July 2014

Hackers Infiltrated Power Grids in US, Spain

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.

ESPN And Univision Want Rivals to Stop Showing World Cup Goals

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.

Distracted Diva: The Second Screen Goes to the Opera

Do two instances mean the start of a trend -- or is it still just an experiment? In May 2014, On Site Opera, a small New York company, presented a production of Rameau’s “Pygmalion,” at which operagoers were encouraged to use Google Glass, the eyeglasslike computer, onto which a translation of the libretto was projected.

It was by no means an amateur operation or a frivolous stunt: the technology used to project the subtitles to Google Glass was created by Figaro Systems, the company that makes the seat-back title panels used at the Metropolitan Opera, the Santa Fe Opera and other houses. Now Figaro is taking the next step.

When the Wolf Trap Opera performs Bizet’s “Carmen” at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap, in Vienna, Va., on July 25, Figaro and its MobiTxt technology will be on hand. And apart from taking the technology to a bigger opera company, Figaro is offering an expanded form of its service -- but one that could raise hackles if it becomes widely used. This time, the libretto will be beamed not only to Google Glass, but also to cellphones, tablets and other devices that can connect to the Internet.

FCC Releases Report Showing State-By-State Impacts Of E-Rate Proposal To Close Wi-Fi Gap In Schools And Libraries

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.

Who profits from cramming? FTC challenges T-Mobile's role in bogus billing

The Federal Trade Commission 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.

Facebook is 'evil.' Wall Street approves

[Commentary] If you type the phrase "Facebook is evil" into Google, you get about 249 million results. Interestingly, "the devil is evil" only yields 58.7 million results. And you only wind up with 17.9 million hits for "Justin Bieber is evil."

But do you know what? Wall Street doesn't care that Facebook toys with its users. In fact, a big reason why investors may love Facebook's stock so much is because it has so much information about you, me and everyone else that's using the social network. As long as a billion plus individuals are updating their status and checking their News Feeds frequently, Wall Street won't care, either.

That's because investors only care about two emotions: Fear and greed. The $15.6 billion sales estimate for Facebook in 2015 is higher than what analysts think media titans CBS and Viacom will report in annual revenue in 2015. Facebook is also obscenely profitable. Wall Street is forecasting annual earnings growth of about 35 percent per year for the next few years.

Time Warner Cable customers beg regulators to block sale to Comcast

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.

DirecTV Was In Talks With Competitor Prior to AT&T Deal

Less than a week before it announced its $67 billion merger with AT&T, DirecTV continued to hold talks with an undisclosed competitor, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

DirecTV first held talks with the competitor, identified only as Company A, back in 2011, but broke off discussions in September of that year without an offer being made.

While Company A was not identified in the SEC filings, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen was said to have contacted White about merger possibilities shortly after the Comcast/TWC deal was announced, according to several published reports.

DirecTV Chairman Mike White and his counterpart at Company A met briefly when both attended a conference in Washington DC in December of 2013, discussing operational challenges and the potential for a combination. Those talks heated up in February 2014, in the wake of Comcast’s announcement that it would buy Time Warner Cable in a deal valued at about $69 billion in stock and assumed debt. DirecTV and Company A continued to hold discussions at a dinner meeting the evening of the Comcast/TWC announcement, with the DirecTV board requesting further information on Company A’s spectrum holdings, its strategic alternatives and further analysis into the likelihood of receiving regulatory approval for a deal.

Google to critics: Actually, Chromecast usage is up

Chromecast owners aren’t getting tired of their streaming stick, after all: Chromecast usage continues to grow, according to data Google shared at its I/O developer conference in San Francisco.

This comes after a recent study claimed that Chromecast owners use the device less than they did half a year ago. Still, it’s interesting to see Google’s growth curve, which shows a huge spike over the holiday season as everyone was trying out their devices, with usage leveling off after that and then picking up again toward Q2 of 2014.

The latter could possibly be attributed to more apps becoming available for Chromecast after Google opened the Google Cast SDK in early 2014.

American Soccer Fans Dominate FIFA’s Online Audience

For many Americans, FIFA has long been a foreign-sounding jumble of letters rather than the organization behind the World Cup, the globe’s biggest sporting event. (Where is the “S” for soccer?)

Not any longer.

Helped by the unlikely advance of Team USA in Brazil, users from within the United States now make up 20 percent of FIFA’s total global audience across its digital platforms, making America the biggest footballing nation in audience size, according to early tallies by FIFA’s digital arm.

FIFA is set to release more detailed global data after the tournament’s final match on July 13. FIFA.com, the organization’s global site, available in six languages, logged some 30 million visitors from the United States between June 1 and 26, or about 23 percent of the global audience, FIFA said.

American users also account for almost a quarter of the 25 million downloads the FIFA World Cup App has logged on iOS and Android smartphones so far, making that app more popular in the United States than anywhere else.

Benton

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