July 2015

Groups Ask FCC to Revamp Auction Reserve

Public Knowledge, Save Wireless Choice, and T-Mobile lobbyists and former Rep Henry Waxman are pushing the Federal Communications Commission to revamp its broadcast spectrum forward auction reserve trigger to prevent it from being gamed by dominant wireless carriers. Currently, the FCC is planning to set aside 30 MHz of spectrum for monodominant carriers. Public Knowledge's Harold Feld pointed out on a conference call with reporters that they would prefer a larger reserve, but in any event says the FCC should no longer condition that reserve on reaching a spectrum clearing and total bidding financial targets that the AWS-3 spectrum auction's success has essentially rendered unnecessary.

The groups argue that AT&T and Verizon would be able to game those triggers and extend the auction until, by the time the reserve is triggered, competitive carriers won't be in a position, or as good a position, to take advantage of it, which Waxman says would run counter to the intent of Congress in the spectrum auction legislation that it promote wireless competition. Feld likened the issue to the dominant carriers being able to hack the FCC's computer model for the auction to advantage themselves. The commission was scheduled to vote on its reserve proposal July 16, but put that vote off until Aug. 6. Feld said he understood the FCC's reluctance to start adjusting the auction software and the staff's inclination to just "put it to bed." But he also said that given that T-Mobile had shown the double-trigger for the reserve could be gamed, it clearly would be gamed. "Why wouldn't you give yourself an advantage through strategic bidding," he asked. He said that they had pressed their case to the commissioners that while it was a tough call, including politically, they should not let the work put into coming up with the reserve to be "washed away."

Chairman Wheeler to Hill: ISPs Have Certainty to Invest

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler plans to tell Congress that a court's denial of Internet service provider efforts to stay part of the FCC's network neutrality order means those companies have "the certainty and economic incentive to build fast and competitive broadband networks." ISPs have argued that new interconnection-targeted complaint processes and a general Internet conduct standard will work against such investment, but according to Chairman Wheeler's testimony for a House Communications Subcommittee FCC oversight hearing, the Chairman cites statements by the CEOs of T-Mobile, Sprint, Cablevision, Charter and Frontier that Title II reclassification "does not discourage their investment." He also said that announcements by ISPs including Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable and others that they were expanding broadband service suggested "healthy" network investment would continue.

Chairman Wheeler cited the court's denial of the stay as a recent FCC accomplishment, along with the rules themselves. Chairman Wheeler says the broadcast incentive auction had more moving parts than a Swiss watch, but that it is still on track for a first-quarter 2016 launch. The FCC plans to vote Aug. 6 on the incentive auction framework and bidding rules. Chairman Wheeler reiterates that the reserve would be 30 MHz, but only "provided that eligible bidders pay their fair share of auction costs." He also said the FCC would issue a notice of proposed rulemaking in the fall on broadband privacy, or what he called the "non-monetary cost" of using broadband -- broadband privacy oversight moved from the Federal Trade Commission to the FCC with the reclassification of ISPs under Title II common carrier regulations.

NSA promises to delete old records

Federal intelligence officials are promising to delete old records picked up under a controversial National Security Agency (NSA) program that was overhauled earlier in 2015. Once the NSA ends its bulk collection and storage of tens of millions of Americans’ phone records later in 2015, it will also eliminate analysts’ access to the five years’ worth of old data, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said on July 27. The decision forestalls what would have been certain outrage from privacy advocates had the NSA decided to keep the old data, which one top court has ruled was gathered illegally. The change was prompted by the passage of the USA Freedom Act in June, which ended the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone “metadata.”

Before, the agency collected millions of people’s metadata -- which includes the phone numbers involved in a call, the time the call occurred and how long it lasted, but not the actual conversation -- and kept it for five years. Soon, the spy agency will have to request a narrow set of records from private phone companies, and only after obtaining a court order. While the five years of “historic” data collected by the NSA will be off-limits to analysts, “technical personnel” will be able to access it for another three months “to verify the records produced” under the new system, the ODNI said. Additionally, ongoing court cases surrounding the program have required the NSA to hold on to the data until the cases are finalized, it said. The NSA will keep the phone data for those cases and it “will not be used or accessed for any other purpose.” The NSA promised to destroy those records “as soon as possible” after the court requirements end.

950 million Android phones can be hijacked by malicious text messages

Almost all Android mobile devices available today are susceptible to hacks that can execute malicious code when they are sent a malformed text message or the user is lured to a malicious website. The vulnerability affects about 950 million Android phones and tablets, according to Joshua Drake, vice president of platform research and exploitation at security firm Zimperium. It resides in "Stagefright," an Android code library that processes several widely used media formats. The most serious exploit scenario is the use of a specially modified text message using the multimedia message (MMS) format. All an attacker needs is the phone number of the vulnerable Android phone. From there, the malicious message will surreptitiously execute malicious code on the vulnerable device with no action required by the end user and no indication that anything is amiss.

In a blog post, Zimperium researchers wrote: "A fully weaponized successful attack could even delete the message before you see it. You will only see the notification. These vulnerabilities are extremely dangerous because they do not require that the victim take any action to be exploited. Unlike spear-phishing, where the victim needs to open a PDF file or a link sent by the attacker, this vulnerability can be triggered while you sleep. Before you wake up, the attacker will remove any signs of the device being compromised and you will continue your day as usual -- with a trojaned phone." The vulnerability can be exploited using other attack techniques, including luring targets to malicious websites.

Kill Switch Is No Dead Certainty to Stop Phone Theft

The phone-locking kill switch has been widely hailed as a powerful deterrent to phone theft. In July, California became the first state to require that new smartphones be sold with such technology enabled by default. Introduced by Apple in September 2013, it has shown promise in reducing rampant iPhone robbery in cities like San Francisco, New York and London. But new phone-theft data and the appearance of so-called bricked phones for sale online, suggest that at least some thieves aren’t deterred by the antitheft technology.

In Seattle, iPhone thefts and robberies leapt by more than 30 percent in the year after the Apple kill switch, or activation lock, was introduced. An antitheft feature for Android phones was introduced earlier in 2015. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, who championed the California law, said theft and robbery numbers will plummet across the board once phones with kill switches enabled by default are in broad circulation. For older iPhones, the kill-switch capability must be set up by owners. “Will it go away 100 percent? Probably not,” said Mr. Gascón. “What it is doing is reducing it so substantially that it’s not the epidemic that we saw.”

New Court Evidence Reveals Hollywood’s Plan to Smear Google

Over the years, Google and Hollywood have fought bitterly over the Stop Online Piracy Act, an anti-piracy bill that would have granted the US government and private corporations extraordinary power to battle copyright infringement on the web. It failed to pass in 2012. But it lives on. The Motion Picture Association of America is still seeking to revive it, and with Google still very much opposed to the idea, the MPAA is apparently doing its best to make life difficult for the Internet giant.

Back in December, the search giant complained in a blog post of efforts by the MPAA to push an investigation of Google through the office of Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood. Now, in a new court filing, the company submitted additional evidence that appears to show just how deep the relationship between the attorney general and the Hollywood studios goes. An e-mail sent between AG Hood’s staffers and Brian Cohen, a director of external state government affairs for the MPAA, describes a coordinated plan to hurt Google, including a recommendation that “NewsCorp… develop and place an editorial in the WSJ emphasizing that Google’s stock will lose value in the face of a sustained attack by AGs”; the suggestion that NBC’s government relations department could help place an anti-Google segment on the today show; and that AG Hood’s office look into hiring a PR firm “to create an attack on Google (and other players who are resisting AG efforts to address online piracy).”

Merely receiving a phone notification is enough to distract a driver

Beyond a small minority of drivers, most of us are terrible at driving and doing anything else at the same time. Distracted-driving legislation has banned using hand-operated cell phones in cars in many states. Consequently, automakers, Apple, and Google are all pushing voice controls as a solution for a public that seems to have no desire to stop communicating on their commutes. But even using voice control appears to be little safer than button pushing; both are dismal compared to simply paying attention to the task of piloting several thousand pounds of steel.

In a recent publication from a trio of researchers at Florida State University in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, the challenge wasn't even as significant as issuing voice commands while concentrating on another task. Instead, the researchers measured the effect of receiving cellphone notifications while trying to focus on a task. The findings indicate that merely receiving a notification from one's phone was distracting enough to make an error more likely.

ESPN will likely be sold directly to consumers in a few years

In a few years, ESPN will likely be a channel that cable-ditching consumers can buy directly as a streaming-only option, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger said on July 27. “If we end up seeing more erosion in the so-called multichannel bundle (cable or satellite TV packages), quality will win out and popularity will win out,” he said, adding the ESPN-only option will not happen in the next five years. “Five years out, I don’t think you see significant change. But I think eventually ESPN becomes a business that is sold directly to consumers. We’ll use their information to customize the product. I think there’s inevitability to that, but I don’t think it’s right around the corner,” he said.

Comcast and Discovery Announce Long-Term Distribution Deal

Comcast, the country’s largest cable operator, and Discovery announced that they had reached a multiyear agreement over the fees Comcast pays to carry Discovery networks. The deal, which extends into the next decade and includes all rights across all platforms, is a public olive branch after the two companies clashed when Comcast was attempting its $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable, a bid that it abandoned in April. Discovery, the home of the Discovery, TLC and Animal Planet networks, was one of the most vocal opponents of the merger, concerned that Comcast would use its new heft to push around independent programmers like Discovery. Comcast accused Discovery and other business partners of “extortion” and said that Discovery was trying to use the proceeding to negotiate higher rates long before its previous deal expired. That enmity did not stand in the way of the new deal that was announced on July 27.

Combined with agreements from other distributors, the agreement will help Discovery secure high-single-digit growth for its so-called affiliate revenue, according to one executive with knowledge of the agreement who requested anonymity because the contract was private. The new deal also includes some elements that were not in previous agreements. Those include the ability for Comcast customers to view past and current seasons of programming Discovery across an array of devices both in and out of the home.

A Clinton Story Fraught With Inaccuracies: How It Happened and What Next?

[Commentary] The story certainly seemed like a blockbuster: A criminal investigation of Hillary Rodham Clinton by the Justice Department was being sought by two federal inspectors general over her e-mail practices while secretary of state. It’s hard to imagine a much more significant political story at this moment, given that she is the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for president. The story -- a Times exclusive -- appeared high on the home page and the mobile app late on July 23 and on July 24 and then was displayed with a three-column headline on the front page in July 24’s paper. The online headline read “Criminal Inquiry Sought in Hillary Clinton’s Use of Email,” very similar to the one in print. But aspects of it began to unravel soon after it first went online.

The first major change was this: It wasn’t really Mrs. Clinton directly who was the focus of the request for an investigation. It was more general: whether government information was handled improperly in connection with her use of a personal e-mail account. Much later, The Times backed off the startling characterization of a “criminal inquiry,” instead calling it something far tamer sounding: it was a “security” referral. From the night of July 23 to the morning of July 26 -- when a final correction appeared in print -- the inaccuracies and changes in the story were handled as they came along, with little explanation to readers, other than routine corrections. But you can’t put stories like this back in the bottle -- they ripple through the entire news system. So it was, to put it mildly, a mess. As a result, I’ve been spending the last couple of days asking how this could happen and how something similar can be prevented in the future. I’ll summarize my prescription in four words: Less speed. More transparency.

Benton

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