July 2015

US government’s reported number of wiretaps don’t add up

The government published its latest Wiretap Report on July 1. The headline finding was that encryption wasn't foiling federal and state law enforcement officials, despite a growing chorus of people suggesting that we're all gonna die unless the tech sector builds backdoor access into their products to enable government access. In all, the federal agency that overseas the courts reported to Congress that there we're 3,554 wiretaps in 2014, about 1 percent less than the year prior. Of the total, only four were thwarted via encryption.

But the reported number of wiretaps by the Administrative Office of the US Courts (AO) simply doesn't add up. That's according to Albert Gidari, one of the nation's top privacy lawyers who often works on behalf of Microsoft. He says "there is a bigger story" that calls into question the AO's accounting: In aggregate, the four [major wireless] companies state that they implemented 10,712 wiretaps, a threefold difference over the total number reported by the AO. Note that the 10,712 number is only for the four companies listed above and does not reflect wiretap orders received by other telephone carriers or online providers, so the discrepancy actually is larger." "Are wiretaps being consistently underreported to Congress and the public?" he asks. "Based on the data reported by the four major carriers for 2013 and 2014, it certainly would appear to be the case." Gidari said "we are still off by 30 percent" even if "all four carriers got the same order and it covered multiple devices."

The Secret Startup That Saved the Worst Website in America

The spectacular failure of Healthcare.gov at launch led to the creation of what came to be known as the Tech Surge, a group of Silicon Valley developers who rescued the website from disorganized contractors and bureaucratic mismanagement. That group gave rise to the US Digital Service and, to a lesser extent, 18F, two government agencies now working to improve the state of federal technology. But the story of a group called the Marketplace Lite team has yet to be told. These are the designers and developers, mostly younger than those in the Tech Surge, who stuck around after others had left. Their experience hints at just how little the Obama Administration knew about the business of building a website as complex as Healthcare.gov -- but, also, how much the Administration has improved since then.

Here is the short version of their story: Marketplace Lite, or “MPL” as they came to be known, devoted months to rewriting Healthcare.gov functions in full, working as a startup within the government and replacing contractor-made apps with ones costing one-fiftieth of the price.

FCC Announces Upcoming Webinar on TV Channel Sharing

[Commentary] If your station happens to be on the Federal Communications Commission’s Eligibility List for the upcoming reverse spectrum auction, listen up. The Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media Bureau are teaming up to present a one-hour webinar to go over various aspects of the channel sharing bid option. That’s the option that could let folks sell their current spectrum back to the government while staying in the broadcast business by bunking up with another licensee on that other licensee’s channel.

Channel-sharing promises to be an attractive opportunity for some broadcasters, but it’s not by any means a simple proposition. As with many aspects of the incentive auction, the FCC is venturing into previously unexplored turf here. As a result, the rules and policies that will govern the process are still a work in progress. Because of that, it would be a good idea to listen in to get updated on the latest and greatest thinking on the topic from the FCC’s Brain Trust. They’ve promised to address the revised channel sharing rules, FCC Channel Sharing Agreement requirements, the bidding process for licensees interested in channel sharing, and the post-auction licensing process. And they’ll be taking questions, too! The party’s scheduled to run from 2:00-3:00 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday, July 22.

The ‘Chilling Effect’ of China’s New Cybersecurity Regime

On July 6, China unveiled a sweeping new cybersecurity draft law, which, due to the structure of China’s law-making process, will likely be made into law with few changes. The bill comes amid increasing global concerns over cybersecurity, as well as rising tension in the US-China relationship, as some in the United States have blamed Beijing for a massive cyber hack of the US federal government which compromised the personal information of millions of government employees. The draft law also follows on the heels of a new national security law China adopted on July 1, which state media claimed would “protect people’s fundamental interests.” But both laws have raised fears may place even tighter control on civil society there, as well as make unreasonable demands on foreign companies doing business with China.

To probe the implications of China’s cybersecurity bill for both Chinese citizens and the world, Foreign Policy solicited opinions from several experts. Sophie Richardson is China director at Human Rights Watch; Sharon Hom is executive director at the New York-based organization Human Rights in China; Jennifer Zhang is a researcher at the Transparency Project at the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Center.

NPR’s vision for collaborative news coverage holds promise, but challenges remain

[Commentary] In June in a hotel ballroom in Salt Lake City (UT), I saw something I never expected to see in my public media career: NPR’s new head of news standing before a roomful of member station news directors, apologizing. The relationship between station reporters and NPR has been evolving, though often at a glacial pace, since the creation of those regional bureau chief positions back in 1999. It’s been a largely transactional relationship -- station reporters pitch and produce stories for NPR just like freelancers do. But the past few years have seen tentative experiments with more genuinely collaborative models.

As I listened to Michael Oreskes and other NPR leaders talk about working with stations as true partners, as I saw them networking with station news directors throughout the PRNDI conference, I got a good gut feeling. I think these guys really do respect us now. Finally. Maybe this is naive -- and it’s hard for a journalist to admit something like this -- but when NPR Collaborative Coverage Editor Bruce Auster showed that diagram with the member stations orbiting around the NPR News Desk, I even got a few goosebumps.

[Judith Smelser is the founder of Smelser Editing & Consulting]

How Washington is getting ready for the fiber-optic future of communications

In moving us onto ever newer, ever faster networks, America's telecommunication firms are phasing out their old copper lines and installing high-speed fiber optics. The result? Soon, all our phone calls will be handled by the nation's carriers as data packets. This technological transition will enable new features, such as high-definition voice, and could grant new capabilities to our first responders. But although it will offer benefits, the change could also create unintended complications for some consumers.

To protect them, federal regulators are proposing a number of new rules on telecom carriers that could be voted on as early as August. One would require companies to offer an optional battery that could be installed in your home so that if the power ever goes out your phone service will keep working. The old copper system didn't need batteries because copper lines can conduct electricity. But fiber optics can't, meaning a power outage could prevent consumers from making emergency calls. Under Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal, which is being circulated July 10, telecom firms would have to tell their customers about their new systems' power requirements and offer a backup that provides at least eight hours of additional power. Other protections will be aimed at ensuring that small businesses, schools and hospitals can continue to buy services from telecom companies at competitive wholesale rates. Consumer advocates and some in the telecom industry are welcoming the FCC's move, saying it will spur competition and innovation.

Why Sony decided to jump into streaming video, and where it’s going next

Streaming services are all starting to look the same: a bundle of channels -- some you want, some you don't -- slightly slimmer and cheaper than what you get from cable. But during the week of July 10, Sony started to break the mold by offering something consumers have long clamored for: an easy way to subscribe to channels on an a la carte basis. Sony's offering the deal through PlayStation Vue, its somewhat unlikely addition to the many streaming services out on the market. Game consoles, of course, are a major way that consumers watch streaming video.

But it's hard for some to discern why, exactly, the company would want to start its own video service and jump into what's become a highly competitive business. The user interface is intuitive to people who know their way around a PlayStation controller, and designed so you can quickly mark your favorite shows and channels. Sony's banking on that convenience and simplicity to help make its pitch to its current target market: gamers and the people who love them. The move isn't totally out of the blue. Eric Lempel, vice president at the Sony Entertainment Network, said that Sony sees this as a natural extension of trends it's already gleaned from PlayStation users. Games started and remain at the core of what the PlayStation does, but Sony began branching out in 2006, when it added non-gaming services. That eventually expanded to include video services such as Netflix and Hulu as a next logical step -- the console's plugged into the TV, after all -- then onto music, whether for ambient background or to provide a soundtrack to back up your playing.

AT&T can stop workers from wearing 'Inmate' shirts, court says

AT&T can prohibit employees from wearing shirts that read “Inmate” on the front because it might hurt the company’s relationship with customers, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said. The decision reverses a 2-1 National Labor Relations Board ruling in favor of the workers.

The case concerns shirts that were given to employees of AT&T Connecticut by their union during a contentious contract dispute. They said “Inmate” on the front and “Prisoner of AT$T” on the back with “several vertical stripes above and below the lettering," according to the court. AT&T told workers who were interacting with customers to stop wearing the shirts, and suspended those who did not comply for one day. It’s illegal for a company to stop their employees from wearing union apparel -- but an exception exists when the clothing could hurt the company’s relationship with its customers. The NLRB ruled that the shirts could not reasonably be mistaken for prison garb and thus were unlikely to hurt AT&T’s relationship with its customers. On July 10, the court reversed that decision.

Enhancing the Digital Economy Through Collaboration on Vulnerability Research Disclosure

Promoting and preserving the digital ecosystem is a core mission of the Department of Commerce, and the security and resiliency of that ecosystem is vital. For the digital economy to thrive, users must trust that their personal data and the systems and websites they use every day are as secure as possible. To help support this goal, the Department of Commerce announced in March an initiative to address key cybersecurity issues facing the digital economy that could be best addressed by a consensus-based multistakeholder process.

Based on input from a broad range of stakeholders, we are announcing that the first cybersecurity multistakeholder process will launch in September and will focus on vulnerability research disclosure. The goal of this process will be to bring together security researchers, software vendors, and those interested in a more secure digital ecosystem to create common principles and best practices around the disclosure of and response to new security vulnerability information. We welcome broad participation and diverse perspectives, particularly from small businesses, independent security researchers, and those with experience on all sides of the disclosure question. Our meetings will be webcast to allow participation by those unable to attend in person.

Liberty Media's Malone: Cable will be fine in 'random access' world being shaped by Netflix

While conceding his own companies "missed the boat a little bit" in letting upstart Netflix become the dominant force in over-the-top distribution, Liberty Media Chairman John Malone said his cable holdings, which include the burgeoning Charter Communications empire, are still well-positioned in an over-the-top (OTT) future.

"The fact that we have high-speed connection, having something like Netflix is good," Malone said. "From the video business point of view he [Netflix's CEO] has taken a share of viewership, and that might not be good." Malone's comments echo opinions recently conveyed by other top cable executives. For example, Cablevision CEO James Dolan told investors in June that margins for data services are currently out-performing those for video at his company by a factor of 7 to 1. "The video product itself has lost a tremendous amount of margin," Dolan said.

Benton

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