, IT and Crisis Communications for afloat and other deployed forces in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.

Investors Ask AT&T, Verizon to Show Government Data Requests

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Trillium Asset Management LLC filed shareholder proposals asking AT&T to report government requests for customer information. Trillium also presented a similar measure at Verizon.

The resolutions would have the two biggest US phone carriers report what information was shared with American or foreign governments and how often, along with what efforts the companies made to protect the privacy of their customers, said Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a New York-based political advocacy group. The investors are pushing for more openness after reports that major Internet companies and US carriers have cooperated with government agencies by sharing some customer data. In June 2013, the Guardian newspaper reported on a secret court order directing New York-based Verizon to collect call data. “Transparency allows investors to make informed decisions about corporate behavior,” said DiNapoli, trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund. “Publishing regular reports on requests for information from governments would be an appropriate response to shareholder and customer concerns about trust and privacy in the digital world.” Bob Varettoni, a Verizon spokesman, said the company has received the proposed resolution and declined to comment on the request.

Online Courses Fail to Reach Poor Students as Richest Benefit

Most people taking free online courses worldwide are among the best-educated and wealthiest of the population, casting doubt on the idea that the classes will benefit the disenfranchised, a survey showed.

More than half of those taking massive open online courses, or MOOCs, were men and the majority were already employed, according to Ezekiel Emanuel, vice provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania. The survey of about 35,000 participants in more than 200 countries is one of the first to look at who is taking the classes. It shows a disparity between actual users and those that MOOC founders have said may benefit from putting college curriculum online, Emanuel said. More efforts are needed, including better access to technology, electricity and basic education, to help the disadvantaged gain access, he said. “If you are privileged you already have access to computers,” Emanuel in a telephone interview. “The ‘have-nots’ are not going to have access to this. It’s not so easy to shorten that barrier. Maybe over the next 10 to 20 years that will go down but, for the moment, MOOCs are likely to increase disparities in-country.”

Chinese Hackers Seen Exploiting Cloud to Spy on US

China-based hackers may target Internet-based e-mail, data storage and other services provided overseas by such companies as Microsoft to spy on the US, a congressional commission found. The Chinese government wages “a large-scale cyber espionage campaign” and “has successfully targeted the networks of US government and private organizations,” the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission concludes in its annual report to Congress.

The commission for the first time said cloud computing, which connects Internet services, “represents a potential espionage threat.” The report fails to cite any examples of the Chinese government using the technology in attacks. “Our focus has been on making sure that Defense Department or State Department data, or other government information, is secure,” William Reinsch, chairman of the commission, told reporters before the report’s release. “To the extent those entities use the cloud as well, we think that they need to get a better grip on who’s actually providing their services and where their data is going.” Daniel Castro, a senior analyst for the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington research institution, said the commission’s report could damage a growing industry in China. It feeds this narrative that is incorrect that security is based on where you store data. It’s not,” Castro said in a phone interview. “It’s based on the security protocols that you have in place.”

Samsung Seeks to Have Current Apple Case Put on Hold Following Patent Office Action

Even as a jury weighs the amount of damages to award, Samsung filed an emergency motion seeking to put its current case with Apple on hold following action by the US Patent Office to move toward invalidating one of the patents at issue. Samsung said in the motion that Judge Lucy Koh should put the case on hold following the latest ruling from a patent office examiner who is re-evaluating Apple’s ’915 patent -- a key patent in the case.

China Central TV: champion of the people with a blurred picture

A series of televised public pre-trial confessions have aired on China Central Television, the state-owned national broadcaster, in recent months and have included British and US citizens being paraded before the camera to admit their crimes. The performances, reminiscent of an earlier age in which political “struggle sessions” and show trials were the norm, have raised concerns inside China about the damage that they cause to the government’s stated goal of improving the rule of law. But they have also raised an important question about the role of the state broadcaster and the balance it must strike between being a global media organization, a commercial moneymaking venture and a political mouthpiece for the ruling Communist party. The question is increasingly important to multinationals such as Apple, KFC, Volkswagen, Starbucks and Samsung, which have all been targeted in the past year by the broadcaster and accused of varying degrees of malfeasance or unfair practices in the Chinese market.

Google launches Project Link, will build fiber internet networks in developing areas

Google has unveiled a new initiative called Project Link that aims to spread Internet access to developing areas across the globe. Through the project, Google will begin building fiber optic networks in areas that don't already have access to fast and reliable Internet. The fiber will connect existing, local networks to the undersea cables that pipe Internet between continents, which Google says will allow the area's Internet service providers and mobile operators to begin expanding and improving their services.

US and UK struck secret deal to allow NSA to 'unmask' Britons' personal data

The phone, Internet and e-mail records of UK citizens not suspected of any wrongdoing have been analyzed and stored by America's National Security Agency under a secret deal that was approved by British intelligence officials, according to documents from the whistleblower Edward Snowden.

In the first explicit confirmation that UK citizens have been caught up in US mass surveillance programs, an NSA memo describes how in 2007 an agreement was reached that allowed the agency to "unmask" and hold on to personal data about Britons that had previously been off limits. The memo says the material is being put in databases where it can be made available to other members of the US intelligence and military community. Britain and the US are the main two partners in the 'Five-Eyes' intelligence-sharing alliance, which also includes Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Until now, it had been generally understood that the citizens of each country were protected from surveillance by any of the others.

Senators want to use Defense bill to force NSA disclosures

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Mark Udall (D-CO) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) are pushing an amendment to the Defense authorization bill that would require more disclosures about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs. It is unclear whether the amendment will receive a vote.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) has said that the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is not the appropriate venue for a debate over the NSA. The senators' amendment would require the attorney general to release all Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court rulings that found that the government had violated the law or the Constitution. The director of national intelligence would have to submit a written report to Congress answering a series of questions about NSA surveillance. The director would have to produce a public version of the report, but would be allowed to redact sensitive information. The report would have to provide details about a now-defunct NSA program to track Americans' cellphone location data in bulk.

The Surveillance Industry Index: An Introduction

Surveillance companies are developing, marketing, and selling some of the most powerful, invasive, and dangerous technologies in the world, ones that are keeping pace with the capabilities of the National Security Agency and the UK’s GCHQ. What's more, companies are maintaining relationships to the repressive regimes it sells to, constantly upgrading their systems and making customer service representatives available 24/7 for dictators and their cronies to reach out to should anything go awry with their products.

The industry is made up of companies selling products that can allow remote access to an individual’s computer or wiretap undersea cables as they arrive at landing stations, allowing for the mass interception of communications. Other companies sell analysis programs that monitor social networks, mapping out a person's social connections and storing all the communications sent and received on the social network. Some companies’ products have been found in Bahrain, Ethiopia and Libya, amongst other countries, and have been used to target pro-democracy activists, journalists and political opposition. Because of the freedom to exist largely in the shadows, members of the private surveillance industry have gained a sense of impunity. The countries where these companies are based, including the United Kingdom, United States, France and Germany, have absolutely failed to regulate the export of these products. In repressive regimes, these technologies enable spying that stifles dissent, has chilling effects across society, and in many cases allows governments to hunt down those it wishes to silence. Some of the information gained from the surveillance has been used during torturous interrogations of those activists. A frank discussion has to take place about the utility of this technology and the destinations it has been exported to. The only way the discussion can be of any merit is if we have access to as much information about these companies and their products as possible.

Benton

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