Here is a recap of some of the cable and ISP news around the country (and world) for the week of June 26, 2017:
British Parliament Email Hacked
Members of the British Parliament were temporaily unable to access their email remotely after hackers apparently accessed government servers and possibly released the passwords of thousands of members of the United Kingdom's Government. The private log in details of almost 10,000 Members of Parliament, Parliament officials, police officials and Foreign Office employees were reportedly attacked although as few as 1% may have actually been affected. There were reports of the passwords being sold online by Russian hackers.
Google Announces It Will No Longer Read Your Gmail To Market To You
Google has announced that it will stop showing you ads BASED ON WHAT IS IN YOUR EMAIL. In the past, if you used their free email service, Gmail, Google would scan your emails and show you ads based on the content of those emails. The company did not do that to customers who opted to use the paid version of Gmail, and say they will discontinue this practice for free email service customers. Of course, they will continue to show you ads based on all of the other data collection practices they use, such as your search history, Google Map usage, YouTube viewing, websites you visit, Android phone GPS tracking,and the data you entered when filling out your your profile, etc.
All Major Mobile Phone Providers Experience Service Interruptions
Due to a major backbone fiber line that was accidentally cut in the city of Wilmington, there were connection issues up and down the East Coast last week. It is unclear if that was the only issue causing the outages. Workers repaired the damage in a few hours but not before mobile phone operators Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile as well as cable providers Comcast and Charter Spectrum reported major service outages on Monday. Most providers said service was restored by late Monday.
Reports of Google Glass’ Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated
Just when you thought Google Glass was dead, well actually about two years past when you thought Google Glass was dead, along comes an update. Glass now supports Bluetooth. That means you can hook up a mouse, keyboard or other Bluetooth enabled device to Glass. The last update was almost three years ago. There are also some other updates that are important if you have Glass, but if you have Glass you should already know about them. The important thing for the masses is that it looks like Google is still working on the device and there may be a new hardware release soon or it may somehow tie into Google Lens coming out sometime in the future.
Microsoft Announces Code Leak
Some of Microsoft Windows 10 source code has been leaked online, which could be used by hackers to create exploits to access personal computers and wreak havoc. The files were posted on a site called Beta Archive which tracks Windows releases. The files are related to Microsoft utilities like Windows WiFi drivers, storage, Microsoft’s USB as well as Windows 10 Creators Update build and the Windows 10 Mobile Adaption Kit. Two men were arrested in the UK recently as part of an unauthorized Microsoft Network access investigation.
Snapchat Snap Map Feature Reports Your Whereabouts
The new Snap Map feature of Snapchat posts your location on a map to your friends whenever you post a Snap. What users may not know is that it posts your location on the map every time you post a Snap and every time you open the app. Children’s safety advocates are warning that the information Snapchat gives you when you update to the Snap Map feature doesn’t really make that fact clear. They are concerned that children or others may unwittingly give their location away to “friends” that they don’t know that well and compromise their security. The lesson to take away from this is to check Snapchat and all apps and websites you use or allow your children to use to make sure you are aware of location and other personal information that is posted to the Internet.
Altice USA Raises Almost $2 Billion in IPO
The US arm of European based Altice NV went public last week to an amount of $1.92 billion in the biggest US listed telecom offering in almost twenty years. They went well beyond their target of $1.4 billion. Altice USA is the combination of Altice’s purchase of Cablevision Systems and Suddenlink Communications recently. Altice has said they are interested in acquiring more US cable companies. Altice USA is currently the fourth largest cable company in the US.
Charter Spectrum Agrees to Settlement for Not Keeping Word
Part of the agreement with the New York Public Service Commission when Charter Communications bought/merged with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks was that they would meet certain build-out milestones in the state of New York. They were required to extend service to about 36,000 home and business customers within one year but only managed to complete 15,000; about 21,000 customers short of their goal.
To make up for not meeting those requirements Charter has agreed to a $13 million “settlement” which includes $1 million in grants Charter will make to low income users for equipment and access, and $12 million in security set asides to meet its commitments. Charter will lose $1 million that it has set aside each time it fails to meet a six month goal in its promise to build out its cable infrastructure. They need to extend service to the 36,000 customers mentioned above by the end of the year to recover the first $1 million.
Charter Says They Are Complete With Spectrum Roll-out
Last week, Charter said they have finally completed the nationwide roll-out of Spectrum Internet and Cable services in all the areas formerly serviced by Charter, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks by making Spectrum available to new and current customers in Hawaii. Spectrum is now available in 41 states with a minimum Internet speed of 60 Mbps. Charter currently employs 91,000 employees and say they plan to hire another 20,000 in the United States.
Comcast Finally Agrees to Pay Bill – Three Years Later
Finally, after delaying the payment of a bill to Southwest Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation (STEMC) for three years, Comcast Cable has agreed to pay it. The bill, for pole rental over the last several years, apparently has not been paid since June 2014 and is about $176,000. The Tennessee electrical coop had to threaten to remove Comcast’s equipment from the poles to finally get them to agree to pay. They were given until June 29th before equipment would be removed from the STEMC poles.
Several Comcast customers wondered if Comcast would be as forgiving if they were late on bill payment.
Comcast is, by the way, the largest Internet and cable company in the United States and also owns NBC/Universal Media. Last year they bought DreamWorks Animation so they shouldn't exactly be hurting for money.
Comcast Being Sued By Small Texas Internet Provider
Comcast Cable is being sued by a small Texas ISP for systematically ruining their business after Comcast tried and failed in their attempt at buying the small ISP. Per the complaint filed by Telecom Cable LLC “One would like to believe that the destruction was accidental, but the comprehensiveness of it—coupled with Comcast’s prior interest in Telecom—renders such a conclusion doubtful. Within six weeks, Defendants destroyed or damaged the lines servicing every single Telecom customer in Weston Lakes, and not one of of those lines was ever repaired by Defendants.”
Even though the cables were freshly marked with orange paint, the suit alleges, Comcast contractors managed to cut service to every single one of Telecom Cable’s customers and neglected to repair any of the damaged cable. Before Comcast began installing its own cables, Anthony Luna, the owner of Telecom Cable made sure his cables were marked with the orange paint as well as flags that said 'buried cable” and even mailed a map of all its buried cables to Comcast. Maybe that is what Comcast used to know where to dig.