With the launch of our new Public Safety Telecom Toolkit, we’ve been thinking a lot about the need to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure in times of emergency. Much of what we’ve talked about considers physical damage to communications networks. But what about cyber attacks?
Cases of cyber-criminals using the network for things like distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks or full-scale website hacking are already fairly common, but coordinated offensives targeting an entire country’s network infrastructure-such as the attack against Lithuania earlier this summer and last year’s attack on Estonia-seem to be a relatively new phenomenon.
Even newer is the use of cyber attacks in conjunction with traditional warfare. As the New York Times reported earlier this week, coordinated DDOS attacks from unidentified sources were launched against various Georgian government web sites just as hostilities began Georgia and Russia last week. As the Times reported:
According to Internet technical experts, it was the first time a known cyberattack had coincided with a shooting war.
But it will likely not be the last, said Bill Woodcock, the research director of the Packet Clearing House, a nonprofit organization that tracks Internet traffic. He said cyberattacks are so inexpensive and easy to mount, with few fingerprints, they will almost certainly remain a feature of modern warfare.
“It costs about 4 cents per machine,” Mr. Woodcock said. “You could fund an entire cyberwarfare campaign for the cost of replacing a tank tread, so you would be foolish not to.”
The resiliency and redundancies that are built into the communications infrastructure in the United States are top-of-the-line, but nevertheless, network operators must always be prepared for potential for network disruptions. In addition to using the resources in USTelecom’s toolkit, I’d also recommend checking out some of the helpful information on DHS’s National Cyber Security Division website.
The agenda for next Friday’s (August 22) open meeting at the FCC is out, and there are several items that have been circulated by Chairman Martin for consideration that may be of interest to USTelecom members: first is a memorandum opinion and order that addresses issues raised in petitions for reconsideration of the Roaming Report and Order; second is a NPRM on implementation on the New and Emerging Technologies (NET) 911 Improvement Act of 2008; and third is a NOI on improving USF management and administration. We will be sure to keep you posted on the outcomes of those issues.
As I mentioned last week, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit handed broadband providers offering video services a big victory by overturning a lower court’s decision that said Cablevision’s remote storage DVR service violates copyright. Following that decision, the Copyright Office decided to extend the filing deadline in its proceeding on compulsory licensing for making or distributing certain recordings. Since the Cablevision case hinged, in part, on the “buffer” copies of broadcasts that are made with RS-DVR technology, the outcome of the case could impact the proceeding, hence the extended deadline. Comments are now due on August 28, and replies are due September 15 at 5 p.m. The Copyright Office has also proposed a roundtable on the issue scheduled for September 19.
Materials theft–specifically copper theft–is a huge issue impacting towns all across the country. Apropos of my post from last week, just before Congress adjourned for the August recess, Rep. Bart Stupak (D - Mich.) introduced HR 6381, the Copper Theft Prevention Act of 2008. Although some worry that the bill will do little or nothing to mitigate the problem, the bill is intended to protect critical infrastructure–specifically the telecommunications, transportation, and electricity networks that rely on copper–and address the growing use of copper theft to facilitate drug use and other crimes by establishing documentation procedures for copper recyclers. The bill was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated on its progress when Congress returns.
There was an interesting article in the New York Times yesterday about how broadband is changing how some of the major TV news outlets operate. Rather than concentrating resources on expensive, highly staffed news bureaus in just a few locations around the globe, the Times reports that many networks are relying on a “new breed” of journalists–digital journalists:
When news happens, they will use Internet connections and cellphone cameras to report live.
“We are harnessing technology that enables us to be anywhere and be live from anywhere,” said Nancy Lane, the senior vice president for news gathering for CNN/U.S., a unit of Time Warner. “It completely changes how we can report.”
Broadband makes it possible for these one-man news crews to operate, filing stories and streaming video coverage of events from all corners of the globe. Of course bloggers have been doing this for years, leveraging the Internet to democratize the news. It’s cool to see that larger media outlets are following their lead by implementing their own version of a citizen-journalist strategy.
During last week’s media availability for USTelecom’s Public Safety and National Security Telecom Toolkit, I took the opportunity to introduce reporters to a new feature on the USTelecom website: our Social Media Newsroom. That portion of our site puts every kind of information right at the fingertips of reporters-and anyone else interested in the broadband industry. News releases and events, RSS feeds and alerts, videos, multimedia content, and blog posts: all in one place and all searchable.
As I told the reporters that participated, I hope that they’ll consider the social media newsroom a welcome mat for learning more about broadband issues and the perspectives of USTelecom. And I hope that you will too.
Worried about how to protect your home while you’re on vacation this summer? Never fear; broadband is here! Home security has gone high-tech with the rapid spread of broadband, allowing homeowners to do everything from receiving text or email alerts when home alarms are triggered to remotely monitoring a live video feed of their property from anywhere in the world. From more on the ways broadband is changing the way we secure our homes and our loved ones, be sure to watch the newest edition of Broadband Now.
Following up on my post a couple weeks ago about materials theft, there’s been some good news out of North County, California on the copper theft prevention/prosecution front. Three employees from Ben Recycling in Oceanside, California and a fourth from Lee’s Iron and Metal in Vista, California were arrested on felony charges of buying stolen telephone cables. The arrests followed a many-month multi-jurisdictional investigation that was initiated by a request for help from AT&T, which has been targeted by copper thieves in California at least 250 times in the last year. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune:
The Sheriff’s Department, the District Attorney’s Office, the FBI, the state Department of Justice, and the Oceanside and Escondido police departments partnered for the operation, with assistance from AT&T. Ignacio De La Torre, an executive director with AT&T, said that copper theft is “rampant” and that the company is offering up to a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of anyone stealing telephone cables from the company.
I was also pleased to see the August 4 announcement from the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI), applauding the role one of its member companies has played this year with the arrest of 161 arrests of individuals suspected of possessing and attempting to sell stolen materials. To learn more about ISRI’s nationwide Theft Alert System, visit www.isri.org/theft.
At the FCC’s August Open Meeting on Friday, the Commission made a much-anticipated ruling in its investigation of complaints against Comcast’s network management practices, especially with regard to peer-to-peer file sharing client BitTorrent. On Friday, USTelecom President and CEO Walter B. McCormick, Jr. released the following the following statement:
“We believe that case-by-case enforcement is the right way for the Commission to proceed in evaluating claims that companies have not honored the FCC’s Internet policy principles. Given this Commission’s record of pro-competition, pro-investment broadband actions, we are confident that FCC action here will be carefully targeted. Carriers alone will invest nearly $60 billion in our broadband infrastructure this year, and coming years, providing consumers more options and faster speeds. Ensuring that this broadband investment and innovation continues is an essential mission of the Commission. And, this action by the FCC demonstrates that legislation is not needed.”
There was good news out of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit the other day: the court issued a decision that will have favorable implications for network innovators. Specifically, the Appeals Court decision focused on whether a new remote-storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) service proposed by Cablevision Systems violated the Copyright Act. (My colleague Dave Cohen mentioned this case a bit in a post about intellectual property and copyright a couple weeks ago.)
Film studios and television networks argued that the RS-DVR violated copyright law. Last year, USTelecom spearheaded efforts to file an amicus brief with the Court of Appeals, after realizing the benefits that such network-based storage services offer consumers. In today’s decision, the Second Circuit concluded that the proposed new service “would not directly infringe plaintiffs’ exclusive rights to reproduce and publicly perform their copyrighted works.”
The Court’s decision has broad implications in today’s broadband marketplace. For example, network based services can save companies-and consumers-both time and money. Since network based services can be upgraded and maintained from a central location, customers and service providers no longer have to deal with the headache and cost of a truck roll to the subscriber’s premises. USTelecom was pleased with the court’s decision and believes it will result in an exciting marketplace in DVR technologies for consumers.
