1. Monthly archive
  2. January 2014

January 2014

DirecTV issues veiled threat in talks with Weather Channel

Heavy storms may be headed toward the Weather Channel. DirecTV, the El Segundo satellite broadcaster with more than 20 million subscribers around the country, has quietly started distributing a network called WeatherNation just as its deal to carry the Weather Channel is set to expire.

Although talks between the two companies are ongoing, DirecTV's decision to add WeatherNation is seen as a not-so-subtle threat that it is willing to drop the Weather Channel. Not only is DirecTV carrying WeatherNation, a small channel with very little reach or viewership, it has placed the network next to the Weather Channel on the dial, a move that could confuse viewers -- and has already annoyed Weather Channel executives. DirecTV, like many distributors, is eager to find ways to reduce programming costs. With sports programming driving up fees to carry channels such as Time Warner's TNT and TBS, distributors often try to squeeze smaller programmers as a way to save costs.

[Dec 26]

How US Internet service might get better -- and worse -- in 2014

2013, like just about every year before it, was the year nearly all of us complained about our Internet service. "It's too slow!" we said. "Too expensive!" And we were generally right, as a study by the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute found that US consumers pay more for slower service than counterparts in other countries. But 2013 wasn't just more of the same -- there were big developments that make 2014 worth watching, for good and bad reasons.

Inspired by Google Fiber, cities are increasingly looking for ways to get their own fiber networks and give the US broadband market much-needed competition. On the potentially bad side of the equation, a legal challenge to network neutrality laws by Verizon could further degrade competition, particularly in streaming video. As we look back at 2013 and ahead to next year, let's start with the good news. Google Fiber came to Kansas City in late 2012 and is headed to Provo, Utah, and Austin, Texas, in 2014. In 2014, we'll find out just how the plans of Los Angeles, Louisville, Bryan/College Station, Leverett, Ellensburg, and other cities pan out. Although competition is still distressingly absent in much of America, one thing that's clear is numerous cities are no longer content to simply accept what few options ISPs give them.

[Dec 26]

The Panopticon Paradox

[Commentary] The Edward Snowden and National Security Agency dragnet surveillance story that dominated headlines was framed in terms of a tension between national security and civil rights: Judge Richard Leon's ruling that the extent of surveillance may be unconstitutional; new revelations about the extent of the agency's spying on foreign governments and businesses; and the list of reform recommendations submitted by a blue-ribbon panel to President Barack Obama. The other angle that's been a thread throughout is one of technological determinism: the technology is there, says the government, so the NSA has in some ways been "on autopilot," as Secretary of State John Kerry put it in November.

The technology should be limited, goes the other side of the argument, if indeed it can be now. Both these perspectives are plainly legitimate, but also insufficient. While the NSA collects data against foreign intelligence threats generally, the type of data that effectively requires massive collection and storage of individual communications has been presented, for example by Gen. Keith Alexander, in terms of the need to connect the dots to stop another 9/11. So the extent of NSA surveillance corresponds logically to the extent of the ill-defined successor to the war on terror: When the enemy can be anywhere, the state looks everywhere. The boundary of the US response to terrorism is the critical frame through which to view the vast impressionistic canvas upon which the NSA attempts to connect the dots: The root issue is not the balance between national security and civil liberties but defining the boundaries of the US response to terrorism.

[Dec 24]

Time Warner Cable, Bruised After Its Battle With CBS, Extends Viacom Deal

SpongeBob SquarePants will continue to bubble into homes on Time Warner Cable uninterrupted into the new year.

Time Warner Cable announced that it had reached a multiyear agreement to renew distribution for Viacom, whose networks include MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. Negotiations over the deal, reached days before the current deal was set to expire on Dec 31, provided a sharp contrast to the bruising battle Time Warner Cable had with CBS last August over the so-called retransmission fees for CBS shows. Terms of the Viacom deal were not disclosed. Tension is increasing between the entertainment companies and the cable outlets, with creators of the entertainment pushing for a higher share of the profits by charging the distributors more in retransmission fees.

[Dec 24]

Internet Access Services: Status as of December 31, 2012

The Federal Communications Commission issued a report summarizing information about Internet access connections over 200 kilobits per second (kbps) in at least one direction in service in the United States as of December 31, 2012, having gathered standardized information about subscribership to Internet access services in the fifty states, District of Columbia, and inhabited insular areas (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands).

Notable developments between December 2011 and December 2012 include:

  • Internet connections overall are growing. The number of connections over 200 kbps in at least one direction increased by 14% year-over-year to nearly 262 million.
  • At year-end 2012, there were almost 65 million fixed and 64 million mobile connections with download speeds at or above 3 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds at or above 768 kbps as compared to 51 million fixed and 31 million mobile connections a year earlier. Figure 1 illustrates the trend in connections speeds from December 2009 through December 2012, and Figure 2 presents a side-by-side comparison of fixed and mobile connection speeds in December 2012.
  • The number of connections with downstream speeds of at least 10 Mbps increased by 35% over December 2011, to 60 million connections.
  • Growth is particularly high in mobile Internet subscriptions. The number of mobile subscriptions with speeds over 200 kbps in at least one direction grew to more than 169 million -- up 19% from December 2011. The number of fixed-location connections at speeds over 200 kbps in at least one direction increased by 5% year-over-year to nearly 93 million.

[Dec 24]

Verizon’s LTE Map Is Nearly Complete, but All Four Major Carriers Are Starting to Fill in the Dots

At the beginning of 2013, Verizon Wireless had the clear lead when it came to LTE coverage, so much so that it launched an ad campaign comparing rivals’ coverage maps to modern art. But over the course of 2013, the picture has started to change.

Verizon still has the most areas covered, with the high-speed service in 500 US markets, covering 303 million people. But the others are catching up. AT&T is Verizon’s nearest competitor, with LTE service currently in 488 markets, covering more than 250 million people. AT&T expects to end 2013 with its LTE rollout 90 percent completed, covering 270 million people, with the remaining work to be done by next summer. Sprint launched LTE service in 70 cities last week, bringing its total to 300 markets, while T-Mobile’s most recent public number was that it has LTE in 254 metro areas, covering 203 million people.

[Dec 24]

The One Big Question About RSA and Its Relationship With the NSA

[Commentary] The Internet security world was jolted by a Reuters report detailing a secret $10 million payment to the security company RSA from the National Security Agency.

RSA, a division of storage and IT giant EMC best known for its widely used security tokens, denied the report. It said that it has worked with the NSA for years and has never kept the relationship a secret, doing so with the intent of strengthening security products used in both the government and private sectors. But its explanation is incomplete -- RSA’s statement has been attacked by many -- and leaves many questions. Among them is one big one that hangs above all the others: What did RSA know about the algorithm that was ultimately found to contain the “back door,” and, perhaps more importantly, if it did have some idea, why did it say nothing about it for six years? According to RSA, the NSA continued to defer to NIST as to whether Dual EC DRBG was still reliable. As long as NIST maintained its approval, which it did even after the findings of the Microsoft researchers became public, RSA continued to stand behind Dual EC DRBG, considered products using the algorithm to be secure, and represented that to its customers. The bigger question lies at RSA’s door. Once NIST acted, RSA quickly followed suit. As it says in its statement: “When NIST issued new guidance recommending no further use of this algorithm in September 2013, we adhered to that guidance, communicated that recommendation to customers and discussed the change openly in the media.”

[Dec 24]

Talk of an RSA Boycott Grows After Reports It Colluded With the NSA

A boycott may be brewing against security company RSA’s annual conference, in the wake of reports that the company used encryption technology that had been created by the US National Security Agency in its products in order to create a “back door” in them.

A well-known security researcher has announced that he is boycotting RSA’s annual security industry conference in San Francisco in early 2014, and will no longer deliver a scheduled talk at that event. In an open letter addressed to Joe Tucci, the CEO of EMC, of which RSA is a unit, and Art Coviello, the head of RSA, Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure, said he is “withdrawing his support for the event.”

[Dec 23]

Hulu Loses Round In Privacy Case, Data Shared With comScore

Handing Hulu a defeat, a judge ruled that users don't need to show they sustained a financial loss in order to proceed with a privacy lawsuit against the company.

The lawsuit centers on allegations that the streaming service wrongly shared data about users with comScore and Facebook, in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act. That law prohibits movie rental companies from disclosing information about people's video-watching history without their explicit consent. Hulu sought summary judgment in its favor, arguing that the consumers shouldn't be able to proceed with their case unless they had been injured by the alleged disclosures. The company based its argument on the wording of the law, which specifies that people who are “aggrieved” by violations can sue for $2,500 in damages. Hulu contended that this language meant that consumers can't recover any money unless they have been injured as a result of disclosures. US District Court Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco rejected Hulu's interpretation of the law. She wrote in an 18-page opinion that consumers need only show “a wrongful disclosure” in order to recover damages.

[Dec 23]

Italy Approves ‘Google Tax’ on Internet Companies

Italy’s Parliament passed a new measure on web advertising, the so-called “Google tax,” which will require Italian companies to purchase their Internet ads from locally registered companies, instead of from units based in havens such as Ireland, Luxembourg and Bermuda.

The tax has stirred controversy, with some lawyers saying it probably violates European Union laws regarding non-discrimination over commercial activity and could be subject to legal challenges. Italy’s measure is “fairly obviously contrary to EU law,” said Sol Picciotto, an emeritus professor of law at Lancaster University in the U.K. Still, he said the law “will put further pressure on the OECD to sort it out.” The OECD isn’t scheduled to complete its plan until the end of 2015.

[Dec 23]

© 1994-2024 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.