September 2014

Prime time television is undergoing a big, multicultural change.

When the fall season starts in earnest, it will deliver the most racially diverse lineup in recent history, with at least eight new shows prominently featuring nonwhite performers. It's a groundbreaking development that has those who have long lobbied for more diversity in television expressing both relief and surprise. Leading the charge is ABC, with several new series populated by black, Asian and Latino characters. Paul Lee, ABC's entertainment chief, told reporters that diversity has become nothing less than a "mission statement" for his network.

[Commentary] While I celebrate the great grassroots movement that the Open Internet cause has fired up, I know we still have a long way to go before we can declare victory. The big Internet Service Providers (Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T), their business partners, and their armada of hired lobbyists are working even harder now because they are beginning to realize that this might not be the slam-dunk they hoped for as recently as a couple of months ago. They know the power of the money they wield—but I think it is beginning to dawn on them that a true grassroots firestorm just might be able to trump their almighty dollar.

[Commentary] The United States is under siege in cyberspace. Disruption, theft, espionage and attack have been accelerating in recent years. The crisis of security on the Internet is real and deepening. The vulnerabilities threaten everyone who holds a credit card, visits a doctor or uses social media. Yet the national response has been alarmingly and inexplicably passive. Congress has debated comprehensive legislation but failed to reach agreement. The Administration is well aware of the siege and has taken some modest steps, but it can’t solve the problem alone. The private sector, deeply dependent on the Internet, is seriously exposed but also cannot find a solution.

Surely, if customers saw a pickpocket standing behind them, they would be wary — and furious. But there is a strange complacency about massive data breaches. As a society that has championed capitalism, pioneered the digital revolution and thrived on an Internet based on trust, Americans should be far less tolerant of this abuse. The thieves, spies and warriors in cyberspace need to be defeated, and it is long past time to get started figuring out how.

Michael Daniel, the White House’s cybersecurity coordinator, courted controversy when he gave an interview on his role setting cyber policy for the Obama administration. But it wasn’t his thoughts on how the government can better protect its IT systems from intrusions or how the feds should respond to cyberattacks that caused a fuss. It was his résumé.

Daniel said it was important to have a “broad sense” of the role technology plays in cyber policy, then added: “But you don’t have to be a coder in order to really do well in this position. In fact, I think being too down in the weeds at the technical level could actually be a little of a distraction in that sense.” His remarks blew up on Twitter. Many social media commentators were perturbed that the nation’s top cybersecurity official seemed to be flaunting his lack of technical experience.