July 18, 2013 (More NSA Revelations)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2013
Cybersecurity on today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2013-07-18/
GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
The NSA Admits It Analyzes More People's Data Than Previously Revealed
Department of Justice official admits collecting data unrelated to terrorism
Congress will kill Patriot Act if spying continues, bill's author threatens
Reps Lofgren, Sensenbrenner urge administration to let tech giants publish surveillance data
Bipartisan Backlash Grows Against Domestic Surveillance
Tech firms, civil liberties groups to demand more sunlight on NSA surveillance data
Everything you need to know about PRISM [links to web]
Growing pains for privacy watchdog PCLOB
Franklin heads to privacy, civil liberties board [links to web]
Digital Tools to Curb Snooping [links to web]
UK intelligence agency accessed PRISM data legally, rules investigatory committee
Does NSA know your Wi-Fi password? Android backups may give it to them [links to web]
84 Senators Still Stand for the Tyranny of Paper [links to web]
INTERNET/TELECOM
Behind the Level 3- Comcast Peering Settlement
FCC Tweaks Connect America Order
Senators deride online gambling regulations
DSL May Be Slower, But is it Better?
Ruling: Amazon Can’t Own ‘.Amazon’
The right to phone service - editorial
Families who Facebook together stay together, study says [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
Should you worry about AT&T gobbling up Cricket? - analysis
Why are US cell carriers suddenly pushing you to upgrade faster? For the money - analysis
Why carriers are rolling out upgrade plans when we’re not upgrading our smartphones - analysis
It’s auction time! FCC preps for first mobile airwave free-for-all in 5 years [links to web]
Huawei Invests in 5G Networks [links to web]
TELEVISION
What If Sinclair and Nexstar Decide to Merge? - analysis
More Reports of Technology Giants Interested in Internet TV Show That the Problem Isn't Technology - analysis
Asiana won't sue TV station over bogus names [links to web]
Apple’s Move Into TV Relies on Cooperation With Industry Leaders [links to web]
CONTENT
ACA, NCTA Seek Flexibility in CVAA Implementation [links to web]
Google Maps finally back on iPad; app's iPhone version updated [links to web]
Uncommon Content out to make Web shows that click on TV [links to web]
Families who Facebook together stay together, study says [links to web]
HEALTH
Data show electronic health records empower patients and equip doctors -- press release
Families who Facebook together stay together, study says [links to web]
EDUCATION
Sen Markey champions E-Rate in first Senate hearing
ENERGY
USDA Announces Funding for Projects to Strengthen the Rural Electric Grid's Efficiency and Reliability - press release [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
Chairman Rockefeller Welcomes Senator Markey to Commerce Committee - press release [links to web]
Growing pains for privacy watchdog PCLOB
Franklin heads to privacy, civil liberties board [links to web]
Benton Foundation Names New Executive Director [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Europe Wants More Concessions From Google
UK intelligence agency accessed PRISM data legally, rules investigatory committee
In European Antitrust Fight, Google Needs to Appease Competitors
MPs criticize handover of rural broadband contracts to BT
MORE ONLINE
FTC Releases Draft Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2014-2018 - press release [links to web]
Stanford Students Hope Posting Documentary Online Will Get More Women to Code [links to web]
Google reclaims No. 1 spot in tech world but its hold may be tenuous [links to web]
GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
NSA ADMITS MORE
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Phillip Bump]
As an aside during testimony on Capitol Hill, a National Security Agency representative rather casually indicated that the government looks at data from a universe of far, far more people than previously indicated. Chris Inglis, the agency's deputy director, was one of several government representatives—including from the FBI and the office of the Director of National Intelligence—testifying before the House Judiciary Committee this morning. Most of the testimony largely echoed previous testimony by the agencies on the topic of the government's surveillance, including a retread of the same offered examples for how the Patriot Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act had stopped terror events. But Inglis' statement was new. Analysts look "two or three hops" from terror suspects when evaluating terror activity, Inglis revealed. Previously, the limit of how surveillance was extended had been described as two hops. This meant that if the NSA were following a phone metadata or web trail from a terror suspect, it could also look at the calls from the people that suspect has spoken with—one hop. And then, the calls that second person had also spoken with—two hops. Terror suspect to person two to person three. Two hops. And now: A third hop.
benton.org/node/156004 | Atlantic, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
COLE ADMITS COLLECTING UNRELATED DATA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The second-ranking Justice Department official acknowledged that the government has been collecting phone records that are not relevant to any terrorism investigation. Under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the government has the authority to seize records only if they are "relevant" to a terrorism investigation. Following leaks of classified information by former contractor Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency acknowledged that it has been using Section 215 to obtain records on virtually all phone calls within the United States. The records include the time and duration of calls, as well as the phone numbers involved but not the contents of the conversations. “How is having every phone call that I make to my wife, to my daughter relevant to any terror investigation,” Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) asked Deputy Attorney General James Cole during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “I don’t think that they would be relevant, and we would probably not seek to query them because we wouldn’t have the information that we need to make that query,” Cole said. He explained that, although the NSA acquires millions of phone records, it only accesses that massive database if it has a "reasonable, articulable suspicion that the phone number being searched is associated with certain terrorist organizations."
benton.org/node/156002 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
COULD CONGRESS KILL PATRIOT ACT?
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Rep Jim Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI), the primary author of the Patriot Act, warned that Congress would refuse to reauthorize the law if the National Security Agency continues its vast phone record collection program. "There are not the votes in the House of Representatives to renew Section 215, and then you're going to lose the business record access provision of the Patriot Act entirely," Rep Sensenbrenner said during a Judiciary Committee hearing. "It's got to be changed, and you have to change how you operate Section 215 otherwise … you're not going to have it anymore." The Patriot Act is scheduled to expire at the end of 2015 unless Congress renews it. Section 215 of the Patriot Act authorizes the NSA to collect business records that are "relevant" to a terrorism investigation. Following leaks of classified information by former contractor Edward Snowden, the NSA acknowledged that it has been using Section 215 to obtain records on all phone calls within the United States.
benton.org/node/155994 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
PUSH TO PUBLISH SURVEILLANCE DATA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) urged top Administration officials to let Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and other tech companies publish information on the national security requests they receive for user data. In a letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, the two Judiciary Committee members said the government has prevented tech companies from "taking basic steps to preserve confidence in U.S. Internet services" by barring them from making this data public. They note that foreign governments and consumers have questioned whether U.S. Web companies keep user data confidential in the wake of the revelations over the National Security Agency's (NSA) surveillance programs.
benton.org/node/155992 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
SURVEILLANCE HEARING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: James Risen]
The Obama Administration faced a growing Congressional backlash against the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance operations, as lawmakers from both parties called for the vast collection of private data on millions of Americans to be scaled back. During a sometimes contentious hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, Republicans and Democrats told Administration officials that they believed the government had exceeded the surveillance authorities granted by Congress, and warned that they were unlikely to be reauthorized in the future. While administration officials defended the surveillance during the hearing, several lawmakers said that the data collection was unsustainable, and that Congress would move to either revoke the legislative authorization for the bulk collection now or at least refuse to renew it when it expires in 2015.
benton.org/node/156030 | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
MORE INFO ON SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Craig Timberg]
A coalition of technology companies and civil liberties groups on July 18 will call on President Barack Obama and congressional leaders to dramatically expand the amount of information reported publicly about U.S. government surveillance efforts. The request, to be made in a letter with more than 50 signatories, is the most sweeping and cohesive push to bring more accountability to electronic government eavesdropping in the aftermath of revelations about the National Security Agency’s collection of user data. The letter will call on the government to remove restrictions that keep companies from reporting the number of surveillance requests they receive from U.S. officials citing national security grounds. Several companies already produce regular “transparency reports” listing information when the requests relate to criminal investigations. The expected signatories, including Microsoft, Google and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, also will call on the government to issue its own regular reports offering an overall account of the information it is gathering from telecommunication and technology companies, which have been stung by portrayals of their cooperation with NSA data requests.
benton.org/node/156029 | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT BOARD
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
As President Barack Obama and members of Congress seek to soothe a frenzy over unchecked government surveillance, they’ve held up an obscure federal watchdog nicknamed PCLOB as a remedy. But if the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is going to emerge as a strong, independent check on the National Security Agency and its much-maligned programs, it first has some growing up to do. The panel, created after Sept. 11 to stand up for Americans’ constitutional rights, has struggled to find its footing: It has only one full-time board-level member, a staff mostly borrowed from other agencies, a roughly $900,000 annual budget and a troubled political past that dates back to the Bush administration. PCLOB returned to life only in 2013 after it took years for Obama to nominate a full slate of board members — and years for the Senate to confirm them. Yet civil-liberties advocates and regulators already have looked to it for answers on surveillance, and its new review of the NSA has come to double as a test for a board that’s dwarfed in size by the intelligence agencies it oversees.
benton.org/node/156027 | Politico
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
INTERNET/TELECOM
WHAT’S BEHIND PEERING SETTLEMENT?
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
[Commentary] I suspect the resolution of the Level 3 and Comcast dispute involved some sort of network re-engineering. There is a possibility that this included the use of servers at Comcast points of presence – or short of that, it may have involved a network architecture similar to what Level 3 advocates in its own peering policy that ensures a minimum number of geographically disperse exchange points. At least two carriers – including TWTelecom and XO Communications – have agreed to exchange traffic for free with Level 3 based on this policy. But neither of them specializes in residential broadband. Accordingly it’s unlikely that either of those carriers is seeing the level of traffic imbalance that companies like Verizon and Comcast are seeing. It would appear to be in both Comcast’s and Level 3’s best interests to move to that sort of network design and to maintain adequate port speeds, however. If both companies can justify the investment, that approach should give end users better service and minimize overall transport costs. What isn’t clear is whether Comcast was willing to make that investment without some type of compensation. Although the two companies aren’t talking about the agreement, the industry before long should have some good guesses about what may have happened based on surrounding events that occur. If each party found a way to satisfy the other’s demands, each will undoubtedly try the same terms and tactics on the next party it needs to negotiate with.
benton.org/node/155988 | telecompetitor
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CONNECT AMERICA TWEAK
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission says it has taken steps to better insure that the broadband subsidies in the first phase of its Connect America Fund (CAF) transition from phone to broadband support is not used to overbuild existing service, something cable operators have been, and continue to be, concerned about .The FCC in May released a second tranche of money in Phase I of its Connect America Funding of rural fixed broadband buildouts in areas unserved by its definition of high-speed broadband, which it expanded to from those without dial-up speeds (768 downstream/200 Kbps upstream) to some areas lacking up to the FCC's definition of high-speed access (at least 3 Mbps downstream and 768 Mbps upstream). Carriers who plan to deliver service to census blocks not identified in its initial proposal, or who plan not to serve blocks that were identified, must inform the FCC and relevant state and local governments beforehand, 90 days before hand in the case of adding blocks.
benton.org/node/156000 | Broadcasting&Cable
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
ONLINE GAMBLING HEARING
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on Internet gambling July 17. Lawmakers say more regulations are needed to prevent children from accessing and money launderers from profiting off of online gambling sites. The committee derided out-of-date regulations that make it easy for almost anyone to bet money online without proving their identity. “Shame on us if we don’t get something done on this because, when I think about the possibility for money laundering, terrorism, drug trafficking and the potential for children to get access to use the Internet as well as people to add to the addiction issue, I hope this is something that we move on very quickly,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH). Users of online gaming sites are largely anonymous, which can allow criminals and terrorists to use the websites to hide the sources of their money. Sen Heller thinks that the Obama Administration was trying to help "friends" when it changed rules on Internet gambling in 2011. “The Administration changed all this, changed it all,” he said. “And the reason that the administration changed this was so that their friends in Illinois and New York could put their lottery tickets online.”
benton.org/node/155984 | Hill, The | The Hill – Heller | B&C
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
IS DSL BETTER?
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Bernie Arnason]
Cable broadband service on average is much faster than DSL. According to the SamKnows data, DSL connections average 5.4 Mbps, while cable broadband connections average 13.5 Mbps. But according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) research, DSL connections on average deliver “…download speeds above 80% of the assigned speed tier more than 80% of the time. By contrast, a significant fraction of cable connections received less than 80% of their assigned speed tier more than 20% of the time.” The NIST research also took a look at congestion factors between the two dominant broadband access methods in North America and found some differences. “While, DSL ISP networks suffer predominantly from congestion in the ‘last mile’, distribution of congestion in cable ISP networks exhibits a great deal of variability, with a few cable ISP networks congested mainly in the ‘last mile’ but the majority congested elsewhere, in the ‘middle mile’ or beyond,” said the research authors, Daniel Genin and Jolene Splett.
benton.org/node/155965 | telecompetitor
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
ICANN RULING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Greg Bensinger]
Amazon is facing rough waters in its quest to claim “.Amazon.” A committee of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the nonprofit organization overseeing the Internet’s top-level domain names, recommended against allowing “.Amazon” to be controlled by the Seattle company. Amazon had hoped to win control over the domain as “a unique and dedicated platform for Amazon,” and as “a further platform for innovation” and, ultimately, to “support the business goals of Amazon.” However, ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee recommended against Amazon taking control of the domain, perhaps in part because of objections from Latin American countries served by the Amazon River, said Nao Matsukata, chief executive of domain-name advisory firm FairWinds Partners, who is attending ICANN’s meeting in Durban, South Africa.
benton.org/node/156023 | Wall Street Journal
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
THE RIGHT TO PHONE SERVICE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] After holding public hearings around the state, the California Public Utilities Commission is expected to propose improvements to California Lifeline — a program that offers discounted phone service to the poor — by year's end. But state lawmakers, backed by phone and cable companies, are trying to rush through their own update for the program before the commission acts. Their bill has the right goal: giving low-income consumers more choices, including wireless and Internet-based phone service. But the measure is premature and its consumer protections too thin. The bill relies on competition, not regulation, to preserve low-income Californians' access to basic communications services. And though it makes sense to move in that direction — there are far more providers of phone service today than there were 30 years ago — it seems reckless to go as far as the bill would while also dropping the commission's mandate to monitor how many Californians lack phone service of any kind. The right way to proceed is to let the commission do its work. If lawmakers don't like the result, they can override it. Unlike the Legislature, the commission has developed an extensive record of views not just from industry executives but from Lifeline users and other consumers. That process shouldn't be short-circuited when it's so close to completion.
benton.org/node/156022 | Los Angeles Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
WORRY ABOUT AT&T
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
One reason AT&T is likely interested in acquiring Leap is the latter’s spectrum holdings. And John Bergmayer, an attorney at Public Knowledge, argues that the market is already “very top-heavy,” with AT&T and Verizon holding a disproportionate share of the airwaves. Bergmayer argues that spectrum gap insulates it from competition from smaller rivals. And he warns that allowing AT&T to acquire Leap will skew the market even further, leading to fewer consumer choices and higher prices. But Fred Campbell, a former FCC staffer and an analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, disagrees. He contends that Leap’s business strategy, which focuses on providing connectivity to urban customers, has caused Leap to neglect rural markets and under-use its spectrum holdings there. Campbell contends that transferring Leap’s spectrum to AT&T will allow it to be used more efficiently, improving the quality of service for customers of both companies. Campbell also notes that Leap is hobbled by a high debt burden, which will make it difficult to keep its network on the cutting edge. He argues that AT&T’s deep pockets and broad customer base will allow it to use Leap’s spectrum and other assets more efficiently.
benton.org/node/155990 | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
UPGRADE PLANS I
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Cyrus Farivar]
Within the last week, three of the United States’ four major mobile carriers (Sprint sat this one out) all announced, or are rumored to announce, variations on a theme: upgrade your phone faster, for a price. Why is this happening all of a sudden? Put simply, the American mobile market is highly saturated—there are fewer and fewer new customers for these carriers. Only 1.1 million Americans got mobile phones for the first time in the first quarter of 2013—the lowest ever growth for that market. Q1 2012 saw around 1.83 million new additions, which shows a quarter-over-quarter loss of 60 percent this year. Meanwhile, there was a modest quarter-over-quarter gain in prepaid customers. The rest of the world, meanwhile, has been prepaid-dominant for years. As of last year, Western Europe served about 70 percent prepaid customers, while China, India, and Africa reached 70, 95, and 99 percent prepaid customers, respectively. Simply put, these new plans are a way to keep customers in contracts, which make more money for carriers.
benton.org/node/155977 | Ars Technica
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
UPGRADE PLANS II
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Tofel]
All of a sudden, two of the top four U.S. carriers have a new smartphone upgrade plan with another one expected to join suit. Does the wireless industry really feel bad for those who want to trade up but can’t or is something else in the works? The new early upgrade plans may seem altruistic on the surface but they’re not all good deals. And they coincide with an interesting data point: Smartphone upgrade figures are down, down, down. Simply put: Fewer people are upgrading because the changes in yearly smartphone models are more incremental than ever and because most consumers are locked into two-year contracts with their current devices. For some, it just makes no sense to invest more money in a new phone when the current one works fine and can still run all of the latest and greatest apps. The carriers don’t have much to do with the first point, but they have everything to do with the second. Why would carriers care if consumers don’t upgrade their smartphones as often? I can think of at least two reasons: One financial and one technological.
benton.org/node/155975 | GigaOm
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
TELEVISION
WHAT IF… SINCLAIR AND NEXTEL
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Price Colman]
The wave of consolidation in broadcast television appears to be peaking. In the last two months, deals worth more than $5 billion have made headlines. While the $2.73 billion Tribune-Local TV and $2.5 billion Gannett-Belo deals rank as the two biggest in the current round of merger and acquisitions, Sinclair and Nexstar are steadily building their station portfolios. For those of us who write about this, the latest deal often is less compelling than the next deal — the one that hasn't happened yet. We scramble, and sometimes get tripped up, trying to report the news before it happens. The station trading market is rife with speculation. There's even talk that Sinclair and Nexstar will merge. So, what if those two groups actually decided to combine forces?
benton.org/node/155981 | TVNewsCheck
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
INTERNET TV
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: John Bergmayer]
[Commentary] Rumors of Intel's and Apple's interest in launching some kind of online cable service have been circulating for months. Years, even. Now we can add Google to the mix, too. It's clear that major tech companies have the technology ready, and they've been making phone calls and taking meetings. So with all these rumors, and all these giant tech companies involved, why haven't we actually seen a service get launched? The technology's ready. Here’s why: The Wall Street Journal reports, "There is no guarantee Google, or any of the technology companies, will be able to strike licensing deals." And as the New York Times reports, "No deals are imminent." The barrier is the deals—incumbent video providers are not about to let themselves be "disrupted" without a fight. Through their buying power, they can prevent content from going online. The media marketplace is so concentrated, on both the production and the distribution side, that just one or two companies can veto new entrants. The company that ends up launching a true Internet cable service will not be the company with the best technology or the brightest engineers and designers. It will be the company that is able to come up with a business plan that doesn't scare the incumbents. That's too bad.
benton.org/node/155998 | Public Knowledge
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
HEALTH
DATA ON ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS
[SOURCE: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released new data that demonstrate that doctors and hospitals are using electronic health records (EHRs) to provide more information securely to patients and are using that information to help manage their patients’ care. Doctors, hospitals, and other eligible health care providers that have adopted or meaningfully used certified EHRs can receive incentive payments through the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. Already, approximately 80 percent of eligible hospitals and more than 50 percent of eligible professionals have adopted EHRs and received incentive payments from Medicare or Medicaid. By meaningfully using EHRs, doctors and other health care providers prove they have been able to increase efficiency while safeguarding privacy and improving care for millions of patients nationwide. Since the EHR Incentive Programs began in 2011:
More than 190 million electronic prescriptions have been sent by doctors, physician’s assistants and other health care providers using EHRs, reducing the chances of medication errors.
Health care professionals sent 4.6 million patients an electronic copy of their health information from their EHRs.
More than 13 million reminders about appointments, required tests, or check-ups were sent to patients using EHRs.
Providers have checked drug and medication interactions to ensure patient safety more than 40 million times through the use of EHRs.
Providers shared more than 4.3 million care summaries with other providers when patients moved between care settings resulting in better outcomes for their patients.
benton.org/node/155963 | Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
EDUCATION
E-RATE HEARING
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso, Jennifer Martinez]
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) praised the E-Rate, a program he helped create when he was in the House, at his first Senate hearing. E-Rate, which is managed by the Federal Communications Commission, discounts telecommunications services in schools and libraries. President Barack Obama has called on the FCC to expand the E-Rate to provide Internet speeds of up to one gigabit per second in schools across the country. "I love the fact that my first hearing in the Senate is about the E-Rate," Sen Markey said at a Commerce Committee hearing. "In a lot of ways, it is the educational program of the last 18 years in America." Republicans on the committee praised the benefits of E-Rate, but urged the FCC to focus on making the program more efficient rather than growing its size. E-Rate, which costs about $2 billion per year, is funded by fees on monthly phone bills. The FCC is scheduled to vote on July 19 to move forward with the president's proposal.
benton.org/node/156024 | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
STORIES FROM ABROAD
EUROPE WANTS MORE FROM GOOGLE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: James Kanter]
Google must offer more concessions to European Union regulators to escape huge fines linked to the way it runs its online search business, the bloc’s top antitrust official warned. “I concluded that the proposals that Google sent to us months ago are not enough to overcome our concerns,” Joaquín Almunia, the European Union competition commissioner, told a news conference. Almunia said he had written to Eric E. Schmidt, the company’s executive chairman, “asking Google to present better proposals, or improved proposals.” The comments are a significant setback for Google, which has put its efforts into reaching a settlement with Almunia that would entail minimal disruption to the advertising linked to search services that delivers the vast majority of its revenue.
benton.org/node/155996 | New York Times | GigaOm | WSJ
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
GCHQ ACCESSED PRISM
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Aaron Souppouris]
The UK Intelligence and Security Committee cleared the country's GCHQ security service of allegations of illegal activity related to the NSA's PRISM program. Following an investigation into the allegations, the committee concluded that the suggestion security services broke UK law by using "the NSA’s PRISM program to access the content of private communications" was "unfounded." According to a statement released by the committee, "in each case where GCHQ sought information from the US, a warrant for interception, signed by a Minister, was already in place," in accordance with UK law. The statement also shows the UK's definition of what PRISM is, and how it is used.
benton.org/node/155949 | Verge, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
GOOGLE NEEDS TO APPEASE COMPETITORS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: James Kanter, Claire Cain Miller]
Google has so far emerged from its tangles with antitrust authorities virtually unscathed. But in Europe, regulators said, Google will not have it as easy. The European Commission formally said for the first time that Google’s proposal for addressing antitrust concerns did not go far enough, and demanded that it come up with more far-reaching remedies or potentially face a fine of up to $5 billion. It was a significant setback for Google, which in April struck a deal with the commission to settle its three-year antitrust investigation by making certain changes in the way it displays answers to search inquiries. But the deal was contingent on feedback from Google’s rivals. The commission determined that the proposal was inadequate, and said the company needed to do more to address rivals’ concerns. The about-face followed an outcry from Google competitors during the market testing phase of the inquiry, in which the commission asked for feedback on the proposal.
benton.org/node/156017 | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
BT CONTRACTS CRITICIZED
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Daniel Thomas]
A UK government committee scrutinizing public finances has criticized the state-backed rollout of rural broadband that led to all contracts being awarded to a “monopoly supplier” in BT. The public accounts committee, chaired by Margaret Hodge, also questioned BT’s transparency following criticism of the process in evidence from rival bidders for £530 million of state funds. The parliamentary criticism follows a report from the National Audit Office which found that the plans to push superfast broadband to more than 90 percent of the UK were being delivered nearly two years behind schedule and without competition. BT has won all the contracts to provide local broadband under BDUK, the rural broadband strategy, and is set to win the remainder after all rivals withdrew citing problems with the process. BT is matching some of the state funds on the rollout of broadband to areas that would not otherwise be economically viable. Providing evidence to the committee on Wednesday, rivals to BT criticized the model created to distribute the funds through local authorities, which they claim favored BT.
benton.org/node/156016 | Financial Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top