1. Monthly archive
  2. December 2015

December 2015

Facebook bows to Belgian privacy ruling over cookies

Facebook has said that it will respond to a privacy ruling in Belgium by requiring users to log in to view pages on the site. The original ruling, made by the Belgian Privacy Commissioner (BPC) in November, relates to Facebook cookies that track the activity of non-users. The company expects to receive an order soon, which it will contest. But in the meantime, cookies will not be set for non-users and accounts will be needed to access content.

DHS to Silicon Valley: Tell us how to secure this “Internet of Things”

The US Department of Homeland Security has announced that its Silicon Valley Office (SVO) -- the agency's liaison point with the technology industry -- will hold an event on December 10 to kick off a recruiting drive for startups and "non-traditional small businesses" interested in latching onto government funding. The Industry Day, being held at the Menlo Park (CA) offices of SRI International, will be focused on the current leading source of worry for DHS officials: the "Internet of Things" (IoT). The DHS posting describes the three-hour event as a time to: 1)Describe the homeland security challenges associated with IoT, 2) Describe the benefits of the SVO Innovation Program to startups, 3) Show you how to apply for funding. And IoT is high on the DHS' funding list.

Earlier in 2015, DHS's Science and Technology Directorate launched a Cyber Physical Systems Security (CPSSEC) program intended to spur development of security measures as part of the design process for IoT devices. In an amendment to a DHS five-year procurement program, the S&T Directorate described the crux of the problem: the "cyber physical" systems hitting the market now have largely "not been subjected to comprehensive threat analyses, have both known and unknown vulnerabilities, and lack security as an integral part of design." The more IoT devices that are deployed, the bigger the problem will be, DHS officials noted.

Parks Associates: Faster Speed Is Biggest Broadband Churn Driver

The opportunity to boost broadband speed drives more broadband households to switch providers, or broadband churn, than do lower fees, according to new research results from Parks Associates. Nine percent of US broadband households switched providers in the past 12 months. Thirty-five percent of them switched to get faster broadband service, while 18 percent switched to take advantage of lower prices at comparable speeds, Parks highlights.

More than one-quarter of US broadband households believe their broadband speed is faster than what’s needed, however, according to Parks’ "360 View Update: The Need for Speed: Broadband and Data Consumption." Ten percent intend to upgrade to a more expensive, faster service. "Very high speed services, including gigabit-speed offerings, will be the next stage of competition among operators," said Brett Sappington, Parks' director of research. "Though few consumers today actually need that level of throughput, consumers are willing to pay to ensure that they do not encounter slowdowns or other performance problems."

Arrested development: How policy failure impairs Internet progress

The Internet and related networking technologies have fueled unprecedented, disruptive change. While the technical elements of Internet convergence have been fully developed for nearly 20 years, policy, law, and regulation have failed to keep pace with technology. Experts agree that the Internet must be a deregulated space in which competition rather than regulation would provide market discipline, yet regulators have refused to embrace the opportunities provided by Internet convergence. The Internet has reached an impasse because of inappropriate regulation. Restoring the Internet’s dynamic character will require regulators to be as committed to innovation as the Internet engineering community is.

The FCC vs. Your Retirement

[Commentary] At the behest of President Barack Obama, in a highly unusual intervention with an independent agency, commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to impose utility regulation on the Internet. Historically, cable and telecommunications were stable investment vehicles. Providers made long-term investments, and consumers purchased subscriptions. This ensured reliable deliverable of dividends, important for people living on fixed incomes and pensions. Such stability was enabled in large part by a light but consistent regulatory framework. It's strange then why the FCC would throw a monkey wrench into a system that drives 5 percent of the S&P 500 and put millions of Americans' retirement plans at risk. But the agency is under siege by activists who don't trust private enterprise and want all of America's networks to be under government control because they believe they can do it better than the market. Incidentally, the rules they imposed allow the government more ease to surveil citizens under the premise of protecting their "privacy" and the ability to add new fees to broadband subscriptions.

Unless Congress acts, the lawsuits and long litigation progress against the FCC probably will cost savers, taxpayers and petitioners at least $1 billion. That's a lot of money that could go to upgrade and expand networks, particularly in rural areas. A better path is for Congress to put an end of the litigation and do its job to make the proper communications laws for the digital age.

[Roslyn Layton is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Frank Louthan is managing director at Raymond James financial advisors]

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