July 2015

How to bend social media to your will

[Commentary] I put a lot of thought into the question of how to attract Twitter followers, and perhaps my answers will be of use to readers trying to bend social media to their will.

When there's a big news event like a natural disaster, people look to social media for information, and perhaps to learn what they can do to render assistance. But most of the time they simply want entertainment. To keep followers coming back to my feed, I knew I had to keep it lighthearted. Celebrities often focus on their daily lives. But here's the thing about social media: It ain't about you. Fans don't care about what you're eating, where you're shopping or what products you have to sell. Above all, I've committed to giving people what they want, and if that means a healthy dose of trending cat videos, so be it. I want my Twitter account to feel like a radio or television station, where viewers tune in because of the content, and then allow me the occasional commercial about my professional activities or political beliefs. Each day I look around to see what people on the Internet are talking about, and then I share my favorite stories and images, either on Twitter or on my Facebook page. Fans make my job easy by sending me links they think I might enjoy. My husband, Brad, as well as interns and staffers, sort through their contributions and pick out the ones they think will be the most popular. Then we add commentary. I think of myself as more of a social-media moderator than a content creator, and of each post as a sort of "pop-up community" where fans have an opportunity to interact with like-minded others.

[George Takei is an actor, director, author and activist]

Chairman Wheeler Appoints New Director Of Legislative Affairs

The Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced the appointment of Mike Dabbs as Director of the FCC Office of Legislative Affairs. Dabbs and his team will lead the FCC's communications with the US House and Senate. Prior to joining the FCC, Dabbs led US federal government affairs for Applied Materials, Inc. Before joining Applied Materials in 2010, he served as Director, Government Affairs for the Information Technology Industry Council where he focused on telecommunications, trade and energy issues important to the high-tech sector. He also spent five years on Capitol Hill where he served as legislative director for Rep Rick Larsen (D-WA) from 2005 to 2008.

Is the White House Skirting Government-wide Cybersecurity Rules?

The White House’s Executive Office of the President hasn’t submitted reports detailing compliance with federal cybersecurity rules for the past three years, according to a letter to President Barack Obama written by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI). The apparent lack of annual reporting is even more striking considering the White House’s unclassified computer networks were breached by hackers in Fall 2014, purportedly from Russia, leading to temporary outages as officials worked to suppress malicious activity.

The letter says EOP hasn’t submitted annual cybersecurity reviews of its systems to either the Office of Management and Budget or congressional committees for at least the past three years. The last time White House results showed up in OMB’s annual compilation of agency reports was in fiscal 2008, according to the letter. Annual reviews of agencies' IT security posture are mandated by the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act, which Congress last updated in December. Independent inspectors general are also required to review agencies’ FISMA compliance. The Chairmen want to know if EOP complies with mandated security requirements under FISMA and why the office has failed to comply with reporting requirements in recent years. The letter seeks a response by July 13.

Phoning home? Ily reimagines the landline as smarter and easier to use

Ilan Abehassera had a communication problem. As a father of three young children who traveled a lot, it was hard for him to stay in touch with his family. So he came up with Ily, a new phone his New York City company Insensi designed and recently made available for preorder for $199. On the outside, Ily looks like a thick tablet. There’s a screen, and to the left, there’s a speaker. On the inside, it’s a Wi-Fi-enabled device made specifically for video and voice calls, text messaging, sharing photos and even playing music. And despite resembling an iPad, Abehassera hopes it will be easy enough for everyone from his toddler to his grandmother to use.

For the more tech-savvy, Ily has a free app, similar to Skype, that lets people cross-communicate between an Ily phone and a smartphone (or from smartphone to smartphone). For the less tech-savvy, the Ily phone has a big touchscreen with only a handful of apps and functions. There’s no web-browsing capability, so parents don’t have to worry about their kids accessing the Internet. And for traditional landline phone calls, Ily charges $15/month for a Voice Over IP (VOIP) plan that lets users make local and international calls. Ily’s main sources of revenue will come from phone calls and monthly VOIP plans. The company also plans to offer add-ons such as a handset peripheral and a smart pen so people can draw on the tablet without using their finger. The company is in talks to sell the phone at retailers.

FBI investigating 11 attacks on San Francisco-area Internet lines

The FBI is investigating at least 11 physical attacks on high-capacity Internet cables in California's San Francisco Bay Area dating back to 2014, including one early on June 30. Agents confirm the latest attack disrupted Internet service for businesses and residential customers in and around Sacramento, the state's capital.

FBI agents declined to specify how significantly the attack affected customers, citing the ongoing investigation. In June 30's attack, someone broke into an underground vault and cut three fiber-optic cables belonging to Colorado-based service providers Level 3 and Zayo. The attacks date back to at least July 6, 2014, said FBI Special Agent Greg Wuthrich. "When it affects multiple companies and cities, it does become disturbing," Wuthrich said. "We definitely need the public's assistance."

Smartphone 'kill switch' law takes effect in California

Thieves, consider yourselves on notice: California is now smartphone "kill switch" territory. Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) signed a bill August 2014 mandating kill switch software be included and turned on in all smartphones manufactured after July 1st and sold in the state. The so-called software is designed to make stealing smartphones essentially pointless by allowing owners to remotely lock their device so no one can use it. The technology, which includes Apple's "Activation Lock" and Google's "Device Protection," has become a key selling point among phone manufacturers that offer peace of mind to protect customers' information if a phone is stolen, and hopefully discourage thieves from stealing it in the first place.

There's good reason for these features. In the past several years, government officials have noticed an "epidemic" of phone thefts, particularly in large cities. Thieves often steal phones and sell them to cartels and shops that often shipped them to willing customers overseas. The technology industry's answer has been to create software that responds to a theft by requiring users to input a passcode before it can be unlocked or restored to factory settings. Though the rule went into effect today, government officials say it will take some time for it to have the maximum effect.

WDBJ Fights FCC Indecency Fine

CBS affiliate WDBJ-TV Roanoke (VA) has filed its opposition to the Federal Communications Commission's proposed $325,000 indecency fine, which the FCC imposed for a brief video clip, albeit of a sexual organ, which the station says was inadvertently included in a story about a "controversy in Cave Spring, Va." That opposition includes a challenge to the FCC's indecency policy statement that was issued under then FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski but never adopted by the commission as official policy.

In a 55-page filing at the FCC that included a long list of awards to the station for its news coverage, WDBJ attorneys said there were a number of reasons why the FCC's fine was off the mark, including that the broadcast did not violate the FCC's indecency policy, that imposing the fine violates the First Amendment, that WDBJ lacked the necessary "scienter," a legal term for meaning to do what it did, and that even if a fine were warranted, imposing the maximum fine -- the highest ever proposed for a single incident -- for an inadvertent and momentary display was not warranted. The filing says the fine proposal rests on numerous erroneous assumptions, including that the image was visible to station personnel, that there had been ample time to screen it before air, that the error could have been prevented if station personnel were more attentive, and that the material was plainly visible to the audience

AT&T: Competition in US wireless 'has gone into overdrive;' CCA says not so fast

Two vastly different narratives on the state of competition in the US wireless market emerge from various filings carriers and trade associations made with the Federal Communications Commission as it prepares its latest annual competition report. On the one hand, AT&T argues "competition has gone into overdrive." On the other, the Competitive Carriers Association wants the FCC to find that the industry is not effectively competitive, and take steps to remedy the state of the industry. It's not surprising that there are disagreements between AT&T and Sprint or between CCA, which represents smaller carriers, and CTIA. What's notable is how starkly their visions of the industry contrast with each other.

LightSquared to GPS industry: Work with us on interference testing or stop complaining

LightSquared is serving notice to the GPS industry, its longtime nemesis: participate in new tests on interference between LightSquared's spectrum and GPS receivers or waive your right to complain, according to a lawyer representing LightSquared. In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, LightSquared listed 28 different GPS receivers and related devices that it wants to test for interference with its terrestrial mobile broadband service. The devices include certified and non-certified aviation receivers and avionics equipment, general location, cell phones and 13 different high-precision clocks and receivers.

Reed Hundt, a former FCC chairman who is now an attorney representing LightSquared, said that the 28 receivers on the list in the test plan were chosen for their economic significance -- meaning, they are the most widely used and that GPS makers have a clear economic stake in them. "We think that the right thing to do is test receivers that appear to have, let's call it, economic significance. So, that's why you're looking at a list," Hundt said. "If somebody thinks that others are the ones with economic significance, then confidentially share the business information -- and speak now or forever hold your peace."

Introducing the ‘right to eavesdrop on your things’

[Commentary] There’s a pretty good argument that the Internet of Things is going to be a security and privacy disaster. It’s not just paranoia -- it’s more of a business reality. It is a software truism that anything connected to the Internet needs to be patched regularly, or else it becomes vulnerable to vandals.

To address the technical issues and make these systems more robust and secure, we have started the Secure Internet of Things Project, a collaboration among Stanford, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Michigan. On the policy front, it's not yet clear what role Washington will be able to play in addressing the upcoming risks. But a good start would be for political leaders and the public to recognize the importance of communications transparency. I’d even suggest that policymakers consider a new consumer right: “the right to eavesdrop on what our Things are saying about us.” An Internet of Things where your fridge is telling mobsters about the medicine you just put inside, and you don’t even know about it, would make for a scary future. Let’s not head there.

[Keith Winstein is an assistant professor of computer science and, by courtesy, of law, and a Robert N. Noyce Family Faculty Scholar at Stanford University]

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