Thursday, September 27, 2012

No Virginia, You Have No Duty to Secure Your WiFi Access Point

Every now and again a report flies across the network about the police breaking down someone's door and attempting to arrest the home owner for bad things online - assuming that whatever happened from that person's Internet connection is their fault. Now their are lots of problems with this - lots of problems. But one of the big ones is that anyone can access an open access point; there is no way of knowing who did what at an open access point or ascribing that activity to the owner. And all the police have to do is pull out the WiFi device they probably have in their pocket to determine whether an access point is open or secured.

Stories such as this generally results in a flurry of phobic posts by friends warning each other to lock down their access points. This is not necessarily the right solution. There are lots of legitimate reasons for having an open access points - and the technology was specifically designed to permit open access points. The right solution would be for the legal community to mature in its comprehension that what transpires on an open access point cannot be ascribed to anyone.

A federal court in California recently considered the question of whether the owner of an access point has a duty to secure it. In AF HOLDINGS, LLC v. Doe, NDCA 2012, plaintiff sued John Doe for illegally downloading plaintiff's copyright protected video, and sued Defendant Hatfield for Defendant's negligent failure to secure the access point.

Okay first year law students, what are the elements of negligence? Duty, breach, cause, and damage. Does Defendant have a duty to Plaintiff? 

Plaintiff is arguing that Defendant failed to act - failed to secure his network. A failure to act is called "non-feasance." To have a duty that is breached by inaction, says the court, requires Defendant to have a special relationship to Plaintiff. Or, to say it another way, you are not required to be a Good Samaritan - you are not required to act - unless there is a special relationship. The court states
Plaintiff has not articulated any basis for imposing on Defendant a legal duty to prevent the infringement of Plaintiff's copyrighted works, and the court is aware of none. Defendant is not alleged to have any special relationship with Plaintiff that would give rise to a duty to protect Plaintiff's copyrights, and is also not alleged to have engaged in any misfeasance by which he created a risk of peril.
The allegations in the complaint are general assertions that in failing to take action to "secure" access to his Internet connection, Defendant failed to protect Plaintiffs from harm. Thus, the complaint plainly alleges that Defendant's supposed liability is based on his failure to take particular actions, and not on the taking of any affirmative actions. This allegation of non-feasance cannot support a claim of negligence in the absence of facts showing the existence of a special relationship.
It aint Defendant's job (or anyone else for that matter) to protect Plaintiff's copyrights.

The court further notes that Plaintiff has attempted to recharacterize a copyright claim as a negligence claim. Such attempts to recharacterize copyright claims are preempted by the copyright act. Either someone is liable under the copyright act or not; recharacterizing such a claim as negligence doesnt work.

Finally, Defendant argues that he is immune from liability pursuant to 47 USC 230, the Good Samaritan Provision of the Communications Decency Act, which states that no provider of an interactive computer service shall be liable for the actions of a third party. In this case, Defendant arguably was a provider of Internet service to John Doe - the alleged downloader - and is not liable for whatever John Doe might have done. The court appeared persuaded by this argument, but concluded that since there was no negligence cause of action, and since the negligence cause of action was preempted, it was unnecessary to rule on the question of Sec. 230 immunity.

In short, according to this court:
  • No duty to secure a WiFi access point;
  • Any claim of breach of such duty resulting in copyright infringement would be preempted by copyright law; and
  • Any attempt to impose liability on the WiFi access point owner would likely be defeated by Sec. 230 immunity.
Of course, there are good reasons to secure your WiFi access point. For one thing, it encrypts your communications from your computer to your WiFi access point, protecting against main-in-the-middle attacks or someone intercepting your communications. The Federal Trade Commission's Onguard Online project provides some helpful advice.
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Sunday, September 23, 2012

9.23 :: This Paper Addresses :: This Paper is Concerned :: This Paper uses :: This Paper Discusses :: This Paper Explains ::

CyberTelecom News  Weekly
Federal Internet Law and Policy :: An Educational Project

"DeForest has said . . . that it would be possible to transmit the human voice across the Atlantic before many years. Based on these absurd and deliberately misleading statements, the misguided public ... has been persuaded to purchase stock in his company. "     U. S. District Attorney, prosecuting inventor Lee Deforest for fraud, 1913
Pet Adoption

Hendrik Rood*, David Yoshikawa, René Wevers, René Post, Arend-Jan Tetteroo, Andries Kuipers and Rik Schurmann, Usability of Broadband Performance Measurements for Statistical Surveys, TPRC :: Keyword: [Broadband]
This paper addresses the usability of a broadband performance measurement application for end users, as introduced in Europe since 2003 by iPing Research B.V. The small Application, executes various automated performance measurements 

Kenneth Flamm,* University of Texas at Austin, Dynamics of Quality Improvement in US Broadband Networks: An Exploratory Study, TPRC :: Keyword: [Broadband]
This very preliminary paper is concerned with measurement of broadband quality, making use of a unique, rich new data source that allows us to directly measure the evolution of many dimensions of broadband quality over the period 2011-2012. 

Steven Bauer,* Massachusetts Institute of Technology; William Lehr, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and David D. Clark, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, A Data Driven Exploration of Broadband Traffic Issues: Growth, Management, and Policy, TPRC :: Keyword: [Broadband]
This paper uses a novel dataset from multiple ISPs to characterize important trends in broadband traffic growth, develop a better understanding of usage-related costs, and consider the implications of this growth for both network operators (e.g. 

Laura DeNardis,* American University, Governance at the Internet's Core: The Geopolitics of Interconnection and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in Emerging Markets, TPRC :: Keyword: [Backbone]
The market arrangements negotiated between Internet operators to interconnect at private or shared exchange points are a critical form of privatized global governance necessary for the Internet to remain operational, secure, and technically 

LightSquared redux: Lawmakers admit lack of expertise, but blame FCC, Ars Technica :: Keyword: [Lightsquared]
The saga of LightSquared and its failed plan to build a nationwide LTE network on spectrum adjacent to that used by GPS receivers has been debated ad nauseam. But one party didn’t get involved until after LightSquared’s plan was defeated: the US House of Representatives committee with primary jurisdiction over the matter.

Your Privacy and FCC Broadband Measurement: What You Need to Know About Your Personal Data, Tech Lib :: Keyword: [BB Plan]
Consumers should be aware that “government transparency” also applies to the data consumers voluntarily provide to the FCC when they participate in a government-run broadband measurement program.

Heather Hudson, Broadband Adoption in Remote Regions: An Evaluation of Broadband Projects in Alaska Villages, TPRC :: Keyword: [Rural]
Alaska is the largest state in the U.S. but with the nation’s lowest population density, of only 1.2 persons per square mile. Its total population now exceeds 710,000, of which 14.8 percent are Alaska Natives. Approximately two-thirds of the indigenous 

Amit M. Schejter,* Pennsylvania State University and Brandie Martin, Pennsylvania State University, If You Build It-Will they Come? Understanding the Information Needs of Users of BTOP Funded Broadband Internet Public Computer Centers, TPRC :: Keyword: [BTOP]
This study on the users of three public computer centers (PCCs) operating in a city in the Midwest region of the US attempts to further understand the localized value of broadband Internet access for members of low-income communities. 

Court Says No Negligence Claim for Third Party Infringement via Open Wi-Fi Connection – AF Holdings v. Doe, Tech & Marketing Law Blog :: Keyword: [Wifi Security]
AF Holdings, LLC v. Doe, C 12 2049 (PJH) (N.D. Cal.; Sept. 4, 2012) I blogged...

Three conversations for parents: navigating networked publics, apophenia :: Keyword: [Child]
Parenting is hard. Many parents find parenting in an era of social media to be confusing, in part because they must advise their children to make sense of spaces that they don’t understand themselves. It’s easy to be afraid of what’s new, but by focusing on technology, parents often lose track of the underlying social issues that their

Richard S. Whitt,* Motorola Mobility LLC/Google Inc., A Deference to Protocol: Fashioning a Three-Dimensional Public Policy Framework for the Internet Age, TPRC :: Keyword: [Net Neutrality]
This paper discusses how public policy grounded in the Internet’s architecture can best ensure that the Net fully enables tangible benefits such as innovation, economic growth, free expression, and user empowerment. In particular, recognizing 

AT&T's FaceTime Blocking: There's a Complaint for That, Free Press :: Keyword: [Neutral Enforcement]
Last week, Apple unveiled the iPhone 5 and with it, its updated mobile operating system, iOS 6. While Apple fans were busy inhaling details like the new screen size, better camera lens and thinner body, Free Press made sure people knew about another feature: AT&T’s intent to block mobile FaceTime for iPhone and iPad users.

AT&T faces Net neutrality complaint for FaceTime over 3G, CNET :: Keyword: [Neutral Enforcement]
Three public interest groups say they're filing a formal complaint against AT&T with the FCC for its policy on FaceTime over 3G.

Groups to file suit against AT&T over FaceTime #thecircuit, WAPO :: Keyword: [Neutral Enforcement]
Public Knowledge and Free Press said Tuesday they will sue AT&T over the company’s decision to disallow iPhone users from using the FaceTime video chat service over cellular networks.

AT&T faces formal FCC complaint for blocking cellular FaceTime use, Ars Technica :: Keyword: [Neutral Enforcement]
A coalition of liberal advocacy groups has announced plans to challenge AT&T's policy of blocking FaceTime video chat over its cellular network. AT&T has insisted that the policy does not raise network neutrality concerns, characterizing the uproar over the policy as "another knee-jerk reaction" by the consumer groups. Three of those

Kaleb August Sieh, BITAG and Dale N. Hatfield*, BITAG, The Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG) and Its Role in Internet Governance, TPRC :: Keyword: [Net Neutrality]
There has been an increased recognition of the importance of multistakeholder (MSH) organizations and processes in how the Internet functions. These organizations, largely without official government action, have guided the Internet in its growth 

Masatsugu Tsuji,* University of Hyogo; Sobee Shinohara, National Cheng Cung University; and Yuji Akematsu, Osaka University , Empirical Analysis of Factors Promoting Broadband Deployment in OECD 30 Countries, TPRC :: Keyword: [Broadband]
Currently it is said that investment in broadband deployment has already reached a ceiling (Atkinson, Noam, Shultz; 2010). However, the average diffusion rate of OECD is about 60%, and policy measures are required for further deployment 

ARIN Enters Phase Two of the IPv4 Countdown Plan, ARIN :: Keyword: [IPv6]
ARIN now has 3 /8s of available space in its inventory and has moved into Phase Two of its IPv4 Countdown Plan.

Milton Mueller,* Syracuse University; Brenden Kuerbis, Syracuse University; Hadi Asgharia, Technical University of Delft, Dimensioning the Elephant: An Empirical Analysis of the IPv4 Number Market, TPRC :: Keyword: [IPv6]
One of the most important but least-studied aspects of Internet policy is the emergence of a trading market for previously allocated Internet address blocks. The controversies associated with commoditization of Internet addresses, and the way

RIPE NCC is Reaching the Last /8 of IPv4, CircleID :: Keyword: [IPv6]
In an earlier article, IPv4 - Business As Usual, we pointed out that the RIPE NCC will reach the last /8 of IPv4 address space (16,777,216 addresses) sometime later this year. On Friday, 14 September 2012 we reached this important milestone; we allocated the last IPv4 addresses from the unallocated pool. From now on, the RIPE NCC

RIPE in Europe runs dry…, IPv4 Depletion Site :: Keyword: [IPv6]
On 14 September 2012, the RIPE NCC essentially ran out of IPv4 addresses. They began to allocate IPv4 address space from the last /8 of IPv4 address with a very restrictive policy. Next in turn is ARIN. ARIN’s supply of IPv4 addresses is expected to last about 1 year.

It’s official: Legacy IPv4 address holders own their number blocks, IGP :: Keyword: [IPv6]
A company that holds a legacy address block recently sought an opinion from the General Counsel of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) about the legal status of its IPv4 address holdings.The answers make for an explosive entry in the emerging IPv4 address market. IGP Blog has obtained a copy of this letter with the name of the company and any other identifying information redacted.

IPv4 address transfer markets are forming where we least expected, Ars :: Keyword: [IPV6]
The distribution of IP addresses has always occurred in a somewhat socialist manner: "to each according to his needs." But those days are drawing to an end now. So far in 2012 within the North American region, no less than a quarter of all IPv4 address blocks obtained by new owners/users have been traded in some way.

Counting DNSSEC, Potaroo :: Keyword: [DNSSEC]
At the Nordunet 2012 conference in September, a presentation included the assertion that "more than 80% of domains could use DNSSEC if they so chose." This is an interesting claim that speaks to a very rapid rise in the deployment of DNSSEC in recent years, and it raises many questions about the overall status of DNSSEC deployment in today's

Open Government, Open Data, Open Source, White House :: Keyword: [eGov]
Thomas Jefferson once wrote that when you share an idea with someone, they receive that idea without taking it away from you, just, "as he who lights his taper (candle) at mine, receives light without darkening me."

Comcast launches uncapped 305 Mbps service in Northeast, but caps Tucson, Gigaom :: Keyword: [Comcast]
Comcast, the nation’s largest broadband provider, has launched the second of its two planned broadband cap trials in Tucson, Ariz. The new caps limit users of its premium tiers at 600 GB per month and economy tiers at 300 GB per month. A day after the trials came to light, Comcast announced that its super fast 305 Mbps

Adam Candeub, Michigan State University and Steven S. Wildman,* Michigan State University, Search Engines: Antitrust Law in the Feedback Economy, TPRC :: Keyword: [Search]
Opposing views on regulating search engines have emerged in recent years. On one hand, many believe that search engines do not exercise unjustified market power but rather stand at the forefront of economic and technical innovation. On

Twitter Forced To Hand Over Occupy Protestor's Tweets It Sought To Protect, Forbes :: Keyword: [Twitter]
Twitter has proven it's willing to go the mat to protect its users' privacy from government requests for their data--But after a long legal battle, it turns out that the company isn't so willing that it will swallow hefty fines for contempt of court.

BfA Applauds Chairman Genachowski’s Statement on Senate Foreign Relations Committee Internet Governance Resolution, Broadband for America :: Keyword: [ITU]
Today, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski issued the following statement on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Internet Governance Resolution

David Waterman, Indiana University; Ryland Sherman, Indiana University; Sung Wook Ji, Michigan State University, The Economics of Online Television: Revenue Models, Aggregation, and "TV Everywhere", TPRC :: Keyword: [Video]
Unlike most media, the U.S. television industry has continued to prosper as broadband diffusion has grown to reach over 2/3 of households. We first identify the source of standard TV’s long term prosperity: technology, especially digital 

Jonathan Cave,* RAND; Neil Robinson, RAND; Svitlana Kobzar, RAND; and Rebecca Schindler, RAND, Regulating the Cloud: More, Less or Different Regulation and Competing Agendas, TPRC :: Keyword: [Cloud]
Cloud computing challenges existing regulatory paradigms in a variety of ways. This paper, which differentiates among cloud services, services hosted on cloud platforms and ‘cloud-enhanced’ services delivered with the aid of cloud-based 

Barbara A. Cherry,* Indiana University, Further Erosion of State Consumer Protection Remedies for U.S. Telecommunications Services: Flawed Federal Preemption Under AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, TPRC :: Keyword: [Common Carrier]
Deregulatory policies have reduced or eliminated industry-specific regulatory power, shifting reliance to economic competition and legal remedies available under other bodies of state and federal law applicable to general businesses. The 

Christopher S. Yoo and Michael Janson, The Roots of Monopoly Power and Universal Service and the Limits of Government Ownership: Insights from the OFT Overlooked Nationalization of the U.S. Telephone System During World War I, TPRC :: Keyword: [Telephone]
One of the most distinctive characteristics of the U.S. telephone system is that it eschewed the government-owned PTT model in favor of one in which the telephone system is privately owned. According to the conventional wisdom, private 

Rob Frieden,* Pennsylvania State University, The Mixed Blessing of a Deregulatory Endpoint for the Public Switched Telephone Network, TPRC :: Keyword: [Title II]
Receiving authority to dismantle the wireline public switched telephone network (“PSTN”) will deliver a mixture of financial benefits and costs to incumbent carriers. Even if these carriers continue to provide basic telephone services via wireless 

Five Pilot Projects Receive Grants to Promote Online Security and Privacy, NIST :: Keyword: [Privacy]
The U.S. Department of Commerceamp's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today announced more than $9 million in grant awards to support the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). Five U.S.

Wendy Seltzer,* Yale Law School, Privacy, Option Value, and Feedback, TPRC :: Keyword: [Social Networks]
We have confused intuitions about privacy in public. Sometimes we say “if you don’t want something known, don’t say or post it where anyone can see,” even while, at other times, we recognize the more fluid nature of privacy and the value of semi-public space
Google+ hits milestone -- 100M active monthly users, CW :: Keyword: [Social Networks]
Answering critics who said Google+ was among the walking dead, Google this week announced that it has some 100 million active users among the 400 million that have signed up for the social network that turned a year-old in June.

John S. Quarterman,* Quarterman Creations; Leigh L. Linden, University of Texas at Austin; Qian Tang, University of Texas at Austin; Andrew B. Whinston, University of Texas at Austin, Reputation as Public Policy for Internet Security, TPRC :: Keyword: [Security]
Insufficient resource allocation causes an Internet information security (infosec) problem that public policy could improve. Lack of transparency lets organizations avoid addressing internal risks, leaving vulnerabilities that are exploited by botnets, 

High Alert Issued to U.S. Banks against Cyber Attacks, USTelecom :: Keyword: [Security]
On the heels of several unauthorized overseas transactions and money transfers using stolen bank employee credentials, and several network disruptions of large U.S

Democratic senators call for 'cybersecurity' executive order, CNET :: Keyword: [Security]
This summer's partisan sparring that derailed a federal cybersecurity law has resumed, with Democrats proposing an executive order and Republicans saying it would levy "more mandates and regulations."

Senator Presses on Cybersecurity, WSJ :: Keyword: [Security]
Sen. Jay Rockefeller is sending letters to every Fortune 500 CEO, asking them to describe their company's handling of computer security.

Peter P. Swire,* Ohio State University, From Real-Time Intercepts to Stored Records: Why Encryption Drives the Government to Seek Access to the Cloud , TPRC :: Keyword: [4th Amendment]
This paper explains how changing technology, especially the rising adoption of encryption, is shifting law enforcement and national security lawful access to far greater emphasis on stored records, notably records stored in the cloud. The major and growing reliance on surveillance access to stored records results from the following changes:

ECPA Amendment Adopted Despite Flurry of Law Enforcement Letters, CDT :: Keyword: [ECPA]
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee adopted an amendment that would require law enforcement officers to obtain a warrant in order to access the contents of email and other personal and proprietary electronic communications. The warrant-for-content amendment to the Senate version of H.R. 2471 would update the 1986 Electronic Communications

James Miller,* Washington College of Law, Lessons from the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami for Researchers and Policy Makers: Legal and Regulatory Comparative of the Role of Telecommunications in Disaster Planning and Response in the US and Japan, TPRC :: Keyword: [Emergency]
Devastating natural disasters struck Japan on March 11, 2011 leaving some 340,000 citizens refugees, and nearly 20,000 dead or missing. The 9.0 magnitude Great East Japan Earthquake and the ensuing tsunami wrought destruction on all

Two men plead guilty to hacking 150 Subway stores, CNET :: Keyword: [Hacker]
Romanians reportedly admit to being part of ring that hacked into payment systems at sandwich shops and stole credit card data.

October Workshop to Consider Future of Information and Communication Technology Supply Chain Risk Management, NIST :: Keyword: [NIST]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will host a workshop at its Gaithersburg, Md., headquarters October 15 and16, 2012, to discuss ways NIST can focus its work to help federal departments and agencies manage the

Hackers exploit new IE zero-day vulnerability, CW :: Keyword: [Vulnerability]
Attackers are exploiting a "zero-day" vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer and hijacking Windows PCs that cruise to malicious or compromised websites, security experts said today.

John B. Horrigan,* Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Recent Tech Adoption Trends and Implications for the Digital Divide, TPRC :: Keyword: [Digital Divide]
In recent years, there have been two developments in technology adoption that are in tension with one another. On the one hand, home broadband adoption has increased only modestly since 2009. On the other, there has been a very rapid

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Sunday, September 16, 2012

9.16 :: TPRC Nxt Weekend :: Killing the Copper :: Google Should Celebrate :: An American Saga :: I'm Concerned :: The $9250 Solution :: Playing Dumb ::

CyberTelecom News  Weekly
Federal Internet Law and Policy :: An Educational Project

"There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television, or radio service inside the United States." T. Craven, FCC Commissioner (1961)  
Pet Adoption

Will The Program Access Rules Expire On October 5?, Tales From the Sausage Factory :: Keyword: [Broadband]
Back in March, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on whether to extend the “program access rules” for another five years, either as they exist now or in some modified form. For those unfamiliar with the program access …

Killing the copper and income inequality, Susan Crawford :: Keyword: [Broadband]
A hundred years ago, America decided that everyone was entitled to an affordable telephone line. Now some Americans (thanks to muni bright spots and other efforts) are making the upgrade to a fiber-to-the-home connection – the new global standard, the replacement for a standard general-purpose telephone line. But the policies

Internet Exchange Points in Canada: a roadmap, CIRA :: Keyword: [Backbone]
I think most of the regular readers of this blog know that I am a proponent of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). Fundamentally, an IXP is a local network bridge that results in local network traffic taking shorter, faster paths between member networks.

Google Fiber is coming to 90% of eligible Kansas City neighborhoods, Gigaom :: Keyword: [Fiber]
Google should celebrate — if it considers getting ready to spend a few hundred million in capital expenditures reason to celebrate — because as of Sunday night, it has pre-registered enough people in Kansas City to deploy its gigabit fiber to the home network to 180 out of its 202 “fiberhoods.”

IN RE INNOVATIO IP VENTURES, LLC PATENT LITIGATION, Dist. Court, ND Illinois 2012 :: Keyword: [WIFI ECPA]
Intercepting WiFi signals is not a violation of ECPA

Where the Wiretap Act and WiFi Collide :: #ECPA :: IN RE INNOVATIO IP VENTURES, LLC PATENT LITIGATION, Cybertelecom :: Keyword: [WiFi]
Is it a violation of the Wiretap Act to intercept data transmitted over a WiFi network? Good question. Recently Google got snared by this question when its Street View Car was reportedly going around mapping all the roads while intercepting data from WiFi networks. A court considering the Google Street View situation was not

Cyberbullying Summit Set for Today at Microsoft, Microsoft :: Keyword: [Child]
As any parent knows, a large portion of our kids’ social lives has moved online. Like their over-the-phone chats, most of teens’ electronic conversations are innocuous. But some digital interactions, including when kids are the victims or perpetrators of cyberbullying, can be 

Hare v. Richie, DCMD 2012: Sec. 230 Mot Dismiss Denied, Cybertelecom :: Keyword: [47 U.S.C. § 230]
Hare v. Richie, DCMD 2012: Motion to Dismiss on 47 USC 230 grounds denied where web site added potentially actionable comments at the end of third party posts. "In passing section 230, Congress sought to spare interactive computer services this grim choice by allowing them to perform some editing on user-generated content without thereby becoming liable for all defamatory or otherwise

John Berresford, Network Neutrality: An American Saga, SSRN :: Keyword: [Net Neutrality]
The goals are make the greatest issue in communications policy, Network Neutrality, comprehensible to the educated layperson. I explain how the issue arose and where it stands now, and give some historical perspective on how this country will resolve it. 

FCC defends its "trojan horse" approach to net neutrality, Ars Technica :: Keyword: [Neutral]
This "ancillary jurisdiction" argument has been greeted with skepticism not only by Verizon, but also by the network neutrality supporters at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). EFF has warned that the FCC's argument is a "trojan horse" that could be used down the road to justify unilateral FCC regulation of topics such as online indecency or even piracy.

FCC Defends Net Neutrality, Says Verizon Is No Internet Editor, Free Press :: Keyword: [Net Neutrality]
Telephone and cable companies keep dreaming up new ways to close down your access to the Internet. This week, the court case over the Federal Communications Commission rules designed to prevent that kind of behavior moved to its next phase.

FCC Chairman: I’m concerned about data caps, Gigaom :: Keyword: [Tiers]
Has FCC chairman Julius Genachowski changed his mind on the acceptability of data caps? As far back as 2010 he defended the idea of wireline ISPs using broadband usage caps as part of the network neutrality order and did so again in May at The Cable Show when he reiterated the position. The chairman has said he

GoDaddy: Outage not result of a hack, CNN :: Keyword: [DNS]
The GoDaddy outage saga continues.

In Which the Court Finds a "Get Out of #ACPA Cause of Action Free Card" - AIRFX.COM v AirFX LLC DCAz 2012, Cybertelecom :: Keyword: [ACPA]
So apparently in Arizona you can beat an AntiCybersquatter Consumer Protection Act cause of action if your domain name registration dates back before the registration of the trademark. AIRFX. COM v. AirFX LLC, Dist. Court, D. Arizona 2012. Well, okay, that makes sense at first blush. It would be kind of hard to

Report on Consumer Protection in Online and Mobile Payments (OECD Digital Economy Paper 204), OECD :: Keyword: [eCommerce]
An examination of payments issues is taking place in the context of the review of the OECD’s 1999 guidelines on e-commerce. This report looks at what might need to be amplified or revised to enhance consumer trust and adoption of new and emerging online and mobile payment mechanisms. It reflects contributions made by national delegations, business and civil society.

10 Surprising Facts About Online Sales Taxes, Forbes :: Keyword: [Tax]
If you are already paying sales tax on all your internet purchases you’re probably in the minority. Sure, a number of states now have an Amazon tax. Plus, there are more taxes coming online (sorry) all the time. But if you add all your tax-free online purchases to everyone else’s in America, how much is it?

Huawei Plans to Spend $2 Billion in U.K., WSJ :: Keyword: [Huawei]
Huawei Technologies plans to spend a total of $2 billion in the U.K. on investment and local procurement and double its workforce there over the next five years.

Huawei and ZTE face congressional grilling, FT :: Keyword: [Huawei]
Executives from the Chinese telecommunications equipment groups deny their companies have strong ties to Beijing or pose a security risk

Huawei investing £1.3bn in the UK, BBC :: Keyword: [Huawei]
Chinese telecoms and computer network giant Huawei Technologies is to invest £1.3bn in expanding its UK operations.

EarthLink plans fixed and mobile wireless services over Clearwire's 4G networks, CW :: Keyword: [Earthlink]
EarthLink will resell wireless broadband on Clearwire's WiMax network starting early next year and later will launch a service based on that company's planned LTE network.

Obama’s FTC pick has sided with Google, WAPO :: Keyword: [Google]
President Obama’s pick for the Federal Trade Commission is an antitrust scholar who last year criticized the agency’s case against Google.

Twitter ordered to turn over user data or face fine, CNET :: Keyword: [Twitter]
A judge tells the microblogging site to produce information about an Occupy Wall Street protester's tweets -- or its last two quarterly reports. [Read more]

Failing to Understand the Needs of the 21st Century: The TPP and the Notice-and-Takedown System, PK :: Keyword: [Copyright]
One of the ways that the TPP fails to accommodate the needs of 21st century technology is by locking the US into its current rules for when online service providers should be liable for others’ infringement, in addition to subtly chipping away at the protections given to online service providers.

"Six strikes" Internet warning system will come to US this year, Ars Technica :: Keyword: [Copyright]
Even as France looks set to scrap its three-strikes antipiracy scheme known as HADOPI, US Internet providers are inching forward with their milder "six strikes" program. But the head of that effort says the system is about education, and it is coming by the end of the year.

Appeals Court Upholds $9,250 Per Song Penalty in Filesharing Case, Says Constitution Doesn't Limit Penalties, EFF :: Keyword: [P2P]
The damages provisions of copyright law - up to $150,000 per infringed work without any proof of harm - are crazy. And according to the federal appeals court in Minnesota, the Constitution does not restore sanity. This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld the original jury verdict against Jammie Thomas-

Minnesota file-sharer loses appeal, must pay $222,000, Ars Technica :: Keyword: [P2P]
A three-judge panel on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit ruled (PDF) Tuesday in the case of a Minnesota woman, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, who has been fighting music piracy legal battles since 2007. When it began, the case was the first trial involving unauthorized file-sharing of intellectual property heard by a jury in the United States.

File-sharer will take RIAA case to Supreme Court, Ars Technica :: Keyword: [P2P]
Jammie Thomas-Rasset and her legal team are headed—they hope—for the Supreme Court.

125 Years Since the Interstate Commerce Act, Marq. L. Rev. :: Keyword: [FCC]
Symposium

Diary helps tell Colossus story, BBC :: Keyword: [History]
Personal effects from the creator of the pioneering Colossus computer will soon go on display at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park.

NTIA Cancels Meeting To Allow for Fact Gathering, Daily Dashboard :: Keyword: [Privacy]
Broadcasting & Cable reports that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has cancelled its September 19 stakeholder meeting to allow stakeholders to meet with app developers for informal briefings first. One such briefing will occur September 19. At the NTIA’s August 29 meeting, the second of a series

DHS / NIST RFC :: Developing a Capability Framework for a Healthy and Resilient Cyber Ecosystem Using Automated Collective Action, Cybertelecom :: Keyword: [Security]
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION – RFI-OPO-12-0002 TITLE: Developing a Capability Framework for a Healthy and Resilient Cyber Ecosystem Using Automated Collective Action AGENCIES: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, National Protection and Programs Directorate in conjunction with U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology Issued: September 10, 2012

House Extends Warrantless Surveillance Law, CDT :: Keyword: [Big Brother]
Over the objections of an array of privacy groups, the House voted to extend the law permitting the government to eavesdrop on international communications--such as email and phone calls--between U.S. citizens and individuals "reasonably believed to be" foreigners living outside the U.S.

Taliban said to use Facebook to gather info on soldiers, CNET :: Keyword: [Surveillance]
The Australian Department of Defense says that the Taliban is creating fake Facebook profiles with photos of attractive women to lure in and acquire information from soldiers.

Fight over FISA Amendments Act Moves to the Senate, as the House Passes the Broad, Warrantless Spying Bill, EFF :: Keyword: [FISA]
Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted to renew the dangerous FISA Amendment Act—which hands the NSA broad, warrantless surveillance powers over Americans’ international communications—for another five years. Sadly, the House refused to add any new oversight powers or privacy protections, despite ample 

FCC Plays Dumb, Points Fingers Over Broadband Tax - FCC Disavows Idea as Press Notices New Levy, DSLReports :: Keyword: [USF]
As we noted back in March, our new national broadband plan involves reconfiguring the Universal Service Fund (USF) so that money paid into it is put toward broadband expansion (currently the funds only address school broadband and rural phone connectivity). It also involved increasing consumer broadband fees, estimated to be between $1 to $5 per broadband connection, in order to pay for it.

Where the Party Platforms Stand on Internet Issues, PK :: Keyword: [Vote]
With less than 10 weeks to go before the election, Republicans and Democrats released party platforms outlining their visions for the future. Below is a comparison on where the parties stand on broadband adoption, net neutrality rules, spectrum auctions, and intellectual property protections.

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Saturday, September 15, 2012

What's on Tech TV?

Who says there's nothing good on TV?  Here is a selection of good vid on tech policy.  Know any other good sources to add to the list?
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Thursday, September 13, 2012

DHS / NIST RFC :: Developing a Capability Framework for a Healthy and Resilient Cyber Ecosystem Using Automated Collective Action

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION – RFI-OPO-12-0002 

TITLE: Developing a Capability Framework for a Healthy and Resilient Cyber Ecosystem Using Automated Collective Action 

AGENCIES: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, National Protection and Programs Directorate in conjunction with U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Issued: September 10, 2012

Description

Recent trends demonstrate the need for improved capabilities for defending against cyber attack. Cyberspace has become the backbone of modern society, commerce, industry, academia, medicine, critical infrastructures, and government. The sheer number of cyber attacks is increasing and the consequences of today’s cyber attacks are severe. This includes financial fraud, loss of sensitive data, identity theft, or related crimes.

Strengthening the cyber ecosystem is one of two focus areas in the DHS Blueprint for a Secure Cyber Future: The Cybersecurity Strategy for the Homeland Security Enterprise [4.0 References, 3]. The DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) cyber ecosystem paper [4.0 References, 1] proposed a concept for creating a healthy, resilient, and more secure cyber ecosystem. In this concept, computer systems, devices, applications, and users will automatically work together in near-real time to anticipate and prevent cyber attacks, automatically respond to attacks while continuing normal operations, evolve to address new threats, limit the spread of attacks across participating devices, minimize the consequences of attacks, enable the sharing of timely and relevant security information, and recover to a trusted state. The concept will allow for robust privacy protections while delivering security protections commensurate with risk. To that objective, it is important to assess where we are now technologically, what additional capabilities are needed, and what current technologies are best available to meet those capabilities at this time.

The U.S. Department of Commerce, through the Internet Policy Task Force, has focused its efforts on developing public policies and private sector norms whose voluntary adoption could improve the overall cybersecurity posture of private sector infrastructure operators, software and service providers, and users outside the critical infrastructure. The NIST, within the Department of Commerce (Commerce), has developed a number of guidelines, recommendations, and technical reports that can support development of automated collective action. These include automation protocols; trust models for security automation data; standard platform identification; configuration, vulnerability, and misuse scoring systems, and an automated enterprise remediation framework.

Recent academic and private sector work [4.0 References, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8] provides analysis and recommendations for collaborative cybersecurity approaches, and some of these approaches are motivated by natural ecosystems such as the immune system [4.0 References, 9, 10]. Characteristics of natural ecosystems have been analyzed for possible applicability to the cyber ecosystem. For example, it might be possible to engineer systems in the cyber ecosystem to respond to a cyber attack in a manner similar to how the human body reacts to an infection. This example might suggest that the capabilities and security architecture of the cyber ecosystem might benefit from a combination of localized response as well as to global alerting and mobilization so that other ecosystem participants are informed of the attack, preferably before coming under attack, and can help defend against the attack before it spreads.

The previously mentioned DHS NPPD ecosystem paper [4.0 References, 1] expands on a number of these concepts, including the need for distributed command and control, the ability to apply appropriate levels of focus and convergence, and the need for key building blocks including interoperability, automation, and authentication. Implementing automated collective action in defense of the cyber ecosystem will require a partnership and a common collective vision among the private sector, academia, government, and consumers.

There undoubtedly are additional considerations, challenges, and possibilities that were not discussed in the ecosystem paper. This RFI focuses on learning more to help develop a future security architecture that maintains the appropriate level of human intervention and monitoring while enabling automated collective action to strengthen the security of the cyber ecosystem.

. . . . . .

Responses to this RFI shall be sent via one email to BOTH of the following email addresses: 1. DHS: Cyber Ecosystem RFI@hq.dhs.gov 2. NIST: cyber-ecosystem@nist.gov

All responses shall be submitted no later than 5:00 pm EDT on October 1, 2012. In the subject line of your final submission email, include the following: “RFI-OPO-12-0002 Cyber Ecosystem Submission”. Questions and requests for clarifications on this RFI must be sent via email to Robert.Degnan@hq.dhs.gov no later than 5:00 pm EDT on September 17, 2012. In the subject line of your email when submitting questions, include the following: “RFI-OPO-12-0002 Questions”.

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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

EVENT :: GTown U Business School: The Regulator's Perspective: Telecom Regulations in an Internet World Sept 18

The CTO at the FCC is a visiting academic position that rotates.  Previous CTO's have included Doug Sicker, Dale Hatfield, and Dave Farber.  From the Georgetown University Announcement:
Please join us for our
Evolution of Regulation Series

The Regulator's Perspective:
Telecom Regulations in an Internet World

featuring
Henning Schulzrinne,
Chief Technology Officer, FCC 
Tuesday, September 18th 
12:30 PM  
Rafik B. Hariri Building
Room 340
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Monday, September 10, 2012

Where the Wiretap Act and WiFi Collide :: #ECPA :: IN RE INNOVATIO IP VENTURES, LLC PATENT LITIGATION

Is it a violation of the Wiretap Act to intercept data transmitted over a WiFi network? Good question. Recently Google got snared by this question when its Street View Car was reportedly going around mapping all the roads while intercepting data from WiFi networks. A court considering the Google Street View situation was not persuaded that WiFi fit within the definition of a "radio communications." Um, okay. Recently another court considered the question in a patent litigation case, and had no trouble concluding that WiFi is radio communications, the interception of which does not violate the Wiretap Act.

But first, let's take it from the top. WiFi is a networking protocol that utilizes FCC Part 15 Unlicensed Spectrum. The FCC decided to engage in an experiment with Part 15, shifting the paradigm from licensing users to licensing devices. If your Part 15 device has been approved for operation in this spectrum, you dont need a license. But there are a few rules. First, nobody owns the spectrum and nobody has superior rights to the spectrum. Nobody can cause interference and everyone much accept interference. Part 15 Spectrum is a commons, available for everyone to use, like a public park. Part 15 devices include, of course, WiFi enabled computers, but also family radio walk talkies, baby monitors, and garage door openers.

In IN RE INNOVATIO IP VENTURES, LLC PATENT LITIGATION, Dist. Court, ND Illinois 2012, plaintiff is involved in a patent lawsuit against hotels and coffee shops and restaurants, claiming that their offering of WiFi violates plaintiff's patents - this patent infringement allegation itself was not explored by the court in this order. At this point in the litigation, Plaintiff wants to gather evidence. Plaintiff had been reportedly using packet sniffers to intercept transmissions from defendant's networks, and plaintiff wanted to make sure that if it continued this would be admissible in court. In other words, Plaintiff wanted to make sure its actions did not violate the Wiretap Act.

According to the Wiretap Act, it is not a violation of the Wiretap Act
(i) to intercept or access an electronic communication made through an electronic communication system that is configured so that such electronic communication is readily accessible to the general public;

The court makes easy work of the question, dividing it into two parts: First, is it a violation to access the network; section, is it a violation to receive other people's WiFi transmissions. In the opinion of the court, "Most of the Wireless Network Users' Wi-Fi networks are open and available to the general public, allowing any customer who so desires to access the internet through them." WiFi networks are readily accessible to the public for access to the Internet.

But what about intercepting other people's communications? Here the court notes that the equipment necessary to intercept WiFi communications is cheap, easy to use, and ubiquitous. In other words, because it is affordable and easy to sniff WiFi, that makes those WiFi communications "readily accessible to the general public."
[Plaintiff's] intercepting Wi-Fi communications with a Riverbed AirPcap Nx packet capture adapter, which is available to the public for purchase for $698.00. See Riverbed Technology Product Catalog, http://www.cacetech.com/products/catalog/ (last visited Aug. 21, 2012). A more basic packet capture adapter is available for only $198.00. Id. The software necessary to analyze the data that the packet capture adapters collect is available for down load for free. See Wireshark Frequently Asked Questions, http://www.wireshark.org/faq.html#sec1 (last visited Aug. 21, 2012) ("Wireshark® is a network protocol analyzer. . . . It is freely available as open source. . . ."). With a packet capture adapter and the software, along with a basic laptop computer, any member of the general public within range of an unencrypted Wi-Fi network can begin intercepting communications sent on that network. Many Wi-Fi networks provided by commercial establishments (such as coffee shops and restaurants) are unencrypted, and open to such interference from anyone with the right equipment. In light of the ease of "sniffing" Wi-Fi networks, the court concludes that the communications sent on an unencrypted Wi-Fi network are readily available to the general public.
To be sure, the majority of the public is likely unaware that communications on an unencrypted Wi-Fi network are so easily intercepted by a third party. See Predrag Klasnja et al., "When I Am on Wi-Fi, I am Fearless:" Privacy Concerns & Practices in Everyday Wi-Fi Use, in CHI '09 PROC. 27TH INT'L CONF. (2009), available at http://appanalysis.org/jjung/jaeyeon-pub/ FormativeUserStudy4CHI.pdf (reporting the results of a study involving eleven participants and concluding that "users from the general public . . . were largely unaware of . . . the visibility of unencrypted communications," which "led them to a false sense of security that reduced how much they thought about privacy and security while using Wi-Fi"); see also Press Release, Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-Fi Security Barometer Reveals Large Gap Between What Users Know and What They Do (Oct. 5, 2011) (reporting that only 18% of users take steps to protect their communications when accessing a commercial Wi-Fi hotspot). The public still has a strong expectation of privacy in its communications on an unencrypted Wi-Fi network, even if reality does not match that expectation.
The public's lack of awareness of the ease with which unencrypted Wi-Fi communications can be intercepted by a third party is, however, irrelevant to a determination of whether those communications are "readily available to the general public." 18 U.S.C. § 2511(g)(i). The language of the exception does not, after all, refer to "communications that the general public knows are readily available to the general public." Therefore, the public's expectation of privacy in a particular communication is irrelevant to the application of the Wiretap Act as currently written. Because data packets sent over unencrypted Wi-Fi networks are readily available using the basic equipment described above, the Wiretap Act does not apply here. Accordingly, to the extent that Innovatio's proposed sniffing protocol accesses only communications sent over unencrypted Wi-Fi networks available to the general public, it is permissible under § 2511(g)(i)'s exception to the Wiretap Act.[6]
Any tension between that conclusion and the public's expectation of privacy is the product of the law's constant struggle to keep up with changing technology. Five or ten years ago, sniffing technology might have been more difficult to obtain, and the court's conclusion might have been different. But it is not the court's job to update the law to provide protection for consumers against ever changing technology. Only Congress, after balancing any competing policy interests, can play that role. Indeed, one United States Senator has already called for changes to the Wiretap Act in light of the threat that unencrypted communications may be easily intercepted. See Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr., On Google Spy-Fi, Senator Durbin Calls for Update to Wiretap Law, FCC Chair Agrees Law Should Protect Unencrypted Communications (May 11, 2012), http://epic.org/2012/05/on-google-spy-fi-senator-durbi.html. Unless and until Congress chooses to amend the Wiretap Act, the interception of communications sent over unencrypted Wi-Fi networks is permissible.
According to the Court, in a public park, everyone gets to hear you scream.
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Sunday, September 09, 2012

♫ :: DC Tech Meetup: Politics, Advocacy & Government Edition Mon Sept 10

DC Tech Meetup: Politics, Advocacy & Government Edition Mon Sept 10 7 pm :: 6th & Eye Historic Synagogue http://www.meetup.com/DC-Tech-Meetup/events/39214262/

This DC Tech Meetup will focus on technology used in Politics, Advocacy & Government contexts.
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Saturday, September 08, 2012

9.8 :: Recently Out of the Limelight :: Question Authority :: Real Lawyers Read Footnotes :: Tweeting to an Empty Chair ::

CyberTelecom News  Weekly
Federal Internet Law and Policy :: An Educational Project

[M]any problems that can be thought through in advance are very difficult to think through in advance. They would be easier to solve, and they could be solved faster, through an intuitively guided trial-and-error procedure in which the computer cooperated, turning up flaws in the reasoning or revealing unexpected turns in the solution. Other problems simply cannot be formulated without computing-machine aid. Poincare anticipated the frustration of an important group of would-be computer users when he said, "The question is not, 'What is the answer?' The question is, 'What is the question?'" One of the main aims of man-computer symbiosis is to bring the computing machine effectively into the formulative parts of technical problems. - J.C.R. Licklider, "Man-Computer Symbiosis," IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, HFE-1 (1960): 4-11, accessed May 21, 2012, http://groups.csail.mit.edu/medg/people/psz/Licklider.html

Adopt a Dog

FCC to measure mobile broadband speeds, WAPO :: Keyword: [706]
The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday that it would begin to measure the speeds of wireless networks, a move to give consumers more information on the performance of their wireless providers and to keep carriers accountable for advertised speeds.

FCC to test mobile broadband performance for consumers, CNET :: Keyword: [706]
The government agency says that the evaluations will be useful to consumers and will "spur competition among service providers."

Former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin lobbies for LightSquared, CW :: Keyword: [GPS]
Two names that have recently been out of the limelight recently turned up on Tuesday at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission: Bankrupt would-be mobile broadband carrier LightSquared and former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who was helping to sell LightSquared's story to the agency.

Broadband Progress Report Map – Another Digital First, FCC :: Keyword: [MAP]
In another digital first for the FCC, we just released an interactive, web-based map that illustrates our Broadband Progress Report. This congressionally mandated report assesses how well broadband deployment and adoption is progressing in the nation. With this new map, our report is more responsive to both Congress and the American people.

Olympics Stimulate Growth of Wi-Fi Service in Britain, NYT :: Keyword: [WIFI ]
In preparations for the Games, the operators O2 U.K., Virgin Mobile and BT carved up public places across London, broadcasting open wireless networks in major squares, airports and subways.

FCC TO LAUNCH MOBILE BROADBAND SERVICES TESTING AND MEASUREMENT PROGRAM., FCC :: Keyword: [Wireless]
The National Broadband Plan (NBP), developed by the FCC, made recommendations to improve the availability of information for consumers about their broadband service. The FCC has undertaken a series of projects as part of its Consumer Empowerment Agenda to realize this charge, including launching a

FCC Authority Questioned In Wake of Verizon Deal Approval, Teckfreedom :: Keyword: [Wireless]
"There's a common misperception that the FCC somehow gets to review all deals in the communications industry," said TechFreedom's Berin Szoka in an interview with Bloomberg BNA Aug. 27. "

FCC Authority In VZ/SpectrumCo, or "Real Lawyers Read The Footnotes.", Tales From the Sausage Factory :: Keyword: [Wireless]
Many years ago, I taught a semester of law school as an adjunct. I assigned the students to read the FCC's 2005 Internet Policy Statement. I was dismayed to discover that, after doing the reading, none of them had

Section 230 Immunizes Links to Defamatory Third Party Content--Directory Assistants v. Supermedia, Tech & Marketing Law Blog :: Keyword: [47 U.S.C. § 230]
Assistants, Inc. v. Supermedia, LLC, 2012 WL 3329615 (E.D. Va. May 30, 2012) [For some reason,...

George S. Ford and Lawrence J. Spiwak , Justifying the Ends: Section 706 and the Regulation of Broadband, Phoenix Center Policy Perspective No. 12-04 :: Keyword: [Open Internet]
Over the past several years, the FCC under Chairman Julius Genachowski has argued that because broadband is not universally ubiquitous, the agency may use the "reasonable and timely" standard contained in Section 706 in the Communications Act as an independent source

90% of US households with computers have broadband, Gigaom :: Keyword: [Broadband]
Broadband penetration in the U.S. is continuing to grow, and now stands at 90 percent of U.S. households that have a computer at home, according to Broadband Access & Services in the Home 2012, a study by Leichtman Research Group (LRG). Five years ago, 65 percent of households with a computer subscribed to broadband service, LRG notes. Its research shows that broadband subscriptions go up with household incomes.

comScore Reports July 2012 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share, comscore :: Keyword: [Broadband]
key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending July 2012. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to

Accelerating IPv6 Growth and Sunsetting IPv4, Arbor Networks :: Keyword: [IPV6]
The next-generation Internet Protocol, IPv6, has experienced more growth in the last 2 years than in any other period in its 18-year existence . While there are many challenges ahead in the deployment of IPv6, IPv6 is a certain, although eventual, replacement for the currently dominant IP protocol, IPv4. As deployment of IPv6 gains

Chris Jay Hoofnagle, Ashkan Soltani , Nathan Good , Dietrich James Wambach, Mika Ayenson, Behavioral Advertising: The Offer You Cannot Refuse, 6 Harvard Law & Policy Review 273 (2012) :: Keyword: [Advertising]
At UC Berkeley, we are informing political debates surrounding online privacy through empirical study of website behaviors. In 2009 and 2011, we surveyed top websites to determine how they were tracking consumers. We found that advertisers were using persistent tracking technologies

Visiting the White House, "Anytime, Anywhere, and on Any Device", White House :: Keyword: [EGOV]
Today, we're excited to announce some big changes to the way you connect with the White House. More Americans rely on tablets and smart phones for news and information than ever before and we've certainly seen these trends reflected at WhiteHouse.gov. Over the past two years the number of mobile visits to the site has

Chinese Dissident in Yahoo Case Is Freed After 10 Years, NYT :: Keyword: [YAHOO]
Wang Xiaoning served 10 years after being convicted of state subversion on evidence provided by the Internet giant Yahoo, which was criticized for helping Chinese authorities in the case.

Sweden is best at using the Internet, CNN :: Keyword: [Sweden]
Which country is the best at putting the Web to use?

Eldar Haber, Copyrights in the Stream: The Battle on Webcasting, 28 Santa Clara Computer & High Tech. L.J. 769 (2012) :: Keyword: [Webcasting]
The Internet threatens many right holders who consistently battle against technologies that enable people to use their copyrighted materials without their consent. While copyright holders have succeeded in some cases, their main battle against peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing has yet

Castree, Sam, Cyber-Plagiarism for Sale!: The Growing Problem of Blatant Copyright Infringement in Online Digital Media Stores, SSRN :: Keyword: [Copyright]
While much ink and rhetoric have been spilled over cyber-piracy, there has been little mention of the problem of what we shall call 'cyber-plagiarism': thieves copying completely the works of others and selling them on online digital media stores like Apple's App Store and Amazon's

Members of Congress Demand Answers for Homeland Security's Unjust Domain Name Seizures, EFF :: Keyword: [IP DNS]
This morning, a bipartisan group of Representatives, led by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), sent a pointed letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and the Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano protesting the recent spat of domain name seizures—executed on dubious copyright grounds—that have been censoring websites with no due process.

Talking Twitter at the #GOP2012 Convention #2, Twitter :: Keyword: [Media]
While we're here in Tampa, we've been talking to journalists, candidates, political pundits and more about the way Twitter has affected the election and their work. Now we're talking with @BretBaier, Anchor of FOX News Channel's Special Report.

#DNC2012: 3 million Tweets and counting, Twitter :: Keyword: [Media]
Although it's just the first night at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, people have already posted more than 3 million Tweets, including #DNC2012 and related terms. In comparison, there were 4 million Tweets sent throughout the three days of last week's Republican National Convention (#RNC2012).

The Cloud: Understanding the Security, Privacy and Trust Challenges, Rand :: Keyword: [Cloud]
Our research investigated the security, privacy and trust aspects of cloud computing and determined whether these were sufficiently distinct to warrant public policy intervention. On the whole, cloud computing brings into acute focus many security and privacy challenges already

The Privacy Multistakeholder Process Turns to Substance, NTIA :: Keyword: [Privacy]
At the second privacy multistakeholder meeting regarding mobile application transparency held August 22, stakeholders made substantial progress on procedural issues to move this process forward. Poll results from the meeting are available here. NTIA grouped the poll results into three categories: "general support," "mixed views," and

FTC Extends Deadline to Comment on Proposed Modifications to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule Until September 24, 2012, FTC :: Keyword: [COPPA]
FTC Extends Deadline to Comment on Proposed Modifications to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule Until September 24, 2012

Carol M. Hayes and Jay P. Kesan , At War Over CISPA: Towards a Reasonable Balance between Privacy and Security, Illinois Public Law Research Paper No. 13-03 :: Keyword: [Security]
Congress has recently begun attempting to address cybersecurity threats. Whenever the topic is raised, alarms sound from both sides of the political aisle. On one side, the intelligence community stresses that protection from cybersecurity threats is essential to national security,

BitCoin exchange loses $250,0000 after unencrypted keys stolen, CW :: Keyword: [Security]
Hackers stole about $250,000 from BitFloor, a BitCoin exchange, and it does not have the money to reimburse account holders, according to the website's founder.

Court ruling that NSA spying violated 4th Amendment remains secret, Ars Technica :: Keyword: [Big Brother]
Last month, a letter to Congress noted that "on at least one occasion" a secretive US court ruled that National Security Agency surveillance carried out under a 2008 act of Congress violated the Fourth Amendment's restriction against unreasonable searches and seizures. But the actual ruling remains secret. Decisions handed down by

Cybercrime costs U.S. consumers $20.7 billion, CNET :: Keyword: [Crime]
An annual cybercrime report has said that over the past 12 months, cybercrime has cost U.S. consumers billions of dollars.

The Law of Cyber-Attack, California Law Review, Vol. 100, No. 4, 2012 :: Keyword: [Cyberwar]
Cyber-attacks have become increasingly common in recent years. Capable of shutting down nuclear centrifuges, air defense systems, and electrical grids, cyber-attacks pose a serious threat to national security. As a result, some have suggested that cyber-attacks should be

FBI: Hackers didn't get Apple IDs from us, CNN :: Keyword: [Hacker]
The FBI on Tuesday said there is "no evidence" to support claims by a hackers group that they accessed information about millions of Apple users on a bureau computer.

David W. Opderbeck, Does the Communications Act of 1934 Contain a Hidden Internet Kill Switch?, Seton Hall Public Law Research Paper :: Keyword: [Kill Switch]
A key area of debate over cybersecurity policy concerns whether the President should have authority to shut down all or part of the Internet in the event of a cyber-emergency or cyber-war. The proposed Cybersecurity Act of 2009, for example, contained what critics derided as an

Universal Service Policies in the Context of National Broadband Plans (OECD Digital Economy Paper 203), OECD :: Keyword: [USF]
This report discusses the main areas in which national strategies to expand broadband networks affect universal service objectives, proposes criteria to rethink the terms of universal service policies, and shares the latest developments across a selected group of OECD countries.

We Believe in America, Telecommunications, and the Internet, Benton :: Keyword: [VOTE]
Meeting in Tampa this week, the Republican Party adopted its 2012 platform self-proclaimed to be "both a vision of where we are headed and an invitation to join us in that journey." Telecommunications and, specifically, the Internet are key planks in the party's principles and policies this year.

2012 Democrat Platform Endorses Internet Privacy, EPIC :: Keyword: [Vote]
The 2012 Democratic National Platform supports the administration's Internet Privacy Bill of Rights to protect consumer privacy. Separate provisions in the platform call for privacy protections for broadband deployment, intellectual property enforcement, and cybersecurity laws; the Democratic platform opposes voter identification laws.

Democratic Convention on pace to trump GOP in social media, Lost Remote :: Keyword: [Vote]
Perhaps this shouldn't come as a surprise, but the DNC is out to a much stronger start than the RNC on social media. Twitter said that Michelle Obama's speech peaked at more tweets per minute (28,003) than Mitt Romney's speech (14,239). The mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro, drove more Twitter conversation than any GOP speaker except for Mitt Romney

Clint Eastwood's RNC Obama chair gets own Twitter account, CNET :: Keyword: [VOTE]
Wow. It doesn't take long for Twitter to tap into the cultural zeitgeist. Invisible Obama, fast made famous at tonight's RNC, gets an account that goes from zero to nearly 20K followers in less than an hour.

Reddit: Obama visit generates most activity ever, CNET :: Keyword: [VOTE]
The president breaks all the rules, breaks a Reddit record, and draws at least 5.3 million views, news stats reveal.

Obama's response to Eastwood most re-tweeted tweet of RNC, CNET :: Keyword: [VOTE]
Clint Eastwood's berating of an invisible Obama launched a viral "Eastwooding" meme, but it was the president's response that garnered the most Twitter traction.

Democrats push for open internet, cybersecurity, WAPO :: Keyword: [VOTE]
Democrats late Sunday reiterated support for open Internet policies that protect free speech and consumer choice, stronger cybersecurity laws and the protection of movies and songs from online copyright violations.

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