December 2015

Terrorists Mock Bids to End Use of Social Media

Silicon Valley’s efforts to crack down on the use by terrorists of social media have been toothless. And Washington is using the latest terrorist attacks to renew its calls for Silicon Valley to roll back the encryption in their products. But technology companies are dealing with a tenacious adversary.

Also, when it comes to terrorists using encryption technologies to hide their communications — a frequent complaint of law enforcement — technology companies are quick to point out that of the top five encryption apps recommended by the Islamic State, none are American-made. Still, while the tech industry cannot block all terror content on the web, people who have battled other online threats say it could be doing more. They point to technology that has successfully eradicated large swaths of child pornography on the web, or even older tools for spotting computer viruses, as potential guideposts for blocking terror-related content.

President Obama wrong on encryption, right on complexity of terrorist threat

In his recent address about terrorism, he dredged up a tired refrain: Let government poke through digital communications willy-nilly, he urged, and America will be safe again. Or at least safer.

For Silicon Valley, it was especially frustrating to hear Obama's use of the terrorist attack by two people who never were on law enforcement's radar as an excuse to amp-up the call for government access to any and all internet communications. The president must not let the terrorism threat destroy the principles that help lead to one of the greatest technological advances of the last century -- and to the freedoms we fight for today.

Network neutrality is choking innovation

[Commentary] AT&T is now saying that it has been delaying new services because of the Federal Communications Commission’s regulatory uncertainty.

What has AT&T been delaying? Apparently several services, but one in particular is similar to T-Mobile’s new Binge On video streaming program. Binge On provides customers with unlimited access to 24 video services, such as Netflix. AT&T’s Bob Quinn said AT&T didn’t offer this as early as T-Mobile did because AT&T wasn’t sure how the FCC would respond. There is an unfortunate irony in this: FCC staff objected to AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile in 2011 in part because the staff believed that AT&T should take after T-Mobile and be more entrepreneurial. Now the FCC’s own regulation may be a major obstacle to AT&T being more innovative. Does an admission by an AT&T executive prove that the FCC’s rules are delaying innovation? Of course not. We should always be cautious with what we read into executive statements that are of strategic importance to their companies. But there is precedence for what Quinn said being true.

[Mark Jamison is the director and Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida]

T-Mobile accused of false advertising; New York AG investigates

T-Mobile is coming under scrutiny for its popular ad campaign promising to rip up service contracts and do away with hidden fees.

The office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating complaints that the ads are misleading. And a letter alleging "deceptive marketing and abusive debt collection practices" is making its way to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is responsible for consumer financial products.

Critics, led by labor and consumer organization Change to Win, are blasting T-Mobile's advertising, saying the vast majority, or 91%, of its customers are locked into two-year loans for new phones and other equipment, known as an equipment installment plan. The phone loans, which must be paid off over 24 months and require a lump sum to exit, contradict T-Mobile's splashy ads promising consumers they can switch carriers at any time, said the letter to the CFPB, which was also signed by numerous civil rights and consumer advocacy groups, including the Consumer Federation of California. Customers who end their financing agreements before 24 months may end up owing more than if they were to break a traditional service contract — or be placed in debt collection "with little or no notice," according to the CFPB complaint.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman moves to rein in 'dark' networks

The head of the House Homeland Security Committee is pushing a new initiative to deal with the proliferation of encrypted devices that critics say allow terrorists to communicate without detection. The effort by Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) will not force concessions on tech companies, he said. Instead, it would create “a national commission on security and technology challenges in the digital age,” which Chairman McCaul promised would be tasked with providing specific recommendations for dealing with an issue that has become a priority for law enforcement officials. “A legislative knee-jerk reaction could weaken Internet protections and privacy for everyday Americans, while doing nothing puts American lives at risk and makes it easier for terrorists and criminals to escape justice,” he said. “It is time for Congress to act because the White House has failed to bring all parties together -- transparently -- to find solutions."

Chairman McCaul is planning to introduce his bill in the coming days. The new commission would be composed of tech industry leaders, privacy advocates, academics and law enforcement officials. “This will not be like other blue ribbon panels: established and forgotten,” he promised. ”The threats are real, so this legislation will require the commission to develop a range of actionable recommendations that protect privacy and public safety.”

Donald Trump has gotten more nightly network news coverage than the entire Democratic field combined

According to the Tyndall Report, which tracks the airtime that the various flagship news programs on NBC, CBS and ABC dedicate to a variety of stories, the 2016 election has received 857 minutes of combined coverage, through Nov 30. With a month to go, that’s already the second biggest total of any pre-election year in the last seven presidential cycles. That might sound like a big number, but the math works out to about 1 minute and 12 seconds on each newscast. The report found, for instance, that the Republican primary race has received more than twice as much coverage as the Democratic contest. “Besides the fact that there are many more Republican candidates than Democratic ones, the GOP debates have made much more news than the Democrats’ [debates],” Tyndall noted.

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, unsurprisingly, is the most-covered candidate in the race. In fact, he alone has gotten more airtime (234 minutes) than the entire Democratic field (226 minutes). Two other things stand out: First, Vice President Joe Biden, who flirted with a run but ultimately stayed out of the Democratic race, got far more coverage (56 minutes) than Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) (10 minutes), who actually is running and polled well for much of the summer and fall. Second, Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) has attracted a paltry seven minutes of coverage, though he’ll likely see more in the near future, now that he’s moved into third place nationally and appears poised to win Iowa.

FCC Decisions Implicated in Rider Showdown

It may or may not come to a showdown during the week of Dec 7 over Federal Communications Commission-related riders on bills being worked on and into an omnibus appropriations bill that needs to pass to keep the government open. A budget bill passed in October, but the omnibus specifies what that total will be spent on, including for agencies like the FCC. There is a Dec 11 deadline for appropriating the money or the government runs out of funds, though it it likely that a short continuing resolution will be passed -- say a week or so -- to avert a shutdown at allow them to continue to work on a bill.

According to reports, the FCC appropriations bills submitted during the week of Nov 30 by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) would include the FCC-related amendments added by Republicans to the FCC appropriation bills.

Big Cable’s Sledgehammer Is Coming Down

[Commentary] I want to talk about the sledgehammer of usage-based billing. I take no pride in saying that I’ve been talking about it for years. The sledgehammer is not something I welcome, and I would have been happy if my fears about it never materialized. After all, the sledgehammer could cost Internet users billions of dollars, enrich monopolists, and defeat the spirit -- if not the law -- of net neutrality. In a big way, the sledgehammer will also beat down our economic growth. This is one evil sledgehammer.

The sledgehammer (as employed by the mobile carriers) is a part of a complex scheme designed to hijack the development of a fast, cheap, competitive, unlimited-capacity data communications systems -- like the one our country should have. If we upgraded to competitive wholesale publicly-overseen fiber optic networks all over the country, we could leave the cable industry and its ongoing destructive shenanigans behind. It’s time to stand up. And when we stand up, we should have a shared purpose and a goal: get wholesale fiber networks built across the country. Right now. If we don’t -- we’ll deserve the scarcity and the sledgehammers that lie ahead.

[Susan Crawford is the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School]

Seattle to Comcast: We want contract deal like Philadelphia got

Seattle (WA) officials want the same brotherly love Comcast is giving to Philadelphia (PA). Mayor Ed Murray and City Councilmember Bruce Harrell sent a letter to the cable company saying the City Council won’t approve a new cable-franchise agreement for Comcast in Seattle until the city gets what Philadelphia is getting.

“We were disappointed to learn of the franchise agreed to between Comcast and the city of Philadelphia,” reads the letter from Murray and Harrell to the company’s regional vice president of government affairs. “Having seen the commitment toward equity and affordability in Philadelphia, we believe the people of Seattle deserve the same level of commitment." In their letter, Murray and Harrell say the city will hold off granting Comcast a new franchise “until Seattle’s agreement is significantly improved.” In conjunction with its proposed Comcast agreement, Seattle would get discounted Internet for low-income households with children. But Philadelphia will get discounted Internet for low-income seniors and Internet subsidies for households without children, as well, and other benefits not offered to Seattle.

US 19th to 55th in the World in Wired & Wireless Broadband Speed Rankings

[Commentary] According to most sources, America's wireline or wireless broadband speeds are not even in the Top 20 in the world, much less are reasonably priced. From the failed National Broadband Plan to the failure of the state commissions to enforce basic commitments, we believe the future of communications in America is going to get worse, not better, unless we take some immediate actions. Please do not say that we need more government subsidies, or that we need to give the companies more financial incentives, or we should build around the incumbents who didn't deliver.

We have already paid multiple times to upgrade the utility networks through government subsidies and financial incentives, which is a euphemism to raise rates. We have uncovered one of the largest financial accounting scandals in American history, and it is one of the reasons America isn't Number 1 or even Number 10. We will be releasing some reports during the week of Dec 7 from a new series called "Fixing Telecommunications". It is time for a reboot of the regulatory process that allowed this to happen. What are needed are audits, accountability and enforcement, tied to refunds, among other next steps.

[Bruce Kushnick is the executive director of New Networks Institute]

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