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July 2015

NY Times keeps Sen Cruz off bestseller list

The New York Times informed HarperCollins that it will not include Sen Ted Cruz's (R-TX) new biography on its forthcoming bestsellers list, despite the fact that the book has sold more copies in its first week than all but two of the Times' bestselling titles. Sen Cruz's "A Time For Truth," published on June 30, sold 11,854 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen Bookscan's hardcover sale numbers. That's more than 18 of the 20 titles that will appear on the bestseller list for the week ending July 4.

Apparently the week of July 6, HarperCollins, the book's publisher, sent a letter to The New York Times inquiring about Sen Cruz's omission from the list. The Times responded by telling HarperCollins that the book did not meet their criteria for inclusion. "We have uniform standards that we apply to our best seller list, which includes an analysis of book sales that goes beyond simply the number of books sold," Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy explained when asked about the omission. "This book didn't meet that standard this week." Asked to specify those standards, Murphy replied: "Our goal is that the list reflect authentic best sellers, so we look at and analyze not just numbers, but patterns of sales for every book." Murphy e-mailed late on July 9 to further clarify the reasoning behind the Times decision: "In the case of this book, the overwhelming preponderance of evidence was that sales were limited to strategic bulk purchases," she wrote.

Encryption stalemate: A never-ending saga?

[Commentary] FBI Director James Comey has repeatedly argued that the administration is not pushing for “back doors,” but has not pinpointed just what technological fix the government is seeking. On July 7, possibly in anticipation of the administration’s new push for a technological fix, a group of the world’s top codebreakers strongly challenged Director Comey’s dreams. In a widely cited report, they argued that any weakening of encryption through multiple keys or weakened algorithms would have disastrous results, stating that their “analysis of law enforcement demands for exceptional access to private communications and data shows that such access will open doors through which criminals and malicious nation-states can attack the very individuals law enforcement seeks to defend.

The bottom line is that, despite a sudden burst of congressional interest and renewed public debate in Washington and beyond, no novel arguments or -- of greater importance -- no new technological solutions have been advanced. What might change this stalemate? First, a major terrorist attack on the American homeland, sponsored by ISIL or another terrorist organization, that took advantage of the “going dark” intelligence gaps that Comey is warning against would certainly increase pressure to limit end-to-end encryption. Second, though a credible technological fix now seems beyond the ability of either Silicon Valley or our most talented young hackers, innovation can at times appear suddenly. So who knows what might be just over the horizon? Finally, on the political front, international events and changes might well redound back to the United States.

[Claude Barfield is a former consultant to the Office of the US Trade Representative]

Continental Grift

[Commentary] In June, when the Financial Times included a sponsored magazine insert created by Ernst & Young (“Helping Businesses Raise, Invest, Preserve and Optimize Capital”), there were some unintended laughs. The cover model of the slick publication was the Deutsche Telekom CFO Thomas Dannenfeldt, staring straight into the photographer’s lens. Dannenfeldt, the cover copy proclaimed, has ideas about “transforming Deutsche Telekom to create a new legacy.” And here is the joke: the giant incumbent European telecommunications company Dannenfeldt works for brazenly proclaims that benefits would accrue if it were allowed to be more like Comcast in the US: huge, unregulated, and able to charge luxury prices for services that, to consumers, feel more like a utility. And so, pointing to the US high-speed Internet access market as a success, it is urging European regulators to drop the requirement that it share its copper access lines with competitors  --  a key element of European competition policy that has driven consumer prices down. Proponents argue that the American model will strengthen European network operators, drive infrastructure investment, and improve Europe’s competitive position in the global digital economy across market segments. But if what European policy makers want is to foster economic growth and reduce inequality, the American model isn’t a great one.

The better answer for Europe? Set an extinction date for the obsolete copper wires now sold by incumbents, provide loan guarantees for companies willing to install wholesale passive fiber lines, ensure that those wholesale facilities are made available to competing providers at reasonable rates, and set the global standard for making basic fiber-optic-plus-Wi-Fi services available to all at a reasonable price.

[Susan Crawford is co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University]

Auto Makers Try to Stop the Gear Heads

[Commentary] Do you own the car you’ve bought and paid for? Not really, not all of it. At least that’s what auto makers are asserting to the US Copyright Office. Tinkerers, aftermarket repair shops and copyright activists are lobbying for an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 to guarantee car owners the right to alter the software in their vehicles. Dozens of “electronic control units” in modern cars regulate emissions, steering and other aspects of automotive performance. The nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Automobile Association -- speaking for car owners -- back the exemption, as do security researchers who want to probe auto software for vulnerabilities. Ford, GM, Toyota and other major car makers are adamantly opposed. Their argument is that a car buyer merely licenses that software code from the auto maker and cannot break the security measures walling it off without violating copyright law. This claim could end the American pastime of tinkering under the hood. But the precedent will reach beyond the auto shop, particularly as more everyday products begin to include software code.

Futurists talk of an “Internet of things,” a world in which everything from your thermostat to refrigerator is run in part by networked electronics. When the Copyright Office makes its recommendations, expected Fall 2015 -- the Librarian of Congress makes the final decision -- it should consider the precedent it would set. Do you want to be told someday that you or a repairman can’t modify your refrigerator or thermostat to improve its performance or keep it running? In a world in which every device may someday include software, it is essential to preserve the right to tinker.

[Rand is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business]

July 10, 2015 (OPM Hack Exposed 21.5 Million People)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

How do we define “in the public interest” in the Digital Age? Find unique perspectives on communications policy debates in the Digital Beat blog https://www.benton.org/blog


PRIVACY/SECURITY
   Hacking of Government Computers Exposed 21.5 Million People
   To Prevent Cyberattacks, Share the Threat Data - IBM op-ed [links to web]
   TerraCom, YourTel to Pay $3.5M to Resolve Consumer Privacy Violations - FCC press release

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Communications and Technology Subcommittee Members Ask FCC to Allow Americans To Keep Their Phone Numbers
   T-Mobile makes Canada and Mexico part of your home wireless territory
   T-Mobile just added millions of new subscribers. Can Sprint keep up?
   CTIA Pitches FCC On Its Auction Asks [links to web]

IP TRANSITION
   COMPTEL, industry orgs ask FCC to protect competition in ILEC IP transition [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   The World Online - research
   FCC commissioners disagree over whether Internet access is a “necessity” [links to web]
   Building the broadband of tomorrow - Sen Deb Fischer (R-NE) op-ed [links to web]
   Connecting 21st Century Communities: A Policy Agenda for Broadband Stakeholders - press release [links to web]
   Public Knowledge Pushes Back on Network Neutrality Rule Ride [links to web]
   The Invisible (Digital) War [links to web]

CONTENT
   Facebook Gives Users More Control Over Their News Feeds
   OTT Password Sharing Carries a Price [links to web]

OWNERSHIP
   Local TV Management Anticipates More Consolidation, Seeks Greater Revenue Sources [links to web]
   Malone: Content Consolidation Coming [links to web]
   ACA Members Push RSN Conditions For AT&T/DirecTV [links to web]

LOBBYING
   Round 1 goes to the lobbyists [links to web]

LABOR
   All this digital technology isn't making us more productive [links to web]

DIVERSITY
   Open Letter: The 3 Percent Club - Revere Digital op-ed [links to web]
   CTO Megan Smith explains why Silicon Valley is so bad at diversity [links to web]

HEALTH
   Online Symptom Checkers Can't Replace The Real-Life Doc Just Yet [links to web]
   Most US Smartphone Owners Check Phone at Least Hourly - research [links to web]

COMPANY NEWS
   Reinventing Google for a Mobile World [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   The Invisible (Digital) War [links to web]
   Little-Known French Billionaire Circles US Cable Market [links to web]

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PRIVACY/SECURITY

OPM HACK
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Julie Hirschfeld Davis]
The Office of Personnel Management revealed that 21.5 million people were swept up in a colossal breach of government computer systems that was far more damaging than initially thought, resulting in the theft of a vast trove of personal information, including Social Security numbers and some fingerprints. Every person given a government background check for the last 15 years was probably affected, the Office of Personnel Management said in announcing the results of a forensic investigation of the episode, whose existence was known but not its sweeping toll. The agency said hackers stole “sensitive information,” including addresses, health and financial history, and other private details, from 19.7 million people who had been subjected to a government background check, as well as 1.8 million others, including their spouses and friends. The theft was separate from, but related to, a breach revealed last month that compromised the personnel data of 4.2 million federal employees, officials said. Both attacks are believed to have originated in China, although senior administration officials declined to pinpoint a perpetrator, except to say that they had indications that the same actor carried out the two hacks.
benton.org/headlines/hacking-government-computers-exposed-215-million-people | New York Times
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TERRACOM, YOURTEL TO PAY $3.5 MILLION TO RESOLVE CONSUMER PRIVACY VIOLATIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau has entered into a $3.5 million settlement with TerraCom, Inc. and YourTel America, Inc., resolving an investigation into whether the companies failed to properly protect the confidentiality of personal information they received from more than 300,000 consumers. This settlement also resolves the FCC's investigation into YourTel's failure to comply with FCC instructions to remove ineligible Lifeline subscribers which resulted in over-billing of the federal program. A thorough Enforcement Bureau investigation found that the companies' vendor stored consumers personal information on unprotected servers that were accessible over the Internet. The companies' failure to provide reasonable protection for their customers' personal information -- including names, addressees, Social Security numbers, driver's licenses, and other sensitive information -- resulted in a data breach that permitted anyone with a search engine to gain unauthorized access to the information. The settlement also resolves an investigation into YourTel's failure to timely de-enroll Lifeline subscribers. As a condition of settlement, the companies will pay a $3.5 million civil penalty. The companies will also notify all consumers whose information was subject to unauthorized access, provide complimentary credit monitoring services for all affected individuals, and undertake additional measures to mitigate any potential harm to consumers.
benton.org/headlines/terracom-yourtel-pay-35m-resolve-consumer-privacy-violations | Federal Communications Commission | FCC Order
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

COMMUNICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ASKS FCC TO ALLOW AMERICANS TO KEEP THEIR PHONE NUMBERS
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: ]
Every member of the House Communications Subcommittee wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler regarding the ability for consumers to take their phone number with them if they choose to switch carriers. A recent white paper by the North American Numbering Council explained that consumers may have some difficulty keeping their number as they switch from a nationwide carrier to a non-nationwide carrier. The members asked the FCC to “act expeditiously to resolve this customer confusion and support nationwide wireless number portability for all providers." The letter reads, "For over a decade, the Federal Communications Commission has required wireless carriers to implement local number portability, allowing consumers to switch among service providers while keeping their phone number. Consumers overwhelmingly prefer to keep their numbers when they switch carriers. However, those hoping to switch to non-nationwide wireless carriers may be unable to port-in their existing numbers under today’s rules. This distinction within the number portability rules places non-nationwide providers at a competitive disadvantage, and as a recent white paper on this issue from the North American Numbering Council noted, this could result in consumer confusion when attempting to switch providers. We urge you to act expeditiously to resolve this customer confusion and support nationwide wireless number portability for all providers."
benton.org/headlines/communications-and-technology-subcommittee-members-ask-fcc-allow-americans-keep-their | House of Representatives Commerce Committee
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T-MOBILE MAKES CANADA AND MEXICO PART OF YOUR HOME WIRELESS TERRITORY
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Edward Baig]
T-Mobile CEO John Legere is making calls to and from Canada and Mexico part of your home wireless territory. The outspoken CEO announced the expansion of the company's base Simple Choice wireless plan to include those countries at no extra charge. "Making a call in Mexico, Canada or the US is now just like going out of state," Legere said in a company video promoting the new plan. "The (other) carriers still make it a huge pain when you cross any borders, including Canada and Mexico." According to Legere, rival carriers are projected to rack up nearly $10 billion in global roaming charges, at margins north of 90 percent. "This is one of the wireless industry's dirtiest little secrets." He says 35 percent of all international calls from the US are to Mexico or Canada, and 59 percent of the international minutes that are consumed. The Mobile Without Borders wireless initiative, as T-Mobile calls it, launches July 15, and automatically applies to US customers signed into T-Mobile's Simple Choice plan. That plan starts at $50 per month and includes unlimited voice, text and up to 1GB of speedy 4G LTE data. You'll pay an extra $10 a month for up to 3GB of LTE. T-Mobile stressed that this new benefit isn't just about traveling to and making calls from within Mexico or Canada. It's also about making calls to those countries from the US, or, for that matter, calls from Mexico to Canada or vice versa.
benton.org/headlines/t-mobile-makes-canada-and-mexico-part-your-home-wireless-territory | USAToday | The Verge
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CAN SPRINT KEEP UP WITH T-MOBILE?
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
The race between T-Mobile and Sprint for the title of third-largest cell service provider is getting ever closer. Soon, we might look back on this moment as the one where T-Mobile finally overtook Sprint. T-Mobile said it added 2.1 million customers to its rolls in the second quarter. That brings its total subscriber base to 58.9 million. While we're still waiting for Sprint to disclose its latest figures, a look at its previous reports show that the company will need to add a net 1.8 million subscribers to break even with T-Mobile. As of March 31, Sprint's subscriber base totaled some 57.1 million, putting it roughly 300,000 subscribers ahead of T-Mobile. T-Mobile's latest gains blow that gap out of the water, but without knowing how many customers Sprint has added since April, it's hard to say whether T-Mobile has really pulled ahead. Sprint has lately been adding new subscribers at a rapid clip as well. Sprint declined to comment on its current subscriber figures, saying it would release those numbers with its earnings report in a few weeks.
benton.org/headlines/t-mobile-just-added-millions-new-subscribers-can-sprint-keep | Washington Post
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

THE WORLD ONLINE
[SOURCE: Oxford Internet Institute, AUTHOR: Ralph Straumann ]
A map from Oxford Internet Institute shows the total number of Internet users in a country as well as the percentage of the population that has Internet access. The distortions in the map paint a revealing picture about human activity on the Internet. Looking at the largest Internet countries and regions, one can identify a few key findings: First, the continued rise of Asia as major home region to the world’s Internet population. At 1.24 billion users, 46 percent of the world’s Internet users live in Asia. That is roughly equal to the number of Internet users in Europe, Latin America & Caribbean, Middle East & North Africa, and North America combined. Second, few of the world’s largest Internet countries fall into the top category (above 80 percent) of Internet penetration. Third, in terms of total Internet users, Latin America & Caribbean is almost on par with the United States (287 versus 297 million people). This is with an Internet penetration of 47 percent compared to the 84 percent Internet penetration in the United States. Fourth, some African countries have seen staggering growth since OII last mapped Internet use globally (using 2011 data), e.g. South Africa where Internet penetration rose by 14.9 percentage points, Kenya at +11 percentage points, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria with each roughly +10 percentage points, and Botswana at +7 percentage points. Other countries have seen virtually no change, e.g. Somalia, Eritrea, and Burundi. It remains that 29 out of 47 Sub-Saharan African countries have an Internet penetration rate of less than 10 percent, and have seen very little growth since 2011. With these findings in mind, it is important to realise and remember that despite the massive impacts that the Internet has on everyday life for many people, most people on our planet remain entirely disconnected. Even today, only a bit more than a third of humanity has access to the Internet.
benton.org/headlines/world-online | Oxford Internet Institute | Washington Post
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CONTENT

FACEBOOK GIVES USERS MORE CONTROL OVER THEIR NEWS FEEDS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Vindu Goel]
A perennial complaint from Facebook users is that they don’t have much control over what appears in their news feed, the main flow of posts on their Facebook home page or app screen. The social network’s mysterious computer algorithm analyzes thousands of signals, then spits out what it thinks you want to see based on the kinds of posts you have liked in the past and who you tend to interact with or ignore on the service. On July 9, Facebook announced a set of features that will give each person more control over what he or she wants to see. In essence, you get to reprogram the algorithm. The most important new control allows you to tell Facebook that certain friends and pages -- your spouse, your best friend, your child’s school -- are so important to you that you want to see everything that they post. Facebook will then put those posts at the top of your feed. “It’s really for the things you care about most,” said Adam Mosseri, the Facebook product management director who oversees the news feed.
benton.org/headlines/facebook-gives-users-more-control-over-their-news-feeds | New York Times | Washington Post | Revere Digital
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Hacking of Government Computers Exposed 21.5 Million People

The Office of Personnel Management revealed that 21.5 million people were swept up in a colossal breach of government computer systems that was far more damaging than initially thought, resulting in the theft of a vast trove of personal information, including Social Security numbers and some fingerprints.

Every person given a government background check for the last 15 years was probably affected, the Office of Personnel Management said in announcing the results of a forensic investigation of the episode, whose existence was known but not its sweeping toll. The agency said hackers stole “sensitive information,” including addresses, health and financial history, and other private details, from 19.7 million people who had been subjected to a government background check, as well as 1.8 million others, including their spouses and friends. The theft was separate from, but related to, a breach revealed last month that compromised the personnel data of 4.2 million federal employees, officials said. Both attacks are believed to have originated in China, although senior administration officials declined to pinpoint a perpetrator, except to say that they had indications that the same actor carried out the two hacks.

To Prevent Cyberattacks, Share the Threat Data

[Commentary] There’s reason to worry for the safety of our infrastructure and the privacy of our personal data. In fact, while policy makers and pundits have focused on reforming US government surveillance, they have missed a growing privacy crisis: Cybercriminals are robbing us blind. Some hackers are engaged in state-sponsored espionage. But many other attacks are conducted by global crime rings. Operating on hidden parts of the Internet known as the dark Web, they sweep up and sell massive amounts of personal data, which is then used for nefarious purposes.

What can be done? Four years ago, Congress began considering legislation to encourage companies to share information—with one another and the government—about active threats in their networks. Experts heralded this step as essential, much like sharing data on a flu outbreak. But the effort stalled after Edward Snowden’s disclosures, because critics equated sharing cyberthreat data with aiding government surveillance. That was a red herring.

This legislation will not cure all of our cyber woes. But if it can encourage more entities to share data about cyberthreats and help prevent the theft of private information, it will be a victory for both privacy and security. With the hackers showing no sign of relenting, now is the time for the Senate to finish the job.

[Tannenbaum is cybersecurity counsel at IBM]

Reinventing Google for a Mobile World

Amit Singhal, Google’s search chief, oversees the 200 or so factors that determine where websites rank in the company’s search engine, which means he decides if your website lives or dies. His current challenge: figuring out how to spread that same fear and influence to mobile phones.

Singhal recently laid out a widely held thesis for why smartphones are fundamentally changing how people are consuming information: Phones have small screens that are annoying to type on, and people have grown so addicted to their phones that they carry them everywhere and go to bed with them by their side. Also, in a shift with big implications for his company’s sway over the Internet, smartphone users spend the bulk of their time in mobile apps instead of the open web on which Google built its business. Add it all up, and “you have to rethink what search means pretty much from first principles,” he said.

Little-Known French Billionaire Circles US Cable Market

Patrick Drahi, the third-richest man in France, says he is interested in pursuing firms like Cox Communications and Cablevision Systems.

The entrepreneur, 51, has made a career of devouring assets that once seemed unattainable. Over the past 18 months alone, Drahi has stitched together $40 billion in deals, including his $23 billion takeover of SFR, France’s second-largest mobile company—a behemoth that once refused his advances. Drahi laid out plans to deepen his foray into the US market. The Frenchman is positioning himself to disrupt America’s communications landscape by importing a European business model. By amassing cable companies and eventually combining them with mobile operators, Drahi aims to one day offer consumers a one-stop-shop that bundles cable TV, high-speed Internet and fixed and mobile phone services, undercutting rivals that sell them separately. In Europe, bundling the four products is becoming commonplace, but the so-called quadruple-play model doesn’t yet exist on a large scale in the US.

Communications and Technology Subcommittee Members Ask FCC to Allow Americans To Keep Their Phone Numbers

Every member of the House Communications Subcommittee wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler regarding the ability for consumers to take their phone number with them if they choose to switch carriers. A recent white paper by the North American Numbering Council explained that consumers may have some difficulty keeping their number as they switch from a nationwide carrier to a non-nationwide carrier. The members asked the FCC to “act expeditiously to resolve this customer confusion and support nationwide wireless number portability for all providers."

The letter reads, "For over a decade, the Federal Communications Commission has required wireless carriers to implement local number portability, allowing consumers to switch among service providers while keeping their phone number. Consumers overwhelmingly prefer to keep their numbers when they switch carriers. However, those hoping to switch to non-nationwide wireless carriers may be unable to port-in their existing numbers under today’s rules. This distinction within the number portability rules places non-nationwide providers at a competitive disadvantage, and as a recent white paper on this issue from the North American Numbering Council noted, this could result in consumer confusion when attempting to switch providers. We urge you to act expeditiously to resolve this customer confusion and support nationwide wireless number portability for all providers."

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