The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, which began Tuesday, is drawing interest from U.S.-based internet governance stakeholders. Some told us they will be watching for potential clues about the future trajectory of ITU internet policymaking. WTSA is set to run through Nov. 3 in Yasmine Hammamet, Tunisia. The standards conference is the ITU’s first major meeting since implementation earlier this month of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition, which most U.S. stakeholders had identified as crucial to the credibility of the multistakeholder internet governance model (see 1610030042).
Russia export controls and sanctions
The use of export controls and sanctions on Russia has surged since the country's invasion of Crimea in 2014, and especially its invasion of Ukraine in in February 2022. Similar export controls and sanctions have been imposed by U.S. allies, including the EU, U.K. and Japan. The following is a listing of recent articles in Export Compliance Daily on export controls and sanctions imposed on Russia:
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump refused again to say the Russian government masterminded the hacking of servers at the Democratic National Committee and other Democratic Party-affiliated organizations, during Wednesday's debate. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security jointly confirmed earlier this month that the Russia government was behind “the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.” Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton asked Trump Wednesday to “admit and condemn that the Russians are doing this and make it clear that he will not have the help of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in this election.” Clinton later said 17 U.S. intelligence agencies “concluded that these [cyberattacks] come from the highest levels of the Kremlin and are designed to influence our election, and I find it deeply disturbing.” Trump said Clinton “has no idea whether it was Russia, China or anybody else” behind the hacks. “Our country has no idea,” Trump said. “Yeah, I doubt it.” Trump suggested during the Sept. 26 debate (see 1609270056) that “lots of other people” could be behind the hacks, including China or “someone sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.” Trump said during the Oct. 9 debate that Democrats were attributing the hacks to Russia because “they are trying to tarnish me with Russia.”
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment on whether the FCC should recognize the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) and National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) as accreditation bodies that do accreditation of test labs under agency rules outside the U.S. A2LA is recognized domestically, OET said, and now seeks to be an accreditation body for labs in China, India, Philippines and Thailand for testing equipment for authorization under the commission’s Declaration of Conformity and certification programs of commission rules. OET sought comment on A2LA’s “qualifications and capabilities.” Comments are due Oct. 26, replies Nov. 2, said a public notice in docket 16-313. OET also sought comment on NVLAP's request to expand its accreditation to accredit labs in China, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand and Ukraine. The comments dates are the same, said a PN.
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition took place as expected Saturday (see 1609300065). NTIA confirmed it allowed its contract with ICANN to administer the IANA functions to lapse just before midnight Friday, after U.S. District Court Judge George Hanks ruled in Galveston, Texas, against a temporary restraining order request to delay the switchover. Four Republican state attorneys general filed the TRO request (see 1609290073). Industry officials lauded the transition’s completion, with several telling us the handoff provides certainty to the internet industry and allows them to move on to other pressing issues.
Health and fitness tracking using a mobile app, fitness band or smartwatch is popular among one in three internet users globally, GfK said in a Thursday report. Men globally are more likely than women to use a fitness tracker, but five countries -- Australia, Canada, China, France and Russia -- “stand out” as having a higher percentage of their female online populations using a tracking app or device, it said. Overall, fitness trackers are most popular among adults age 20-39, it said. Only a quarter of teenagers 15 and older now track their fitness activity, but many more said they did so in the past, the report said. “This suggests potential for bringing this significant number of past users back into the market” with the right messaging or promotional offers from retailers and manufacturers, it said.
Two conservative groups said they're continuing to push Congress to delay the planned Internet Assigned Numbers Authority switch, which is to occur Saturday. Senate Republicans last week introduced language for a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government after FY 2016 expires Friday that didn’t include proposed language that would delay the move beyond the expiration date (see 1609220067). The tech sector strongly backed the transition, with Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and others saying the transition will aid American innovation (see 1609260045). But it’s “troubling that the Senate has failed to include language prohibiting this transfer of power,” said Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint in an opinion piece Monday on Heritage news arm The Daily Signal: The transition “is quite simply reckless, but it will happen unless Congress intervenes. Absent specific instruction otherwise from Congress, the contractual relationship between the U.S. government and ICANN will cease” Saturday. Congress “must think long and hard about allowing Obama to give away the internet -- because right now, that’s what he’s on track to do,” DeMint said. “Congress has the power to stop this. Will it?” American Center for Law and Justice Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow separately said the group is still working with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and 10 other GOP senators to delay the transition. “The internet has continued to be free because of the United States’ continuing partnership with [ICANN], maintaining control and ensuring that cyberspace is free and secure, Sekulow said in a blog post Monday. “Unless we act this week, our Internet is in danger. In an era in which state-sponsored hackers in Iran, Russia, North Korea, and other authoritarian regimes are trying to target our elections, our financial information, and our national security, this fight matters.”
Cox Enterprises promotes Cox Media Group's Kim Guthrie to president-CMG, effective Jan. 1, succeeding Bill Hoffman, retiring ... Pandora hires Nick Bartle, ex-LinkedIn, as chief marketing officer, effective Oct. 3 ... LeEco hires Richard Ren, ex-Huawei, as president-smart devices for North America, Asia Pacific, Russia and Eastern Europe, and as acting president of all "vertical businesses" in North America ... MapAnything announces Chris Rosbrook, ex-Piper Jaffray, as chief financial officer ... Bayshore Networks, industrial IoT cybersecurity provider, hires Kirby Wadsworth, ex-Mendix, as chief marketing officer, new position ... News Corp. names David Phillips, ex-Pennsylvania Association of Realtors, vice president-industry relations, national, News Corp. subsidiary Move Inc., new position.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, cited Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's support for delaying the planned Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition as one of six “vital” policy reasons Cruz decided to endorse Trump's candidacy Friday. The Trump campaign said Wednesday it backed a push by congressional Republicans to delay the transition through language in a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government when FY 2016 ends Sept. 30 (see 1609210070). Senate Republicans filed non-compromise CR language Thursday that didn't contain the transition delay language (see 1609220067), drawing some GOP criticism (see 1609230031). Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton supported the IANA transition in a tech policy agenda released in June (see 1606280071), which shows her commitment to “hand over control of the Internet to an international community of stakeholders, including Russia, China and Iran,” Cruz said in a Facebook post. Cruz's endorsement comes more than two months after he refused to back Trump during a speech at the Republican National Convention. Cruz said he chose to endorse Trump in part because he committed last year to “support the Republican nominee.” Cruz said he also chose to publicly back Trump because Clinton's support for the transition and her other policy positions are “wholly unacceptable.”
Cybercriminals are taking advantage of “lax” IoT device security in home networks and consumer connected devices to spread malware and create “zombie” networks, or “botnets,” said a Symantec report Thursday. Cybercriminals are “hijacking” home networks and connected devices to help carry out distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on more profitable targets, typically large companies, by “stitching together a large web of consumer devices that are easy to infect because they lack sophisticated security,” said Symantec. More than half of all IoT attacks originate from China and the U.S., based on the location of IP addresses used to launch malware attacks, it said. High numbers of attacks also are originating in Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine and Vietnam, though attackers may use proxy IP addresses to hide their true location, it said. Most IoT malware targets non-PC embedded devices such as web servers, routers, modems, network attached storage devices, closed-circuit television systems, and industrial control systems, said Symantec. Attackers are aware of insufficient IoT security, it said, and many program their malware with commonly used and default passwords, allowing them to easily hijack IoT devices. Poor security on many IoT devices makes them easy targets, and victims often don’t know they've been infected. Attackers tend to be less interested in the victim, hoping instead to hijack a device to add it to a botnet, most of which are used to perform DDoS attacks, it said. IoT devices are a prime target because they're designed to be plugged in and forgotten after basic set-up, Symantec said. The most common passwords IoT malware used to attempt to log into devices involved “root” and “admin,” an indication, said the company, “that default passwords are frequently never changed.”
A Senate Judiciary Oversight Subcommittee hearing Wednesday delivered on widely anticipated fireworks over the planned Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition (see 1609020038). The hearing failed to change perceptions that the simmering debate over whether to delay has shifted from a partisan fight, stakeholders told us. Congressional Republicans appear to be continuing to coalesce around a proposal to delay the transition via language in the short-term continuing resolution to fund the government once FY 2016 expires Sept. 30, while Democrats appear united in opposing it, lobbyists told us. Republicans have been working to finalize the CR language, which would extend a rider in the Department of Commerce's FY 2016 budget that bars NTIA from using its funding to execute the transition. Senate GOP leaders had hoped to pass the CR this week but the debate could spill into next week (see 1609130050).