An excellent rant from Rick Mercer on the lawful access legislation that was recently tabled by the Government of Canada.
The folks at the University of Cambridge’s Security Research and Computer Laboratory have pulled together a terrific set of short (and accessible) papers on security and privacy. I’d highly recommend taking a look.
From GigaOm, we find that:
Korea Telecom in South Korea has taken an interesting twist on the idea [of network neutrality], and decided to block Samsung’s Smart TVs from accessing the Internet, according to this article from the Maeil Business Newspaper, a large S. Korean daily. That’s right, net neutrality isn’t just for applications anymore.
It’s absurd that so-called ‘SmartTVs’ are being blocked on the basis of data consumption: as content goes HD and it is piped over IP (and fibre optic lines!) it’s absurd that ‘data consumption’ could justify cutting these televisions from the IP network. No, what we’re seeing is an effort to stymie over-the-top growth unless the content owner/monopolist can find a way to extract unjustified rents. The Korean example is a clear example of why network neutrality regulations are so important.
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You might think they’d grow faster with all-you-can eat, but I think it’s a testament to the fact that service providers are educating users more on their impact and IP footprint … People understand they have a 2GB or 3GB cap or whatever, so they are consuming as much as they can to get their money’s worth. Those with unlimited aren’t concerned, but aren’t using as much.
Cisco’s Thomas Barnett, explaining why tiered mobile plans saw a 169% increase versus an 83% increase for unlimited mobile data plans
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Is the spectrum crisis a myth?
Kevin Fitchard has written one of the better (popular) pieces on why we need to get past the spectrum crisis myth. Go read it.
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Ceiling Vic
I love this rehash of ceiling cat
Watching the back-and-forth yesterday about the whole Microsoft Office for iPad thing was nothing if not amusing. The basic rundown:
“It’s coming, here it is.” “That’s not it.” “Yes it is.” “No it’s not, but we didn’t say it’s not coming.” “A Microsoft employee showed it to us.” “No…
MG has an interesting analysis on what Office for iPad might mean. I have to admit, if MS partners with Apple to bring real office software to the iPad then another sword will be levied at Google’s throat. I still – as a professional writer – despise using Google Docs for anything but the most minimal tasks: it just doesn’t meet my requirements for ‘real’ word processing.
The takeaway? Office would add to the ‘professional’ status of the iPad without taking away from the iPad’s ‘consumer friendly’ branding. This would further exacerbate the issues that Google’s tablets face while simultaneously challenging RIM’s own advertising that the PlayBook is ‘the’ tablet for professionals. It would definitely be a coup for both companies against their competitors, and so well worth watching for.
Free is a really interesting new mobile carrier in France, which offers a cheap entry rate of service. It seems as though the incumbent they’re partnered with wasn’t expecting Free’s success and so they want to raise rates on the basis of congestion. Specifically,
France Telecom said its network was being stressed by a rapid growth in traffic brought on by its hosting of new mobile entrant Iliad and vowed to protect its clients from service interruptions, its CEO told magazine Le Point…Iliad’s Free Mobile service upended the French telecom market in January when it launched its main offer at 19.99 euros per month for unlimited calls to France and most of Europe and the United States, unlimited texts, and 3 gigabytes of mobile data.
It’s entirely possible that the network is stressed … but it’s equally possible that other issues are leading to stresses that are real or imagined. If incumbents get to call congestion whenever the market turns against them, then they should be subjected to real, honest to god, tests for congestion by engineers who are (at best) neutral. Ideally the engineers should be downright hostile in order to force the incumbent to demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that the network is indeed strained, and that such strains aren’t the result of poor management, investment, or technical configuration.
If it turns out that the incumbent is responsible then they should pay for the audit and be required to meet contractual service demands that were offered to partners and be prohibited from engaging in predatory pricing in the future. Congestion is now a particularly tired big-bad-wolf, and it’s time that ISPs that call wolf are actually forced to demonstrate, in peer-reviewable empirical terms, that the wolf is actually at the doorsteps or ravaging the sheep.
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Wireless Interference and Smart Meters?
Apparently folks in the DSLReports Forums are reporting some issues with their new smart meters:
Users in our forums direct our attention to claims that at least one small WISP has had their service put out of commission due to electric utility smart meters operating in the 900 MHz band. We’ve previously noted how utility smart meters are interfering with residential Wi-Fi routers, and we’re seeing agrowing number of complaints about the meters interfering with other residential gear as well. The solution from utilities so far appears to be the hope that all consumers migrated to 2.4GHZ and 5.8 GHZ bands so they don’t have to change. However, some smart meters also use the 2.4 GHz range.
I hadn’t really considered interference as one of the issues with smart meters – most of my time has been spent looking at the privacy, payment, and security issues that these meters have exhibited over the past decade – but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. If consumers are being forced to adopt the next-gen electrical surveillance kit I have to wonder: can at least negotiate for a free router to go with their electrical update?
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Sony’s Smartgrid Micropayment System
Sony is promoting a product concept: smart electric outlets that enable micro payments and authentication for energy usage at the device level. As described by The Verge:
Sony is developing power outlet technology that uses IC chips to determine a user’s identity or permissions. Possible use case scenarios include managing energy usage in large buildings, device theft prevention, and — yes — the potential for paid access to power. Sony says it expects the technology to be employed in cafes, restaurants, airport waiting lounges, and other public places. The outlets have an IC chip built-in, and send authentication information down the power line itself — this can come from an IC chip built into the plug, or potentially inside an NFC-equipped device or payment card.
This isn’t a surprising new concept – contemporary ‘smart systems’ are largely sold on these kinds of logic – but it’s telling that we would be moving payment and identity authentication into integrated ICs on the devices that we use in daily life. I’ll be incredibly curious to see the threat models and risk assessments associated with these next-generation smart systems: if they are deployed as imagined, payment security and electrical privacy issues would be incredibly serious, and challenging, issues to adequately address.
Excited Pixels 