February 2014

Senate cybersecurity report finds agencies often fail to take basic preventive measures

A report by the Republican staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee says that federal agencies are ill-prepared to defend networks against even modestly skilled hackers.

The report draws on previous work by agency inspectors general and the Government Accountability Office to paint a broader picture of chronic dysfunction, citing repeated failures by federal officials to perform the unglamorous work of information security. That includes installing security patches, updating anti-virus software, communicating on secure networks and requiring strong passwords. A common password on federal systems, the report found, is “password.”

Sen Carper: US should ‘lead way’ in Bitcoin regulation

Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) called on the US to “lead the way” on regulation of Bitcoin after a new study found most countries do not have rules in place to address virtual currencies.

“The United States may not be as far behind the curve on virtual currencies as some have argued,” said Sen Carper, who commissioned the study. “In fact, the United States might be leading the way for a number of nations when it comes to addressing this growing technology." The report surveyed government officials from around the world and shows many countries are still considering what to do with Bitcoin. China and Brazil are the two exceptions, having already begun regulating Bitcoin. The study looked at 40 countries and asked whether they recognize Bitcoin as legal tender; what negative impacts Bitcoin could have on national currencies; what concerns they have about fraud; and how tax authorities view Bitcoin transactions. According to the study, there is "widespread concern" about the negative impact Bitcoin could have on national currencies and how it could be used to fund criminal operations and tax fraud. Sen Carper, the chairman of the homeland security and governmental affairs committee, said his committee is working with the IRS to develop tax regulations for Bitcoin.

NYC Bill Would Put Face on Anonymous Attack Ads

While federal candidates are required to disclose their approval of campaign ads, and groups that make independent expenditures in city races must identify themselves, New York City office seekers may trash their opponents freely without ever owning up to it. That would change under legislation being proposed by Daniel R. Garodnick, a councilman from Manhattan. His bill to ban anonymous campaign ads would not necessarily put an end to them altogether: The Campaign Finance Board would still have to identify those responsible.

6 new facts about Facebook

Facebook turns 10 and reaches that milestone as the dominant social networking platform, used by 57% of all adults and 73% of all those ages 12-17.

Adult Facebook use is intensifying: 64% of Facebook users visit the site on a daily basis, up from 51% of users who were daily users in 2010. Among teens, the total number of users remains high, according to Pew Research Center surveys, and they are not abandoning the site. But focus group interviews suggest that teens’ relationship with Facebook is complicated and may be evolving.

New Pew Research Center survey findings show how people are using Facebook and what they like and dislike about the site.

Some users dislike certain aspects of Facebook, but fear of missing out on social activities (or “FOMO”) isn’t one of them.
Women and men often have varying reasons for why they use Facebook -- but everything starts with sharing and laughs.
Half of all adult Facebook users have more than 200 friends in their network.
12% of Facebook users say that someone has asked them to “unfriend” a person in their network.
Facebook users “like” their friends’ content and comment on photos relatively frequently, but most don’t change their own status that often.
Half of internet users who do not use Facebook themselves live with someone who does.

Frustration mounts in Silicon Valley

Lobbyists for the tech industry say the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is already understaffed and underfunded, and they question why the White House has let the director position sit vacant for more than a year.

Lobbyists for the tech industry say the PTO needs a confirmed leader to deal with a patent backlog that numbers in the hundreds of thousands, and they argue a confirmed director can better respond to complaints about quality control. Former PTO Director David Kappos, who enjoyed strong support from Silicon Valley, left the agency in early 2013. Former Deputy Director Teresa Rea took over as acting director after Kappos’s departure, but she left the agency in September. Late last year, the administration tapped former Google intellectual property lawyer Michelle Lee to serve as the PTO’s deputy director.

Linda Moore to head TechNet

TechNet’s nearly year-long search for a new chief is over -- veteran Democratic operative Linda Moore is joining the high-tech trade group as its new leader.

She is taking over for acting President and CEO Alix Burns, who led the organization after Rey Ramsey announced his decision in April to “pursue new opportunities” after nearly three years at TechNet. The organization’s decision to pick Moore is a major shift in strategy, bringing on a seasoned Washington political veteran to lead the organization. Moore fits the mold of a traditional trade association executive whereas Ramsey had more of a business and tech background. The move is a classic Washington play -- when an association looks to amplify its brand in DC, it often turns to veteran political operatives with connections on Capitol Hill, an understanding of K Street and an ability to gain respect of member companies. A long-time aide to then-Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Moore also worked as a field director of the Democratic Leadership Council before serving for eight years in the Clinton administration’s White House Office of Political Affairs.

Video of Journalists’ Arrest in Egypt Seen as Threat to Media

A leaked video of the arrest of two journalists offered a cinematic close-up of the new military-backed government’s crackdown on dissent: slow-moving footage of a hotel room full of telecommunications equipment set to the thumping, sinister score of the recent superhero movie “Thor: The Dark World.”

The video, broadcast Feb 2 on a private channel that supports the government and circulated widely over the Internet since then, is the latest salvo in a propaganda campaign by the state-run and pro-military news media. The goal is to paint the arrested journalists -- known here as “the Marriott Cell,” for the hotel they were arrested in -- as part of a terrorist conspiracy. One journalist, an Arabic speaker, is interrogated on camera for several minutes and repeatedly refuses to give up the names of his colleagues.

Former BBC Director Apologizes for Failure of Digital Project

Mark Thompson, the former director general of the BBC, offered a general apology to a parliamentary committee for the failure of an expensive digital project, but he insisted that he had never knowingly misled Parliament or the BBC Trust, its oversight board.

Thompson, now the president and chief executive of The New York Times Company, testified with other former BBC officials before the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, which has been looking into allegations of overspending and bad management at the BBC, which is largely financed by the public. The central issue on Feb 3 was a $205 million project, called the Digital Media Initiative, intended to transfer all of the BBC’s production and archived materials to a digital format. The project ran into many difficulties, and the effort was suspended in October 2012, with a net loss of $160 million. The independent National Audit Office said on Jan. 28 that the BBC executive board “did not have sufficient grip” on the program and failed to “commission a thorough independent assessment of the whole system to see whether it was technically sound.”

The Great Chinese Internet Crash

[Commentary] The Internet suffered perhaps its largest crash of all time on Jan. 21, when most of China's 500 million Web users were unable to get online for up to eight hours. Nine days later New York Times reporter Austin Ramzy was forced to leave China, the latest in a string of foreign journalists denied work visas by the Beijing government. The link in these two stories is the Communist Party's obsessive control over information. Ramzy's case is all too familiar, since China has long squeezed foreign journalists to punish and deter reporting on sensitive matters such as the family fortunes of China's top leaders. The case of the Internet crash is more unusual. Beijing has devoted enormous resources to Internet censorship but it still struggles to control the flow of information. A modest Western investment could poke holes in the Great Firewall or even bring it tumbling down.

FCC To Invest Additional $2 Billion In High-Speed Internet In Schools And Libraries

The Federal Communications Commission will invest an additional $2 billion over the next two years to support broadband networks in our nations' schools and libraries. This represents a doubling of investment in broadband and will connect 20 million students in at least 15,000 schools to high-speed Internet access.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said, “This investment is a down-payment on the goal of 99 percent of America’s students having high-speed Internet connections within five years. As we consider long-term improvements to the program, we will take immediate steps to make existing funds go farther, significantly increasing our investment in high-speed Internet to help connect millions of students to the digital age.” Funding for new investments in high-speed Internet will come from reprioritizing existing E-Rate funds to focus on high-capacity Internet connectivity, increasing efficiency, and modernizing management of the E-Rate program. “We will take a business-like approach to the management of the program, identifying opportunities to improve the ways funds are deployed and streamlining the process for schools and libraries,” Chairman Wheeler said.

Benton

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