February 2013

Identity Theft Tops FTC’s Complaint List for 13th Consecutive Year

Identity theft is once more the top complaint received by the Federal Trade Commission, which has released its 2012 annual report of complaints. 2012 marks the first year in which the FTC received more than 2 million complaints overall, and 369,132, or 18 percent, were related to identity theft. Of those, more than 43 percent related to tax- or wage-related fraud. The report gives national data, as well as a state-by-state accounting of top complaint categories and a listing of the metropolitan areas that generated the most complaints. This includes the top 50 metropolitan areas for both fraud complaints and identity theft complaints.

Why a one-room West Virginia library runs a $20,000 Cisco router

Marmet, West Virginia is a town of 1,500 people living in a thin ribbon along the banks of the Kanawha River just below Charleston. The town's public library is only open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. It's housed in a small building the size of a trailer, which the state of West Virginia describes as an "extremely small facility with only one Internet connection." Which is why it's such a surprise to learn the Marmet Public Library runs this connection through a $15,000 to $20,000 Cisco 3945 router intended for "mid-size to large deployments," according to Cisco.

In an absolutely scathing report just released by the state's legislative auditor, West Virginia officials are accused of overspending at least $5 million of federal money on such routers, installed indiscriminately in both large institutions and one-room libraries across the state. The routers were purchased without ever asking the state's libraries, cops, and schools what they needed. And when distributed, the expensive routers were passed out without much apparent care. The small town of Clay received seven of them to serve a total population of 491 people... and all seven routers were installed within only .44 miles of each other at a total cost of more than $100,000.

Court Upholds FCC's Pole Attachment Rule Changes

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the Federal Communications Commission's pole attachment rate order, finding utility company arguments against the decision without merit. It also found that the FCC, in changing decades old policy on pole attachments, had justified the standard -- set in the recent Fox indecency case -- for justifying its change in policy. "As the Commission has met Fox's modest demands for changing its policy, upholding its decision follows ineluctably," said Judge Stephen Williams writing for the court.

Mobile phones and tablets now make up 8 percent of video viewing

Mobile and tablet video viewing has seen huge growth in 2012, but it’s still a small piece of the overall cake: That’s one of the key takeaways from Ooyala’s 2012 Global Video Index report.

New York Times backs AP in lawsuit against news collector Meltwater

The New York Times is supporting the Associated Press in a controversial copyright case against Meltwater, a service that monitors the news and reproduces headlines and story summaries for its clients. The case pits major media outlets who invest in news against technology advocates who fear the case will suppress the free flow of information.

The New York Times asked a federal court in New York to file a “friend of the court” brief in support of the AP. The brief, which is also signed by newspaper publishers Gannett and McClatchy and others, asks the court to declare that Meltwater is infringing copyright. The Times‘ brief argues that Meltwater is “free-riding” on its news collection efforts and that the service should pay for news in the same way it does for rent or electricity. The Times also cites James Madison’s dictum that a democracy needs “popular knowledge” and cites the business plight of newspapers.

Marissa Mayer Is Wrong: Working From Home Can Make You More Productive

Collaboration and communication are tricky to quantify (how do you know if your employees are talking more over Gchat/conversations in the office or from home?). But productivity isn't so hard to measure. It's work over time. And some studies have shown that working from home can make certain workers more productive.

The most commonly cited study in the field of home-work and productivity comes from Stanford. The results were clear: Telecommuting is nothing to be afraid of. Workers at a Chinese travel agency took fewer breaks and sick-days, answered more calls every minute, and reported improved work satisfaction when they worked from home. Later, the agency allowed the employees in the experiment to choose if they wanted to work from home, and productivity increased by 22%.

Taking Action for a Stronger, Smarter, Cleaner Electric Grid

The Obama Administration’s National Science and Technology Council released "A Policy Framework for the 21st Century Grid: A Progress Report"—an update highlighting the Administration’s most recent achievements to make the Nation’s electric grid stronger, smarter, and cleaner than ever before.

Investing to modernize the grid is a common sense approach to enhance energy reliability for consumers, improve security of critical infrastructure, and speed the Nation’s transition to a clean-energy economy. That’s why, in the past year-and-a-half, the Administration has ramped up efforts to build a smart 21st century grid. Since June 2011—in partnership with utilities, communities, and local governments across the country—the Obama Administration has taken concrete steps to:

Incorporate New Technology into the Grid. Nearly 13 million smart meters, 5,000 automated distribution circuits, and several hundred advanced grid sensors have been integrated into the Nation’s electric system under the Recovery Act to improve system efficiency and reliability by diagnosing, pinpointing, and solving problems before they disrupt business operations or household activities.
Support Grid Modernization in Rural America. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utility Service met its goal of delivering more than $250 million in loans for smart grid technology deployment to rural areas—a step that will help catalyze economic development in those regions.
Train an Advanced Workforce for an Advanced Grid. Under the Recovery Act, smart grid workforce training awards comprising nearly $100 million across 50 projects are creating training opportunities to produce the skilled professionals needed to operate a modernized grid. These grants have benefited military veterans by helping them connect to well-paying civilian opportunities. To date, $46.2 million has been distributed.
Improve Opportunities for Customers to Save Money. The Green Button initiative, launched in January 2012, has already provided new and improved energy-use monitoring tools to more than 16 million homes and businesses. In the coming year or so, the program is on track to reach another 20 million homes and businesses, with the aim of helping consumers make better-informed energy decisions and save on their bills.
Keep the Grid Secure from Cyber and Physical Disruption. The President recently signed an Executive Order to strengthen the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure industries, including the electric power sector. New tools such as the Electric Sector Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model are being developed for utilities to enhance the protection of critical infrastructure from cybersecurity threats. Other efforts such as the Recovery Transformer program aim to drastically reduce the time needed to recover from downed extra-high-voltage transformers and other physical assets.

GM's Internet cars: The end of FM radio?

High speed Internet in cars could soon become a feature as common as satellite radio or CD players.

General Motors and AT&T have announced that so-called "LTE" wireless connections will come as an option in many Chevys, Buicks, Cadillacs, and GMC's next year. Live traffic maps, Internet radio, and streaming movies are just the beginning for car interiors that could soon could be dominated by apps. Ford and BMW already have something like this, as does Audi. If the GM deal finally produces a critical mass of "internetobiles," what you have is a big opportunity or a big threat for regular FM and AM radio stations that also cherish the in-car audience.

Android outselling Apple iOS in America, new report says

A new report from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech says that Android devices as a group outsold the iPhone in the United States during the three months ending January 2013, with their share of total sales rising to nearly 50 percent.

The report, based on the results of Kantar's ongoing consumer panel research, saw U.S. Android sales rise a little more than 6 percent compared to the same period one year ago, while iOS lost just less than 5 percent, finishing at about 46 percent. Sprint customers were particularly likely to buy Android devices during the studied time frame, according to the study -- to the tune of 72 percent of all smartphone sales. Kantar says this was due in part to a holiday price break on the popular Samsung Galaxy S III, which sold for as little as $99 on that carrier. On average, Sprint smartphone buyers paid $95 for Android devices, compared to $146 for iPhones. The previous period's figures were much closer, according to the report, at $127 and $130, respectively.

Are Cable Companies Hoping Usage-Based Internet Access Will Help Thwart Netflix?

[Commentary] At a January event, National Cable and Telecommunications Association president and former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell reportedly suggested that caps on cable broadband were not about managing congestion on their networks (as previously argued), but “fairly monetiz[ing] a high fixed cost.” Translation: We paid a lot of money to build these networks—digging up streets, putting in wires—and now we need to make that money back.

The argument makes some intuitive sense. But those major investments were completed years ago to provide and upgrade cable television service, not broadband. Offering high-speed Internet service required substantially less capital investment for most cable companies. Powell further suggested that capped plans and usage-based pricing could be helpful to increase broadband access by making available lower-cost options for those subscribers who use less data. That’s good marketing, but in reality, a shift to usage-based pricing is not an act of charity by the cable industry. Large cable companies like Time Warner Cable and Comcast already make “almost comically profitable” margins on broadband service. How do you improve on 97 percent? A 2011 report from the Cisco Internet Business Solutions group suggested, “Usage based pricing can be a tool to catalyze new revenue.”

Benton

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