Here is a rewind of some of the latest cable, TV, internet, phone industry and ISP news from around the country for the week of May 15, 2017:
New Worm Kinda Makes You WannaCry
A wave of ransomware hit the whole world last week. More than 200,000 computers in 150 countries have been hit with the malicious software, called WannaCrypt or WannaCry, that demands payment of $300 in Bitcoin.
The software takes advantage of a flaw in the Windows operating system. Microsoft immediately released a patch but not everyone has updated to the patch. Some of the damage from the malware has been prevented, at least temporarily, due to a killswitch being found by a British tech blogger. New variants of the malware may not have the killswitch installed.
The malware reportedly uses software leaked from the NSA, who apparently knew about the flaw for some time but failed to let Microsoft know about it. Even if this particular attack is over, which it may not be, the scope of the attack illustrates how important computer security is in today’s connected world.
Verizon Wins the Straight Path Bidding War
Last month, AT&T first announced it was planning to buy Straight Path Communications but since then, the bidding escalated. AT&T’s first bid was $1.6 billion. Then an “unnamed bidder” (which turned out to be Verizon) placed a counter bid of $1.8 billion. Before AT&T even made another counter offer the "unnamed" company upped its' offer to $2.3 billion, and then again to $3.1 billion. When the dust settled Verizon was the winner at more than twice AT&T’s initial bid.
Straight Path’s value comes from its radio spectrum holdings which can be used for 5G roll-outs in the future.
Charter and Comcast Enter the Wireless Market
The number 2 and 3 video service providers in the US, Internet Service Providers Comcast, and Charter announced an agreement to cooperate in their respective wireless businesses in order to accelerate and enhance each company's ability to participate in the national wireless marketplace. The cable companies, which have each separately activated a reseller agreement with Verizon Wireless, have agreed to see if they could work together. While the ramifications of these two cable competitors forming an alliance aren't known at this point, it could drastically affect the future of the Internet, wireless and video landscape.
PBS Kids Plug and Play Programming
How does $50.00 sound for unlimited 24/7 access to educational kids video programming, games and sing-a-longs? The $49.99 price includes a toy race car shaped dongle to plug into your TV, along with a matching remote. WiFi access is required to access live programming but more than 100 hours of video on demand, children’s educational games and sing-a-longs are accessed right from the device. There are no additional fees or memberships required to watch any of the programming.
FCC Says Fake Comments are Flooding Site
Many people are posting comments on the FCC’s website concerning FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to get rid of net neutrality but some of those comments are the work of a bot that just posts anti-net neutrality comments under names in alphabetical order, according to the FCC.
Aiding the increase in posts is a call to action by John Oliver on his TV show. He even created a website that forwards to the comment page on the FCC site. Oliver’s site is www.gofccyourself.com.
Facebook to Add 3000 Monitors
In an effort to handle recent violent posts on Facebook, the social media site will be “adding 3,000 people to our community operations team around the world — on top of the 4,500 we have today — to review the millions of reports we get every week,” according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Facebook to Launch Video Programming in June
Not wanting to see any advertising opportunity unexplored, Facebook is planning to debut its TV-like video programming next month. Facebook’s initial slate of shows should include about two dozen titles. One program in the works is said to be a virtual reality dating show where people go on a virtual date, before meeting in person.
Windstream and Sprint Sue FCC for Capricious Proposal
Immediately after the recent vote by the FCC to deregulate business data services, AT&T raised its rates 15% compelling Windstream and Sprint to file their suit. The suit maintains that "the near-nationwide deregulation being contemplated by the Commission at AT&T’s behest rests on incorrect or overstated assumptions about BDS competition.”
Circuit Court to Rehear Landmark Internet Regulation Case
This week, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed to take another look at a case decided last year, on who is in charge of regulating Internet Service Providers. In the original decision from last August it was decided that after years of being regulated by the Federal Trade Commission, the Internet should actually be regulated, partly, by the Federal Communications Commission. That in itself might not seem too major, but the upshot of it is that if a company is partially regulated by the FCC (because they are a telephone company, like Verizon or AT&T), then the FTC cannot regulate them for their other businesses (like being an Internet Service Provider). However, only the telephone part of the company is regulated by the FCC so the other businesses the company is involved in (like cable TV) would be unregulated.
The Internet & Television Association Survey Shows You Can Distort Results
You know survey results are a bit skewed when the results are framed by phrases such as “Even most Democrats agree...”
The Internet & Television Association (NCTA) recently conducted a survey to ascertain public opinion on Net Neutrality. Their big takeaway from the survey was that voters prefer a “light touch” when it comes to regulating the Internet. That may be true, but even a light touch is a touch.
However, under the heading “Voters say regulating Internet access as a utility would worsen tech innovation” the results show that 43% say it would worsen it and 44% say that it would stay the same or get better. The remaining 14% just don’t know... I’m pretty sure 44% is more than 43%.
Another survey question was, “If the government were to regulate Internet access as a utility, do you believe private sector investments in Internet and technology innovation would increase, decrease or stay about the same?” The results show that 40% feel it would stay the same or increase and 40% feel it would decrease... but their conclusion is that “Voters Also Say Regulating Internet Access As a Utility Would Decrease Private Sector Tech Investments.” So, am I to understand that 40% greater than 40%, now?...