Overnight Tech: Watchdog to investigate fake net neutrality comments | AT&T calls for ‘internet bill of rights’ | Lawmakers want answers on computer chip cyber flaws

AT&T CALLS FOR ‘INTERNET BILL OF RIGHTS’: AT&T is calling on Congress to pass a net neutrality law that would cover not only internet service providers but also platforms like Facebook and Google.

The telecom giant took out full-page ads in major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post on Wednesday calling for an “internet bill of rights.”

“Legislation would not only ensure consumers’ rights are protected, but it would provide consistent rules of the road for all internet companies across all websites, content, devices and applications,” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson wrote in the ad.

{mosads}

AT&T has been an outspoken champion of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision last month to repeal its 2015 net neutrality rules, which prevented internet providers from discriminating against web content or from creating internet fast lanes.

The company also pushed Congress last year to eliminate a set of FCC privacy rules that would have required broadband companies to obtain permission from consumers before using their data to sell targeted ads.

Gigi Sohn, who served as an adviser to former Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, said AT&T was being hypocritical in its call for internet legislation.

“Among other things, the company has led the charge to repeal the Wheeler FCC’s strong broadband privacy rules and rules protecting Americans with landline phones, promoted state laws that ban communities from building their own broadband networks, and of course, has been a central player in the FCC’s recent repeal of its network neutrality rules and the agency’s abdication of its role protecting consumers and competition,” Sohn said in a statement.

Read more here.

 

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GAO TO PROBE FAKE NET NEUTRALITY COMMENTS: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has agreed to take up an investigation into fake comments being filed to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding its plan to roll back net neutrality rules.

The GAO’s decision to probe the comments comes after a request from Democratic Reps. Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), Elijah Cummings (Md.) and Frank Pallone Jr. (N.J.) asking it review the matter.

“We understand that the FCC’s rulemaking process requires it to address all comments it receives, regardless of who submits them,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter to the GAO in December. “However, we do not believe any outside parties should be permitted to generate any comments to any federal governmental entity using information it knows to be false, such as the identities of those submitting the comments.”

Read more here.

 

CUOMO SIGNS NET NEUTRALITY ORDER: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed an executive order protecting net neutrality in New York on Wednesday, making it the second state to issue such a rule after the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to repeal the open internet regulations late last year.

The order directs New York’s government not to enter into contracts with internet service providers unless the providers abide by net neutrality rules, which require they treat all web traffic equally.

“The FCC’s dangerous ruling goes against the core values of our democracy, and New York will do everything in our power to protect net neutrality and the free exchange of ideas,” Cuomo said in a statement.

Read more here.

 

HOUSE COMMERCE PRESSES TECH COMPANIES OVER VULNERABILITIES: House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders are demanding answers from major technology companies affected by the Spectre and Meltdown cybersecurity flaws that leave computer chips vulnerable to hackers.

In a letter, lawmakers pressed the CEOs of Intel, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, AMD and ARM to explain the need for an “information embargo” agreement between the companies to keep information on the cybersecurity vulnerabilities from the public.

“While we acknowledge that critical vulnerabilities such as these create challenging trade-offs between disclosure and secrecy, as premature disclosure may give malicious actors time to exploit the vulnerabilities before mitigations are developed and deployed, we believe that this situation has shown the need for additional scrutiny regarding multi-party coordinated vulnerability disclosures,” the letter reads.

Read more here.

 

EU HITS QUALCOMM WITH $1.2 BILLION ANTITRUST FINE: The European Union on Wednesday fined chipmaker Qualcomm $1.2 billion for paying Apple not to purchase components from its competitors.

Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, said the arrangement gave Qualcomm dominance in the market for LTE baseband chips.

“Qualcomm paid billions of US Dollars to a key customer, Apple, so that it would not buy from rivals,” Vestager said in a statement. “These payments were not just reductions in price — they were made on the condition that Apple would exclusively use Qualcomm’s baseband chipsets in all its iPhones and iPads.”

Read more here.

 

BURGER KING ON NET NEUTRALITY: Burger King is blasting the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to scrap net neutrality rules in a new ad released Wednesday, using its signature sandwich to do it.

The fast food chain posted a video illustrating what it would be like if its restaurants implemented a policy of “Whopper neutrality,” in which customers had to pay more to receive their burger faster.

Customers ordering Whoppers were given the option to pay for various MBPS — “Making Burgers Per Second” — rates. The slowest rate cost only $4.99, but came with a long wait time. Customers who wanted a Whopper as fast as possible were charged $25.99.

Read more here.

 

ON TAP:

CompTIA’s Space Enterprise Council will hold a Capitol Hill briefing at 10:00 a.m.

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on emergency alert systems at 10:00 a.m.

USTelecom will hold a cybersecurity policy forum at 11:30 a.m.

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

The Baffler: The peasants of code

The Wall Street Journal: Google parent launches cybersecurity firm

TechDirt: New bill would prevent Comcast-loyal states from blocking broadband competition

Stratechery: Amazon Go and the future

Bloomberg: Why Twitter let Noto walk away