March 2013

Big Internet providers seem to have talked their way out of unwelcome new recommendations on cybersecurity.

An original draft of a report by a Federal Communications Commission panel, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, endorsed a list of concrete suggestions for major telecommunications and cable companies to tackle the cybersecurity problem. Those measures—which included steps such as controlling which employees have administrative privileges on company networks—weren't backed in the final report. The early draft of the FCC panel's report called for adoption of a specific list of cybersecurity fixes, known as the 20 critical security controls, which were developed by cyber experts in concert with the National Security Agency and others. The FCC panel also initially wanted federal regulators to push for a telecom industry group that would create a new set of cybersecurity guidelines, according to the draft of the report. The industry, however, viewed another organization for cybersecurity issues as a superfluous layer of bureaucracy, a telecom official said.

The United States Telecom Association, whose members include AT&T, Verizon Communications and CentruyLink , along with other industry representatives blocked a full endorsement of the list, according to advisers on the FCC panel. In their final report, members of the advisory panel agreed that they lacked consensus on how to protect U.S. telecom networks. The development may be indicative of the tensions to come as the government looks at tougher oversight of the private sector's cybersecurity defenses. The FCC panel, officially known as "working group 11" of the FCC's Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council III, lacks regulatory authority. The group of industry representatives and outside security experts was tasked with advising the agency on future action.

[Commentary] The issue of cell phone unlocking has been hot for the past month. The White House response to the over 100,000 person petition to allow for the unlocking of cell phones has led to a flurry of legislative proposals in Congress and broad interest in a quick solution to the issue. Public Knowledge has argued that this is an opportunity for Congress to do two things: First, make the exemption for cell phone unlocking permanent by including it the current statute; and second, begin a broader conversation about what other reforms to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) should be considered.

Public Knowledge has also made the strong argument that the concerns raised about free trade agreements should not stop Congress from doing its job: to set the policy of the United States. The United State Trade Representative (USTR) can always be instructed by Congress to update our trade agreements. However, the concern over conflicting with free trade agreements highlights a larger concern about how Congress has lost control over parts of its role as the creator of US policy.

The United States must stop legislating through trade negotiations. USTR negotiations processes notoriously lack transparency and do not include all stakeholders. While consumers and public interest groups are often kept in the dark as these are negotiated, it is not uncommon for corporate stakeholders to have opportunity to join trade delegations for treaties and trade agreements. It is no wonder that the intellectual property sections of our agreements do not include a process for updates to the exemptions list. Content Industry advocates such as RIAA and MPAA would see any such updates as an invitation to other exemptions and broader discussions about reforms to the DMCA that allow consumers to other pieces of technology that they purchase in other legal ways the consumers want. Public Knowledge has documented this concern recently through the Trans Pacific Partnership treaty negotiations. Instead, the public is left in the dark as these agreements are negotiated and forced to accept them completely, or not at all.

[Commentary] The ultimate goal for consumer electronics companies 10 years ago? Control the consumer living room experience. That way, they could control consumer identities, consumer experiences, consumer credit cards and commerce — business model nirvana as consumers in markets such as the United States were upgrading from clunky cathode-ray televisions to the new, slim, high-definition TVs. Key players in this battle? Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, Nintendo and Microsoft.

Fast forward to today: The battle for the living room is already over, and the overall war for the consumer is on. Key players in this big war? Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Samsung and LG. Sony, Panasonic, Sharp and Nintendo? By and large on the outside looking in, wondering how the vision for living room dominance blew up. The single biggest key to everything? Control the UI on the connected screens. Companies who control the UI will then dictate how software is accessed, and which software. Making a compelling, fun, friendly UI is considered to be a very special sauce — rarely made and hard to do.

[McNealy is founder of consulting firm Digital World Research]

The Federal Trade Commission has said it is OK with Charter's purchase of Optimum West (the former Bresnan Communications systems) for $1.625 million. The move clears the way for the planned third-quarter close of the deal.