November 2011

Unresolved questions dog international cybersecurity policies

Cyberspace presents international security threats, many that can only be adequately met through international cooperation. But experts say countries around the world are just beginning to work out the complicated questions surrounding international responses to cybersecurity.

In the United States, businesses and government agencies have reported a growing number of sophisticated cyberattacks. In a report to Congress, U.S. intelligence agencies said hackers in China and Russia are stealing large amounts of U.S. technological and trade secrets. Such attacks have national-security and economic implications, James Miller, principal deputy undersecretary of Defense for policy, said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies forum. With the United States seeking to retain its dominant role in the world, "It's just a lot harder to do when potential adversaries and others are inside our networks," Miller said. While repeating DOD policy that a government response to a cyberattack may not be limited to cyberspace, Miller said no one agency, business, or country can secure cyberspace by itself.

Best Buy to Acquire Carphone Warehouse U.S. Mobile Stake

Best Buy, the world’s largest consumer-electronics retailer, agreed to buy Carphone Warehouse Group’s stake in their U.S. mobile-phone joint venture for 838 million pounds ($1.34 billion) and close the U.K. stores it opened less than two years ago.

The purchase of Carphone Warehouse’s interest in a profit- sharing agreement for the Best Buy Mobile business in the U.S. and Canada will boost earnings next year. Carphone Warehouse will return almost all of the proceeds to shareholders. Best Buy Chief Executive Officer Brian Dunn is betting on mobile phones in the U.S., where slumping television sales and competition from Amazon have led to five straight quarterly declines at stores open at least 14 months. The 11 “big box” stores that are being closed in the U.K. have been pinched by a decline in consumer spending.

Advertisers Move to Stop Digital Privacy Regulations

In yet another attempt to keep the government from stepping in with regulations about consumers' privacy online, the advertising industry has decided to expand the scope of its self-regulatory program.

This latest change to the program, which has thus far been successful at getting regulators to back off, was a response to calls from federal agencies for privacy programs covering all online data collection and use, not just data collected for purposes of advertising. In addition to having the choice to opt out of behaviorally targeted advertising, consumers will now also have the choice to opt out of data collected from websites that could be used for other purposes such as employment, credit, or insurance. There are also specific protections for the collection of sensitive data concerning children, health, and financial data. The new guidelines will be implemented next year and include enforcement mechanisms for companies that fail to comply. "Policymakers have raised concerns that the same data that is used for online behavioral advertising is being misused for other purposes. Although the business community has never done that—it's clearly prohibited—we wanted to put all the force of self-regulation behind it," said Stu Ingis, the general counsel for the Digital Advertising Alliance, a coalition of six advertising associations representing 5,000 companies that is administering the self-regulatory program.

The DAA includes the Association of National Advertisers, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the American Advertising Federation, the Direct Marketing Association, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Network Advertising Initiative.

CPB and PBS Partner with 11 Communities as Demonstration Sites for Ready To Learn Media

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and PBS recently announced that 11 public television stations will serve as demonstration sites to test math and literacy content developed through the U.S. Department of Education’s Ready To Learn grant.

Working in partnership, CPB and PBS are leading a Ready To Learn-funded initiative, Expanded Learning Through Transmedia Content, to develop content across platforms -- including video, online games, mobile apps, and off-line activities -- that builds an educational experience for kids using their favorite PBS KIDS characters. Through funding from the U.S. Department of Education and CPB, 11 public media stations were selected as demonstration sites. Throughout the coming year, these vital community organizations will work with children and their families, caregivers and educators in school, after school and at home to test the effectiveness of the new content in helping young children develop early math and literacy skills.

The demonstration stations will:

Introduce Ready To Learn Initiative content for use in homes, schools, after-school programs, summer programs, and libraries;
Train caregivers and educators on the use of Ready To Learn Initiative content through face-to-face training and statewide webinars and conferences; and
Create community awareness campaigns and utilize innovative digital strategies to disseminate Ready To Learn Initiative content.

The Stop Online Piracy Act: Big Content's full-on assault against the Safe Harbor

The latest offensive in the content industry's never-ending war on copyright infringement is the Stop Online Piracy Act, which was introduced in the House two weeks ago.

It incorporates key provisions of the Senate's Protect IP Act as well as another Senate bill that makes unauthorized streaming a felony. But it also includes new provisions that go beyond the language in either of those bills. If passed, it would be the most sweeping overhaul of copyright law in at least a decade. Supporters of the legislation say it's needed to combat "rogue" websites hosted overseas. Such rogue sites deliver infringing content to American consumers while remaining out of reach of American law enforcement. A series of bills, starting with last year's COICA legislation, have tried to shut down these sites by going after intermediaries, including DNS servers, payment processors, search engines, and ad networks.

Voting by iPad in Oregon

Oregon is thinking differently for its special primary election, according to a report that details the state’s new iPad voting pilot program.

Some disabled state residents choosing a nominee for the seat left open by disgraced ex-Rep. David Wu — who left Congress after allegations of a sexual encounter with a teenage girl — will get the chance to cast their votes with an iPad instead of a regular paper ballot in the special election. Oregon is the first state to use iPads in the voting process. Election workers are taking the iPads to disabled voters who might otherwise have difficulties marking their ballots. These voters are able to pull up the ballot on the iPad and tap the screen to mark the candidate of their choice before printing out their completed ballot. After that, voters will send in their votes in a much more traditional way: by mail. Apple donated five iPads to the state for the program, and Oregon shelled out about $75,000 to make the software. According to Secretary of State Kate Brown and the state elections director, Steve Trout, the office tested several different types of devices before settling on the iPad.

Internet routing glitch kicks millions offline

The seemingly indestructible Internet relies on a few backbone systems to keep traffic flowing smoothly. Sometimes, one of those systems blips -- and millions of devices get abruptly kicked offline.

That's what happened the morning of Nov 7, when a software glitch in the Internet's wonky sounding "Border Gateway Protocol" created a ripple effect that crashed data networks around the world. The outage appears to have originated with Juniper Networks, a company that makes router hardware for large networks. A set of updates to a core Internet routing protocol triggered a software glitch in some of Juniper's routers. When those routers crashed, key Internet pathways went down with them. By late morning, most sites were back to normal, shaking off the sluggishness that typically follows a major routing glitch. Like a human fending off a cold, the Internet occasionally succumbs to bugs, but it also tends to bounce right back.

Amazon boosts cloud-computing sales, seizing on US budget cuts

Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, is expanding its cloud-computing sales to the US government, joining Google and Microsoft in seeking federal orders for Web-based services.

Amazon says it has gone from having no dedicated government sales division a few years ago to providing cloud-based computer services in 100 government offices including federal agencies such as the Treasury and State departments. Amazon opened data centers in Oregon in August focused on government clients. Companies are targeting the U.S. government as it cuts costs by shifting $20 billion of the $80 billion in yearly information-technology spending to cloud computing, which lets users share resources such as data storage and software. Amazon “can run it better for the government,” Herman Leung, analyst at Susquehanna International Group in San Francisco, said in an interview. “As you gain critical mass, those cost savings you can pass on to consumers.”

Broadcasters urge swift confirmation of FCC nominees

Former-Sen Gordon Smith (R-OR), now the head of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), urged the Senate to promptly confirm President Obama's two nominees to the Federal Communications Commission. In a letter to the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, Smith called the nominees "highly qualified, knowledgeable and thoughtful public servants."

AT&T to Get More Sprint Data in T-Mobile Case, Court Rules

Sprint Nextel must provide AT&T with updated internal documents relevant to AT&T’s defense against a U.S. lawsuit seeking to block its purchase of T-Mobile USA, the US District Court ruled.

Sprint must turn over all documents requested by AT&T that the wireless carrier hasn’t already given the Justice Department, including data on its recent addition of Apple’s iPhone, U.S. Special Master Richard Levie in Washington said. Levie gave Sprint until Nov. 21 to meet AT&T’s requests. “AT&T is entitled to discover what effect the iPhone and other events of the past few months have had on Sprint’s relevant market share, a part of the government’s” case, Levie said, adding that the documents Sprint gave the Justice Department are more than six months old.

Benton

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