November 2014

You don't often find a two-time presidential candidate and civil rights leader wading into the sticky business of Internet policy. But the Rev Jesse Jackson visited the Federal Communications Commission to discuss the future of the Internet.

Meeting with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Rev Jackson urged the FCC to act on network neutrality, the idea that Internet providers should not be permitted to speed up or slow down certain kinds of Web traffic over others, especially in exchange for money. What Rev Jackson asked for, though, probably won't sit well with some of net neutrality's most outspoken proponents, including President Barack Obama. Rev Jackson "was unequivocal in voicing his opposition to Title II because of its effects on investment in broadband and because of the ultimate impact on minority communities and job creation," said TechFreedom’s Berin Szoka, another participant in the meeting with Chairman Wheeler who has also argued for Section 706. Civil rights and diversity organizations are largely united in their support for Section 706, Jackson said. He added that no matter which legal approach the FCC chooses, the agency's net neutrality rules should not end up marginalizing minorities and the poor. "We got a lot of poor folks who don't have broadband," said Jackson. "If you create something where, for the poor, the lane is slower and the cost is more, you can't survive."

Republicans and outside groups used anonymous Twitter accounts to share internal polling data ahead of the midterm elections, a practice that raises questions about whether they violated campaign finance laws that prohibit coordination.

The Twitter accounts were hidden in plain sight. The profiles were publicly available but meaningless without knowledge of how to find them and decode the information, according to a source with knowledge of the activities. The practice is the latest effort in the quest by political operatives to exploit the murky world of campaign finance laws at a time when limits on spending in politics are eroding and regulators are being defanged.

Public Knowledge submitted a petition with over 1,000 signatures asking the Federal Communications Commission to implement its proposed rules to ensure 911 dispatchers know where callers are, even when they call from indoors using their cell phones.

This petition comes as a response to concerning reports detailing the current failure of wireless carriers to convey the location of 911 callers. Despite the increasing prevalence of mobile-only households, the carriers have yet to improve or address the widespread reports of failed location accuracy in many states. The FCC must step in to require the basic safety and peace-of-mind that when you call for help, it will come. With this petition, Public Knowledge urges the FCC implement its proposed rules without delay. While we embrace new technologies, we cannot -- and need not -- trade public safety away during technology transitions. Today’s mobile communications infrastructure must ensure that every person -- regardless of race, sex, age, income level, or disability -- has adequate and reliable access to emergency services. Public Knowledge supports and applauds the FCC for presenting these stronger requirements, and we ask that the FCC not waiver in their resolve to ensure first responders can find those in need, no matter how they reach 911.

The research and development company Battelle is currently building out a nationwide quantum network that would stretch from Boston to Georgia, eventually reaching all the way to California. A similar project is already under way in China, spanning from Shanghai to Beijing.

They're the first networks of their kind, using the essential qualities of light to protect messages in transit. But as the quantum-encrypted networks come to life, they're raising real questions about the future of cryptography. Quantum networks use long encryption keys that are distributed across the network as bursts of light. To establish a key, one party generates random signal and the other listens in: whatever comes out of the network is the new encryption key. But what if someone else is listening in? To protect against interception, the network relies on the observer effect — the principle that light can’t be intercepted without altering the signal itself. For cryptography purposes, that means that if you're using the right protocols, you can ensure no one else is on the line. If everything goes right, it would mean a perfect encryption system, fueled by big, random keys that are impossible to intercept.