1. Monthly archive
  2. December 2015

December 2015

House Communications and Technology Subcommittee approves bill that push feds to relinquish airwaves

The House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology signed off on legislation meant to expand access to mobile and broadband Internet. The Subcommittee approved a bill to coax federal agencies into giving up some of their wireless spectrum and a package of reforms aimed at making it easier to build the infrastructure that forms the backbone of Internet service. Members on both sides of the aisle praised the Federal Spectrum Incentive Act, which says that federal agencies that auction off their spectrum to the private sector can receive some of the proceeds from the sale.

Some say that wireless frequencies controlled by federal agencies, like the Department of Defense, could be better used by wireless carriers, who are trying to meet the demand for wireless data fueled by the adoption of smartphones. The bill’s supporters say it would make it easier for federal agencies to surrender some of their airwaves. Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA), the primary Democratic sponsor of the bill, called it a “critical next step” in efficiently allocating spectrum. “We know that the federal government is one of the largest users of spectrum and that spectrum is essential for many federal agencies’ missions,” she said. “Our bipartisan bill creates a new approach to spectrum management by offering incentives for federal users to relinquish or share spectrum.” The panel also approved draft legislation that would require federally funded highway projects to include laying broadband conduit. Also included in the package are measures to speed up the approval process for certain types of broadband infrastructure.

AT&T: We’ve Shelved Ideas Thanks to Network Neutrality Rules

The Federal Communications Commission’s new network neutrality rules have created enough legal uncertainty that AT&T has paused plans to offer some new services, AT&T Senior Vice President Bob Quinn said. He didn’t provide any details. There’s no way AT&T would have been able to first offer something like T-Mobile’s Binge On video streaming plan, since the company couldn’t predict how the FCC would respond, Quinn said at the Phoenix Center’s annual symposium. “Since the Open Internet order came out we've had weekly calls with the business units and literally 15 lawyers who are all trying to figure out whether that stuff we've invested in ... would be a violation of the order," he said. "We've had to shelve a bunch of stuff because we've got to wait and see.”

Sen Cotton unveils new bill to stall NSA reforms

Sen Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced new legislation to stall or preempt reforms to US intelligence agencies, days after the National Security Agency (NSA) ended a controversial program. Sen Cotton had unsuccessfully attempted to block that NSA reform from going into effect last weekend, but appears committed to stalling other changes following November’s deadly terrorist attack in Paris by adherents of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). “No matter what President Obama may think, it’s clear ISIS is not contained and that these gaps must be addressed before they attack us again,” Sen Cotton said in a statement announcing his new bill, called the Liberty Through Strength Act II. “The Liberty Through Strength Act II ensures our intelligence community has the tools they need keep us safe.”

The original Liberty Through Strength Act, introduced a week before the Thanksgiving break, would have delayed the deadline for the NSA to end its bulk collection of millions of Americans’ phone records, among other changes. His new legislation would have the government hold on to the phone records already collected under that program for officials to search through for five years. It would also make permanent two other provisions that the NSA reform bill extended through 2019, which related to “lone wolf” suspects and those who move through multiple devices.

Chinese government has arrested hackers it says breached OPM database

The Chinese government recently arrested a handful of hackers it says were connected to the breach of Office of Personnel Management’s database earlier in 2015, a mammoth break-in that exposed the records of more than 22 million current and former federal employees. The arrests took place shortly before a state visit in late September by China President Xi Jinping, and US officials say they appear to have been carried out in an effort to lessen tensions with Washington. The identities of the suspects -- and whether they have any connection to the Chinese government -- remain unclear.

If the individuals detained were indeed the hackers, the arrests would mark the first measure of accountability for what has been characterized as one of the most devastating breaches of US government data in history. But officials said it has been difficult so far to independently confirm whether the people rounded up were actually connected to the OPM breach.

Are Activists' Asking the Wrong Questions About YouTube Kids?

[Commentary] During the week of Nov 23, two advocacy groups renewed their complaints against YouTube Kids, claiming that a "limited but systematic search" turned up hundreds of promotions for foods that ought not to be advertised to children under the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. I don't question that there are still advertisements to be found on YouTube Kids, and I don't question the inherent unfairness of "native advertising" to children. I do have doubts about the methodology and claims of the activists' study. Activists who cut their teeth counting commercial minutes on limited, programmed, and linear channels need to become smart about evolving media. They may want streaming media to be more like traditional "TV" as it would be easier to regulate. But, "pull" is entirely different from "push," in its content and genres, its use patterns, even its purpose.

Clearly, there are conversations to be had among YouTube, CFBAI and its members, to ensure that signatories understand their obligations on emerging platforms. YouTube Kids is a platform, not a network, though, and the great thing about a platform is that there's room for many viewpoints. Still, if you start carving away the edges, contributors start tumbling off and the perspective gets much more narrow.

[David Kleeman is a senior vice president at Dubit, a strategy, research, and digital for kids entertainment brands]

Are Activists' Asking the Wrong Questions About YouTube Kids?

[Commentary] During the week of Nov 23, two advocacy groups renewed their complaints against YouTube Kids, claiming that a "limited but systematic search" turned up hundreds of promotions for foods that ought not to be advertised to children under the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. I don't question that there are still advertisements to be found on YouTube Kids, and I don't question the inherent unfairness of "native advertising" to children. I do have doubts about the methodology and claims of the activists' study. Activists who cut their teeth counting commercial minutes on limited, programmed, and linear channels need to become smart about evolving media. They may want streaming media to be more like traditional "TV" as it would be easier to regulate. But, "pull" is entirely different from "push," in its content and genres, its use patterns, even its purpose.

Clearly, there are conversations to be had among YouTube, CFBAI and its members, to ensure that signatories understand their obligations on emerging platforms. YouTube Kids is a platform, not a network, though, and the great thing about a platform is that there's room for many viewpoints. Still, if you start carving away the edges, contributors start tumbling off and the perspective gets much more narrow.

[David Kleeman is a senior vice president at Dubit, a strategy, research, and digital for kids entertainment brands]

Ford Foundation
Wednesday, December 16, 2015 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM (EST)
New York, NY
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bibliotech-why-libraries-matter-more-than-e...

In a digital era where we can access information with greater ease and speed than ever before, what is the fate of our public libraries?

In , author and technology expert John Palfrey explores this question and takes a deep look at the essential role libraries play in battling unequal access to education, jobs, and information.

Please join Ford Foundation president Darren Walker and Ford Foundation trustee Amy Falls for a conversation with John Palfrey on the future of our public library system in a growing and changing digital culture.


Provision Killing Net Neutrality Threatens Must-Pass Spending Bill

Republican lawmakers have tucked an anti-network neutrality rider into a government spending bill that would block the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing its open Internet rules. The provision is just one of many riders in the financial services appropriations bill currently being hashed out by House and Senate negotiators. But as dozens of these unrelated policy measures are dropped, this one is sticking around -- a fact that is especially troubling to net neutrality advocates, who worry it may make its way into a final must-pass spending bill, known as an omnibus.

The federal government is currently running on a stopgap funding measure, which will run out on Dec 11. If Congress doesn't reach a new agreement, the government will shut down. Rep Barbara Lee (D-CA), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said that Republicans are "trying to use a procedural backdoor to supersede the [Federal Communications Commission] and ignore the nearly four million Americans that submitted public comments concerning the FCC’s Net Neutrality rulemaking."

GCHQ admits for the first time to 'persistent' hacking in the UK and abroad

The United Kingdom's digital spy agency, GCHQ, has admitted for the first time in court that it hacks computers, smartphones, and networks in the UK and abroad. GCHQ's use of hacking -- known in official parlance as computer network exploitation or CNE -- has been an open secret since the Edward Snowden revelations in 2013, but a legal case brought by Privacy International and seven Internet service providers has confirmed the agency's methods. The case was initiated in May 2014 and alleges that GCHQ's use of hacking lacks oversight and breaks both domestic laws and the human rights act.

In evidence published the week of Nov 30, GCHQ says it undertakes "persistent" hacking, leaving monitoring software on targeted devices. Ben Jaffey, the lawyer for Privacy International and the ISPs, told the court that this gathers up far more information than traditional surveillance. Hacking a smartphone, he said, was "equal to carrying a bug everywhere I go," reports The Financial Times. “If CNE were carried out on my mobile you would get all the meetings I attend by turning on the microphone and access to all my chamber’s files, bank details, my passwords, all my personal material and all my photos," said Jaffey. GCHQ also admitted that it does not need to seek individual warrants before hacking a target device. Instead, the agency primarily relies on "thematic" or "class" warrants, which give permission to intercept communications from "a defined group or network."

Facebook's European data transfers under scrutiny

An influential privacy activist is pressing European Union officials to halt Facebook's data flows from Europe to the US. Austrian Max Schrems sent a letter to the data protection agency in Ireland -- where Facebook has its European headquarters -- arguing that the authority should “suspend all data flows from 'Facebook Ireland Ltd' to 'Facebook Inc.'" Schrems is the same activist that got the European courts to cancel a major US-EU data transfer agreement months ago. The European Court of Justice invalidated the long-standing “Safe Harbor” agreement -- which allowed thousands of companies to legally transfer Europeans’ data to the US -- over concerns about US surveillance programs. Schrems argued that Facebook is subject to those same surveillance programs and thus should not be allowed to move European data across the Atlantic Ocean.

“There is clear evidence that leads me to believe that my personal data, controlled by ‘Facebook Ireland Ltd,’ and processed by ‘Facebook Inc,’ is at the very least ‘made available’ to US government authorities under various known and unknown legal provisions and spy programs,” he wrote. In the wake of the court decision, companies fearing that European data protection agencies may come after them moved to house more of their customer information in EU-only data centers. Other tech industry giants, including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, could also receive the same scrutiny in the near future, Schrems added.

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