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  2. January 2014

January 2014

Brookings Institution
January 6, 2014
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2014/01/06-cybersecurity-cyberwar-what-e...

Cyber issues have not only dominated recent headlines, but they have more broadly evolved from a technology matter into an area that we all need to understand. To put it another way, cybersecurity and cyberwar has shifted from a “need to know” issue into one everyone needs to know more about, whether working in academics, politics, business, the military or law, or even just as good citizens or parents.

On January 6, the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence and Governance Studies at Brookings will launch the new book Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know. The first panel will feature co-authors Peter W. Singer and Allan Friedman discussing their book and the key questions of cybersecurity – how it all works, why it all matters and what we can do. A second panel will then feature some of the leading journalists on the cybersecurity beat today, exploring the challenges of reporting on a new domain and explaining its complexities to the public.

Following the panel discussions, participants will take questions from the audience. This event will be webcast live.

Join the conversation on Twitter using #cyberbook.

Panel I: What Everyone Needs to Know

Moderator: Noah Shachtman
Nonresident Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence

Peter W. Singer
Co-author, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar
Director and Senior Fellow, Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence

Allan Friedman
Co-author, Cybersecurity and Cyberwar
Visiting Scholar, Cyber Security Policy Research Institute, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, George Washington University

Panel II: How To Talk About Cyber

Moderator: Noah Shachtman
Nonresident Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence

James Ball
Special Projects Editor
The Guardian

Tom Gjelten
Correspondent
NPR

Siobhan Gorman
Intelligence Reporter
The Wall Street Journal

David Sanger
Chief Washington Correspondent
The New York Times


January 6, 2014 (Principles for a Successful IP Transition)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2014

We found lots of stories during our break. See links to all those headlines at http://benton.org/node/171537

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Principles for a Successful IP Transition: Ubiquity - analysis
   All our phone calls will soon travel over the Internet. Here’s AT&T’s plan to test that out.

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   NSA statement does not deny 'spying' on members of Congress
   From Petraeus Scandal, an Apostle for Privacy
   China’s wrongheaded crackdown on the media - editorial

PRIVACY/SECURITY
   Wanted: More Vigilance on Data Security - editorial
   Feds need to play bigger role in cybersecurity - editorial

NEWS FROM THE CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW
   ‘Smart TVs’ Are Next Bet for Makers as Sales Languish [links to web]
   Smartphones set to become even smarter [links to web]
   Car Makers at Consumer Electronics Show Tout Ways to Plug Autos Into the Web [links to web]

OWNERSHIP
   Liberty Media Unveils Plans for Sirius

CONTENT
   Selling social media clicks becomes big business
   Print Starts to Settle Into Its Niches - analysis

AGENDA
   Congress Returns to Spar, Set Up Midterm Elections
   US Weighs Tech Fixes After Health-Site Woes

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

PRINCIPLES FOR A SUCCESSFUL IP TRANSITION
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang, Ted Gotsch]
Last month, the Benton Foundation released The New Network Compact: Making the IP Transition Work for Vulnerable Communities. The report, written by Ted Gotsch, includes 10 interrelated principles to help policymakers guide the transition from traditional telephone service to emerging broadband networks. In the coming days, we’ll highlight each of the 10 principles. Today we look at Ubiquity. First and foremost, people must have affordable access to high-speed IP networks to make the transition successful. Given the FCC’s statutory mandates and its established priorities, the agency should closely analyze how the IP transition will impact the digital divide. By performing this analysis, the FCC will acquire the information it needs to ensure that its IP transition policies are consistent with its determination that ubiquitous access to broadband is one of the Commission’s most critical policy objectives. Specifically, the FCC should craft any new rules and policies in a manner that ensures, to the extent possible, that the transition will be instrumental in closing the digital divide. The FCC should also consider the importance of focusing on broadband adoption, education and training when crafting IP transition trials and policies. The importance of adoption, barriers to adoption, and means of achieving adoption, especially among minority, multilingual and vulnerable populations, should be at the top of the agenda for negotiating a successful transition. The FCC should aim at enabling underserved populations – in particular, rural and low-income households – to acquire and make effective use of broadband service.
http://benton.org/node/171159
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AT&T’S IP TRANSITION PLAN
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
As the country upgrades its old, copper telephone lines to newer technology, the companies that operate those networks face a lot of unforeseen obstacles. The process is supposed to be complete by the later part of the decade and could enable new features in telephony such as high definition voice calls and improved 911 service. But it could also bring a range of consequences that nobody can really predict. That's why telecom regulators have given carriers permission to start experimenting on a limited basis with a fiber-optic rollout. The transition to fiber-based networks -- which treat phone calls as packets traveling atop the Internet -- is being done in select markets of each phone company's choice. AT&T has now begun planning for its own trials. In a filing to the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T lays out its three-stage plan for how it will select its test sites. AT&T claims it won't simply test out the transition in places that are easy, but it remains to be seen which locations it has in mind.
benton.org/node/171561 | Washington Post
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

NSA DOES NOT DENY SPYING ON CONGRESS
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: Spencer Ackerman, Martin Pengelly]
The National Security Agency released a statement in answer to questions from Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) about whether it “has spied, or is … currently spying, on members of Congress or other American elected officials”, in which it did not deny collecting communications from legislators of the US Congress to whom it says it is accountable. The statement read: “NSA’s authorities to collect signals intelligence data include procedures that protect the privacy of US persons. Such protections are built into and cut across the entire process. Members of Congress have the same privacy protections as all US persons. NSA is fully committed to transparency with Congress. Our interaction with Congress has been extensive both before and since the media disclosures began last June. We are reviewing Senator Sanders’s letter now, and we will continue to work to ensure that all members of Congress, including Senator Sanders, have information about NSA’s mission, authorities, and programs to fully inform the discharge of their duties.”
benton.org/node/171559 | Guardian, The
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JILL KELLEY AS PRIVACY ADVOCATE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jennifer Steinhauer]
Desperate to restore her reputation, resume her old life and, she said, protect others from similar ordeals, Jill Kelley is, with the help of some of the nation’s most renowned and expensive privacy lawyers, suing three federal agencies and a spate of current and former Pentagon and FBI officials. She asserts that they violated her privacy, defamed her and improperly gained access to her email without her consent, all in a way that hurt her reputation and livelihood. In a lawsuit that is half legal document and half news release, Kelley seeks damages and a formal apology from the government for revealing her identity after she reported what she assumed was a crime: threatening emails sent by a woman with whom Gen. David H. Petraeus, then director of the CIA, was having an affair. The suit, filed in United States District Court for the District of Columbia, is also an attempt by Kelley to tell her side of a story that she says was distorted and dismissed, leaving her family as collateral damage.
benton.org/node/171558 | New York Times
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CHINA’S MEDIA CRACKDOWN
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Training Material for News Reporters and Editors, Beijing, China, 2013: The news media “must be loyal to the party, adhere to the party’s leadership and make the principle of loyalty to the party the principle of journalistic profession.” What’s striking is not the fact of party control over the Chinese news media, which is a day-to-day reality, but how the party is demanding journalists absorb a backwards and outdated study guide based on failed concepts of the last century. The new leader of China, President Xi Jinping, has been championing slogans and ideology from Mao’s day and the pursuit of a Marxist Utopia, a pursuit that led to great suffering for hundreds of millions of people. Remarkably, Chinese journalists are being presented with this at a moment when communications have achieved a fluidity unknown in human history. Foreign investors shouldn’t fool themselves that China’s economic prowess can be separated from its heavy-handed restrictions on journalism.
benton.org/node/171538 | Washington Post
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PRIVACY/SECURITY

MORE VIGILANCE ON DATA SECURITY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Farhad Manjoo]
[Commentary] I'm hoping that the rash of high-profile security incidents we've seen over the past few months will spark renewed interest in the security sector, prompting new money and entrepreneurial energy to pour into the business of protecting our data. We'll never get perfect security; data, like money, will always be vulnerable to theft. At the moment, though, there is an innovation gap in security, with our ability to collect data far outstripping our ability to protect it. That balance needs to be restored. All tech companies need to be forced into taking security more seriously. That's why, in Snapchat's case, I propose a temporary boycott: If you use the app regularly and you consider your privacy important, you should take a break for a short while. Only if the company sees that its users are serious about security will it adopt a new attitude toward your data. If you don't do this -- if you keep using Snapchat despite the company's obvious shortcomings -- you're part of the problem.
benton.org/node/171554 | Wall Street Journal
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FEDERAL ROLE IN CYBERSECURITY
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Larry Magid]
[Commentary] I think about security risks a bit like I think about transportation. If you're driving your own car, there is a lot you can do to increase your safety. You don't have complete control -- another driver could slam into you -- but there are plenty of things you can do. But if you're on a plane, you're pretty much at the mercy of the airline and the various government agencies that regulate air travel. Sure, it's up to you to put on your seat belt and stow your objects during takeoff and landing, but other than that, there's not much you can do. Airline safety is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, but Web and app security is pretty much up to the individual company you're doing business with. While I'm reluctant to propose federal regulation, I do think government should play some role in protecting consumers, given the risk and consequences of these breaches. The trick is to avoid government micromanagement of how companies protect their infrastructure while encouraging companies to improve their security. It's a tough balance because there will always be forces trying to get government to put the hammer down on companies with lax security, and there always will be forces arguing that the government should keep its hands off industry for fear that it can stifle innovation. The answer lies somewhere in between, where government holds industry accountable while at the same time allowing industry to use its own talents and resources to find solutions.
benton.org/node/171551 | San Jose Mercury News
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OWNERSHIP

LIBERTY’S PLANS FOR SIRIUS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amol Sharma, John Kell]
Liberty Media unveiled a proposal to make satellite-radio provider Sirius XM a wholly owned subsidiary, a move that would give the media-investment company access to a new source of capital as it pursues a big cable merger. The transaction would convert Sirius's common stock into new Liberty Series C nonvoting shares. Liberty currently owns about 52% of Sirius. Taking 100% ownership of the company would "eliminate ambiguity in the long-term relationship between Sirius and Liberty," Greg Maffei, Liberty Media's president and chief executive said during a conference call with analysts Friday. The deal would allow Sirius shareholders to convert from a noncontrolling stake in a subsidiary into a direct equity position in Liberty, he said.
benton.org/node/171545 | Wall Street Journal | FT
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CONTENT

SELLING SOCIAL MEDIA CLICKS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Martha Mendoza]
Celebrities, businesses and even the US State Department have bought bogus Facebook likes, Twitter followers or YouTube viewers from offshore "click farms," where workers tap, tap, tap the thumbs up button, view videos or retweet comments to inflate social media numbers. Since Facebook launched almost 10 years ago, users have sought to expand their social networks for financial gain, winning friends, bragging rights and professional clout. And social media companies cite the levels of engagement to tout their value. But an Associated Press examination has found a growing global marketplace for fake clicks, which tech companies struggle to police. Online records, industry studies and interviews show companies are capitalizing on the opportunity to make millions of dollars by duping social media. For as little as a half cent each click, websites hawk everything from LinkedIn connections to make members appear more employable to Soundcloud plays to influence record label interest.
benton.org/node/171542 | Associated Press
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PRINTED CONTENT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
[Commentary] Publishers who turned out under-designed and under-edited books and magazines in the Internet age have learned the hard way that consumers expect excellence in print. Print is not dead, it simply has some very specific attributes that need to be leveraged. Good printed work includes a mix of elements in which juxtaposition and tempo tell their own story, the kind of story best told with ink and paper. Print continues to be a remarkable technology, if not as lucrative as it used to be, with its own durable glories.
benton.org/node/171541 | New York Times
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AGENDA

CONGRESSIONAL AGENDA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Janet Hook, Siobhan Hughes]
Members of Congress returning to work this week are plunging immediately into policy battles that will shape their campaigns for the November elections. The Senate is poised to debate a plan to revive expanded benefits for the long-term unemployed, which lapsed in December. In the House, Republican leaders are spotlighting what they say are more problems with the Affordable Care Act, starting the year with a vote on legislation intended to safeguard against potential security breaches in the health law's insurance marketplace. Political strategists on both sides expect the debates to position their parties for November, even if the legislation fails. Democrats want to enter the campaign season with a slate of proposals aimed at income inequality, which will include the jobless-benefits extension, a bill to boost the federal minimum wage and other measures. They believe Republicans would pay a political price if they stand in the way of policies that polls show are popular among voters of both parties.
benton.org/node/171540 | Wall Street Journal
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US WEIGHS TECH FIXES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
The Obama Administration is considering loosening hiring rules for technology specialists and creating a new federal unit dedicated to big tech projects, officials said. The steps, some of which President Barack Obama could announce this quarter, are designed to address the lack of concentrated talent in civilian federal agencies to manage large technology projects -- a shortcoming exposed by October's disastrous launch of the federal health-insurance site. The Administration is still crafting a plan, but several proposals are getting close study. One of those ideas is reversing the innovation-fellows program to have government technology specialists rotate through private-sector companies. Another idea under consideration, officials said, is expanding federal direct hiring authority so agencies can better compete for software developers and other specialists.
benton.org/node/171556 | Wall Street Journal
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Principles for a Successful IP Transition: Ubiquity

Last month, the Benton Foundation released The New Network Compact: Making the IP Transition Work for Vulnerable Communities. The report, written by Ted Gotsch, includes 10 interrelated principles to help policymakers guide the transition from traditional telephone service to emerging broadband networks. In the coming days, we’ll highlight each of the 10 principles. Today we look at Ubiquity. First and foremost, people must have affordable access to high-speed IP networks to make the transition successful. Given the FCC’s statutory mandates and its established priorities, the agency should closely analyze how the IP transition will impact the digital divide. By performing this analysis, the FCC will acquire the information it needs to ensure that its IP transition policies are consistent with its determination that ubiquitous access to broadband is one of the Commission’s most critical policy objectives. Specifically, the FCC should craft any new rules and policies in a manner that ensures, to the extent possible, that the transition will be instrumental in closing the digital divide. The FCC should also consider the importance of focusing on broadband adoption, education and training when crafting IP transition trials and policies. The importance of adoption, barriers to adoption, and means of achieving adoption, especially among minority, multilingual and vulnerable populations, should be at the top of the agenda for negotiating a successful transition. The FCC should aim at enabling underserved populations – in particular, rural and low-income households – to acquire and make effective use of broadband service.

All our phone calls will soon travel over the Internet. Here’s AT&T’s plan to test that out.

As the country upgrades its old, copper telephone lines to newer technology, the companies that operate those networks face a lot of unforeseen obstacles. The process is supposed to be complete by the later part of the decade and could enable new features in telephony such as high definition voice calls and improved 911 service. But it could also bring a range of consequences that nobody can really predict.

That's why telecom regulators have given carriers permission to start experimenting on a limited basis with a fiber-optic rollout. The transition to fiber-based networks -- which treat phone calls as packets traveling atop the Internet -- is being done in select markets of each phone company's choice. AT&T has now begun planning for its own trials. In a filing to the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T lays out its three-stage plan for how it will select its test sites. AT&T claims it won't simply test out the transition in places that are easy, but it remains to be seen which locations it has in mind.

NSA statement does not deny 'spying' on members of Congress

The National Security Agency released a statement in answer to questions from Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) about whether it “has spied, or is … currently spying, on members of Congress or other American elected officials”, in which it did not deny collecting communications from legislators of the US Congress to whom it says it is accountable.

The statement read: “NSA’s authorities to collect signals intelligence data include procedures that protect the privacy of US persons. Such protections are built into and cut across the entire process. Members of Congress have the same privacy protections as all US persons. NSA is fully committed to transparency with Congress. Our interaction with Congress has been extensive both before and since the media disclosures began last June. We are reviewing Senator Sanders’s letter now, and we will continue to work to ensure that all members of Congress, including Senator Sanders, have information about NSA’s mission, authorities, and programs to fully inform the discharge of their duties.”

From Petraeus Scandal, an Apostle for Privacy

Desperate to restore her reputation, resume her old life and, she said, protect others from similar ordeals, Jill Kelley is, with the help of some of the nation’s most renowned and expensive privacy lawyers, suing three federal agencies and a spate of current and former Pentagon and FBI officials. She asserts that they violated her privacy, defamed her and improperly gained access to her email without her consent, all in a way that hurt her reputation and livelihood.

In a lawsuit that is half legal document and half news release, Kelley seeks damages and a formal apology from the government for revealing her identity after she reported what she assumed was a crime: threatening emails sent by a woman with whom Gen. David H. Petraeus, then director of the CIA, was having an affair. The suit, filed in United States District Court for the District of Columbia, is also an attempt by Kelley to tell her side of a story that she says was distorted and dismissed, leaving her family as collateral damage.

US Weighs Tech Fixes After Health-Site Woes

The Obama Administration is considering loosening hiring rules for technology specialists and creating a new federal unit dedicated to big tech projects, officials said. The steps, some of which President Barack Obama could announce this quarter, are designed to address the lack of concentrated talent in civilian federal agencies to manage large technology projects -- a shortcoming exposed by October's disastrous launch of the federal health-insurance site.

The Administration is still crafting a plan, but several proposals are getting close study. One of those ideas is reversing the innovation-fellows program to have government technology specialists rotate through private-sector companies. Another idea under consideration, officials said, is expanding federal direct hiring authority so agencies can better compete for software developers and other specialists.

Wanted: More Vigilance on Data Security

[Commentary] I'm hoping that the rash of high-profile security incidents we've seen over the past few months will spark renewed interest in the security sector, prompting new money and entrepreneurial energy to pour into the business of protecting our data.

We'll never get perfect security; data, like money, will always be vulnerable to theft. At the moment, though, there is an innovation gap in security, with our ability to collect data far outstripping our ability to protect it. That balance needs to be restored. All tech companies need to be forced into taking security more seriously. That's why, in Snapchat's case, I propose a temporary boycott: If you use the app regularly and you consider your privacy important, you should take a break for a short while. Only if the company sees that its users are serious about security will it adopt a new attitude toward your data. If you don't do this -- if you keep using Snapchat despite the company's obvious shortcomings -- you're part of the problem.

Feds need to play bigger role in cybersecurity

[Commentary] I think about security risks a bit like I think about transportation. If you're driving your own car, there is a lot you can do to increase your safety. You don't have complete control -- another driver could slam into you -- but there are plenty of things you can do. But if you're on a plane, you're pretty much at the mercy of the airline and the various government agencies that regulate air travel. Sure, it's up to you to put on your seat belt and stow your objects during takeoff and landing, but other than that, there's not much you can do.

Airline safety is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, but Web and app security is pretty much up to the individual company you're doing business with. While I'm reluctant to propose federal regulation, I do think government should play some role in protecting consumers, given the risk and consequences of these breaches. The trick is to avoid government micromanagement of how companies protect their infrastructure while encouraging companies to improve their security. It's a tough balance because there will always be forces trying to get government to put the hammer down on companies with lax security, and there always will be forces arguing that the government should keep its hands off industry for fear that it can stifle innovation. The answer lies somewhere in between, where government holds industry accountable while at the same time allowing industry to use its own talents and resources to find solutions.

‘Smart TVs’ Are Next Bet for Makers as Sales Languish

The TV industry has innovated itself into a corner. Crisp, high-definition TVs as big as 50 diagonal inches can be had for a few hundred dollars. Why bother upgrading or paying more for a fancy new one? Many people don’t. And if you spend much of your time watching streaming video on a tablet or phone, paying for a better TV seems even more pointless. So for several years now, TV sales have been lackluster. Electronics manufacturers, though, are not losing hope. And at the 47th International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, they will show how they intend to attract more customers. In many cases, it will be by offering so-called smart TVs that can connect to the Internet and run apps.

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