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.