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  2. June 2016

June 2016

Real-Time Text: An IP-Based Solution for Accessible Communications

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission recently adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding a proposal to use real-time text as a replacement technology for TTY – teletypewriter technology. Many people who are deaf or hard of hearing have relied on TTYs to communicate by text over phone lines for more than 50 years. As described in the NPRM, however, what once was a life-changing technology for accessible communications is now limited and less reliable in today’s Internet-based environment.

Not surprisingly, TTY use has been declining steadily as the transition to IP networks accelerates and reliance on services that new networks enable grows. Given the explosive use of text messaging by so many in today’s society, one might ask: “Well, why not just use mobile text messaging services instead of TTYs?” The short answer is that some choose to do so. The reason is that text message services don’t allow users to send messages in real time, with each letter of the message appearing for the recipient as it is being typed - allowing for overlapping, conversational communications. As a consequence, without real-time text there would be no means for people who are deaf or hard of hearing to send text over distances in real time over IP networks – akin to the real-time communication that voice users will have over these networks. Fortunately, the record described in the NPRM suggests that a solution – “real-time text” (RTT) – may be within reach, and can be brought to market and provide persons with disabilities an IP-based option for more conversational text messaging.

FTC Staff Provides Response to NTIA Request for Comment on Internet of Things

Federal Trade Commission staff filed a comment with the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) regarding the agency’s request for comment on the benefits, challenges and role of government in fostering innovation for the rapidly growing number of devices connected to the Internet, often referred to as the Internet of Things.

In the comment, staff of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection and Office of Policy Planning outlines the FTC’s extensive history of privacy & security enforcement cases, as well as the agency’s work in examining the growth and evolution of technology markets from a competition perspective. The comment discusses the benefits and risks of the Internet of Things based on FTC staff’s 2015 Internet of Things Report as well as numerous other Commission reports and workshops. In addition, the comment addresses a number of proposed best practices for businesses regarding the Internet of Things, providing recommendations regarding data security, data minimization, and how best to give consumers meaningful notice and choice about the collection and use of their data. The comment also addresses the role of government in enforcing consumer protections in the Internet of Things. The comment also addresses the potential impact on consumers and competition from creating standards that allow various Internet of Things devices to interact and work together. The Commission vote authorizing staff to file the comment was 3-0.

No One Will Save You From Cellphone Tracking

Nearly everywhere your cellphone goes in the world, it is tracked. When you start or end a call, your cell provider logs a piece of data saying where your phone is in the world. When you send or receive a text, it logs the same kind of data. And every time you get a notification, it logs similar data again. Of course this kind of tracking doesn’t just follow your cellphone. If you’re carrying your phone while it does all these things, then you are tracked, too. This location data—officially called “cell-site location information,” or CSLI—has been the topic of legal controversy lately. Because your cell provider ultimately creates this information, it is subject to the “third-party doctrine,” a piece of legal precedent created by the Supreme Court in the 1970s. The third-party doctrine allows for the government to access information shared with a third party (like a bank or a phone company) without a warrant. In other words, a police department or law enforcement agency can back-request historical CSLI whenever they want—and they don’t need a warrant to do so. This ease of access makes CSLI one of the most common forms of government surveillance: In 2015, AT&T alone received almost 60,000 requests for historical CSLI. (In order to track a cellphone in real time, police still need a warrant.)

The relative ease of this method strikes many privacy advocates as, well, inappropriate. After all, the Supreme Court ruled just a few years ago that attaching a GPS tracker to someone’s car requires a warrant—shouldn’t cellphones, which nearly everyone carries around already, be subject to the same protections? For the past few years, two of the country’s most prominent privacy advocacy groups—the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union—have encouraged the nation’s highest court to take up the CSLI issue. On top of everything else, it seems like a perfect cudgel to update the law around the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure. And it may well be—but it probably won’t happen in 2016.

Ting Internet Gigabit Fiber Network Build Set to Begin in Holly Springs (NC)

The journey of 1,000 miles of fiber infrastructure (and 1000 megabit Internet access) begins with a single subterranean boring operation. Or something like that. After residents watched the Google Fiber crew pass their city by on their way to wire Raleigh-Durham (NC) for gigabit Internet, Holly Glen will be the first neighborhood in Holly Springs (NC) to get crazy fast fiber Internet.

“Internet speed and infrastructure is an issue that is on the national agenda,” says Elliot Noss, CEO of Ting and its parent company Tucows. “While it’s obviously very important to get major metros connected with fast fiber Internet, Ting Internet is proving that the fastest Internet access available isn’t just for city centers. Smaller cities and towns need faster, more reliable Internet too. Maybe even more so.” Ting Internet is pleased to announce that Holly Glen and surrounding neighborhoods including Braxton Village, Holly Pointe and others, will be the first neighborhoods in Holly Springs (NC) to get gigabit fiber Internet.

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