June 2014

The Newspaper Association of America is urging the Senate to bring a shield law bill to the floor for a vote after the Supreme Court declined to review New York Times' journalist James Risen's appeal of a court ruling that he had no right to refuse to reveal confidential sources.

The Free Flow of Information Act has twice passed the House, only to get bogged down in the Senate. But a Senate version passed out of the Judiciary committee for the first time last fall in the shadow of the NSA information-gathering revelation, attendant WikiLeaks government data drops and Justice's subpoenas of reporter phone records, leading to hope that a federal shield law -- to match that in 49 states -- might finally pass.

The Free Flow of Information Act (S.987) is sponsored by Sens Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and was pushed for years by the late Pennsylvania Republican (and former Democratic) Senator Arlen Specter. It would protect reporters from being forced to identify sources by overzealous government officials, with carve-outs for national security, imminent threat of death or bodily harm, destruction of critical infrastructure, and other special circumstances. The bill also covers government efforts to obtain information from Internet service providers or ISPs.

New Cingular Wireless PCS, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of AT&T, and Unrestricted Subsidiary Funding Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sprint, and together with AT&T have filed an application pursuant to section 310(d) of the Communications Act of 1934, seeking to assign 19 A and B Block Wireless Communications Service (WCS) licenses to AT&T from Sprint.

The proposed transaction involves only the assignment of spectrum; no subscribers would be transferred. AT&T states that the proposed license assignments would facilitate the transition of WCS spectrum to mobile broadband use and allow AT&T to make more efficient use of spectrum to provide new and better services to customers.

Preliminary review indicates that, as a result of the instant transaction, AT&T would be assigned 10 to 20 megahertz of WCS A and B Block spectrum in 713 counties in all or parts of 153 Cellular Market Areas across parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Post-transaction, AT&T would hold 36 to 165 megahertz of spectrum in total in these 713 counties.

The Department of Justice is cracking down on hackers in Russia and Ukraine who, officials say, are making millions of dollars by stealing bank information and holding computer files for ransom.

The agency announced efforts to disrupt two cyber crime programs -- “Cryptolocker” and “Gameover Zeus” -- allegedly developed and run by a “tightly knit gang of cyber criminals based in Russia and Ukraine” led by Russian Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev.

Cryptolocker is a “ransomware” tool that encrypts a computer’s files until the owner pays a ransom. According to the agency, the ransomware has infected more than 234,000 computers, half of which are in the US. The release cites one estimate “that more than $27 million in ransom payments were made in just the first two months since Cryptolocker emerged” and said that the FBI seized the servers being used as “control hubs” for the ransomware.

The “Gameover Zeus” botnet is a malware network used to steal millions of dollars by capturing banking credentials. The botnet also was a common distribution tool for the Cryptolocker software, according to the agency. According to the release, between 500,000 and 1 million computers world wide are infected with Gameover Zeus, and 25 percent of those infected computers are in the US.

In addition to bringing charges against Bogachev for his alleged role as administrator of Gameover Zeus and Cryptolocker, the US government obtained civil and criminal court orders authorizing agencies to take steps to mitigate damage caused by these programs, including obtaining the IP addresses of affected computers.

John Oliver, host of “Last Week Tonight,” did what he himself had deemed impossible: Make the debate over net neutrality, and the possibility of losing the open Internet, actually seem interesting and important.

Oliver was riled up enough to spend nearly half his show discussing the Federal Communications Commission's impending regulatory white flag that would allow Internet provider behemoths like Comcast and Time Warner to charge companies -- and ultimately, consumers -- more money for service that isn't entirely awful.

It was an impressive display that made the players and consequences actually compelling, tying big names and classic themes (drug dealing, mobsters, dingos eating babies) to the tech controversy.

Oliver spread the blame and insults around quite liberally (once again taking advantage of the lack of language restrictions on cable), hitting FCC Chair (and former cable company lobbyist) Tom Wheeler, President Barack Obama (for nominating Wheeler as chairman and buddying up to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts), Comcast and its nauseating corporate spin (for being misleading), C-Span (for being so boring), and Internet commenters (for just generally being crazy).