September 2013

The US government has betrayed the Internet. We need to take it back

[Commentary] Government and industry have betrayed the Internet, and us. By subverting the internet at every level to make it a vast, multi-layered and robust surveillance platform, the National Security Agency has undermined a fundamental social contract.

The companies that build and manage our Internet infrastructure, the companies that create and sell us our hardware and software, or the companies that host our data: we can no longer trust them to be ethical Internet stewards. This is not the Internet the world needs, or the Internet its creators envisioned. We need to take it back. And by we, I mean the engineering community. Yes, this is primarily a political problem, a policy matter that requires political intervention. But this is also an engineering problem, and there are several things engineers can – and should – do. To the engineers, I say this: we built the internet, and some of us have helped to subvert it. Now, those of us who love liberty have to fix it.

Yahoo says US sought data on 40,332 user accounts in 2013

Yahoo said that it has received 12,444 requests for data from the US government so far this year that covers the accounts of 40,322 users overall. In its first government transparency report, Yahoo said it rejected just 2 percent of those federal government requests.

Yahoo released the report to share some data about what governments around the world have asked the firm to disclose about its users in the first half of 2013. As with other technology companies, Yahoo said that the report includes statistics for requests made through national security letters and those made under the Foreign Intelligence Service Act, in addition to other requests from law enforcement. The company also broke down how many of those requests yielded data — 37 percent disclosed the content of Yahoo accounts, such as words in e-mails, photos or uploaded files. In about 55 percent of the requests made, the company disclosed information about its users that did not involve content but gave information such as names, location data and e-mail addresses. In six percent of cases, the requests yielded no data because, for example, “the account didn’t exist or there was no data for the date range specified by the request,” Yahoo said. Yahoo and other technology firms are working to get permission to release the exact numbers of these types of requests.

Keeping the Net neutral

[Commentary] The battle over federal "net neutrality" rules will resume when a federal appeals court takes up the challenge filed by one of the country's largest Internet service providers: Verizon.

The phone company, which argues that the Federal Communication Commission's rules violate federal law and the Constitution, asserts that Internet service providers have a 1st Amendment right to edit or block the data flowing from websites to their customers. The company's stance is strange and self-contradictory, considering its long-standing efforts to be freed from liability for the "speech" that travels through its wires. The court should reject it out of hand. Verizon argues that "just as a newspaper is entitled to decide which content to publish and where, broadband providers may feature some content over others.” The Internet access that ISPs provide isn't an expression, it's a conduit. Nor is delivering data from a website to one's customers a form of legally protected speech.

Verizon sued by shareholder over $130 billion Vodafone deal

Verizon Communications has been sued by a shareholder seeking to void its $130 billion buyout of Vodafone Group’s stake in the companies' wireless joint venture on the grounds the price is too high.

In a lawsuit filed in a New York state court, just three days after the transaction was announced, Natalie Gordon said Verizon shareholders are being "shortchanged" by the purchase of Vodafone's 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, the largest US mobile phone operator. Verizon, which owns the other 55 percent, agreed to pay Vodafone $59 billion in cash, $60 billion in stock and other sums. Gordon said "it is evident that Verizon has overpaid," adding that "Wall Street analysts concur" and that Moody's Investors Service downgraded Verizon's credit. She also pointed to a drop in Verizon's share price to $45.08 on September 3, the first trading day after the purchase was announced, from a peak of $48.60 on August 29, when news that Verizon and Vodafone had revived talks surfaced. The lawsuit seeks class-action status, and also names Verizon Chief Executive Lowell McAdam and 12 directors as defendants, accusing them of breaching their fiduciary duties. It seeks to force Verizon to rescind the purchase or improve the terms, and force the individual defendants to pay damages.

President Obama: US will probe reported NSA spying on Brazil, Mexico

President Barack Obama promised to look into a report the United States spied on the leaders of Brazil and Mexico, allegations that have caused tensions in Washington's ties to its two biggest Latin American partners.

President Obama met with presidents Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico during an international summit in Russia and discussed reports that the US National Security Agency snooped on their personal communications and phone calls. "I assured them that I take these allegations very seriously. I understand their concerns. I understand the concerns of the Mexican and Brazilian people; and that we will work with their teams to resolve what is a source of tension," President Obama said. President Rousseff, speaking earlier, indicated she was not fully satisfied with President Obama's assurances during their meeting. She said President Obama had agreed to provide a fuller explanation for the reported spying, and that she would decide whether or not to go ahead with a planned visit to the White House based in part on his response.

CBS Retransmission Win is One for all Broadcasters

[Commentary] The CBS-TWC settlement makes all broadcasters winners, assuming they can continue to ward off government intervention. The deal demonstrates the continued attractiveness of broadcasting programming (particularly sports) and its puts upward pressure on all retransmission fees.

American Tower to Acquire Global Tower in $3.3 Billion Deal

American Tower, the biggest operator of cellular towers in the US, agreed to acquire the parent company of rival Global Tower Partners for about $3.3 billion, giving it thousands of additional wireless sites as the appetite for next-generation services grows.

American Tower is buying MIP Tower Holdings, a closely held real estate investment trust that owns Global Tower Partners and related companies. The deal brings American Tower about 5,400 US towers and the management rights to more than 9,000 additional sites. Including debt, the purchase price is about $4.8 billion.

A New Step in Promoting Safety and Innovation in Healthcare IT

The Federal Communications Commission is committed to accelerating the adoption and innovation of health information technology (health IT) through wired and wireless broadband. Health IT tools such as electronic health records, mobile health applications and mobile body area networks (MBANS) hold great potential to improve health outcomes and lower healthcare costs. The Commission has worked closely with federal partners like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to achieve these goals. A working group of ONC's federal advisory committee released its recommendations on this framework: The Path Toward a Risk-Based Regulatory Framework for Health IT. The workgroup, which included participation from the FCC, formed to obtain broad stakeholder input from across the health care, IT, patients and innovation spectrum. [Matthew Quinn is Director of FCC Health Care Initiatives]

NTIA Awards More SLIGP Grants to Assist FirstNet Planning

The US Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded grants under the State and Local Implementation Grant Program (SLIGP) to the following states to help in planning for the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet):

Guam - $529,300
Massachusetts - $2.1 million
Minnesota - $2.3 million
North Dakota - $1.1 million
Puerto Rico - $1.4 million
South Carolina - $ 1.8 million
Texas - $5.8 million
Virginia - $2.7 million
Washington - $2.6 million.

Newspapers may be dying, but the internet didn’t kill them — and journalism is doing just fine

While the democratization of distribution and the atomization of content have definitely accelerated the decline, journalism professor George Brock argues that newspapers have been on a slippery slope for some time, and that what journalism is going through is a natural evolution rather than a disaster.

Everyone has a favorite example of the decline of the industry, he says, such as the sale of the Boston Globe for 97 percent less than it sold for two decades ago or the massive rounds of layoffs that continue to sweep through the business. It’s certainly easy to find that kind of evidence of doom, but Brock, who runs the journalism program at City University in London, argues that “this picture of deterioration is one-dimensional, incomplete and out of date.” Journalism is flourishing if you know where to look.

Benton

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