IDG News Service

Facebook's Terragraph hopes to replace fiber broadband beginning with 2019 trials

Facebook’s plan to connect neighborhoods and businesses wirelessly, known as Terragraph, will begin field trials in 2019 using 60GHz technology from Qualcomm. Facebook began talking about Terragraph in 2016, part of a bid to replace fiber broadband with 60GHz millimeter-wave wireless. The technology wouldn’t replace Wi-Fi, but was designed to offer a replacement for fiber or cable to homes and businesses, forgoing the need to rip up streets and sidewalks. Now we have a date: 2019, the first time the technology will be tested, according to Jesse Burke, a staff marketing manager at Qualcomm.

What to expect from the Trump administration on cybersecurity

Look for President Donald Trump's administration to push for increased cybersecurity spending in government, but also for increased digital surveillance and encryption workarounds. That's the view of some cybersecurity policy experts, who said they expect Trump to focus on improving cybersecurity at federal agencies while shying away from new cybersecurity regulations for businesses.

Trump is likely to look for ways for the National Security Agency and other agencies to assist the government and companies in defending against cyberattacks, said Jeffrey Eisenach, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a tech adviser during Trump's presidential transition. "Cyber has to be top of mind for any view of the United States' global strategy," Eisenach said. "If you're not thinking of cyber first, I don't know what you should be thinking about."

Net neutrality policy still up in the air under President Trump

While the Federal Communications Commission may repeal the net neutrality rules, the Republican-controlled Congress may take a different path. Lawmakers will likely push for legislation, similar to a proposal from early 2015, that would write basic net neutrality protections into law, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) said recently. A law passed by Congress would supersede any actions taken at the FCC. Even though the FCC may move to repeal its reclassification, Chairman Thune called for a bipartisan agreement on some baseline rules.

Meanwhile, supporters of strong net neutrality rules vow to fight any effort to repeal the rules and rescind the classification of broadband as a regulated service "Chairman Pai's FCC cannot move quickly to dismantle protections supported by the vast majority of the American people," said Matt Wood, policy director at digital rights group Free Press. "While Pai's boss, Donald Trump, may have little respect for the rule of law, administrative law still binds the FCC." Congress could pass legislation, but that's not a given, Wood added. That's "assuming this Congress can get anything done, unlike its recent do-nothing predecessors," he said. "But the current rules are the common-sense floor for any new law, not the overreach that members of the current majority in Congress and the FCC preposterously make them out to be."

Stanford researchers invent tech workaround to net neutrality fights

Engineers at Stanford University have invented a new technology that would give broadband customers more control over their pipes and, they say, possibly put an end to a stale network neutrality debate in the US. The new technology, called Network Cookies, would allow broadband customers to decide which parts of their network traffic get priority delivery and which parts are less time sensitive. A broadband customer could then decide video from Netflix should get preferential treatment over e-mail messages, for example.

The technology could put an end to the current net neutrality debate focused on whether broadband providers are allowed to prioritize some network traffic and block or degrade other traffic, said the researchers, Professors Nick McKeown and Sachin Katti and electrical engineering grad student Yiannis Yiakoumis. Network Cookies, first described at a conference in Brazil in August, would put broadband carriers and web content providers on a level playing field when catering to user preferences, they said. The technology puts the control in the hands of broadband users, Yiakoumis said. "Giving users choice is both feasible and beneficial," he said. The technology adds transparency and "audit-ability" to network management processes, he added.

Donald Trump's hacking comment rattles the cybersecurity industry

Donald Trump’s muddled stance on hacking has disturbed security experts at time when the tech industry is looking for clarity on the US's cyber policy. Recently, the outspoken presidential candidate seemed to call on Russia to break into rival Hillary Clinton’s e-mail system. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing,” Trump said, referring to e-mails Clinton had deleted from a private e-mail server. The next day, he walked back his comment and said he was being sarcastic.

Some security experts are concerned that Trump is taking the matter so lightly when the country is trying to halt a rash of cyberattacks against it, not promote them. “Whether he was sarcastic or not, it was an open invitation to hack,” said Justin Harvey, CSO with Fidelis Cybersecurity. “And I guess I’m deeply disturbed by that posturing.”

US wireless users may get to share military spectrum

The US military might have to share its radar frequencies with mobile broadband providers under a plan the Federal Communications Commission continued to flesh out under the name Citizens Broadband Radio Service.

The proposed rules could allow sharing a wide band of spectrum spanning 3550MHz to 3700MHz. Parts of that spectrum are home to high-powered military radar, especially within 200 miles of US coastlines, which is also home to a majority of the country's population.

To prevent interference, the FCC calls for using a dynamic database to keep track of where and when the frequencies can be used.

DOJ asks court to vacate stay in Microsoft email privacy case

The US Department of Justice has asked a New York court to vacate a stay on an order that would require Microsoft to turn over to the government certain emails held abroad.

The company, which had asked for the stay to pursue an appeal, may now have to refuse to comply with the order after the stay is lifted for its appeal to be acceptable by the appeals court, according to the plan outlined by DOJ to the court, citing a "jurisdictional defect. If Microsoft refuses to comply with the order, then the court is requested to issue "a contempt order that would, in turn, be a properly appealable final order, which could be stayed on consent pending appeal."

The DOJ said it also raised the option of jointly seeking from the court a final appealable contempt order, but Microsoft has chosen not to join in this request.

Texas, Florida, North Carolina lead IT job growth in first half of 2014

US technology professionals searching for jobs may want to look in states not normally considered Information Technology hot spots.

The three states with the highest percentage of IT job growth for the first half of 2014 were Texas at 5.99 percent, Florida at 5.64 percent and North Carolina at 3.8 percent, according to a report from IT job site Dice.

Mobile chips face lockdown to prevent hacks

Chip makers want to make hardware the first layer of defense against data breaches and other attacks on tablets and smartphones.

Mobile devices are becoming increasingly vulnerable, with more personal information, banking data, passwords and contacts residing on devices without any protection, said presenters at the Hot Chips conference in Cupertino (CA).

The National Security Agency government surveillance revelations and a mounting pile of data breaches have reminded hardware makers that well-designed chips for PCs, servers and mobile devices, can minimize, if not prevent, attacks, said Leendert VanDoorn, corporate fellow at Advanced Micro Devices.

Smartphone kill-switch bill passes California assembly

A bill requiring that all smartphones sold in California contain a “kill-switch” that allows users to disable them if stolen was approved by the California Assembly.

The California bill mandates that all smartphones contain software that will allow the user to remotely wipe the phone of personal data and lock it so it cannot be used unless an unlocking code is entered.

One of the amendments made to the bill in the assembly allows for phones that were introduced prior to 2015 “that cannot reasonably be reengineered” to continue to be sold past July 1, 2015. Proponents of the bill say that it will reduce smartphone theft because thieves are much less likely to steal phones if the handsets quickly become unusable.

Privacy groups call for action to stop Facebook's off site user tracking plans

United States and European Union privacy and consumer groups called on privacy regulators to stop Facebook's plans to gather the Internet browsing patterns of its users while they visit other sites.

The groups, gathered in the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) to stop Facebook collecting the web browsing activities of Internet users in order to target advertising.

The groups also called on the FTC to examine whether Facebook's change in business practices violates a 2012 consent order between it and the FTC in a case involving the company's repeated sharing of information its users had asked to keep private

Net Neutrality A Key Battleground In Growing Fight Over Encryption, Activists Say

Plans to favor some Internet packets over others threaten consumers' hard-won right to use encryption, says Sascha Meinrath, director of X-Lab, a digital civil-rights think tank.

Encrypted traffic can't be given special treatment because it can't be identified, said Meinrath. That could eliminate a major revenue source for ISPs, giving them a strong reason to oppose the use of encrypted services and potentially an indirect way to degrade their performance, he said. Because of the way network discrimination could affect encrypted services, guaranteeing Net neutrality will be critical to ensuring consumers' right to privacy online,

Meinrath wrote with policy activist Sean Vitka in Critical Studies in Media Communication. Both authors of the study also call for regulators to keep control of communications in the hands of users and in their own devices at the edge of networks, giving consumers the power to encrypt their communications from end to end.

Microsoft admits to technical error in IP takeover, but No-IP still down

Microsoft admitted it made a technical error after it commandeered part of an Internet service's network in order to shut down a botnet, but the Nevada-based company says its services are still down.

A federal court in Reno granted Microsoft an ex-parte restraining order that allowed it to take control of 22 domains run by No-IP, a DNS (Domain Name Service) provider owned by Vitalwerks, which was served the order.

Microsoft alleged the domains were being abused by cyber criminals to manage and distribute malware.

It was the tenth time Microsoft has turned to the courts to take sweeping action against botnets, or networks of hacked computers. Although No-IP was not accused of wrongdoing, Microsoft maintained the company had not done enough to stop abuse on its networks.

Microsoft's intention by seizing the domains was to block only the computers using No-IP's services that were being used as part of a botnet. But "due to a technical error, however, some customers whose devices were not infected by the malware experienced a temporary loss of service," according to an email statement from David Finn, executive director and associate general counsel of Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit. He claimed that No-IP's services were restored at 6 a.m. Pacific Time on July 1. No-IP spokeswoman Natalie Goguen wrote via email that Microsoft made a technical change the following day to forward legitimate traffic back to No-IP, but "it didn't do anything."

10 things to know about the smartphone kill switch

The smartphone kill switch appears to be on its way to every handset sold in the US so what's all the fuss about? Here's a look at the main points of the technology.

  1. What is it? It's a piece of software installed in every new phone that can disable a stolen handset.
  2. Why is it needed? In the last few years, the number of violent thefts of smartphones on the streets of major US cities has been rising. Some estimates say 1 in 3 thefts in the US involve a smartphone.
  3. How will it work? If your phone is stolen, you or someone you have authorized will be able to call your carrier or use a website to send a "kill" signal to your phone. That signal will lock the device and, if you choose, will also delete personal data.
  4. When will it begin? Minnesota's law and the proposed California legislation both mandate a kill-switch for smartphones that are both sold in those states and manufactured after July 1, 2015. Pending federal legislation says Jan 1, 2015.
  5. How much will it cost? The Minnesota law and the proposed legislation in California and at the federal level mandate it must be available at no extra cost to users.
  6. Do I have to have it on my phone? No. Minnesota's law says it should be installed or available for download.
  7. What about Find My iPhone or Google's Android locator? Built-in tracking services can help locate a phone and wipe its memory if the phone remains online, but all too often thieves switch off a stolen phone and reinstall the operating system.
  8. What's the industry doing? The industry is hoping to avoid legislation and make it a voluntary commitment. Previously, it launched a database of stolen phones that could be used to prevent them from being reused with new accounts. However, the database has limited reach outside of the US and many stolen phones are sent overseas.
  9. Will it work? It's too early to tell, although some early data from New York, London and San Francisco showed significant drops in thefts of iPhones after Apple launched its kill switch.
  10. So, can the government kill my smartphone? A court order is typically required, although an exception is made in an emergency that poses "immediate danger of death or great bodily injury."

New software analyzes hard-to-understand privacy policies

Have you ever tried to read a website's privacy policy only to give up after slogging through paragraphs and paragraphs of dense, lawyerly language? Privacy-focused companies Disconnect and TRUSTe have released a new browser add-on that attempts to translate those policies into easy-to-understand terms.

The companies' Privacy Icons software, released for a pay-what-you-want fee, analyzes websites' privacy policies, breaking them down into nine categories, including location tracking, do-not-track browser request compliance, and data retention policies. The software then displays, as a browser add-on, nine color-coded icons, with green, yellow and red icons signifying the level of concern about the website's privacy policy in each area.

More transparency on privacy policies is needed, said Casey Oppenheim, co-CEO at Disconnect, which also makes software that blocks online tracking requests.

"The end goal is to help individuals regain control of their personal information online," he said. "As a means to that end, we definitely hope that this project will inspire companies to improve their data practices and compete, even more, on the basis of privacy and security."

New tech links LTE and GSM networks

In the hunt for more spectrum to speed up mobile networks, Vodafone and Huawei Technologies have successfully tested a technology that lets LTE and GSM share the same frequencies.

The speed of future mobile networks will depend on the amount of spectrum mobile operators can get their hands on. The more they get, the wider the roads they can build.

One thing they can do to get more space is to reuse frequencies that are currently used for older technologies such as GSM and 3G. But that isn't as easy as sounds, as operators still have a lot of voice and messaging traffic in those older networks. That traffic isn't going away for a long time, irrespective of the level of competition from Internet-based services.

However, using a technology called GL DSS (GSM-LTE Dynamic Spectrum Sharing) Vodafone and Huawei have shown a way to allow GSM and LTE to coexist. GL DSS lets Huawei's SRC (Single Radio Controller) give GSM a higher priority during periods of heavy traffic, ensuring that voice calls get though unharmed. But the SRC can also provide more room for LTE when users aren't making calls, allowing for better throughput, the vendor said.

Wireless Data Traffic More Than Doubled in US in 2013

The total amount of data handled by wireless carriers in the US more than doubled in 2013, an increase driven in large part by video traffic. US carriers saw 3.2 exabytes of data traffic run across their networks, the CTIA said in its annual report on the US wireless industry.

An exabyte is 10x18 bytes or, put another way, a billion gigabytes.

The figure represents a 120 percent increase from the 1.5 exabytes carried in all of 2012, the group said.

The data refers to traffic carried over licensed spectrum. With 336 million subscriptions in the US, that figure works out to an average of 801 megabytes per subscriber line per month. A large proportion of that data was video. That's an average of 563 megabytes per subscriber line per month.

US customers spent 218 billion minutes per month talking on their wireless devices, which works out to an average of 650 minutes per month per line; sent 153 billion text messages per month, or 457 messages per line; and 10 billion multimedia messages, or 30 per line.

A new approach in luring top tech talent: a streamlined hiring process

Free snacks and on-site video games may help companies attract skilled IT workers, but speeding up the hiring cycle is also important. Drawn-out employee searches frustrate IT managers and prompt good candidates to accept jobs elsewhere.

Increased corporate IT investment and the technology industry's low unemployment rate have created a candidate-driven market, so companies need to streamline the recruitment process if they want to get their hands on the best IT pros available.

"The unemployment for technical jobs in most of our markets is a lower rate than the general unemployment rate," said Victor Gaines, vice president of talent acquisition at Fiserv, which provides financial services technology to banks, retailers and investment firms, among other clients. "Folks who have technical skill sets are finding jobs at a faster rate and they're staying at those jobs [longer] than perhaps some other skill sets."

Jack Cullen, president of IT staffing firm Modis, offered a blunt assessment of the US IT hiring process: "Managers that are hiring IT talent, they're pickier than ever and they're hurting themselves." Talented workers may have multiple job offers, he added, so slow and overly selective employers will lose their top choices. IT job website Dice.com placed the US technology industry's unemployment rate at 2.7 percent in 2014's first quarter, compared to an overall US unemployment rate of 6.7 percent.

Microsoft releases a browser just for developers

Developers can try out new features of the next version of Internet Explorer using a test edition Microsoft has released for their use. The Internet Explorer Developer Channel, which can be downloaded for Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1, runs independently of the user's copy of IE, allowing programmers to test the newest browser features without disrupting their current browser setup.

The Internet Explorer Developer Channel will offer an early version of IE while it is still being worked on by Microsoft programmers. Developers can preview features planned for the upcoming editions of the browser to help them better build Web applications and pages that use the new capabilities.

AT&T backs Microsoft's dispute over warrant for emails held abroad

AT&T is backing Microsoft in its challenge of a US search warrant for private email communications located in a facility in Dublin, Ireland.

The telecommunications company filed in a New York court asking permission to submit an amicus curiae brief in support of Microsoft. Described as a "friend of the court," an amicus curiae is not directly involved in a litigation but believes it may be impacted or has views on the matter before the court.

Along with Verizon, all three companies have expressed concern that the US government's demands for data held abroad could alienate overseas customers from placing their data with US providers, particularly after the disclosures of surveillance abroad by the US National Security Agency.

AT&T says customer data accessed to unlock smartphones

Personal information, including Social Security numbers and call records, was accessed for an unknown number of AT&T Mobility customers by people outside of the company, AT&T has confirmed.

The breach took place between April 9-21, but was only disclosed recently in a filing with California regulators.

While AT&T wouldn't say how many customers were affected, state law requires such disclosures if an incident affects at least 500 customers in California.

"Employees of one of our service providers violated our strict privacy and security guidelines by accessing your account without authorization," the company said in a letter to affected customers. "AT&T believes the employees accessed your account as part of an effort to request codes from AT&T than are used to unlock AT&T mobile phones in the secondary mobile phone market."

Cisco: Broadband providers should not treat all bits the same

All bits running over the Internet are not equal and should not be treated that way by broadband providers, despite network neutrality advocates' calls for traffic neutral regulations, Cisco Systems said.

A huge number of Internet-connected devices with a wide variety of traffic requirements, including billions of machine-to-machine connections, will come online over the next four years, Cisco predicted in its Visual Networking Index Global Forecast and Service Adoption.

Some Web-based applications, including rapidly growing video services, home health monitoring and public safety apps, will demand priority access to the network, while others, like most Web browsing and email, may live with slight delays, said Jeff Campbell, Cisco's vice president for government and community relations.

“We really have a multiplicity of applications and services that are now running across the network, some of which require dramatically different treatment than others," he said.

Some network neutrality advocates have objected to US Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposed rules that would allow broadband providers to engage in "commercially reasonable" traffic management. It's important that the FCC ensure an open Internet, but it's also important that "we have a robust network," Campbell said. The FCC should allow broadband providers to maintain quality of service "to ensure that some applications will run properly and effectively on the Internet," Campbell said. "That means using the intelligence of the network to ensure that those bits receive the quality of service they need."

China accuses Cisco of supporting US cyberwar efforts

China is attacking secret surveillance programs of the US government with harsh words from its state-controlled press, accusing Cisco of helping the US in cyber espionage.

China Youth Daily also published an editorial alleging that US networking gear supplier Cisco had aided the spying activities. While the company has helped build China's Internet infrastructure, Cisco also deliberately installed backdoor surveillance tools into its equipment, the editorial said.

The company "has played a disgraceful role, becoming a pillar to help spread the US' power over the Internet," it added. The editorial demanded that all Cisco equipment be checked for security threats and that China create an organization to inspect networking gear, especially imported products.