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[Commentary] President Obama has picked a former telecommunications lobbyist and campaign fund-raiser to serve as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, raising serious questions about his 2007 pledge that corporate lobbyists would not finance his campaign or run his administration.

There is no question that Wheeler, who was chief executive of the National Cable Television Association for five years and the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association for 12 years before becoming a venture capitalist, understands the industry. The question is whether his long career representing the interests of telecommunications companies would make it hard for him to be an independent and fair regulator when consumers have few choices and pay high prices for cellphone, cable TV and broadband services.

He was also a big “bundler” for President Obama in the 2008 and 2012 campaigns, which means that he raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from relatives, friends and business associates. Political campaigns disclose their donors, but they are not required to disclose which of them were recruited by bundlers like Wheeler. Given his background, it is almost certain that he raised money from people whose companies he would regulate, creating potential conflicts of interest.

President Obama has said that he wants the United States to lead the world in telecommunications technology. The next chairman of the FCC will need to have credibility and vision to carry that out.

How do you dodge robbers in the first place? And what should you do if your phone is stolen? Here are some suggestions:

• If you need to use your phone in the wilds of the subway or sidewalk, do so discreetly, reserving at least a portion of your cognitive capacity for minding what is happening around you.
• Avoid leaving your phone on the table at restaurants, bars and coffee shops where it can easily be snatched.
• Most thieves erase all identifying information from a phone within hours, sometimes minutes, after stealing it. Still, passwords on your phone’s home screen can help protect your personal information in case it isn’t wiped clean.
• Write down your phone’s model number, serial number and unique device identification number. If your phone is stolen you’ll want to report these numbers to the police and to your carrier.
• When a phone is stolen, one of the first questions the police will ask is whether you have a tracking app. The police have recovered stolen phones by tracking the GPS signal trail straight to a robber’s pocket or backpack.
• If your phone is stolen, immediately report the theft to the police and your carrier. Start with the police. Give them your IMEI and serial number and the password to remotely log in to your tracking app. Once you’ve finished dealing with the police, call your carrier. Tell your carrier to disable, or brick, your device, which will lock it and prohibit anyone else from activating it, even with a new SIM card.
• Even if your carrier bricks your stolen phone, you should change your passwords for any social networking sites, e-mail, banks and health care sites you may have visited from your phone.

Symantec's government policy vice president Cheri McGuire brought a summary of the antivirus giant's rich metrics showing the intensity and pervasive nature of daily cyber attacks to a U.S. Senate hearing.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) chaired the meeting before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism to hear how law enforcement and the privacy sector responds to cyber threats. "Today's hearing highlighted the increasingly complex nature of the cyber threat landscape and the need to bolster law enforcement and judicial resources and training," McGuire tells CyberTruth. "There are simply not enough investigators, prosecutors or judges with the necessary training to keep up with the cybercriminals – thus there is a low bar for deterrence globally." Large scale data breaches continue. Approximately 93 million identities were exposed through hacking, theft, and simple error in 2012, she says. Small businesses have emerged as targets. In 2012, 50 percent of all targeted attacks were aimed at businesses with fewer than 2,500 employees, and the largest growth area for targeted attacks was aimed at businesses with fewer than 250 employees. Meanwhile, mobile malware increased by 58 percent in 2012 vs. 2011 -- and 32 percent of all mobile threats attempted to steal personal information, such as e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

Broadcasters must break some of the rules by which they have operated for decades, News Corp’s Chase Carey said, after a weak season in which the four largest free-to-air US television channels have all seen ratings fall.

Carey, chief operating officer of the group behind Fox, said broadcast TV remained “the dominant form of event television” but was stuck with “historical practices” such as creating hundreds of pilots for series which never air. Broadcasters needed to target investments to fewer shows, he added.