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December 2015

Small Business Broadband Study: Minimum Upstream Speed Should Be 4 Mbps

The economic benefits of broadband for businesses are “severely limited” unless the connection provides speeds of at least 4 Mbps upstream, according to new research from Strategic Networks Group. Yet more than 70 percent of small businesses (fewer than 50 employees) have less than 4 Mbps upstream speed, SNG noted.

In conducting its research, SNG developed something it calls a Digital Economy index (DEi) – an index of 17 potential “eSolutions” — online activities covering a wide range of business functions. A DEi score of 10 means that all eSolutions are used, with a score of zero meaning that none are used. Researchers found an average DEi score for small and medium size enterprises of 6.6. They also found that SMEs with the highest DEi scores generate 20 percent more of their total revenues from their online activities compared to the average SME. “In a nutshell, the more – and more effectively – you use broadband, the more financial benefits there are to be realized by businesses,” SNG wrote. “Higher utilization by SMEs increases direct revenues (and cost savings), which means greater and faster business growth, more jobs and flow through impacts to the local economy.” Importantly, the companies with upload speeds of 4 Mbps or higher had the highest DEi scores.

Why 2015 Was a Historic Year for Privacy

[Commentary] The year 2015 may well go down as one of the most important years in the history of privacy and data protection. True, if feels like we say this every year: Another watershed year for privacy. But 2015 has been dramatic, significant and groundbreaking for privacy pros. And for many reasons. Let’s put it this way, the hack of 80 million Anthem users, the appointment of a new European Data Protection Supervisor and the passing of major new U.S. surveillance reform are but footnotes in this yearly roundup.

2015 saw agreement on the General Data Protection Regulation, the invalidation of the EU-US Safe Harbor Agreement, President Barack Obama featuring privacy in his State of the Union Address, stronger enforcement from the Federal Communications Commission, and more. As we move headlong into 2016, many of the issues that reared their heads in 2015 will continue to affect how privacy pros do their jobs on a day-to-day basis. Looking forward, will we see a new data transfer agreement between the EU and US? Will this new cybersecurity bill hurt those chances? Assuming the full Parliament passes the GDPR, how must organizations begin building systems and policies to achieve compliance? And in the US, how much of a role will access to voter data play in the US presidential elections?

Jury Sides Against Cox in 'Trailblazing' Music Piracy Case

A Virginia jury has issued a $25 million verdict against Cox Communications in an online piracy case that could mean more trouble for downloaders of illegal content. Music company BMG had sued Cox in 2014, saying the cable company wasn't forwarding warnings about illegal downloads to its customers or stopping their behavior, even when the cable company knew about it. Both sides saw this case as "trailblazing," said Marquette University Law School professor Bruce Boyden, and it makes clear that Internet service providers (ISPs) are obliged to respond to takedown notices from rights holders.

The jury said that Cox customers infringed on BMG copyrights by uploading or downloading its songs on file-sharing BitTorrent systems, and that Cox was liable. Attorney Michael Allan, the lead counsel for BMG, said that the decision "sends a message to ISPs that they have a responsibility to act upon and limit the massive copyright infringement using their networks that has been brought to their attention by copyright owners."

Cyber Bill Boosts DHS Cyberthreat Sharing But Critics Fear Backdoor to NSA Surveillance

A funding deal approved by the House and set to clear Congress within days positions the Department of Homeland Security as the front door for hack surveillance intelligence arriving from private industry. The back door, to the chagrin of some privacy activists, is the intelligence community. The 2,000-page $1.1 trillion spending bill rife with unconnected policy measures creates an instant information-sharing regime housed at DHS. One of the provisions aligns very closely with a controversial, years-in-the-making bill called the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA.

A separate, related measure empowers Homeland Security to scan data from any agency for telltale signs of hacker operations. Companies within six months will receive procedures for voluntarily sharing with DHS details about malicious network activities, including email data that sometimes could contain personal information. Civil liberties activists say the risk of compromising privacy is greater than the chances of stopping a data breach under the legislation. Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR), an outspoken critic of US surveillance programs, tweeted after the deal was revealed late the day before: "Latest, worse version of CISA has no real privacy protections & would do little or nothing to prevent major hacks."

NAB: FCC Wants TV Spectrum for 'Google Channels'

The National Association of Broadcasters told the Federal Communications Commission that its effort to reserve "vacant" channels after the incentive auction for unlicensed use is a dramatic policy shift that will harm broadcasters and viewers in an effort to create new channels for Google and Microsoft, who are pushing for unlicensed spectrum. That came in meetings between NAB executives and top aides to FCC commissioners, where they said the FCC was proposing doing tangible harm for speculative gains according to a copy of the ex parte filing. The FCC has proposed that in markets where there are available channels in the TV band after the incentive auction repack -- available meaning not occupied by full-power TV stations -- one or more should be reserved for unlicensed use.

"[T]he Commission is proposing to create new 'Microsoft Channels' or 'Google Channels' at the direct expense of over-the-air viewers," they told the FCC staffers, adding: "Aside from evicting important services already serving consumers in the band, the proposal has the potential to severely curtail broadcaster innovation as well. Forcing full power stations to protect their new primary-status unlicensed neighbors would limit broadcasters’ ability to move to a more flexible standard should they elect to do so."

Streaming TV Isn’t Just a New Way to Watch. It’s a New Genre.

[Commentary] Is Netflix TV? On the one hand, sure. These days, when newspapers have video-production studios and you can watch “The Walking Dead” on your phone, “TV” is a pretty inclusive club. On the other hand, streaming shows -- by which here I mean the original series that Netflix, Amazon and their ilk release all at once, in full seasons -- are more than simply TV series as we’ve known them. They’re becoming a distinct genre all their own, whose conventions and aesthetics we’re just starting to figure out.

In TV, narrative has always been an outgrowth of the delivery mechanism. Why are there cliffhangers? So you’ll tune in next week. Why are shows a half-hour or an hour long? Because real-time viewing required predictable schedules. Why do episodes have a multiple-act structure? To leave room for the commercials. Watching a streaming series is even more like reading a book -- you receive it as a seamless whole, you set your own schedule -- but it’s also like video gaming. Binge-watching is immersive. It’s user-directed. It creates a dynamic that I call “The Suck”: that narcotic, tidal feeling of getting drawn into a show and letting it wash over you for hours.

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