May 2014

The Next Big Idea For Workers Will Come From The Old School Labor Movement

The new economy is drastically changing today’s workforce -- and vice versa. Freelancers everywhere are looking for an independent way to work and a healthier way to live. They value time, well-being, and community as much as a paycheck, and they want their consumption to match their ideals. But where are the institutions that support this new way of living and working?

One thing’s for sure: They’re not coming out of Washington, DC. The government doesn’t even track independent workers, let alone support the millions of Americans who are embracing the gig economy. They’re not coming out of Silicon Valley, either. The tech innovators there have built some remarkable platforms, but they’re still making platforms built on individualized connections (one-to-one or one-to-corporation). That’s why freelancers are turning to each other to build the institutions they need to thrive. They're forming marketing collectives. They're exploring worker co-ops. They're group purchasing everything from insurance to office supplies.

Activists sue San Francisco over 'Google buses'

There appears to be no prospect of peace in San Francisco when it comes to the parade of giant, corporate shuttles rumbling through the streets every day. A coalition of local activists filed a lawsuit asking a judge to prevent corporate shuttles run by companies such as Facebook, Apple and Google from using public bus stops.

A city transportation agency reached a settlement with the companies that let them continue using the stops as part of a pilot program. In exchange, the companies agreed to pay $1.5 million in fees. The community groups appealed that decision to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who rejected their request in early April. As a result, the Coalition for Fair, Legal and Environmental Transit, SEIU Local 1021 and other local activists filed the lawsuit in state court. In the lawsuit, the group said the city failed to conduct a proper environmental impact study before approving the pilot program.

Attackers Use Microsoft Security Hole Against Energy, Defense, Finance Targets

By the time Microsoft warned customers of a nasty security hole in its web browser, a sophisticated group of attackers were already using the vulnerability against defense and energy companies, according to FireEye, the security company.

Then, things went from bad to worse. FireEye’s researchers watched as the attackers shared their exploit with a separate attack group, which began using the vulnerability to target companies in the financial services industry, according to Darien Kindlund, the director of threat intelligence at FireEye. Even after Microsoft issued its advisory, Kindlund said, “There was a notable increase in proliferation.” Soon, the attackers were using the vulnerability for so-called watering hole attacks, in which hackers infect a popular website with malware, then wait for victims to click to the site and infect their computers.

For True Learning, Digital Technology Is Not Essential

[Commentary] Sanders writes: Digital technology has never been essential to understand and engage with our founding documents. No doubt our children, in general, have shorter attention spans because of technological advances and would prefer to watch videos and play interactive games over old-fashion methods like reading, writing and rote memorization. And certainly new technology can and should play a supplementary role in educating young people. But the proposition that digital technology, with all its superfluous features, has become required for American students to learn effectively only serves to further distract from the root problem with American education today: a nearly total abandonment of the virtues of hard work, concentration and discipline.

Proffitt writes: My experience would support the construction of a tried-and-true learning foundation created by flashcards and memorization exercises rather than the creation of some fantasy designed to make us believe that academic failure is acceptable. Certainly, we would all like to ignore the truth, but the truth is that our educational system is broken, not because it's wrong, but because the teachers aren't allowed to teach in a disciplined environment devoid of excessive regulation. Other countries are using our old system with great success, and so can we.

Weekly Digest

Put Away the Party Hats – Wheeler in His Own Words

California Analysis Pours Cold Water on Expanded TV and Film Subsidies

The California legislative analyst’s office offered what it called “preliminary observations” on the push for expanded film and television subsidies in the state -- and it advices to proceed with a great deal of caution.

To date, California has offered $100 million a year in tax credits to support film production; proposed legislation would expand the program considerably. No dollar amounts have yet been assigned, but backers have talked privately of subsidies matching New York’s program, which is capped at about $420 million a year.

In its report, the analyst’s office acknowledged that larger incentives might help protect what it called a “flagship California industry,” one that has been fleeing to other states (and countries) with more generous subsidies. But the report offered a list of reasons to be wary: film and television production is growing more slowly than the rest of the economy, and may decline even with help; competing with other states could become hugely expensive; any benefits from an expanded credit would be concentrated largely around Los Angeles; and, other industries, some with arguably greater social utility, might well demand subsidies of their own.

The state analyst is expected to issue a full report on California’s film subsidies by the end of 2015.

Snowden: Why hasn’t the Director of National Intelligence been punished for lying to Congress?

Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden said he came forward because he thought it was "the right thing to do." He repeatedly compared his actions with that of Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, who denied that the NSA was "wittingly" collecting data on millions of Americans in a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing last spring -- a claim at odds with revelations about domestic phone records collection as a result of documents provided by Snowden. Clapper later apologized to Congress in a letter, saying his answer was "clearly erroneous."

"The oath that I remember is James Clapper raising his hand, swearing to tell the truth and then lying to the American public," Snowden said. "I also swore an oath, but that oath was not to secrecy, but to defend the American Constitution." Snowden recalled raising what he called the "famous lie" with co-workers, questioning why no one did anything about it, only to be warned about potential consequences. Snowden has previously said he raised concerns internally, but that as a contractor, he did not have the same protections as a government employee.

While Clapper has accused Snowden of perpetrating the most "massive and damaging theft of intelligence" in US history, Snowden argues his actions were serving a larger public interest that superseded the national intelligence need for secrecy. Later in the speech, he described Clapper as having "committed a crime by lying under oath to the American people," and questioned why charges were never brought against the director. By contrast, Snowden said, charges were brought against him soon after he revealed himself as the source of the leaks.

CTIA's Carpenter: We Need More Spectrum

Jot Carpenter, VP, government affairs, CTIA: The Wireless Association, told C-SPAN that the AWS-3 and broadcast incentive auctions will be helpful, but probably not sufficient to meet burgeoning demand for wireless spectrum.

He said auctions and new tech will help, but it's time to start looking beyond those auctions to the next source of spectrum. He also told Comcast to bring it on if they want to launch a Wi-Fi based wireless service in competition to his members. He also said he understood broadcaster concerns about the auctions, but suggested, as has the FCC, that for some sharing spectrum could be attractive.

Verizon to FCC: Restrictions on airwaves auction are unjust

Verizon Communications has urged the Federal Communications not to restrict how much it can buy in the 2015 auction of wireless spectrum, saying such a limit would subsidize the smallest national carriers and their foreign owners.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler recently proposed rules for the complex sale of valuable airwaves scheduled for mid-2015. The rules would reserve part of the spectrum in each market for wireless carriers that do not already have dominant blocks of low-frequency airwaves there. That would benefit the No. 3 and No. 4 carriers, Sprint and T-Mobile US, by limiting the two biggest carriers, Verizon and AT&T, which dominate the highly valued low-band spectrum.

The sale is considered one of the most complex undertakings by the FCC. It would first involve TV stations' giving up airwaves they exclusively use and the FCC then auctioning them off to wireless carriers. Congress has mandated that the FCC raise enough money to pay broadcasters for their lost spectrum and fund a new $7 billion public safety network.

Apple, Google and the Hubris of Silicon Valley's Hiring Conspiracy

[Commentary] The tech aristocrats, who from 2005 through 2009 secretly forged a series of no-recruit agreements, suspected what they were doing wasn’t quite kosher. But why did they think they could get away with it?

And now that they’ve been exposed, what does the episode tell us about the nature of a corporate culture built on the labor of a relatively well-paid but evidently exploited cohort of digitally talented serfs? Well, they did kinda get away with it.

The $324 million Apple, Google, Intel, and Adobe agreed to pay works out to about 0.4 percent of their combined total revenue for the most recent quarter. The individual plaintiffs will end up with a few thousand dollars apiece. It’s unlikely, moreover, that the defendants will suffer any lasting taint when it comes to new hires.

One reason the bosses had the cojones to try this caper is that Apple and Google in particular are the dream factories of America’s digital and marketing elites.

Benton

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