December 2013

The United States spied on a G20 meeting in Toronto with the assistance of Canada's government, according to new documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

President Barack Obama and 25 other world leaders were gathered in Canada for six days in 2010. According to the documents, the US converted its Ottawa embassy into a security command post throughout the summit, with its efforts “closely co-ordinated with the Canadian partner.” The National Security Agency's Canadian “partner” is Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), which, like the NSA, obtains intelligence by hacking computer networks, intercepting phone calls and engaging in other forms of digital espionage.

(Nov 28)

A Canadian company’s bold project to install a high speed fiber optic network across the roof of the world could provide the Defense Department with broadband connections to support its new Artic strategy.

Arctic Fibre of Toronto plans to start construction in May 2014 on its $620 million, 24 terabit network linking London and Tokyo with a route through the Northwest Passage. The network is slated to start operating in January 2016. It will have 100 gigabit spurs to areas of Alaska that have minimal or no communications links, Douglas Cunningham, the company’s president told Nextgov. Arctic Fibre also plans to run another 100 gigabit spur into Prudhoe Bay on the northern coast of Alaska and then down to the Dalton Highway to Fairbanks, Cunningham said, providing high speed connections to interior Alaska.

(Nov 27)

There’s been a lot of public debate about whether limits should be placed on Verizon and AT&T as the government makes plans to auction TV broadcast spectrum in the 600 MHz band. But considerably less attention has been paid to some other equally important decisions that must be made in connection with that auction.

One of the issues is how much spectrum should be made available on an unlicensed basis. Another issue that must be resolved is whether the band plan will be based on paired spectrum or whether some spectrum will be sold on an unpaired basis. Paired spectrum enables carriers to use one swath of spectrum for upstream traffic and a separate swath for downstream traffic, making it well suited for the frequency division duplexed form of the LTE standard known as FDD-LTE. But Sprint already has considerable unpaired spectrum and would probably like the opportunity to obtain more. The carrier plans to deploy an alternate form of LTE known as TD-LTE which separates upstream and downstream traffic using time division multiplexing, eliminating the need to use paired spectrum. TD-LTE is popular in other parts of the world -- including Japan, where it has been deployed by Sprint’s new owner Softbank. Perhaps the Federal Communications Commission will attempt to use different geographic areas for different portions of the spectrum swath freed up through the broadcast auction. Potentially the FCC also could opt to make a mixture of paired and unpaired spectrum available. But complicating matters is the fact that no one knows how much spectrum TV broadcasters will voluntarily relinquish. Accordingly any plan the FCC makes will need to plan for various amounts of total spectrum.

(Nov 27)

The European Commission has decided not to withdraw from the so-called 'Safe Harbor' agreement on data protection following a review of the trans-Atlantic data-sharing pact, according to a draft commission document.

Safe Harbor protects US companies that participate from being sued in Europe under the European Union's data protection directive. Instead, it allows breaches to be dealt with in the US, while offering the same protection for EU companies operating in the US. While the protections are reciprocal, the agreement primarily benefits US companies, by shielding them from lawsuits under EU legislation, which is tougher in this area than its US counterpart. "Given the weaknesses identified, the current implementation of Safe Harbor cannot be maintained," said the commission, which is the EU's executive arm. "However, its revocation would adversely affect the interests of member companies in the EU and in the US... Safe Harbor should rather be strengthened." The EU will discuss the shortcomings of the deal with US authorities. Officials aim to propose remedies for current shortcomings by summer and have them "implemented as soon as possible." Exceptions for national security should be used "only to an extent that is strictly necessary and proportionate," the document adds.

(Nov 27)