July 2, 2014
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2014
INTERNET/BROADBAND
A Bill of Rights for the Online World - op-ed
Members of Congress take network neutrality message on the road
When it comes to net neutrality, the Nordic model is the best approach - op-ed
FCC: US Broadband Connections of 10 Mbps or Higher Doubled in One Year
Millions of dynamic DNS users suffer after Microsoft seizes No-IP domains [links to web]
EDUCATION
FCC Releases Report Showing State-By-State Impacts Of E-Rate Proposal To Close Wi-Fi Gap In Schools And Libraries - press release
Answers to Common Questions about the E-Rate Modernization Proposal to Get Wi-Fi in ALL Schools and Libraries - FCC press release
FCC Defends School Wi-Fi Plan as Teachers Unions Complaint
ALA encourages next step in E-rate improvements - press release [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Who profits from cramming? FTC challenges T-Mobile's role in bogus billing
FCC Investigates Cramming Complaints Against T-Mobile - press release
Mobile device use in the air not taking off [links to web]
The 'Internet of Things' May Not Always Need An Internet Connection [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Time Warner Cable customers beg regulators to block sale to Comcast
Murdoch's ambitions may take center stage in Sun Valley [links to web]
DirecTV Was In Talks With Competitor Prior to AT&T Deal [links to web]
An Innovation Slowdown at the Tech Giants [links to web]
CONTENT
ESPN And Univision Want Rivals to Stop Showing World Cup Goals
American Soccer Fans Dominate FIFA’s Online Audience [links to web]
World Cup 2014: Facebook Tops A Billion Interactions - press release [links to web]
Facebook Added 'Research' To User Agreement 4 Months After Emotion Manipulation Study - analysis
Facebook’s Unethical Experiment - analysis
TELEVISION/RADIO
Two Years Later, The Supreme Court Still Doesn’t Want To Review Red Lion v. FCC - analysis
Please Tune Out Those TV Studies - analysis [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
A win for transparency in campaign finance
DIGITAL DIVIDE
New Opportunities in New Mexico’s Indian Country - FCC press release [links to web]
PRIVACY/SECURITY
Facebook experiment illustrates need for online users' bill of rights - editorial
UK data regulator probes Facebook over psychological experiment
GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
Watchdog Finds NSA Net Surveillance Effective, Sounds Constitutional Warning
Court gave NSA broad leeway in surveillance, documents show
NSA sued over online security flaws [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
Hackers Infiltrated Power Grids in US, Spain
Treasury Secretary Lew says cybersecurity on agenda for US-China talks [links to web]
US Manufacturer Wants Commerce Department to Penalize China for Cyberattack [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Google in Deal for Songza, a Music Playlist Service [links to web]
A Look Back at Google's History of Social Media Failures [links to web]
NBC News Airs an Hour-Long Commercial For Its Corporate Sibling [links to web]
Google to critics: Actually, Chromecast usage is up [links to web]
Google Is About To Take Over Your Whole Life, And You Won't Even Notice - op-ed [links to web]
Facebook is 'evil.' Wall Street approves [links to web]
Aereo CEO Asks Consumers to Rise Up and Fight for Aereo [links to web]
Amazon Defends Its Stance Against Hachette [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
UK data regulator probes Facebook over psychological experiment
Europe’s roaming data cuts are welcome, but not the end of the story
MORE ONLINE
President Obama asks Cabinet for 'creative' use of executive powers [links to web]
Nurses’ union targets EHRs, other tech in campaign [links to web]
Through June, 27 magazines ceased operations [links to web]
Distracted Diva: The Second Screen Goes to the Opera [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR THE ONLINE WORLD
[SOURCE: Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT)]
[Commentary] The Internet needs concrete, fundamental protections to ensure that it is not abused by those with the power to do so. That is why I was gravely disappointed when the DC Court of Appeals struck down the Federal Communications Commission's 2010 open Internet rules and why in the Senate, I am fighting to protect a free and open Internet. Open Internet principles are the Bill of Rights for the online world. We should not allow an Internet that is divided into "haves" and "have-nots," where those who can afford to pay drown out the voices of those who cannot. The FCC is now considering how best to restore open Internet protections. Since FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler began a proceeding to consider new open Internet rules, nearly 300,000 Americans have commented on his proposal. The message is loud and clear: Americans want an Internet that is a platform for free expression and innovation, and where the best ideas and services can reach consumers based on merit rather than on money.
[Sen Leahy is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee]
benton.org/node/191462 | Huffington Post
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DEMS TAKE NET NEUTRALITY MESSAGE ON THE ROAD
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that a plan to allow some companies to pay for "fast lanes" on the Internet "runs contrary to every principle I believe the Internet was based on." Sen Leahy made the comments as part of a field hearing in Burlington (VT), with Rep Peter Welch (D-VT). The two ripped the Federal Communications Commission plans for "fast lanes," and called for tougher FCC regulations to ensure Internet service providers can't give special treatment to some online content. The two argued the fast lanes could lead to a slower Internet for their constituents. “We’re not going to have an economy in Vermont if we don’t have an accessible Internet,” said Rep Welch, who serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its subcommittee on Communications. “I see this as absolutely essential to the future of Vermont's economy as well as rural America," he added. "We’ve got folks here on the front lines whose access to the Internet is crucial to the jobs that they created, the good jobs that we have in Vermont.” Sen Leahy said his constituents had "spoken very clearly” on the issue.
benton.org/node/191478 | Hill, The
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WHEN IT COMES TO NET NEUTRALITY, THE NORDIC MODEL IS THE BEST APPROACH
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Roslyn Layton]
[Commentary] Network neutrality is a global debate. A number of countries have implemented laws or are in the process of doing so. Each country defines the issue differently and thus creates laws with different provisions. This creates a problem of international harmonization for the Internet, which is inherently global. Net neutrality rules are a difficult compromise between consumer protection and increased governmental control of the Internet, but the multi-stakeholder model strikes a balance. Norway’s model for net neutrality, established in February 2009, is the longest running regime of that type in the world. No violations of net neutrality have been documented under the model. Swedish regulators observed at a recent event that the model is working, and ISPs are actually becoming more transparent. The Nordic model preserves a role for the regulator to frame the discussion while at the same time encouraging participation by operators, content/application providers, and consumers. In this way, the regulator is less of a warden and more of a mediator. Nordic regulators have agreed to cooperate on net neutrality. Should an EU law come to pass, it would supersede the enlightened approach taken by the Nordic countries. The better outcome would be to build on the efforts of the Nordic regulators, and make their model the global standard. [Layton studies Internet economics at the Center for Communication, Media, and Information Technologies (CMI) at Aalborg University in Copenhagen]
benton.org/node/191454 | American Enterprise Institute
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FCC: US BROADBAND CONNECTIONS OF 10 MBPS OR HIGHER DOUBLED IN ONE YEAR
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
The number of fixed and mobile US broadband connections with downstream speeds of at least 10 Mbps increased 118% between June 2012 and June 2013 to reach 103 million, according to Federal Communications Commission data. The data is contained in the FCC’s latest “Internet Access Services” report, which is based on information collected from broadband providers. Mobile broadband saw a particularly steep increase in the number of users connecting at higher data rates. More than 52 million mobile Internet users connected at speeds above 6 Mbps downstream and 1.5 Mbps upstream as of June 2013, up from 18.7 million in June 2012 -- an increase of 279%.
benton.org/node/191449 | telecompetitor
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EDUCATION
FCC RELEASES REPORT SHOWING STATE-BY-STATE IMPACTS OF E-RATE PROPOSAL TO CLOSE WI-FI GAP IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission released a report of the potential impact of a pending proposal to modernize the federal E-Rate program to meet a pressing demand by the nation’s schools and libraries: robust connectivity to the Internet through Wi-Fi networks. Three out of five schools in America lack the wireless high-speed Internet -- or Wi-Fi -- to carry data at today’s broadband speeds. The report provides a state-by-state breakdown of the estimated number of additional students, schools and libraries that would gain E-rate funding needed for Wi-Fi upgrades over the next five years under the proposal by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Nationwide, the proposal would increase funding for Wi-Fi 75 percent for rural schools and 60 percent for urban schools, allowing an additional 44 million students and 16,000 libraries to have access to Wi-Fi services by 2019, all within existing program funding. “Technology has changed. The needs of schools and libraries have changed. The E-Rate program must reflect these changes.” said Chairman Wheeler. “Modernizing E-Rate to expand Wi-Fi connectivity in schools and libraries will empower students and library patrons to use the latest education technology to access new learning opportunities and infinite worlds of information.” Wi-Fi is the most cost-effective way to connect to the Internet at today’s speeds for individualized online learning. Despite this incredible Wi-Fi connectivity gap, the E-rate program was unable to support any Wi-Fi in 2014. When funds have been available for Wi-Fi in prior years, they have only reached about 5% of schools and 1% of libraries. The proposal will help close the Wi-Fi gap by maximizing existing funds, and ensuring funding is available to the vast majority of schools and libraries, not just a few.
benton.org/node/191496 | Federal Communications Commission | FCC
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ANSWERS TO COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT THE E-RATE MODERNIZATION PROPOSAL TO GET WI-FI IN ALL SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Gigi Sohn, Patrick Halley]
Closing the Wi-Fi Gap by connecting all schools and libraries is a laudable goal, but how do the numbers add up over a five-year period? We are on track to free $2 billion in reserves that we are prepared to spend over the next two funding years. Funds for the following three years would come from two significant changes. First, we would phase down support for non-broadband services, like pagers, email and, over a multi-year period, voice service. Those funds -- nearly $1.2 billion in the E-rate program -- would be repurposed to support Wi-Fi. Second, we would achieve significant cost savings in the program within the new “category two” Wi-Fi bucket (see recent announcement with GSA for example), and for the priority one (proposed to be called “category one”) services we continue to fund through improved pricing transparency and facilitating increased use of consortia-enabled bulk purchasing.
Is anything being done to address non-Wi-Fi connectivity needs in the Chairman’s proposal? Yes. In addition to closing the Wi-Fi gap, the proposal would make E-rate rules fairer so funding for internal connections is available to the vast majority of schools and libraries, rather than just a few. In addition, the proposal would streamline the program and institute reforms to ensure current funds are maximized.
What will this plan mean for rural schools and libraries? The Chairman’s modernization proposal, if adopted, would significantly expand access to Wi-Fi funding in rural areas. The proposal would close the Wi-Fi gap that currently exists in the program -- a change that would enable at least an additional 6 million children, disproportionately in rural areas, to access Wi-Fi and the 21st Century educational tools it enables during the 2015 funding year alone.
What will the effect of this plan be on urban districts? Urban schools will benefit significantly under the Chairman’s proposal.
Does the proposal make E-Rate funding more equitable? Yes. The Chairman’s proposal maintains the basic structure of the E-rate program -- discounts on the services each applicant actually needs, based on their circumstances. The difference is it would require a common sense budget for Wi-Fi spending, which would keep a few big spenders at the front of the line from using all the funding.
[Sohn is Special Counsel for FCC External Affairs, Office of the Chairman; Halley is Associate Chief, FCC Wireline Competition Bureau]
benton.org/node/191480 | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC DEFENDS SCHOOL WI-FI PLAN AS TEACHERS UNIONS COMPLAINT
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz]
Federal Communications Commission officials defended a recently announced plan to spend $2 billion for Wi-Fi networks at public schools after teachers unions complained it wasn’t enough money and could hurt poorer schools by shifting funds away to wealthier areas. The unions and other educational groups don’t think the proposal is the best way to move forward with improving the availability of high-speed Internet in schools and libraries. The money for the E-Rate program comes from a fee that is charged on consumers’ phone bills, called a Universal Service Fund (USF) fee. The FCC’s plan doesn’t go far enough because it doesn’t increase the amount of funding available to schools and will change the formula for how money is allocated, the National Education Association, National Parent Teacher Association and 11 other educational and union organizations complained. The groups have “strong concerns” about FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s plan because it will “only dilute an already over-subscribed (program)” that they say is already “vastly underfunded.” The educational groups are concerned about a possible move to an allocation formula that would work on a per-pupil basis, instead of the current formula, which takes location and the local poverty level more into account.
benton.org/node/191632 | Revere Digital
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
WHO PROFITS FROM CRAMMING? FTC CHALLENGES T-MOBILE'S ROLE IN BOGUS BILLING
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Lesley Fair]
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday accused T-Mobile of making hundreds of millions of dollars by charging mobile phone customers for "premium" SMS subscriptions that, in many cases, the consumers never authorized. It was an all-too-common occurrence. People’s mobile phone bills included unexplained -- and unauthorized -- monthly charges. It’s called cramming and the Federal Trade Commission has brought a series of cases against companies that had fees for ringtones, horoscopes, “love tips,” etc., placed on cell phone bills without consumers’ consent. The crammers took a chunk of the cash, but you might be surprised to learn who the FTC says pocketed a 35-40% piece of the action. A just-filed lawsuit pulls back the curtain on the role the FTC alleges that mobile phone carrier T-Mobile USA played in deceptive and unfair billing. Furthermore, according to the complaint, T-Mobile didn’t respond well to consumer complaints. In many cases, the company flat-out refused to give refunds for unauthorized charges or offered only partial refunds. Count I of the lawsuit alleges that T-Mobile violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by making deceptive representations about charges on consumers’ phone bills. Count II focuses on allegedly unfair billing practices. What's the FTC asking for? A court order to prevent T-Mobile from engaging in mobile cramming, refunds for consumers, and disgorgement of T-Mobile’s ill-gotten gains.
benton.org/node/191494 | Federal Trade Commission | The Hill | Los Angeles Times
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FCC INVESTIGATES CRAMMING COMPLAINTS AGAINST T-MOBILE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission announced that it is investigating complaints that T-Mobile billed its customers for millions of dollars in unauthorized third-party subscriptions and premium text messaging services. The FCC has coordinated its investigation with the Federal Trade Commission, which filed a lawsuit against T-Mobile concerning the company’s placement of unauthorized charges on customer’s mobile phone bills -- a practice known as “cramming.” Numerous T-Mobile subscribers have filed complaints with the FCC and the FTC alleging that unauthorized charges for unwanted third-party services were added to their T-Mobile wireless telephone bills. The unwanted charges included billing for ringtones, wallpapers, and text message subscriptions to services providing horoscopes, flirting tips, and celebrity gossip.
benton.org/node/191630 | Federal Communications Commission
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OWNERSHIP
TIME WARNER CABLE CUSTOMERS BEG REGULATORS TO BLOCK SALE TO COMCAST
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
New York is shaping up as a major battleground for Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable. While the $45.2 billion merger will be scrutinized by federal officials, it also needs approval at the state level. TWC has 2.2 million cable TV, Internet, and phone customers in 1,150 New York communities, and hundreds of them have called on the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) to block the sale to Comcast. Comcast doesn't compete against TWC for subscribers, and its territory in New York is limited but includes a VoIP phone service offered to residential and business customers in 10 communities. "Both Time Warner Cable and Comcast already have monopolies in each and every territory in which they do business today, and combining the companies will reinforce those individual territorial monopolies under a single corporate umbrella, with NBC-Universal thrown in to boot," resident Frank Brice argued in a comment to the PSC posted. Brice complained that "The constant, yearly rate increases imposed on us by Time Warner Cable are and continue to be outrageous, outsized, and unwarranted. Given where I live in the mid-Hudson valley, 100 miles from New York City and 50 miles from Albany, I cannot get over-the-air TV broadcasts, and I have no choice in my cable-TV provider unless I choose a satellite provider." Brice is "so unhappy with Time Warner Cable" that he buys DSL Internet and phone service from Verizon, which hasn't built FiOS in his area. Brice's comment is similar to many others submitted by residents to the PSC's merger proceeding.
benton.org/node/191490 | Ars Technica
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CONTENT
ESPN AND UNIVISION WANT RIVALS TO STOP SHOWING WORLD CUP GOALS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jack Marshall, Steven Perlberg]
World Cup rights-holders are trying to stop digital competitors who are helping themselves to highlights from the tournament without permission. Viewers have a range of ways to view officially-licensed ESPN and Univision coverage of the World Cup, from watching it on cable to streaming it on their mobile devices. But fans also track the games elsewhere, like on Twitter and fast-acting sites that quickly create animated GIFs and videos on Vine -- a Twitter-owned app that makes six-second looping videos. Following inquiries from CMO Today, however, the video was promptly removed from the Slate site. A person familiar with the matter said the publisher removed the video after being contacted by ESPN.
benton.org/node/191499 | Wall Street Journal | GigaOm
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FACEBOOK ADDED 'RESEARCH' TO USER AGREEMENT 4 MONTHS AFTER EMOTION MANIPULATION STUDY
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: Kashmir Hill]
[Commentary] Four months after the Facebook emotion study happened, in May 2012, Facebook made changes to its data use policy, and that’s when it introduced this line about how it might use your information: “For internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research and service improvement.” Facebook helpfully posted a “red-line” version of the new policy, contrasting it with the prior version from September 2011 -- which did not mention anything about user information being used in “research.” Defenders of the Facebook study including my colleague Jeff Bercovici say that everyone on the Internet is doing A/B testing -- showing users two versions of something to see which resonates more based on how they click, share, and respond. But the Facebook study with its intention to manipulate the Facebook environment for unknowing users to see whether it made them feel elated or depressed seems different to me than the normal “will this make someone more likely to buy this thing” kind of testing. “They actually did a test to see whether it would have a deleterious effect on their users,” says Pam Dixon of the World Privacy Forum. “This isn’t A/B testing. They didn’t just want to change users’ behaviors, they wanted to change their moods.”
benton.org/node/191458 | Forbes
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FACEBOOK’S UNETHICAL EXPERIMENT
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: Katy Waldman]
[Commentary] Facebook’s methodology raises serious ethical questions. The team may have bent research standards too far, possibly overstepping criteria enshrined in federal law and human rights declarations. “If you are exposing people to something that causes changes in psychological status, that’s experimentation,” says James Grimmelmann, a professor of technology and the law at the University of Maryland. “This is the kind of thing that would require informed consent.” Ah, informed consent. Here is the only mention of “informed consent” in the paper: The research “was consistent with Facebook’s Data Use Policy, to which all users agree prior to creating an account on Facebook, constituting informed consent for this research.” That is not how most social scientists define informed consent. There is a vague mention of “research” in the fine print that one agrees to by signing up for Facebook. As bioethicist Arthur Caplan told me, however, it is worth asking whether this lawyerly disclosure is really sufficient to warn people that “their Facebook accounts may be fair game for every social scientist on the planet.” Facebook presumably receives no federal funding for such research, so the investigation might be exempt from the Common Rule. Even if the study is legal, it appears to flout the ethical standards spelled out in instructions to scientists who wish to publish in PNAS. “Authors must include in the Methods section a brief statement identifying the institutional and/or licensing committee approving the experiments,” reads one requirement on the journal’s website.
benton.org/node/191470 | Slate
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TELEVISION/RADIO
TWO YEARS LATER, THE SUPREME COURT STILL DOESN’T WANT TO REVIEW RED LION V. FCC.
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] The Supreme Court stubbornly refuses to address Red Lion. Not only did Minority Television Project provide the opportunity to overrule Red Lion and abolish all those pesky ownership limits and public interest obligations, it framed this as an opportunity to further expand Citizens United. How could the majority possibly resist, especially given the groupthink that the Supreme Court is simply lusting to overturn Red Lion and totally deregulate the broadcast industry at the first opportunity? And yet, somehow, they resisted. The FCC’s authority to impose broadcast ownership limits (and other spectrum ownership limits for that matter) remains not only intact, but subject to the lenient “rational basis” standard of scrutiny.
benton.org/node/191455 | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
A WIN FOR TRANSPARENCY IN CAMPAIGN FINANCE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Money in politics just got a little less opaque. A little-known rule by the Federal Communications Commission takes effect for every TV station in the country. In a nutshell, it requires broadcasters that run political ads to disclose who paid for them. It may sound like a simple idea. But it could have tremendous effects on the way campaigns compete and spend money -- not to mention for third-party groups and members of the general public who are interested in campaign finance, too. The rule about online record-keeping now applies to all broadcasters everywhere that run political ads. That's likely to increase the number of covered stations from 200 to perhaps around 1,000, estimates Dennis Wharton, a spokesperson for the National Association of Broadcasters. There are around 1,800 TV stations in America, but those that don't run political ads, such as public broadcasting stations, won't be affected by the rule.
benton.org/node/191642 | Washington Post | Poynter
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PRIVACY/SECURITY
NEED FOR ONLINE BILL OF RIGHTS
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Creepy doesn't begin to describe Facebook's 2012 psychological experiment on 700,000 of its unwitting users. Any attempt to manipulate the emotional state of consumers is unconscionable. It reflects poorly on the entire tech community, confirming privacy activists' worst fears. This public relations disaster, coming on the heels of the National Security Agency spying revelations, reasserts the pressing need for Silicon Valley to produce an online users' bill of rights. The alternative is an inevitable downward spiral of confidence in tech companies and their products. Could government regulation be far behind? The European Union is ahead of the United States in protecting personal information. Brazil passed an Internet bill of rights in April limiting the data that online companies can collect from users. Silicon Valley should take the initiative to offer Americans the same protections. If it doesn't, the industry's reputation will continue to unravel. And companies won't be able to blame NSA snoops for it.
benton.org/node/191676 | San Jose Mercury News
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GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
PCLOB FINDS NSA PROGRAMS EFFECTIVE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Siobhan Gorman]
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board has found that a set of National Security Agency programs that collect vast amounts of Internet communications from US companies has proved to be an effective intelligence tool, but that some aspects bordered on unconstitutionality. The NSA need better safeguards for protecting Americans' communications scooped up in the process. Those findings were unanimous, but four members of the five-person board split over how much to limit spy-agency searches for Americans' communications within NSA's trove, with one member not weighing in.
benton.org/node/191680 | Wall Street Journal | The Hill
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COURT GAVE NSA BROAD LEEWAY IN SURVEILLANCE, DOCUMENTS SHOW
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima, Barton Gellman]
Virtually no foreign government is off-limits for the National Security Agency, which has been authorized to intercept information “concerning” all but four countries, according to top-secret documents. The United States has long had broad no-spying arrangements with those four countries -- Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand -- in a group known collectively with the United States as the Five Eyes. But a classified 2010 legal certification and other documents indicate the NSA has been given a far more elastic authority than previously known, one that allows it to intercept through US companies not just the communications of its overseas targets but any communications about its targets as well. The certification -- approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and included among a set of documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden -- lists 193 countries that would be of valid interest for US intelligence. The certification also permitted the agency to gather intelligence about entities including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
benton.org/node/191461 | Washington Post
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CYBERSECURITY
HACKERS INFILTRATED POWER GRIDS IN US, SPAIN
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Arik Hesseldahl]
Hackers operating somewhere in Eastern Europe have penetrated the networks of energy companies in the US, Spain, France and several other countries and may have gained the ability to carry out cyber-sabotage attacks, researchers at the security company Symantec said. In what’s being described as a departure from typical hacking attacks that are intended to steal intellectual property, the attackers gained access to industrial control systems used to maintain power grids and oil and gas pipelines and had the ability to take over operations or even damage them. Symantec says it “bears the hallmarks” of state-sponsored operations, but does not identify any specific country. It nicknamed the attackers “Dragonfly,” and said the only clue to their identity was the fact that they were operating during standard business hours in a time zone that includes the countries of the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Azerbaijan, but also the United Arab Emirates. Another clue: They used an attack tool that appears to have been modified by a Russian-speaker.
benton.org/node/191501 | Revere Digital | nextgov
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
FACEBOOK INVESTIGATION
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Hannah Kuchler]
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office is investigating whether Facebook broke data protection laws when it allowed researchers to conduct a psychological experiment on users of the social network. The ICO is probing the experiment and planned to ask Facebook questions after widespread outrage when it was revealed at the weekend. The regulator said it would also be in contact with the Irish data protection body, because Facebook has its European headquarters in Dublin. A spokesperson for the ICO said it was too early to tell exactly what part of the law Facebook may have infringed. The regulator looks at how much personal data are used and whether users have given their consent. It has the power to force organisations to change their policies and levy fines of up to £500,000.
benton.org/node/191665 | Financial Times | New York Times
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EUROPE’S ROAMING DATA CUTS ARE WELCOME, BUT NOT THE END OF THE STORY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: David Meyer]
Europeans traveling around the union will pay a lot less for mobile data, voice and SMS. The most drastic cut will be for data, with the retail price cap dropping from 45 euro cents ($0.62) per megabyte to 20 cents ($0.27). This represents the last stage in the grading-down of data roaming premiums within the European Union (there were no retail caps on roaming data before mid-2012, when a 70 cent cap was introduced). It’s far from being the end of the story, though -- a major package of telecommunications reform that’s almost been signed into law will do away with intra-EU roaming premiums altogether. There’s a huge political driver behind all of this, in the creation of a true EU single market -- in practical terms, EU politicians are trying to erase the borders between member states, and that’s not possible when crossing a border results in massive bill shock. For European startups, this is essential, particularly if their apps and services are intended to be used on the move. The complete elimination of roaming fees within the EU will take place at the end of 2015, if member states give final approval to measures already backed by the European Commission and the European Parliament.
benton.org/node/191451 | GigaOm
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