BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2014 (Happy Tax Day)
Sorry we’re late – some technical difficulties this morning.
CYBERSECURITY
Heartbleed is about to get worse, and it will slow the Internet to a crawl
More online Americans say they’ve experienced a personal data breach - research
Google Knew About Heartbleed And Didn’t Tell The Government
Trove of Software Flaws Used by US Spies at Risk
Heartbleed portends larger security threats - Washington Post editorial
NSA, Target, Heartbleed and Ethics - op-ed
PRIVACY/SECURITY
On privacy, Silicon Valley needs to step up - editorial
Google Revises Terms of Its Scans of Gmail [links to web]
Privacy price gouging, courtesy of phone companies
INTERNET/BROADBAND
After Netflix pays Comcast, speeds improve 65%
Remarks by Anthony Wilhelm at National Telecommunications and Information Administration 2014 Broadband Communities Summit - speech [links to web]
Why I quit writing Internet standards - op-ed [links to web]
Outcome document arrives before the doors open for the NetMundial conference - AEI op-ed [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
T-Mobile: No more overage charges even on older voice and data plans
FCC’s Wheeler Said to Plan Limits for Wireless Airwaves Auction
Bidding Rules Becoming Clearer for Upcoming Airwaves Auction
OWNERSHIP
FCC should approve the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger but keep a watchful eye - editorial
Comcast basic cable prices up most
Here’s Why the Comcast-Time Warner Merger is Bad - Susan Crawford op-ed
With Purchase of Drone Maker, Google Sees a Fleet of Satellites
RADIO/TV
Broadcasters Seek an Aereo 'Plan B'
FCC Agents and USDOJ Seize Equipment from NYC Pirate Radio Stations - press release [links to web]
TV Bounces Back -- For a Few Months [links to web]
EDUCATION
Prominent Ed-Tech Players' Data-Privacy Policies Attract Scrutiny [links to web]
JOURNALISM
Pulitzer Prizes Awarded for Coverage of NSA Secrets and Boston Bombing
Snowden and His Accomplices - op-ed [links to web]
There Are Far Fewer Reporters In America Today Than Ten Years Ago [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
The Transformative Impact of Data and Communication on Governance: Part 3 - op-ed [links to web]
Snowden and His Accomplices - op-ed [links to web]
COMMUNITY MEDIA
ALA releases 2014 State of America’s Libraries Report - press release [links to web]
Librarians’ evolving digital roles [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
Al Franken, trustbuster?
AGENDA
FCC Announces May 6 E-rate Modernization Workshop - public notice [links to web]
SHLB Coalition’s Fourth Annual Conference May 7-9 - press release [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Napster co-founder Sean Parker to lead civic startup Brigade [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Sky and TalkTalk’s Fiber Plans for UK Challenge BT’s Dominance [links to web]
Possible Banksy Mural About Surveillance Pops Up in Britain [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Is Film the End of the Road for Small Cinemas? [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
HEARTBLEED IS ABOUT TO GET WORSE, AND IT WILL SLOW THE INTERNET TO A CRAWL
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
The Heartbleed bug has put many consumers' user names and passwords at risk. Undetected for two years, the bug quietly undermined the basic security of the Internet. But on top of all that, security researchers have now confirmed that Heartbleed could have been used by hackers to steal sensitive data needed to set up fake Web sites posing as legitimate ones. Analysts say criminals could use Heartbleed to impersonate as many as 500,000 sites across the Web. Those sites have yet to replace the security certificates responsible for verifying their identity to Web browsers. But even after the sites do update their security certificates, Web browsers may still be unable to tell the difference between a fake site and the real one. Consumers could easily fall victim to online fraud if they go to one of the fake sites. It gets worse. The expected flood of certificate revocations is likely to seriously degrade the speed of the Internet, primarily because the global system for tracking certificate revocations is not equipped to handle such a massive change.
benton.org/node/180453 | Washington Post
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MORE ONLINE AMERICANS SAY THEY’VE EXPERIENCED A PERSONAL DATA BREACH
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center, AUTHOR: Mary Madden]
As news of large-scale data breaches and vulnerabilities grows, new findings from the Pew Research Center suggest that growing numbers of online Americans have had important personal information stolen and many have had an account compromised. Findings from a January 2014 survey show that:
18% of online adults have had important personal information stolen such as their Social Security Number, credit card, or bank account information. That’s an increase from the 11% who reported personal information theft in July 2013.
21% of online adults said they had an email or social networking account compromised or taken over without their permission. The same number reported this experience in a July 2013 survey.
benton.org/node/180431 | Pew Research Center | Washington Post
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GOOGLE KNEW ABOUT HEARTBLEED AND DIDN’T TELL THE GOVERNMENT
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
For some period of time, Google knew about a critical flaw in Internet security and didn't alert anyone in the government. Neel Mehta, a Google engineer, first discovered "Heartbleed" -- a bug that undermines the widely used encryption technology OpenSSL -- sometime in March. A team at the Finnish security firm Codenomicon discovered the flaw around the same time. Google was able to patch most of its services -- such as email, search, and YouTube -- before the companies publicized the bug on April 7.
benton.org/node/180449 | National Journal
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TROVE OF SOFTWARE FLAWS USED BY US SPIES AT RISK
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Michael Riley]
The White House’s directive to limit the use of software flaws by US intelligence agencies could require the disclosure of thousands of precious exploits now in the hands of elite spying units, intelligence professionals say. The stockpile of exploits is derived from vulnerabilities not just in ordinary computer software, but also in industrial controllers, heating and cooling systems, printers, anti-virus software, video conferencing systems and encryption protocols. The exploits, typically based on simple oversights and flaws in computer code that hackers can use to take control of most anything that runs with the help of a computer chip, are considered essential to gathering some of the most valuable US intelligence.
benton.org/node/180441 | Bloomberg
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HEARTBLEED PORTENDS LARGER SECURITY THREATS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Tens of millions of Americans have been affected by the theft of their personal information in the digital age. Then, it was discovered that a bug had crept into OpenSSL that could allow intruders to read encrypted data contained in memory, such as passwords or credit cards. The bug has been called “Heartbleed” and could allow attackers to eavesdrop on communications, steal data and even impersonate users and Web services. We’re tempted to say this ought to be a wake-up call, but we have already had so many wake-up calls. To put it bluntly: As a country and as a society, we have come to depend on a vast, interconnected system; if one small part fails, the impact is widespread. As noted in a forthcoming Atlantic Council report, the Internet was created to be based on trust, not security. Yet we continue to discover that it is vulnerable to theft, intrusion and disruption on an appalling scale. We are living in an age of growing danger but reacting with complacency. The Administration unveiled a useful initiative, promising that sharing cyberthreat information among companies would not bring on antitrust liability. But this, and President Barack Obama’s other measures, including his voluntary cybersecurity framework, represent only what is doable given a continued lack of a consensus in Congress and a failure in the private sector to take all threats more seriously. They are timid measures in the face of an epic heartburn that will be costly for us all.
benton.org/node/180435 | Washington Post
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NSA, TARGET, HEARTBLEED AND ETHICS
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Paul Martini]
[Commentary] It’s no surprise that the National Security Agency may have used the Heartbleed exploit to tap into sensitive encrypted communication, including that of Google. If you understand the nature of how the bug works, it goes hand in hand with undercover espionage. Heartbleed, the name given to the OpenSSL (Secure Socket Layer) flaw, allows sensitive information to leak (or bleed) from a server to any client connected to it. What makes this even more interesting is that the data is leaked to any computer connected to the server, so there’s no need to hijack someone else’s connection in order to exploit it. Here’s a simple scenario:
NSA connects to server with the Heartbleed flaw.
NSA stays connected, gathering leaked information until it receives the private SSL key of the server.
NSA stores private key and uses it to decrypt previous and future communication to the entire server’s domain, i.e., Google.com.
The worst part is that this vulnerability can be performed without any detection, and without leaving traces behind. It’s important to note that the ability of not leaving any traces behind makes the bug even worse, because administrators cannot go back to determine what was lost. Now, this could have been used by the NSA, or it could have been used by a hacker. The end result is the same. Snooping and data loss are possible. I would take this a step further and question whether breaches like Target’s data loss were the result of it. [Martini, CEO, Iboss Network Security]
benton.org/node/180433 | Revere Digital
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PRIVACY/SECURITY
SILICON VALLEY AND PRIVACY
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] For online industry to thrive, consumers have to trust that their smartphones today and whatever cool things displace them tomorrow are private. Period. The technology that accomplishes this will be snapped up by consumers around the world. To fail at this is to admit that the real tech geniuses these days reside in government cubicles in Washington. Asian and European companies will become more dominant, since American technology will be suspect. And it's not just privacy from government that's at issue. Consumers need the right to know how their personal information is being used by the companies themselves, which is something the tech giants have resisted. This may require regulation unless the industry decides to put on the white hat and fight for consumer privacy in all contexts, government and private. Without quite realizing it, we have become engaged in a new war. It's over privacy. Silicon Valley needs to face up to the challenge. Now. We're getting tired of changing our passwords.
benton.org/node/180486 | San Jose Mercury News
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PRIVACY PRICE GOUGING
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: David Lazarus]
Millions of AT&T customers have to pay $1.75 a month for the privilege of an unlisted phone number. The company raised the fee in January from $1.25 -- a 40% increase. Before California regulators, in their infinite wisdom, gave the phone companies free rein in 2006 to jack up such fees, AT&T charged 28 cents for customers to keep their numbers out of the phone book and online directories. The company's charge has risen 525% since then. Verizon Communication's unlisted-number fee is even more insane -- if you can figure out what it is. And let's emphasize: This is for a service that a phone company is not providing. It's for them not including your name in a directory and not facing the costs of printing it in a phone book. "It's pure gravy," said Natalie Billingsley, telecom supervisor for the Office of Ratepayer Advocates, an arm of the state Public Utilities Commission. "They charge whatever they want to charge."
benton.org/node/180484 | Los Angeles Times
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
AFTER NETFLIX PAYS COMCAST, SPEEDS IMPROVE 65%
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Netflix's decision to pay Comcast for a direct connection to the Comcast network has resulted in significantly better video streaming performance for customers of the nation's largest broadband provider. Netflix has bemoaned the payment, asking the government to prevent Comcast from demanding such interconnection "tolls." But there's little doubt the interconnection has benefited consumers in the short term. Average Netflix performance for Comcast subscribers rose from 1.51Mbps to 1.68Mbps from January to February, though the interconnection didn't begin until late February. In newly released data, Netflix said average performance on Comcast has now risen further to 2.5Mbps, a 65 percent increase since January. Comcast's increased speed allowed it to pass Time Warner Cable, Verizon, CenturyLink, AT&T U-verse, and others in Netflix's rankings. Comcast remains slower than Cablevision, Cox, Suddenlink, Charter, and Google Fiber.
benton.org/node/180440 | Ars Technica | GigaOm | Multichannel News
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
T-MOBILE: NO MORE OVERAGE CHARGES EVEN ON OLDER VOICE AND DATA PLANS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
Starting in May, T-Mobile plans to get rid of all overage charges on all of its customer bills, pushing a new marketing strategy that claims consumers should be charged only for the services they sign up for, not the extra minutes, texts or megabytes that accrue before the end of a billing cycle. The announcement is in part a publicity stunt, as T-Mobile already eliminated automatic overage fees more than a year ago when it launched its Simple Choice plans. Displaying his characteristic bombast, T-Mobile CEO John Legere launched a Change.org petition calling for all US carriers to end overages. But there definitely is substance to this new policy change if you’re an older customer who never signed up for a Simple Choice plan.
benton.org/node/180438 | GigaOm | Washington Post | mostly | telecompetitor | USAToday | Revere Digital | Los Angeles Times | The Hill | Fierce
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FCC’S WHEELER SAID TO PLAN LIMITS FOR WIRELESS AIRWAVES AUCTION
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is proposing to limit the amount of airwaves any single company can purchase at the largest US spectrum auction since 2008, a person briefed on the plan said. Top US wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon Communications have said curbs will reduce revenue the government reaps from the planned sale, and unfairly favor smaller competitors Sprint and T-Mobile US. The agency is to sell airwaves given up by television stations so the frequencies can be used by the growing number of smartphones and other wireless devices connecting to the Internet. Finding more spectrum to meet soaring mobile-Internet demand is a goal of President Barack Obama’s administration.
benton.org/node/180436 | BusinessWeek
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INCENTIVE AUCTION RULES
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz]
Federal officials plan to reserve up to a third of licenses sold in a TV airwaves auction next year for smaller wireless carriers under a plan floated recently by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. Overall, the plan has something for most wireless carriers to both love and hate. While it allows all wireless carriers to bid for airwaves in an effort to drive up revenues from the sale, the plan also potentially sets aside licenses for smaller carriers. And it creates a new standard for how many licenses a wireless company can hold, which could make it easier for Verizon Wireless and AT&T to acquire more airwaves in the future, but hurt Sprint’s ability to do the same. The proposal represents an effort by Wheeler’s aides to meet two broad, conflicting goals of the auction: Raise as much money as possible (by selling licenses to wireless giants AT&T and Verizon) while increasing competition in the wireless market (by selling licenses to smaller carriers who need more prime airwaves to compete for subscribers).
benton.org/node/180488 | Revere Digital
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OWNERSHIP
COMCAST-TIME WARNER CABLE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The government’s smartest move is not to block the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, but to make clear that regulators will respond if big industry players begin to violate basic principles of market fairness. Some merger supporters overstate the extent of competition the cable industry faces. At the moment, there are few broadband services as attractive as the wired connections cable companies sell. That might change, but it is not clear how fast and in what way. Merger defenders also downplay the conflicts of interest that might encourage firms such as Comcast to promote their products on the wires they own, about which critics are speculating. That is not grounds to take the severe step of blocking a proposed merger. But it is reason for federal regulators to keep a close eye on what cable companies, still huge players in how we communicate and consume culture, end up doing to competitors and upstarts -- and to set clear conditions that allow a crackdown, if necessary.
benton.org/node/180491 | Washington Post
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COMCAST PRICES UP
[SOURCE: New York Post, AUTHOR: Claire Atkinson]
Time Warner Cable was the only major pay-TV company to reduce the price of basic cable TV over the past four years. The New York cable company reduced the advertised price of TV service by 2.5 percent between 2009-13, according to Free Press. Meanwhile, Comcast, which moved in April to buy TWC for $45 billion, raised its advertised basic TV rates by 68 percent over the same period.
benton.org/node/180489 | New York Post | Free Press
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HERE’S WHY THE COMCAST-TIME WARNER MERGER IS BAD
[SOURCE: Technology Review, AUTHOR: Susan Crawford]
[Commentary] Among the many threats to the future of Internet access in the United States, nothing tops Comcast’s proposed $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable. The combined company would be in a position to provide high-capacity data services to almost two-thirds of American households and to tightly control everything flowing over its pipe. An episode from Comcast’s past shows why this plan is worrisome. Just two decades ago, Comcast distrusted the idea of giving one company the sort of power that Comcast now aims to amass. The consolidation and geographic clustering that swept the cable industry in the late 1990s eventually destroyed the compact among TCI, Comcast, and Cox that had made @Home possible. Comcast and Cox grew big enough that they didn’t feel the need to cooperate with TCI any more, and by 2002 the @Home company was no more. But now the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable can be understood as the execution -- at long last -- of the @Home business plan. The result might feel just like the Internet -- but it won’t be the Internet. It will be AOL and @Home all over again. But this time there will be no .Com Committee constraining how ComcastTimeWarner treats different streams of bits. Comcast’s recent interconnection tussle with Netflix, its strong support for Streampix, and the rumor that it is planning to license its X1 platform for free to all other cable operators foreshadow the curated walled garden that we have to look forward to. [Crawford is a professor at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law]
benton.org/node/180434 | Technology Review
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GOOGLE-TITAN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nick Bilton]
Google purchased Titan Aerospace, a maker of high-altitude drone satellites, which Google says will be used to take photos of the earth and to connect people to the Internet. “Titan Aerospace and Google share a profound optimism about the potential for technology to improve the world,” a Google spokesman said. Atmospheric satellites “could help bring Internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation.”
benton.org/node/180483 | New York Times | WSJ | FT | Bloomberg | Politico
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TELEVISION
AEREO PLAN B
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amol Sharma, Brent Kendall]
The nation's largest television broadcasters are considering contingency plans in case they lose a high-stakes Supreme Court battle against online video startup Aereo. The most radical of the contingency plans is the recent suggestion from CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves that the company could offer its own Internet service if Aereo wins. Moonves hasn't provided details, but a person familiar with the situation said CBS has the ability to launch a service that would stream its programming over the Web simultaneous with its television broadcasts. CBS would charge a few dollars a month and show ads, the person said. Such a service would also likely offer on-demand programming. It could include Showtime, the CBS-owned premium cable channel, which would increase the subscription fee, the person said. CBS would use technology company Syncbak, in which it owns a minority stake, to power streaming of local TV stations' signals over the Web, the person said. There would be challenges for CBS in rolling out an online subscription service, including pricing it at a level that can compete with Aereo's $8-a -month fee and dealing with new billing and customer service costs. Ad rates online would likely be much lower than for TV. One potential issue: When broadcasters license rights from sports leagues, the deals normally assume the outlet will be an over-the-air TV network. Leagues may worry that audiences for their games could shrink on TV as Web audiences grow, reducing the value of those TV rights in future deals. Broadcasters point out that some major leagues have filed court briefs supporting their legal case.
benton.org/node/180487 | Wall Street Journal
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JOURNALISM
PULITZER PRIZES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ravi Somaiya]
The Washington Post and Guardian US won the Pulitzer Prize for public service, among the most prestigious awards in journalism, for their articles based on National Security Agency documents leaked by the former government contractor Edward Snowden. Through a series of reports that exposed the NSA’s widespread domestic surveillance program, The Post and Guardian US set off an international debate on the limits of government surveillance. The papers also came under heavy criticism by the American and British governments, with lawmakers accusing them of compromising national security. The Pulitzer board said that it gave the award for the “authoritative and insightful reports that helped the public understand how the disclosures fit into the larger framework of national security.” David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, who was not a Pulitzer judge, said that the story was “the epitome of important reporting and the epitome of what public service in journalism is all about.”
benton.org/node/180493 | New York Times | Pulitzer winners | WSJ | CSM
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POLICYMAKERS
TRUSTBUSTER FRANKEN
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Sen Al Franken’s (D-MN) battle against consolidation in the media and communications industries is quickly becoming his signature issue. While the senator keeps a low profile in Washington and generally avoids the press, he’s become a visible and vocal force when it comes to merger deals like the one now being proposed by Comcast. He opposed the company’s 2011 purchase of NBC, where he worked for years as a performer and writer for Saturday Night Live, and is now waging a one-man crusade against Comcast’s proposed merger with Time Warner Cable in hearings, letters and television appearances. Sen Franken argues the combination of the nation’s two largest cable companies would be harmful to consumers and give more market share to a company with a poor reputation on customer service. “I’ve heard from consumers who are worried that this deal will result in higher prices, fewer choices, and even worse service — and it’s important to me that their voices be heard,” Sen Franken said, pointing to his past experience challenging mergers between telecom giants. “That’s why I oppose this deal, and it’s also why I actively opposed AT&T’s proposed merger with T-Mobile and Comcast’s merger with NBC Universal.”
benton.org/node/180490 | Hill, The
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