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December 2014

December 30, 2014 (NSA Reports Improper Surveillance of Americans)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2014

Headlines is taking a break; we will return FRIDAY, January 2, 2015. Happy New Year.


PRIVACY/SECURITY
   US Spy Agency Reports Improper Surveillance of Americans
   Snowden docs show limit of NSA's snooping
   Data & Civil Rights: What Do We Know? What Don't We Know? - press release [links to web]
   Facebook will have to face lawsuit over scanning of users' messages [links to web]
   Deterring Cyberattacks From North Korea - NY Times editorial [links to web]

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   FCC will adopt network neutrality rules in early 2015
   Verizon: Title II Can't Be Applied to Mobile
   Network neutrality, phone unlocking make Obama's 'year in review'
   Why Airlines Want To Make You Suffer - analysis

ACCESSIBILITY
   Adoption of an emergency mid-year rate adjustment for Internet Protocol Relay service [links to web]

OWNERSHIP
   American Cable Association: Comcast/Time Warner Conditions Should Last At Least Nine Years [links to web]
   Rock stars amp up in digital music copyright war [links to web]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Consumer Electronics Association, Others Advise Court To Reject Broadcaster Auction Challenge [links to web]

CONTENT
   Amid protests, social media's role is praised and scrutinized [links to web]
   Live Sports Could Overwhelm TV’s Ad Game - analysis [links to web]

AGENDA
   "Dynamic Idea Factory" Preps Thoughtful Solutions for New Congress - press release

POLICYMAKERS
   Spotlight on NTIA: Mike Dame, Program Director, State and Local Implementation Grant Program - press release [links to web]

COMPANY NEWS
   Aereo Allowed to Auction Web TV Technology [links to web]
   A Conversation With Glenn Lurie, AT&T Mobility's New Chief [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Access restored to Google’s e-mail service in China [links to web]
   US Social Media Giants Are Resisting Russia Censors [links to web]
   New Study May Add to Skepticism Among Security Experts That North Korea Was Behind Sony Hack [links to web]
   Hundreds of Portuguese Buses and Taxis Are Also Wi-Fi Routers [links to web]
   A snapshot from the global debate on digitally enabled employment - AEI op-ed [links to web]

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PRIVACY/SECURITY

US SPY AGENCY REPORTS IMPROPER SURVEILLANCE OF AMERICANS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: David Lerman]
The National Security Agency released reports on intelligence collection that may have violated the law or US policy over more than a decade, including unauthorized surveillance of Americans’ overseas communications. The NSA, responding to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union, released a series of required quarterly and annual reports to the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board that cover the period from the fourth quarter of 2001 to the second quarter of 2013. The heavily-redacted reports include examples of data on Americans being e-mailed to unauthorized recipients, stored in unsecured computers and retained after it was supposed to be destroyed, according to the documents. They were posted on the NSA’s website at around 1:30 pm on Christmas Eve. [Dec 24]
benton.org/headlines/us-spy-agency-reports-improper-surveillance-americans | Bloomberg
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SNOWDEN DOCS SHOW LIMIT OF NSA'S SNOOPING
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden show that the National Security Agency, despite its seemingly best efforts, is unable to crack certain types of cyber defenses. The German newspaper Der Spiegel uncovered among the former contractor’s document trove new details about the extent of the spy agency’s ability to crack online encryption, which defenders of the agency say is necessary to monitor potential terrorists’ communications. According to one Snowden document, as of 2012, agents had “major” problems tracking users on the Tor network, which encrypts and relays data all around the Web. The Off-the-Record (OTR) protocol for encrypting instant messages also caused significant problems for the agency, as did the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) email encryption program, which is decades old and relatively common among security proponents.
benton.org/headlines/snowden-docs-show-limit-nsas-snooping | Hill, The
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY

FCC WILL ADOPT NETWORK NEUTRALITY RULES IN EARLY 2015
[SOURCE: PCWorld, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
The Federal Communications Commission will adopt network neutrality rules in early 2015, maybe as soon as February, several observers believe, but few people want to predict what those rules will look like. It appears that the FCC will move forward with net neutrality rules in the first quarter of 2015, just over a year after an appeals court struck down a large portion of net neutrality rules the FCC passed in late 2010, said Chris Lewis, vice president of government affairs at Public Knowledge. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said recently he has no set timeline for moving forward on net neutrality rules. [Dec 24]
benton.org/headlines/fcc-will-adopt-network-neutrality-rules-early-215 | PCWorld
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VERIZON: TITLE II CAN'T BE APPLIED TO MOBILE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Verizon execs told top Federal Communications Commission staffers that the FCC can't "subject" mobile broadband to Title II regulations even if it wanted to. In a meeting at the FCC, Verizon VP and Associate General Counsel William Johnson said that such an approach is foreclosed by a statutory prohibition on applying common carrier regulations to private mobile services, including Internet access. "Because mobile broadband Internet access service cannot, on its own, be used to place calls to telephone numbers, and CMRS cannot be used to connect with (for example) Google’s search engine or Amazon.com or any of the millions of other sources of online content, these two services are not substitutes, and cannot be deemed “functionally equivalent," Verizon told the FCC.
benton.org/headlines/verizon-title-ii-cant-be-applied-mobile | Multichannel News
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY, PHONE UNLOCKING MAKE OBAMA'S 'YEAR IN REVIEW'
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
President Barack Obama's recommendations on network neutrality and a new cellphone unlocking law made the White House's list of highlights from 2014. The two technology-focused items were featured on the White House's "2014: A year in review", along with nearly 20 other "historic accomplishments," "economic milestones" and "behind-the-scenes moments." President Obama writing a line of code with students during Computer Science Education Week also made the list, as did President Obama sitting for pictures that formed the basis of the first 3D-printed bust of a president. The White House touted a cellphone unlocking law as the first time the White House petition website spurred a legislative fix. The bill, signed by President Obama in August, reversed a ruling that blocked customers from keeping their phones when they switched providers.
benton.org/headlines/network-neutrality-phone-unlocking-make-obamas-year-review | Hill, The | White House
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WHY AIRLINES WANT TO MAKE YOU SUFFER
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
[Commentary] A recent New Yorker explainer on how the airlines have created a miserable experience for passengers so they can build a profitable business based on charging fees for bags, early boarding, and better seats is just like the playbook big broadband companies are using as they make efforts to charge both consumers and the content companies for access to their pipes. The danger is that when you start creating incentives to cap and track data usage, you also create a reason for the broadband provider to create a crappy experience so people pay to avoid it. So read that article and rage about the airlines, and then turn that rage into something useful by using it to stop the same thing from happening to your broadband Internet. Tell your Congressman how you feel about the Comcast and Time Warner Cable merger and network neutrality.
benton.org/headlines/why-airlines-want-make-you-suffer | GigaOm | New Yorker | Quartz
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AGENDA

"DYNAMIC IDEA FACTORY" PREPS THOUGHTFUL SOLUTIONS FOR NEW CONGRESS
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: ]
House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) released "GOP Solutions: A Compilation of Policy Proposals from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce". The committee previously launched The Policy Paper Series to support its legislative work with policy development and analysis, combining historical review, data, and assessment of current policies to help make the case for creative new solutions to major public policy challenges. These papers, many of which are highlighted in the compilation, offer a foundation on which to build policy work in the coming years. "Good Process Makes Good Policy: Reforming the FCC" recommends ensuring the FCC engages in judicious policymaking that is a fair, transparent process coupled with rigorous analysis demonstrating the need for regulation before intervening in the marketplace. "Making the Most of America's Airwaves: Government Spectrum Policy" aims at determining methods to repurpose spectrum to increase the amount available to commercial users, including extracting additional spectrum from less efficient uses for more innovative and productive purposes.
benton.org/headlines/dynamic-idea-factory-preps-thoughtful-solutions-new-congress | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | House of Representatives Commerce Committee
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Deterring Cyberattacks From North Korea

[Commentary] The recent cyberattack on Sony Pictures, which the Obama Administration said was committed by North Korea, shows how far the United States still has to go to deter such intrusions, despite warnings by officials and experts about cybersecurity dangers.

Countless assaults on America’s computer networks by China and other foreign governments, hackers and criminals have demonstrated the urgent need for safeguards. The attack on Sony is particularly alarming because it raises the possibility that North Korea, aware that sending troops into South Korea or unleashing a nuclear weapon will bring crushing retaliation from the United States, has found a more devious weapon against its adversaries. The most productive deterrent against further North Korean assaults may be to continue pressing China, where most of the North’s hackers are based, to shut the operation and to make clear to the government of Kim Jong-un that such activities will not be tolerated.

Live Sports Could Overwhelm TV’s Ad Game

[Commentary] In the age of the DVR and online streaming, media networks have turned to live sports, which cater to people watching in real time, as a reliable way of getting viewers to watch ads. In turn, the leagues, recognizing the growing power of their content, have negotiated for huge increases in their contracts with networks. They have also added games and carved out more rights to sell. Such moves, though, may now be leading to an oversupply of sports-ad slots -- driving down pricing. Indeed, networks showed 10% more hours of content from major sports leagues in the fourth quarter than they did in the same period a year earlier.

TV ad slots during major live sporting events are likely still more valuable than most. But the risk for networks is that the growth in live-sports hours may be outpacing the growth in demand from typical ad buyers, such as car makers, beer companies, movie studios and wireless providers. Weakness in TV advertising featured prominently in media companies’ third-quarter earnings season, fueling concerns about a permanent shift in spending toward digital platforms. This could make it more difficult for media companies to cover rights fees demanded by the leagues.

Access restored to Google’s e-mail service in China

A four-day outage of Google’s Gmail service in mainland China appeared to have at least partly ended on Dec 30, but has raised questions about the breadth and scope of China’s notorious “Great Firewall”.

China’s so-called “Great Firewall” blocks access to many foreign internet services, including Twitter and Facebook, and new additions to the blacklist are a weekly or monthly occurrence. They are seldom if ever accompanied by any explanation.

US Spy Agency Reports Improper Surveillance of Americans

The National Security Agency released reports on intelligence collection that may have violated the law or US policy over more than a decade, including unauthorized surveillance of Americans’ overseas communications.

The NSA, responding to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union, released a series of required quarterly and annual reports to the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board that cover the period from the fourth quarter of 2001 to the second quarter of 2013. The heavily-redacted reports include examples of data on Americans being e-mailed to unauthorized recipients, stored in unsecured computers and retained after it was supposed to be destroyed, according to the documents. They were posted on the NSA’s website at around 1:30 pm on Christmas Eve.

[Dec 24]

Snowden docs show limit of NSA's snooping

Documents leaked by Edward Snowden show that the National Security Agency, despite its seemingly best efforts, is unable to crack certain types of cyber defenses.

The German newspaper Der Spiegel uncovered among the former contractor’s document trove new details about the extent of the spy agency’s ability to crack online encryption, which defenders of the agency say is necessary to monitor potential terrorists’ communications. According to one Snowden document, as of 2012, agents had “major” problems tracking users on the Tor network, which encrypts and relays data all around the Web. The Off-the-Record (OTR) protocol for encrypting instant messages also caused significant problems for the agency, as did the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) email encryption program, which is decades old and relatively common among security proponents.

FCC will adopt network neutrality rules in early 2015

The Federal Communications Commission will adopt network neutrality rules in early 2015, maybe as soon as February, several observers believe, but few people want to predict what those rules will look like.

It appears that the FCC will move forward with net neutrality rules in the first quarter of 2015, just over a year after an appeals court struck down a large portion of net neutrality rules the FCC passed in late 2010, said Chris Lewis, vice president of government affairs at Public Knowledge. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said recently he has no set timeline for moving forward on net neutrality rules.

[Dec 24]

Verizon: Title II Can't Be Applied to Mobile

Verizon execs told top Federal Communications Commission staffers that the FCC can't "subject" mobile broadband to Title II regulations even if it wanted to.

In a meeting at the FCC, Verizon VP and Associate General Counsel William Johnson said that such an approach is foreclosed by a statutory prohibition on applying common carrier regulations to private mobile services, including Internet access. "Because mobile broadband Internet access service cannot, on its own, be used to place calls to telephone numbers, and CMRS cannot be used to connect with (for example) Google’s search engine or Amazon.com or any of the millions of other sources of online content, these two services are not substitutes, and cannot be deemed “functionally equivalent," Verizon told the FCC.

Network neutrality, phone unlocking make Obama's 'year in review'

President Barack Obama's recommendations on network neutrality and a new cellphone unlocking law made the White House's list of highlights from 2014. The two technology-focused items were featured on the White House's "2014: A year in review", along with nearly 20 other "historic accomplishments," "economic milestones" and "behind-the-scenes moments."

President Obama writing a line of code with students during Computer Science Education Week also made the list, as did President Obama sitting for pictures that formed the basis of the first 3D-printed bust of a president. The White House touted a cellphone unlocking law as the first time the White House petition website spurred a legislative fix. The bill, signed by President Obama in August, reversed a ruling that blocked customers from keeping their phones when they switched providers.

Why Airlines Want To Make You Suffer

[Commentary] A recent New Yorker explainer on how the airlines have created a miserable experience for passengers so they can build a profitable business based on charging fees for bags, early boarding, and better seats is just like the playbook big broadband companies are using as they make efforts to charge both consumers and the content companies for access to their pipes.

The danger is that when you start creating incentives to cap and track data usage, you also create a reason for the broadband provider to create a crappy experience so people pay to avoid it. So read that article and rage about the airlines, and then turn that rage into something useful by using it to stop the same thing from happening to your broadband Internet. Tell your Congressman how you feel about the Comcast and Time Warner Cable merger and network neutrality.

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