October 2013

Big publishers take fresh look at digital book services

News Corp-owned HarperCollins this month became the first of the “big five” publishers to sign up to a digital books library service, agreeing a deal with San Francisco-based Scribd. Some books analysts see this as a milestone for the sector, bringing valuable content to these platforms and with it the likelihood of renewed interest from consumers. It is also a sign, say some, that revenue models can be found that do not alienate the big publishers. Some of the biggest ones are concerned that these services will merely shift many of their more voracious book buyers on to library-style platforms, further denting sales during a period of global decline.

Brazil braces for shift from four to three mobile operators

In Brazil, it was once accepted wisdom that four telecom operators was the correct number to ensure good levels of profit versus competition. But in recent weeks, events in Europe are being felt across the Atlantic as Telecom Italia prepares for a possible sale of its Brazilian asset, Tim Participações, a maneuver that could leave the Latin American market with only three major players.

This is already having repercussions among rivals with Portugal Telecom and Brazil’s Oi signing up for a merger ostensibly to prepare themselves for consolidation. Brazil is one of the world’s prized telecom markets. Subscriber numbers were more than 268 million in August, representing penetration rates of more than 1.35 lines per head of population, compared with 46 million cellular lines a decade ago, according to Anatel, the industry regulator. By 2018, Brazilian cellphone users are expected to increase to 350 million, a report by Ericsson predicted.

Thousands gather in Washington for anti-NSA 'Stop Watching Us' rally

Thousands gathered by the Capitol reflection pool in Washington on Oct 26 to march, chant, and listen to speakers and performers as part of Stop Watching Us, a gathering to protest "mass surveillance" under National Security Agency programs first disclosed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden. Billed by organizers as "the largest rally yet to protest mass surveillance", Stop Watching Us was sponsored by an unusually broad coalition of left- and right-wing groups, including everything from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Green Party, Color of Change and Daily Kos to the Libertarian Party, FreedomWorks and Young Americans for Liberty.

Celebrities and whistleblowers join to incite NSA protest

Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has enlisted the help of high-profile whistleblowers and celebrities for a new video. "Stop Watching Us: The Video" is a call to arms; it sees celebrities, whistleblowers, activists, and politicians speaking out against mass surveillance and the National Security Agency. Among the celebrity speakers on the video are John Cusack, Oliver Stone, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Wil Wheaton. It's hoped that the high-profile faces will help persuade people to rally against the NSA's "dragnet surveillance of our communications." The Rally Against Mass Surveillance will take place October 26th, 2013.

Don’t Let the NSA Kill the Internet

Thirty, 20 or even 10 years from now, will historians write that the unbridled zeal of the National Security Agency fatally undermined US leadership in the Information Age and the creation of a truly global Internet? The way out of this diplomatic dead-end street is less Bad America and more Good America: robust public debate and strong checks and balances. Better than President Obama’s appointment of a commission to review surveillance programs would be a law that lets U.S. companies disclose information about government requests for customer data, which would help shore up their credibility overseas. Better judgment about when and how to snoop on which foreign leaders wouldn’t hurt, either. Otherwise, the next time the U.S. picks up the phone, it might hear a friend saying, “Auf Wiedersehen.”

Leaked memos reveal GCHQ efforts to keep mass surveillance secret

The UK intelligence agency GCHQ has repeatedly warned it fears a "damaging public debate" on the scale of its activities because it could lead to legal challenges against its mass-surveillance programs, classified internal documents reveal. Memos contained in the cache disclosed by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden detail the agency's long fight against making intercept evidence admissible as evidence in criminal trials -- a policy supported by all three major political parties, but ultimately defeated by the UK's intelligence community. Foremost among the reasons was a desire to minimize the potential for challenges against the agency's large-scale interception programs, rather than any intrinsic threat to security, the documents show.

The papers also reveal that:

GCHQ lobbied furiously to keep secret the fact that telecoms firms had gone "well beyond" what they were legally required to do to help intelligence agencies' mass interception of communications, both in the UK and overseas.
GCHQ feared a legal challenge under the right to privacy in the Human Rights Act if evidence of its surveillance methods became admissible in court.
GCHQ assisted the Home Office in lining up sympathetic people to help with "press handling", including the Liberal Democrat peer and former intelligence services commissioner Lord Carlile, who this week criticized the Guardian for its coverage of mass surveillance by GCHQ and America's National Security Agency.

EU needs privacy regulation after NSA ‘wake-up call,’ Parliament President says

Fueled by recent revelations about US surveillance, Europe is determined to move forward with its privacy-enhancing regulation, European Union Parliament President Martin Schulz said.

Europe must “press on determinedly” with the update to its data protection legislation after the “wake-up call” about US surveillance, Schulz said in a speech to the European Council. Schulz cited recent reports about US surveillance of European officials and citizens. “We must ensure that our citizens’ fundamental rights are protected on the Internet … by ensuring that companies from the USA and other countries which offer services in the EU are subject to our rules,” he said. The legislation would require American companies that process European users’ data to get permission before the companies share data with third parties, including government entities. Companies that share user data without getting authorization from the relevant country’s data protection authority – including sharing user data with a US intelligence agency – would face penalties of at least 100 million euros.

Patriot Act author pushes legislation to limit NSA surveillance

Rep Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), the original author of the USA Patriot Act in 2001, plans to introduce legislation to curb the National Security Agency's surveillance powers. Ben Miller, a spokesman for Rep Sensenbrenner, said there will be about 60 House co-sponsors for the bill, titled the USA Freedom Act.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) plans to introduce companion legislation in the upper chamber simultaneously, Miller said. The legislation would tighten Section 215 of the Patriot Act to end the NSA's bulk collection of records on all U.S. phone calls. The fact that the NSA is collecting records such as phone numbers, call times and call durations on all U.S. phone calls was revealed earlier this year by NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

NSA chief: Stop reporters 'selling' spy documents

The head of the embattled National Security Agency, Gen. Keith Alexander, is accusing journalists of "selling" his agency's documents and is calling for an end to the steady stream of public disclosures of secrets snatched by former contractor Edward Snowden.

"I think it’s wrong that that newspaper reporters have all these documents, the 50,000 -- whatever they have and are selling them and giving them out as if these -- you know it just doesn’t make sense," Gen. Alexander said. "We ought to come up with a way of stopping it," the NSA director declared. Gen. Alexander did not elaborate on what he meant by reporters "selling" documents or what options he might consider for halting the disclosures. An NSA spokeswoman declined to expand on the general's comments.

Finally we’re promised real action over NSA surveillance — but not for the best reasons

[Commentary] Germany and Brazil are pushing forward with proposals for a global right to online privacy. It would have been nice if this action had begun in earnest when it was citizens being spied upon, and not only after Germany’s Angela Merkel and Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff were revealed as targets.

Merkel’s tapping seems to have been the tipping point, probably because she’s the second most powerful person in the world. But the French spy on the Americans, too. What’s more – hang onto your seat here – lots of countries spy on each other, all over the world. True, you’re not supposed to do this to allies, but it’s been happening forever. This is what spies do. But getting caught will get you burned. So Merkel and Roussef had to take action, and that’s what is happening now: as Foreign Policy reported, they are joining forces to push the United Nations for a new global right to online privacy. The key proposal is to update the privacy bit of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to take online activities into account. This is a great idea, but it isn’t that simple. Not only will the existing wording of that section (Article 17) have to be finessed into something that can tackle the sort of deliberate yet untargeted data collection that we now face, but there’s an enforcement issue too. Forget the out-and-out authoritarian regimes out there — will the US change its own policies to abide by new supranational norms? That’s a pretty big question, particularly when there’s nothing to make it do so.

Benton

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