Russia export controls and sanctions

The FCC proposal to bar USF spending on products or services from companies seen as posing a national security risk is meeting with mixed reaction, with disagreements about whether rules should be limited to USF-funded equipment and services or should have broader reach, recent docket 18-89 comments show. Huawei called the rulemaking launched in April (see 1804170038) an "improper and imprudent" blacklist, and some critics questioned the efficacy of the proposed approach. Comments were due Friday, replies July 2.

The federal government needs private sector collaboration to maximize cybersecurity defense, said Assistant Attorney General-National Security John Demers Thursday. Speaking at a FedScoop/FireEye event, Demers cited successful public-private cybersecurity efforts with Yahoo, Google and other private entities that shared cybersecurity interests with law enforcement. Those efforts led to enforcement action against criminals from Russia, Iran, the Islamic State and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, he said. “We will continue to work with other agencies to use all elements of national power to meet this ever-changing and growing challenge,” Demers said. “To adequately protect our shared national cyber security against persistent attack, we will need your help as well.”

BBC will offer two live “cutting-edge” trials of next month's World Cup from Russia, one in Ultra HD with hybrid log-gamma HDR, the other in virtual reality, said the broadcaster Wednesday. The Ultra HD trial will stream all 29 of BBC One’s World Cup matches over the BBC iPlayer, it said. The trial will be available "to watch on a first-come, first-served basis,” it said. The trial will help the BBC “and wider industry prepare for a time when delivering such large-scale events in such high quality, for larger audiences, over the open Internet is normal,” it said. It recommends a connection of at least 40 Mbps to view the matches in 4K resolution. BBC "can only confirm that each game can support tens of thousands of people," emailed spokesman David Turnbull. "The combination of the BBC and the World Cup can drive massive audiences, and right now there is limited bandwidth available to deliver live Ultra HD content to such large audiences over the open Internet," he said. "We’re making our Ultra HD trial available to as many people as possible within those limitations, while testing our systems on the largest scale yet. The experience and data we gather from performing these trials will help us to optimise and scale up UHD delivery in the future." The VR trial will be viewable through a dedicated BBC app available for free soon on Apple, Android, Gear VR, Oculus Go and PlayStation VR devices, it said. The monthlong World Cup opens June 14.

Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies and Russian provider MTS said they jointly deployed licensed assisted access technology in Ufa City, Russia. “LAA is an important technology in the LTE network evolution to 5G, providing access to new unlicensed frequencies,” Ericsson said. “With this milestone, MTS has surpassed its previous 700 Mbps speed record, enabling the service provider to take the next step in turning its mobile infrastructure into gigabit-capable.” Ericsson is upgrading MTS’ network for 5G and the growing IoT. "Delivering Gigabit LTE speeds, this is the first commercial LAA rollout in the region and is part of the agreement entered by MTS and Ericsson in 2017 to upgrade the MTS network with Ericsson Radio System and core network solutions," Ericsson said.

CenturyLink called attention to botnets, saying it tracked an average 195,000 daily threats, affecting 104 million unique targets, from servers and computers to handheld and other devices. They "are one of the foundational tools bad actors rely on to steal sensitive data and launch DDoS [distributed denial of service] attacks," said Mike Benjamin, head of CenturyLink's Threat Research Labs, in a Tuesday release on a 2018 threat report. "The United States, Russia and China hold the lead as the three most common points of origin for malicious internet activities," followed by Brazil and Ukraine, the telco said. The U.S., China, Germany, Russia and the U.K. were the top five countries targeted in bot attacks, it said. "Scanning for vulnerable devices is the basis" for two common botnets, Mirai and a precursor Gafgyt (also called Bashlite, Lizkebab and Torlus), the report said: "Once vulnerable devices are identified, they are instructed to connect to a download server to install the malware. They then may be instructed to port scan for vulnerable devices or use external scanners to find and harvest new potential bots. ... Mirai and Gafgyt have been tied to DDoS attacks against gaming servers and the botnet owner’s perceived rivals.

On the eve of the FCC vote on an NPRM on the security of U.S. communications networks, CTIA warned in a report Monday that the U.S. has fallen behind China in the race to 5G. Commissioners also will vote Tuesday on a public notice on the first auctions of millimeter-wave spectrum for 5G. The auction notice appears likely to get a 5-0 vote, industry and agency officials said Monday.

Reddit identified nearly 1,000 suspicious accounts linked to the Russian troll farm, Internet Research Agency, the social media site announced Tuesday. Reddit didn’t “detect any effective use of these accounts to engage in vote manipulation,” the announcement said. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said Reddit is “distinct among social media platforms” for its user-based content moderation, but all platforms “have a responsibility to do everything in their power to prevent foreign adversaries like Russia from interfering in our elections.”

LAS VEGAS -- Pearl TV and Sinclair used the early hours of the NAB Show to tout expansions of the ATSC 3.0 trials they're running in their two test markets. The Pearl-led Phoenix “model market” project (see 1711140053) announced the addition of nine more collaborating companies, while Dish Network, with Sinclair's urging, joined the Sinclair-led consortium of Nexstar, Univision, American Tower and Cunningham Broadcasting -- newly named the Spectrum Co. -- that’s running 3.0 single-frequency-network (SFN) trials at three sites in the Dallas area (see 1801170053).

Facebook will require identity and location disclosure for political advertisers, it announced Friday, also endorsing a key bill to thwart foreign interference in elections and becoming perhaps the first major tech company to do so. "Election interference is a problem that's bigger than any one platform, and that's why we support" the Honest Ads Act (see 1803260045), CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Friday. "This will help raise the bar for all political advertising online." The bill would pave the way to apply some disclosure rules to online ads that are now required for ads on more traditional media. The Cambridge Analytica intrusion and Facebook's role also came up at length at a panel discussion Friday (see 1804060057)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the House Commerce Committee April 11 at 10 a.m., the committee announced Wednesday. Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said the hearing “will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online.” The social media giant announced Wednesday that data of as many as 87 million people, mostly in the U.S., may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica. Original estimates were around 50 million. Pallone and other members of Congress penned a letter to the FTC last month asking for details on the agency’s investigation into the matter. Facebook announced Tuesday it removed 70 Facebook and 65 Instagram accounts created by Russia’s Internet Research Agency. IRA “has consistently used inauthentic accounts to deceive and manipulate people,” Facebook said. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., expects Zuckerberg to continue to identify Russian troll activity and work with Congress.