January 2014

Congress's NSA Fail

[Commentary] So long as the nation is intent on a debate over intelligence programs, let's have the right one. Let's discuss the future role of the body that has spent 40 years failing spectacularly in its self-ascribed "oversight" duties: Congress.

Congress muscled its way into the intelligence game in the late 1970s, following the Senate's Church Committee witch hunt. Congress assured Americans that its oversight would secure their privacy, while promising the spies that its involvement would legitimize their intelligence operations and aid national security. Congress has ever since proved that it is too lazy to do the work, too political to resist scoring points, and too spineless to show accountability.

Edward Snowden’s misplaced trust in a do-nothing Congress

For a guy who thought the established system was so broken he had to circumvent it, Edward Snowden sure seems to have a lot of faith in America's legislature.

The former intelligence contractor spent much of his livechat with Twitter users pressuring lawmakers to reform US privacy and whistleblower protection rules. He made reference to a just-released governmental report urging President Barack Obama to end the National Security Agency's bulk phone records collection program, and turned it instead against members of Congress whom he expects to act. "I don’t see how Congress could ignore [the report], as it makes it clear there is no reason at all to maintain the 215 program," Snowden said before quoting the document at length. Later, Snowden called on legislators to extend whistleblower protections to government contractors and to beef up the law's existing guarantees. To see Snowden turning to Congress makes a lot of sense. The president has said he'll change the Section 215 program -- not eliminate it. But if Snowden were familiar at all with the nation's legislature, he'd also know its recent track record provides little cause for hope.

FBI warns retailers of more cyber attacks

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned US retailers they may face further cyberattacks after detecting 20 hacking cases in the past year that used the same malicious software that was deployed against Target over the Thanksgiving shopping season.

The agency cautioned retailers about the risks posed by “memory-parsing” malware that can compromise card swiping machines and other point of sales systems. We believe POS malware crime will continue to grow over the near term, despite law enforcement and security firms’ actions to mitigate it,” the January 17 report entitled “Recent Cyber Intrusion Events Directed Toward Retail Firms” said. The accessibility of the malware on underground forums, the affordability of the software and the huge potential profits to be made from retail POS systems in the US make this type of financially motivated cyber crime attractive to a wide range of actors,” the FBI added.

Tech Companies Fight Back Against Patent Lawsuits

Advocates of patent reform say the legal system unfairly favors patent assertion entities that are known derisively as patent trolls and have called on federal lawmakers to restrict what they call frivolous litigation that stifles innovation. While bills slowly grind through Congress, some Texas lawmakers are considering ways for the state, which has increasingly invested in the software industry, to address the issue.

Google Broadens Its Outreach to GOP

Google employees have been a top source of campaign cash for President Barack Obama. A former chief executive campaigned for the president. Several company executives went to work in his administration. Behind the scenes, though, the company has been working hard to change its profile as an ally of the Democratic Party, courting Republicans and building alliances with conservatives at a time when regulators and Congress are considering issues affecting its business interests. Google has hired a string of Republican operatives as part of an effort to build relationships with GOP lawmakers and has evened out the campaign donations from its political-action committee, which had skewed in favor of Democratic candidates.

Google Intent on Using Encryption

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said the company is intent on using encryption technologies to penetrate countries with strict censorship rules, such as China and North Korea.

"It is possible, within the next decade, using encryption, we would be able to open up countries that have strict censorship laws … giving people a voice," Schmidt said. Google has been working to strengthen its encryption so governments "won't be able to" penetrate it. "This creates a problem for governments like China's," Schmidt added.

Cluing in AT&T to its own rules

[Commentary] A customer who sought to modify an iPhone to work overseas -- while also maintaining the phone's domestic plan -- was rebuffed by two AT&T agents. In fact, such a plan exists.

Corporate policy notwithstanding, businesses should have the wherewithal to go off-script and respond to a loyal customer who makes a reasonable request. It's amazing how often big companies are unable to deal with such situations. As for two service reps failing to bring up the specific company plan that addressed Tudor's situation, I don't know what to say. Clearly AT&T needs to send a few employees back to school.

7 new Web domains to be released

On the Internet, .com is about to get some more company. Seven new Web domains including .bike, .guru and .clothing are scheduled to be released Jan 29, the first of hundreds of online address extensions expected to become available over the next few years.

The rollout is being called one of the biggest changes to ever hit the Internet as companies and individuals gain access to a wider variety of domains that could better reflect their business type or the products they sell. "If you think about the history of the Internet and the history of domains, this is pretty massive," said James Cole, a spokesman for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, which reviews and approves applications for new extensions. "It could potentially affect every Internet user."

Radio Search Engine turns the world’s radio stations into a music jukebox

Radio Search Engine, a new site launched out of beta by serial entrepreneur Michael Robertson, turns tens of thousands of radio stations into an easily searchable music jukebox.

Let’s say you want to listen to Royals from Lorde. Just search for the song, and Radio Search Engine will show you a dozen or so radio stations from all around the world that are playing it right now, ready for you to tune in. The site also offers a list of Top 20 Adult Contemporary songs, which start playing with a single click. Once you start to play a song, the site starts to assemble a playlist of similar songs -- kind of like Pandora if you will, but with the differences that these songs are playing in real time on different radio stations.

Study of French “three strikes” piracy law finds no deterrent effect

A recently published study of 2,000 French Internet users found that the widely-publicized "three strikes" law hasn't had much effect on how pirates get their content.

"Our econometric results indicate that the Hadopi [three strikes] law has not deterred individuals from engaging in digital piracy and that it did not reduce the intensity of illegal activity of those who did engage in piracy," report the four co-authors, economists at the University of Delaware and the University of Rennes. It's not all bad news for the recording industry, though: the authors cite another 2014 study which found that iTunes has seen a 20-25 percent increase in sales of French music just prior to implementation of the law. However, the authors attribute the increased sales to "public educational efforts," not to the deterrent effect of the law.

Benton

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