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Facebook says a glitch may have exposed portions of the personal contact information, such as e-mail addresses or phone numbers, of roughly 6 million users.
Facebook says the bug is tied to uploading contact lists or address books, which are used in creating friend recommendations. Facebook says the bug has been fixed, and no other personal or financial information was compromised. Also, the social network says they have found no proof the glitch is being used maliciously.
Facebook glitch exposes info of 6M users Facebook 'upset and embarrassed' after bug exposed users' contact information (The Hill)
Two lawmakers skipped a recent high-level briefing on National Security Agency (NSA) snooping so they could go to the Paris Air Show. Six lawmakers actually attended the show last weekend but one of them, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), was able to attend the briefing, according to his office, and catch an evening flight to France, demonstrating it was possible to attend a briefing on a major political issue and still join the plush codel. Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) missed the 2:30 p.m. session to catch an afternoon flight from Dulles International Airport.
Lawmakers skip NSA briefing to attend Paris air show
The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau settled two wireless hearing aid compatibility investigations involving Airadigm Communications, Inc. dba Airfire Mobile, and TeleGuam Holdings, LLC, successor-in-interest to Pulse Mobile, LLC.
The settlements include voluntary payments of more than one-half million dollars as well as conditions designed to ensure future compliance. The hearing aid compatibility rules ensure that individuals with hearing loss can fully access advanced wireless phone service without excessive feedback or noise. The settlements will directly aid consumers in rural communities and in the U.S. territory of Guam, where the two companies do business. Consistent with previous FCC actions in this area, the consent decrees require the companies to implement robust compliance plans that include new operating procedures, comprehensive training of employees and agents, and periodic reporting requirements. The companies will also make sizeable voluntary contributions to the U.S. Treasury ($260,000 from Airadigm and $280,000 from TeleGuam Holdings).
FCC Enforces Hearing Aid Compatibility Rules To Benefit Consumers With Hearing Disabilities
The balloon-powered network know as Loon may be one of Google’s famed moon shots, but the biggest issues facing the project are grounded right here on Earth.
This won’t just be a major technological feat for Google. It will be a huge political undertaking. If Loon is going to be a success it’s going to have to wade deeply into the morass of global international relations. Google wants to build a network that knows no borders. Not only does Google want to implement it in every country with an underserved internet population, but the network itself will be stateless, coasting from continent to continent. Google will have some control over where these balloons go by navigating the wind currents, but as Google shows in its Loon videos, its eventual plan is to set them loose in the sky, letting them follow the west-east stratospheric winds around the world. Since Loon will use radios, it will have to use spectrum, which is tightly regulated by the world’s governments. It can’t just use any old spectrum either. It will have to convince hundreds of different regulators to agree on a unified band or ride over an existing one.
Project Loon: Google’s biggest obstacle isn’t technology. It’s politics
Something is going on in the traditionally sleepy low-power TV market. Exactly what isn’t totally clear — but what is clear is that it has very little to do with traditional LPTV broadcasting and a lot to do with mobile broadband.
A consortium of LPTV station owners has applied to the Federal Communications Commission to sell 52 LPTV stations, including seven construction permits, to a company called Landover Wireless. According to the Landover Wireless website, the company already has acquired “hundreds” of licenses in the 500-600 MHz band and continues to “aggressively acquire” spectrum in the secondary market with the goal of obtaining nationwide coverage. The company said it seeks “opportunities to partner with independent telcos and fiber network operators to develop a wireless overlay strategy for both fixed and mobile wireless broadband.” Potentially the company would allow small telcos to use its spectrum to build wireless infrastructure and would offer the fiber network operators some incentive to provide backhaul facilities. It’s not clear what the company means by “overlay strategy.”
Companies Tout Plans for Nationwide Wireless Using Low-Power TV Spectrum
National Telecommunications and Information Administration Chief Economist Jim McConnaughey is, as one would expect from an economist, passionate about economics and its use in public policy.
Yet, McConnaughey’s first job out of college as a junior-level economist at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was more serendipity than strategic career planning. McConnaughey said he sought a job at the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) but due to a misunderstanding was given a phone number to call about an opening at the FCC. He quickly realized his mistake but was intrigued by the work the FCC was engaged in at the time, which included an in-depth look at the Bell System’s monopoly of the U.S. phone market – a probe that eventually helped lead to its breakup. His nine-year stint at the FCC cemented his interest in communications policy issues. After leaving the FCC in 1983, McConnaughey went to work as the research manager at a public policy consulting firm, where he co-authored two books and testified in rate cases. After six years he wanted to return to the government. He eventually landed at NTIA as its senior economist, working on a variety of issues including universal service, competition, and regulatory reform and has remained with the agency for 24 years.
Spotlight on NTIA: Jim McConnaughey, Chief Economist
[Commentary] On July 1, we say goodbye to Google Reader, a handy tool for bringing headlines and articles from your favorite websites into a single place.
With Reader, I've been able to see at a glance all the updates from various news services, blogs and company websites I follow. Although many of these items relate to work, I have added a few fun topics, too, including news on Antarctica and a daily dose of passive aggressive notes that people send each other. I have spent a lot of time curating Reader, so I'm not keen on seeing it die. Fortunately, there's an afterlife. Google has made it easy to move your list of sites you follow, known as feeds, to another service. And many of those rival services have made it easy to accept those feeds, especially after Google said in March that it would retire Reader. Reader's demise comes as little surprise. Google says usage has declined since Reader made its debut in 2005. RSS feeds — for really simple syndication — used to be a popular way to keep track of multiple websites without having to visit each and every one. Content comes to you, through readers such as Google Reader. More recently, though, Twitter and Facebook have performed a similar role in discovering content.
Google Reader's end hatches better Feedly service
Britain's spy agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has secretly gained access to the network of cables which carry the world's phone calls and internet traffic and has started to process vast streams of sensitive personal information which it is sharing with its American partner, the National Security Agency (NSA).
The sheer scale of the agency's ambition is reflected in the titles of its two principal components: Mastering the Internet and Global Telecoms Exploitation, aimed at scooping up as much online and telephone traffic as possible. This is all being carried out without any form of public acknowledgement or debate. One key innovation has been GCHQ's ability to tap into and store huge volumes of data drawn from fiber-optic cables for up to 30 days so that it can be sifted and analyzed. That operation, codenamed Tempora, has been running for some 18 months. GCHQ and the NSA are consequently able to access and process vast quantities of communications between entirely innocent people, as well as targeted suspects.
UK taps fiber-optic cables for secret access to world's communications
On June 18, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Thomas Wheeler to be Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Wheeler’s nomination has drawn criticism from public interest advocates. They worry that Wheeler, who headed the main lobbying organizations for both cable operators and wireless carriers, may put consumers on the back burner with his sights set on completing an airwaves auction next year that will help wireless carriers bolster their networks and enrich television broadcasters. Wheeler used the hearing to elaborate on his background, outline his priorities, and to defend his business ties. During the hearing, Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) indicated that Wheeler’s confirmation is likely. Most of the other questions posed to Wheeler were friendly and not very difficult. Several Republican senators expressed confidence that he would be confirmed by inviting him to visit their states once he took office.
What Did We Learn at the Wheeler Nomination Hearing?
Former Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz spent a career advocating more thorough protection of consumer information from inquiring private sector eyes. So perhaps it's no surprise that even in light of the recent shocking revelations about government surveillance of U.S. citizens' phone and email traffic, he thinks companies pose an equal threat to people's privacy.
"The implications of the NSA data breach are going to be greater in the context of protecting consumers' commercial privacy," he said. "People are increasingly concerned about their own privacy vis-à-vis commercial entities... Americans are going to be concerned about this breach, and things will move much more quickly into the commercial context." His argument boiled down to this: Outcry from the media, members of Congress, and everyday citizens may not prompt the government to change its ways, even if there are hearings about the Snowden leaks. On the plus side, though, it might sufficiently spook previously unsuspecting Internet users into demanding more control over their information. That means protection from third parties, like advertising or data mining companies, who use cookies to track what people do on the Internet -- what they buy, watch, read, and more.
Ex-FTC Chair Leibowitz: The Private Sector Is Threatening Your Privacy