“Today, no telephone in America makes a call without leaving a record with the NSA. Today, no Internet transaction enters or leaves America without passing through the NSA's hands. Our representatives in Congress tell us this is not surveillance. They're wrong."
-- Edward Snowden http://benton.org/node/164445
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2013
ON THE AGENDA
FCC Announces Tentative Agenda For November 2013 Open Meeting - press release
FCC Set to Ease Media Ownership
FCC Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn on Increasing Access to Capital for the Broadcast Industry - press release [links to web]
The FTC is set to investigate rules for the Internet of things
Judiciary Republicans ask FTC for clarity on competition policy [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
NSA monitored calls of 35 world leaders after US official handed over contacts
Germany, Brazil Turn to UN to Restrain American Spies
Germany wants a German Internet as spying scandal rankles
Merkel and Hollande to change intelligence ties with US [links to web]
US spying in Europe: Will it backfire on Google and Facebook? [links to web]
Thoroughly Modern Merkel: Always Texting [links to web]
Former NSA chief learns the other side of eavesdropping thanks to a Twitter user
Snowden fires back at Sen Feinstein over 'surveillance' claim [links to web]
US Internet Users Less Concerned About Gov't Snooping - research
PRIVACY
Chairman Rockefeller Intensifies Probe of Data Brokers
The FTC is set to investigate rules for the Internet of things
INTERNET/BROADBAND
The Battle for Power on the Internet - op-ed
USDA Announces Funds to Provide Broadband in Unserved Rural Communities - press release
Rural North Carolina Struggles With Internet Access [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
75% of AT&T customers now own smartphones and they’re buying a lot more data
Microsoft: Smartphone wars prove patent system works [links to web]
Behind T-Mobile’s Free LTE Data Offering - analysis [links to web]
CONTENT
The Role of News on Facebook - research
New York Times will give newsstand buyers a free 4-week digital trial [links to web]
TELEVISION
How ad industry's youth obsession is wrecking the TV business
How Many TV and Radio Stations Are There? (Sept 2013) - press release [links to web]
Did Comcast just take a first step towards unbundling HBO? [links to web]
TiVo Lights Up Out-of-Home Streaming [links to web]
DIVERSITY
FCC Announces New Study Examining Hispanic Television Viewing - press release
Sexism a problem in Silicon Valley, critics say
How ad industry's youth obsession is wrecking the TV business
ACCESSIBILITY
Coalition of E-Reader Manufacturers Petition for Class Waiver
ACA Pushes For More Time To Comply With CVAA Accessibility Mandates
GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
Why the Government Never Gets Tech Right - op-ed
Officials Spent Just Two Weeks Testing Healthcare.Gov Prior To Launching It [links to web]
Officials Aren’t Counting The Growing Cost Of Online Obamacare Fraud [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Germany, Brazil Turn to UN to Restrain American Spies
Germany wants a German Internet as spying scandal rankles
Merkel and Hollande to change intelligence ties with US [links to web]
US spying in Europe: Will it backfire on Google and Facebook? [links to web]
Thoroughly Modern Merkel: Always Texting [links to web]
Superfast Internet boost as rollout reaches three in four homes in UK
Privacy activists get second shot at Facebook PRISM investigation in Ireland [links to web]
A la Apple, Samsung apologizes in China after state media criticism [links to web]
Samsung fined $340,000 for astroturfing in Taiwan [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Why Is Uber Fighting a Regulatory Battle That It Already Won? [links to web]
Why give away OS X Mavericks for free? Because it makes Apple more money [links to web]
New banner ads push actual Google results to bottom 12% of the screen [links to web]
Will Facebook’s new teen privacy settings keep younger users safer? [links to web]
ON THE AGENDA
FCC ANNOUNCES TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR NOVEMBER OPEN MEETING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: press release]
Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn announced that the following items will be on the tentative agenda for the next open meeting scheduled for Thursday, November 14, 2013.
Foreign Investment in Broadcast Licensees: The Commission will consider a Declaratory Ruling to clarify the agency’s policies and procedures in reviewing broadcast applications for transfer of control, or requests for declaratory ruling, pursuant to section 310(b(4) of the Communications Act of 1934.
Improving 911 Reliability: The Commission will consider a Report and Order to improve the reliability and resiliency of 911 communications networks nationwide.
Status of Universal Service Reform Implementation: The Wireline Competition Bureau, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, and Office of Native Affairs and Policy will present an update on universal service reform implementation.
Promoting Digital Literacy though Public-Private Partnerships: The Commission will hear an update on the multiple public-private initiatives seeking to boost broadband adoption and digital literacy. The presentation will include updates on the state of these broadband adoption programs and their future impact. By leveraging the power of broadband and private-sector expertise, the Commission seeks to develop and promote innovative approaches to a range of opportunities in fields such as education, healthcare, public safety, cybersecurity, broadband adoption, and digital literacy.
benton.org/node/164410 | Federal Communications Commission
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh, Keach Hagey]
The Federal Communications Commission is considering softening the decades-old 25% foreign-ownership limit on TV and radio stations, a move that could open up new sources of investment capital at a time of frenzied consolidation in the television station sector. At its Nov. 14 meeting, the FCC will vote on a measure to encourage foreign ownership of struggling broadcast stations. The 25% ownership limit is rooted in federal law, although the FCC has always had the authority to waive the rule for individual companies. It rarely uses that ability, however. The FCC hopes next month's declaration will encourage broadcasters to consider applying for a waiver, rather than simply assuming the Commission would reject expanded foreign ownership. The move could have far-reaching consequences for some in the media sector, including Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications, which is controlled by private-equity firms but whose shareholders include Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa. Televisa owns 8% of Univision's equity and debt that is convertible into more equity, a deal that was structured around the 25% foreign-ownership cap. Should the FCC soften its treatment of the cap, Televisa could become a potential suitor for Univision.
benton.org/node/164553 | Wall Street Journal
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THE FTC IS SET TO INVESTIGATE RULES FOR THE INTERNET OF THINGS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
The Federal Trade Commission will soon meet to discuss how it plans to regulate the Internet of things, and how connected devices share consumer data. There are two issues at play here, one being the privacy of consumer data and the other being the security of the networks delivering that data. The privacy issue, however, also contains a security dimension since the devices can share things that affect a person’s safety -- such as where they live and whether or not they are home. The rise of such connected devices essentially takes the established privacy framework the FTC adopted for web data and throws the problem into three dimensions. The FTC had established several categories of “sensitive data” in its 2012 Privacy Report, including Social Security numbers, precise geolocation data, financial records, health information and information about children. This data required higher levels of user consent and protections. Yet in a recent decision, the FTC seems to be expanding that concept of sensitive information for the Internet of things. The issue is a tough one for the agency. It’s in the unenviable position of trying to understand an emerging industry built on connectivity and data collection that in many areas doesn’t even have a business model associated with it. Companies know they want as much data as they can glean with the widest possible permissions to go with them, while consumers have no idea what they are giving up. A common sense that services built on the back of data and collected by a variety of connected devices is, for now, the only thing that ties today’s Internet of things evangelists together.
benton.org/node/164439 | GigaOm
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
NSA MONITORED CALLS OF 35 WORLD LEADERS AFTER US OFFICIAL HANDED OVER CONTACTS
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: James Ball]
The National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders after being given the numbers by an official in another US government department, according to a classified document provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The confidential memo reveals that the NSA encourages senior officials in its "customer" departments, such the White House, State and the Pentagon, to share their "Rolodexes" so the agency can add the phone numbers of leading foreign politicians to their surveillance systems. The document notes that one unnamed US official handed over 200 numbers, including those of the 35 world leaders, none of whom is named. These were immediately "tasked" for monitoring by the NSA. The revelation is set to add to mounting diplomatic tensions between the US and its allies, after the German chancellor Angela Merkel accused the US of tapping her mobile phone. The NSA memo obtained by the Guardian suggests that such surveillance was not isolated, as the agency routinely monitors the phone numbers of world leaders – and even asks for the assistance of other US officials to do so.
benton.org/node/164449 | Guardian, The
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HAYDEN PHONE INTERVIEW
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
“Former NSA spy boss Michael Hayden on Acela behind me blabbing ‘on background as a former senior admin official,’ ” tweeted Tom Matzzie, a former Washington director of the political group Move
On.org . “Sounds defensive.” For the next 15 minutes, the accidental eavesdropper gave periodic — and detailed — updates about Hayden’s conversation. At one point, Hayden dropped the name “Massimo,” which led Matzzie to suspect Hayden was talking to Time’s national security reporter, Massimo Calabresi. “Michael Hayden on Acela giving reporters disparaging quotes about admin,” wrote Matzzie. “ ‘Remember, just refer as former senior admin.’ ” Hayden denied chastising the Obama administration. “I didn’t criticize the president,” Hayden told The Washington Post. “I actually said these are very difficult issues. I said I had political guidance, too, that limited the things that I did when I was director of NSA. Now that political guidance [for current officials] is going to be more robust. It wasn’t a criticism.” He said he told Calabresi that Obama’s decision to use a BlackBerry put his communications at risk, and the NSA decided it needed to make his device more secure. Matzzie, Hayden said, “got it terribly wrong.” He dismissed the tweets as a“[B.S.] story from a liberal activist sitting two seats from me on the train hearing intermittent snatches of conversation.”
benton.org/node/164558 | Washington Post | WashPostII | WashPostIII
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US INTERNET USERS LESS CONCERNED ABOUT GOV'T SNOOPING
[SOURCE: Gallup, AUTHOR: Art Swift]
Despite revelations that the National Security Agency has been monitoring Americans' activities online, US Internet users are not as concerned about the government's having access to suspects' home computers or email accounts as they were in 2000 -- during an earlier Internet age. When asked three separate questions relating to the government's ability to "tap" into a home computer and to monitor email, Internet users express varying degrees of concern. In all cases, however, they are less likely to say they are "very concerned" than when Gallup first asked these questions in 2000.
Thirty-five percent of Internet users are very concerned about the government's ability to tap into a suspect's computer and follow their Internet activities, down 12 percentage points from 2000.
The 41% who say they are very concerned about the government's ability to tap into suspects' home computer files is down 13 points from 2000.
US Internet users are most concerned about the government using software to tap into email to search for incriminating evidence of any kind. About half, 51%, are very concerned about this, yet that is down as well, from 63% in 2000.
benton.org/node/164433 | Gallup
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PRIVACY
SENATOR INTENSIFIES PROBE OF DATA BROKERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Natasha Singer]
A Congressional probe into the multibillion-dollar data brokerage industry -- companies that collect, analyze, sell or share personal details about consumers for marketing purposes -- is intensifying. Sen John Rockefeller IV (D-WV) sent a letter to Donald Robert, the chief executive of Experian, asking for information about a company subsidiary, called Court Ventures, which sold sensitive consumer data, allegedly to an identity theft service in Vietnam. Sen Rockefeller is the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which in 2012 began investigating the practices of nine leading data brokers including Experian, a credit bureau that also offers marketing and fraud prevention services. “The committee’s investigation has focused to date on how companies including Experian collect and sell consumer information for marketing purposes, while the information Experian reportedly sold to identity thieves – such as Social Security numbers and banking information – appears to be data Experian collects and sells for risk assessment activities,” Sen. Rockefeller wrote in the letter to Robert. “However, if these recent news accounts are accurate, they raise serious questions about whether Experian as a company has appropriate practices in place for vetting its customers and sharing sensitive consumer data with them, regardless of the particular line of business.” Sen. Rockefeller’s letter is part of a larger effort by the Commerce Committee to understand how companies collect, share and sell intimate details about the shopping habits, health concerns, family circumstances and financial status of consumers at a time when Americans are increasingly sharing personal information online.
benton.org/node/164447 | New York Times | Chairman Rockefeller
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
THE BATTLE FOR POWER ON THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Bruce Schneier]
[Commentary] We’re in the middle of an epic battle for power in cyberspace. On one side are the traditional, organized, institutional powers such as governments and large multinational corporations. On the other are the distributed and nimble: grassroots movements, dissident groups, hackers, and criminals. How these two side fare in the long term, and the fate of the rest of us who don’t fall into either group, is an open question -- and one vitally important to the future of the Internet.
benton.org/node/164434 | Atlantic, The
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USDA ANNOUNCES FUNDS TO PROVIDE BROADBAND IN UNSERVED RURAL COMMUNITIES
[SOURCE: Department of Agriculture, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Department of Agriculture announced 14 awards for projects to bring broadband to unserved rural communities. USDA is providing $20.3 million in grants through the Community Connect Grant program. For example, in Tennessee, Scott County Telephone Cooperative has been selected to receive a $2.6 million grant to build a network that will provide free broadband service to essential community facilities such as schools and libraries. The Cooperative also will establish a center where local residents will have access to free Internet service for two years. These are the first awards made under the Community Connect program's new guidelines that now allow applicants to fund broadband infrastructure for more than one community, and raise the minimum required speed. Projects funded must deliver broadband at five megabits per second (Mbps). States slated for the USDA funding award (if they meet eligibility requirements) are Alaska, Kentucky, Navada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
benton.org/node/164411 | Department of Agriculture
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
75% OF AT&T CUSTOMERS NOW OWN SMARTPHONES AND THEY’RE BUYING A LOT MORE DATA
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
[Commentary] You would think AT&T is getting close to smartphone saturation. As of the end of the third quarter, three out of every four of its contract customers now owns a smartphones, and the large majority of its new activations are replacing older smartphones on its network. But AT&T continues to grow its smartphone base. It added 1.2 million smartphone connections in the third quarter. 178,000 of them were new customers coming from other carriers, but the remaining 1 million were all current customers upgrading from feature phones. AT&T added the same number of net new smartphone subscribers in the second quarter as well, and given the refresh of the iPhone line and the usual holiday spurt, we’ll likely see even more smartphone net adds in the fourth quarter. When will the growth stop, or at least slow down? At 90 percent saturation would be a good guess. For the last several quarters, AT&T has pretty consistently sold nearly nine smartphones for every one dumb-phone sold. There are still millions of people who still want feature phones, but they only account for about 10 percent of AT&T’s contract subscriber base. Of course, many of those feature phone users are likely moving to AT&T and other carriers’ prepaid services where costs are much cheaper, but smartphones are also making tremendous gains among prepaid subscribers as well. AT&T added 190,000 prepaid subscribers in the third quarter compared to 363,000 net postpaid additions.
benton.org/node/164353 | GigaOm
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CONTENT
THE ROLE OF NEWS ON FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project, AUTHOR: Amy Mitchell, Jocelyn Kiley, Jeffrey Gottfried, Emily Guskin]
On Facebook, the largest social media platform, news is a common but incidental experience, according to an initiative of Pew Research Center in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Overall, about half of adult Facebook users, 47%, “ever” get news there. That amounts to 30% of the population. Most US adults do not go to Facebook seeking news out, the nationally representative online survey of 5,173 adults finds. Instead, the vast majority of Facebook news consumers, 78%, get news when they are on Facebook for other reasons. And just 4% say it is the most important way they get news. However, the survey provides evidence that Facebook exposes some people to news who otherwise might not get it. While only 38% of heavy news followers who get news on Facebook say the site is an important way they get news, that figure rises to 47% among those who follow the news less often. “If it wasn’t for Facebook news,” wrote one respondent, “I’d probably never really know what’s going on in the world because I don’t have time to keep up with the news on a bunch of different locations.” These are some of the findings of the survey, examining the role of news on Facebook and other social media platforms. Among other key findings in this report:
Facebook news consumers still access other platforms for news to roughly the same degree as the population overall.
News consumption on Facebook does not replace other activities.
Roughly half, 49%, of Facebook news consumers report that they regularly receive news on six or more different topics.
Liking or commenting on news stories occurs almost as frequently as clicking on links, though back and forth discussions are less common.
News outlets rank low in the reasons Facebook news consumers click on news links.
Facebook news consumers who “like” or follow news organizations or journalists show high levels of news engagement on the site.
As with US adults overall, only a minority of Facebook news consumers say they prefer news that shares their point of view.
Among US adults, the desktop/laptop computer is still the primary way most adults access Facebook.
benton.org/node/164415 | Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project
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TELEVISION
AD INDUSTRY’S OBSESSION WITH YOUTH
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Scott Collins]
The TV industry, like much of corporate America, chases youth. That pursuit has a major impact on programming. It helps explain why a low-rated show such as NBC's "Community" can keep going (and going, and going ...) while older-skewing shows are usually toast. Even if they have more total viewers. Most TV networks are chasing viewers in the "demo," or the demographic ages 18 to 49 as measured by Nielsen. But how and why did that happen? And is that even rational? The first question is easier to answer. During the early years of commercial TV, Nielsen estimated total audiences. It sounds ridiculous in our tech-savvy world, but back then Nielsen's measurements depended largely on written diaries that members of each household in the survey were obligated to fill out. That's how we know, for example, that 73-million people watched The Beatles on Ed Sullivan's show in February 1964. It's also why network TV aimed for mass audiences and maintained conventions such as a "family hour," when parents and kids could sit down together to watch shows. This led critics to charge that executives were programming a "lowest common denominator" medium — a "vast wasteland," in the timeless phrase of former FCC chief Newton Minow — that weeded out minority views and tastes. But it was how TV worked for 40 years. But when Nielsen introduced "people meters" in 1987, that all changed. These meters allowed for more precise measurement of viewing — and also for speedy and detailed breakdowns by age and gender. Marketers loved this data. The ad industry believed young adults were the most valuable market segment by far. Even though older adults usually had greater net worths, young people went out more and spent more money on movies and beer. Also, people under 40 were believed to be more susceptible to ad pitches and hence more likely to change brands or to try something totally new. The effect on TV programming was dramatic.
benton.org/node/164552 | Los Angeles Times
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DIVERSITY
FCC ANNOUNCES NEW STUDY EXAMINING HISPANIC TELEVISION VIEWING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press Release]
The Federal Communications Commission will conduct a study of the relationships among Hispanic television station ownership, Hispanic-oriented programming, and Hispanic television viewing. According to 2012 Census data, 17 percent of the total US population – or 53 million people – are of Hispanic origin, representing the largest ethnic/racial minority in the country. The study will be the FCC’s first systematic examination of the Hispanic television market and will be one of the first that will incorporate comprehensive data from the FCC’s recently improved 323 ownership form. To examine characteristics of television viewing by this important and growing population segment, and to ensure it has better data to inform its policies, the Commission will study, among other things:
The impact of Hispanic-owned television stations on Hispanic-oriented programming and Hispanic viewership in selected local television markets;
The extent of Hispanic-oriented programming on US broadcast television; and
The role of digital multicasting in increasing the amount of Hispanic-oriented programming.
benton.org/node/164421 | Federal Communications Commission
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SEXISM A PROBLEM IN SILICON VALLEY, CRITICS SAY
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jessica Guynn]
Speaking before a gathering of women in technology, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg recalled an uncomfortable exchange with two men on a different stage discussing the scarcity of women in the industry. One commented that he would like to hire more young women but not all are as competent as Sandberg. The other said he, too, would hire more young women but his wife fears he would sleep with them and, he confessed, he probably would. Sandberg's husband, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Dave Goldberg, told her later that the men did her a favor with their honesty. "A lot of men think that," he told her. "They gave you a chance to address it." It's no secret that the tech industry has a shortage of women. What's less well known is that the industry famous for its bravado about changing the world still lags decades behind other industries in its treatment of women, many of whom say they routinely confront sexism in the companies where they work and at the technology conferences they attend. Many blame the industry's growing gender gap on a "brogrammer" culture, a hybrid of "bro" and "programmer" that's become a tongue-in-check name for engineers.
benton.org/node/164427 | Los Angeles Times
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ACCESSIBILITY
FCC: REGARDING COALITION OF E-READER MANUFACTURERS PETITION FOR CLASS WAIVER
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press Release]
On October 22, 2013, the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau announced that the FCC needs more time to review a petition requesting a waiver from the FCC’s advanced communications accessibility requirements for certain e-reader devices. The petition was filed by a Coalition of E-Reader Manufacturers. The Bureau granted the temporary waiver until January 28, 2014. During this temporary waiver period, the FCC will evaluate the merits of the petition and decide whether to grant or deny the waiver request. A number of commenters have expressed opposition to this Petition. For example, the NFB Coalition maintains that e-readers are designed to use ACS as a primary purpose and are marketed as such.
benton.org/node/164423 | Federal Communications Commission
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ACA PUSHES FOR MORE TIME TO COMPLY WITH CVAA ACCESSIBILITY MANDATES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
As the Federal Communications Commission prepares to release its implementation order on user guide accessibility rules the Communications and Video Accessibility Act, the American Cable Association is pushing the FCC for deadline waivers for more of its members, which are small and mid-sized cable operators. The FCC already signaled it was likely to give two extra years to comply to cable systems with 400,000 or fewer subs run by small operators, and systems serving 20,000 or fewer subs run by all but the top two MSOs. But ACA says midsized operators -- with 2 million or fewer subs -- are "not more able to insure compliance" than those smaller operators. ACA said that as with the smaller operators, the midsized operators do not manufacture and/or develop software and are also dependent on whether vendors make products available in time. "[I]t is unfair to hold these mid-sized operators to the same timetable as larger operators that have the means to manufacture hardware and develop software solutions for their systems in the normal course of business," said ACA.
benton.org/node/164417 | Broadcasting&Cable
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GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
WHY THE GOVERNMENT NEVER GETS TECH RIGHT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Clay Johnson, Harper Reed]
[Commentary] For the first time in history, a president has had to stand in the Rose Garden to apologize for a broken Web site. But HealthCare.gov is only the latest episode in a string of information technology debacles by the federal government. So why is it that the technology available to President Barack Obama as president doesn’t compare to the technology he used to win an election? Much of the problem has to do with the way the government buys things. The President should use the power of the White House to end all large information technology purchases, and instead give his administration’s accomplished technologists the ability to work with agencies to make the right decisions, increase adoption of modern, incremental software development practices, like a popular one called Agile, already used in the private sector, and work with the Small Business Administration and the General Services Administration to make it easy for small businesses to contract with the government. Large federal information technology purchases have to end. Any methodology with a 94 percent chance of failure or delay, which costs taxpayers billions of dollars, doesn’t belong in a 21st-century government.
[Clay Johnson, a former Presidential Innovation Fellow and lead programmer for Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign, is the chief executive officer of the Department of Better Technology, a nonprofit that develops technology for governments. Harper Reed is the former chief technology officer of Obama for America.]
benton.org/node/164556 | New York Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
RESTRAINING AMERICAN SPIES
[SOURCE: Foreign Policy, AUTHOR: Colum Lynch, Shane Harris, John Hudson]
Brazil and Germany joined forces to press for the adoption of a United Nations General Resolution that promotes the right of privacy on the Internet, marking the first major international effort to restrain the National Security Agency's intrusions into the online communications of foreigners, according to diplomatic sources familiar with the push. Brazilian and German diplomats met in New York today with a small group of Latin American and European governments to consider a draft resolution that calls for expanding privacy rights contained in the International Covenant Civil and Political Rights to the online world.
benton.org/node/164549 | Foreign Policy
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SPYING SCANDAL RANKLES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Leila Abboud, Peter Maushagen]
As a diplomatic row rages between the United States and Europe over spying accusations, state-backed Deutsche Telekom wants German communications companies to cooperate to shield local internet traffic from foreign intelligence services. Yet the nascent effort, which took on new urgency after Germany said that it had evidence that Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone had been monitored, faces an uphill battle if it is to be more than a marketing gimmick. It would not work when Germans surf on websites hosted on servers abroad, such as social network Facebook or search engine Google, according to interviews with six telecom and internet experts. Deutsche Telekom could also have trouble getting rival broadband groups on board because they are wary of sharing network information. More fundamentally, the initiative runs counter to how the Internet works today -- global traffic is passed from network to network under free or paid-for agreements with no thought for national borders.
benton.org/node/164547 | Reuters
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UK BROADBAND ROLLOUT
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Daniel Thomas]
Almost three in four homes in the UK can access superfast broadband, a sharp increase from last year that will bolster government ambitions to make services available across the country. The annual broadband report by Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, showed more than a fifth of homes have so far taken the often expensive superfast broadband packages, a number that has doubled over the past year. However, almost 8 percent of broadband connections are still very slow, at less than 2Mbit per second, highlighting the troubles experienced in remote areas. Ofcom also highlighted worries over mobile coverage on the roads and railways after gauging availability for the first time. The regulator found that only just over a third of the length of the country’s A and B roads were covered by all four of the country’s 3G network providers. It found that almost 10 percent had no 3G coverage at all, with a quarter of motorways also not covered by the main operators.
benton.org/node/164540 | Financial Times
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