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  2. December 2014

December 2014

America’s Christmas Gift Lists, as Seen by Google

Holiday gifts are supposed to be a surprise until the moment they are unwrapped. But there is a place (other than the North Pole) where these secrets are known: Google.

Americans make two-thirds of their web searches on Google, which gives the company insight into our curiosities, plans and desires. And a big share of Google searches are shopping queries, particularly at this time of year. We asked Google for the top trending gift-related searches in major cities across the country.

[Dec 24]

Privacy analyst: ‘Santa is the ultimate role model for the NSA’

Don't be fooled by the jolly beard and the twinkle in his eye. Privacy experts are taking aim at Old Saint Nick, arguing that Santa's big data operation poses a potential risk to the personal data of millions -- if not billions -- of parents and children around the world.

"Clearly, somebody who knows if everyone has been bad or good, and what their interests are, and can be in so many places at once, and keeps all-observing eye on everything, is somebody to be watched," said Jeffrey Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "Santa is able to collect a lot of information without even having to pry," said Chester, "because people are constantly writing him letters." Chester speculated that Santa may even be working for the National Security Agency. Father Christmas, Chester said, would serve as an ideal frontman for an organization battered by the press over its surveillance programs. "It'd be a wise investment for the NSA to bring him on," said Chester. "After all, Santa does need a job 11 months out of the year."

[Dec 24]

Rockstar Consortium to Sell 4,000 Patents to RPX Corp. for $900 Million

In yet another sign that the smartphone-patent wars are starting to cool, Apple and a handful of other big technology companies have agreed to sell the bulk of a jointly owned portfolio of telecommunications patent assets for $900 million, less than a quarter of the $4.5 billion they paid for the full portfolio four years ago.

Rockstar Consortium has agreed to sell more than 4,000 patents to San Francisco-based RPX Corp. , a patent clearinghouse that helps companies protect themselves from patent lawsuits. The deal will put an end to several high-profile lawsuits filed by Rockstar against companies that make phones powered by the Android operating system.

[Dec 24]

Sony Announces Limited Release for 'The Interview'

"We have never given up on releasing The Interview and we're excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day," said Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. "At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience." Apparently, the studio is telling theaters that it also will offer the movie simultaneously on Video on Demand. It is not clear which VOD platform the studio will use or whether the studio has locked down a deal.

[Dec 23]

Countering Cyberattacks Without a Playbook

What the Sony hack has helped bring into focus: a shadow war of nearly constant, low-level digital conflict, somewhere in the netherworld between what President Obama called “cybervandalism” and what others might call digital terrorism.

In that murky world, the attacks are carefully calibrated to be well short of war. The attackers are hard to identify with certainty, and the evidence cannot be made public. The counterstrike, if there is one, is equally hard to discern and often unsatisfying. The damage is largely economic and psychological. Deterrence is hard to establish. And because there are no international treaties or norms about how to use digital weapons -- indeed, no acknowledgment by the United States government that it has ever used them itself -- there are no rules about how to fight this kind of conflict.

[Dec 24]

Setting the Record Straight on Open Internet Comments

Some key takeaways from the Federal Communications Commission inquiry into Open Internet comments:

  1. The total comment count in the Open Internet docket is nearly 4 million -- the same number that has been widely reported. These comments -- whether received via Electronic Comment Filing system (ECFS), the openinternet@fcc.gov email box, CSV upload, or paper -- are in ECFS where the public can view them and the FCC can draw upon them.
  2. In parsing the XML files in question, it appears that nearly 680,000 of the comments were not transferred successfully from ECFS to the XML files. This is due to a technical error involving Apache Solr, an open source tool the FCC used to produce the XML files. We plan to fix this problem by issuing a new set of XML files after the New Year with the full set of comments received during the reply period. Despite the fact that this group of comments was not transferred to the XML files, our review indicates that these files were uploaded to ECFS for public review.
  3. An October 22nd blog post describing the second round of comments included a discrepancy regarding how the comments were received. While the blog post correctly states the total number of comments received at the end of the second round -- approximately 2.5 million -- the breakdown of the number of comments received by email vs. ECFS and CSV was incorrect. The October 22 blog post has been corrected to fix this discrepancy.

[Dec 23]

CTIA makes case against tough Web rules

CTIA-The Wireless Association has new legal analysis explaining how its services would not be covered under new rules if regulators decided to treat the Internet like a public utility.

The Federal Communications Commission has “no lawful basis” for imposing utility-style rules on people’s access to the Internet over their phones and tablets, CTIA said in a filing with the FCC. “[O]n one point in particular, the Act is clear: Under Section 332, mobile broadband may not, under any circumstances, be subjected to common carrier treatment under Title II,” CTIA said. “Congress intended only mobile offerings that mimic traditional telephone service to be subject to common carrier treatment,” it added. Wireless companies that allow people to connect to the Internet are so much more than traditional phone service, the group argued, so the service is “immune from common carrier regulation.” Instead, the trade group urged the FCC to write rules under a different portion of the law allowing it to support broadband deployment.

[Dec 23]

FCC Seeks Comment on Waiver Petitions of Provisionally Selected Rural Broadband Experiments

On December 5, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) released a list of 37 entities provisionally selected as winning bidders for rural broadband experiments support. As part of the process to be authorized to receive such Connect America Fund support, these entities were required to submit certain technical and financial information by Friday, December 19.

A number of entities have indicated they no longer wish to be considered for an award of funding in the experiments or failed to submit the required information by the deadline, and therefore have defaulted on their bids. In addition, some entities have sought a waiver of the requirement to submit three years of audited financial statements and provided alternative evidence in an attempt to demonstrate their financial qualifications to receive rural broadband experiments support. Now, the Bureau announces which provisionally selected bidders have defaulted on projects and seeks comment on the petitions for waiver filed by 15 provisionally selected bidders. $651,832.15 of support in category one and $64,600 in category two is now available for next-in-line bidders.

[Dec 23]

Free Press Builds Upon Mountain of Evidence Against Proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger

In a filing to the Federal Communications Commission, Free Press defended its petition to deny the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, building upon the mountain of evidence already amassed against the proposed $45 billion merger.

Free Press' filing urges the agency to reject the proposed merger for three primary reasons:
1) It would lead to no merger-specific benefits but ample transaction-specific harms;
2) It would occur in a market already trending towards a nationwide cable monopoly; and
3) It would give Comcast the market power and incentive to discriminate against and control the emerging high-speed online services market

One company controlling that much of the telecom-capable infrastructure, but refusing to sell telecommunications services, would mean future innovators could not build the next interconnected network of computers.

[Dec 23]

President Obama's Ed-Tech Record: Sizing Up Its Impact

[Commentary] There's been plenty of activity on digital learning issues from the administration of President Barack Obama, but has it been more about public relations than lasting impact? Education Week decided it's time to take a look back at some of the ed-tech issues tackled by the country's first "Internet president." Major achievements have come through E-rate, federal money for technology, ConnectED, Race to the Top, and more. Overall, President Obama's ed-tech efforts result in a net win.

But it's E-rate overall modernization that has the makings of history, said Douglas Levin, the executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association. "The incredibly significant changes made and the dramatically increased investment going to school broadband will have a more lasting impact on students and schools than Race to the Top,...corporate commitments under ConnectEd, and Future Ready conferences," he said. "It's an incredibly big deal."

[Dec 23]

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