FCC Commissioner Clyburn talks about net neutrality at CES

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn has been a vocal defender of net neutrality and even helped author the Open Internet Order in 2015. She was on the ground and Las Vegas for CES and was nice enough to make time to swing by the Engadget stage. She sat down to talk about the importance of net neutrality and her quest to protect it for future generations as well as how current policies are putting at risk those most vulnerable. Unfortunately, there were some technical problems with our audio during the interview, so we’ve included a slightly abridged transcript after the break.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Terrence O’Brien: Hello, internet, and welcome back to CES. I am Managing Editor Terrence O’Brien, live from the Engadget stage from the floor at the insanely crowded and loud Las Vegas Convention Center, and we have a really special treat for you this morning. We have Commissioner Mignon Clyburn from the FCC. You’ve been there since 2009. You’ve helped draft the Open Internet Order, and you have been a very vocal defender of net neutrality.

Commissioner Mingon Clyburn: Absolutely. When we see all of this innovation in 2.4 million square feet of floor space — this was not accidental. This was pooled by good policy, I think, crafted and embodied in a 2015 Open Internet Order that provided certainty. That provided a means to oxygen, so to speak, to all of this innovation and investment.

O’Brien: So what is it about net neutrality that makes it so important to driving innovation? How does it fuel this market?

Clyburn: It took every aspect of the ecosystem and it took every player in this space. It provided certainty for those who need to access online. It said to you that no one, no entity would be able to block all the product or advantage of their business interests over yours. So it provided that level of certainty and openness and inclusion that I think we have taken for granted.

Now, the majority has said, we have basically handed the keys to the internet to large internet service providers. And that certainty is gone. They have the ability to do all the things that we fear the most. That, again, viewed all this innovation and inclusion. You don’t have to have a storeroom. It doesn’t even matter where you live if you have online activity. You are able to engage in the space. Commerce, education, help. All of these things are available to you. And that to me is the right shame in all of this.

O’Brien: And at the heart of the Open Internet Order was the reclassifying broadband as a Title II service. Do you still feel that Title II is the best way forward for protecting net neutrality?

Clyburn: It was the strongest legal authority prepared. It was upheld by the court. It provided the level of certain protections for everyone in this space. So I think that if you have that mind meld I’m gonna sort of trick you, or if you have that mind meld or regulatory meld that everyone is protected, everyone is enabled, then yes, I think that was the best foot forward.

O’Brien: Opponents argue that those rules were put in place in 1934 under the Telecommunications Act, and it’s kind of dated. But instead, they wanna go back to rules put in place in 1996, I believe. What’s changed? Why do you think going back to these pre-World War II rules is a better way forward?

Clyburn: I’m gonna take a slight issue with that.

O’Brien: Sure.

Clyburn: Foundation might have been laid by what we have learned in the past. Particularly when it comes to critical services like broadband. Like voice service. But what we did with the 2015 rules is we got rid of 25 provisions. We got rid of over 77 hundred rules in regulations. We got rid of those because they were no longer applicable in an innovative 21st-century space. You don’t throw away the foundation of what has enabled the protections and innovations in the first place. What you do is improve upon them. What you do is get rid of the rules that are no longer applicable.

You don’t just throw away years of what we’ve learned. Because again, what we see on this floor is based on years of what we’ve learned on the adapting of where we are headed. That’s to ignore and pretend that all of those things aren’t building blocks to innovative creativity and success. I think it’s shortsighted.

O’Brien: And I won’t lie and say I’ve read the entire repeal order. It is 546-something pages, I believe. But I did kind of peruse through it. I saw multiple times, stories cited, including from sites like Engadget. It seems as if they are trying to paint companies like Google who support net neutrality as being hypocritical and questioning their genuineness because they do things like remove YouTube from Amazon Echo’s shows and other things. Does that line of argument strike you as convincing?

Clyburn: Let’s be clear about what we are doing and what we have the authority to do. No. 1: We do not regulate air providers, which Google is one. And No. 2, which is really No. 1, is we’re talking about access to the internet. So I don’t want us to plate or confuse by how others who are not our internet service providers; how they conduct themselves. That’s another agency and another conversation.

What we’re talking about is your online experience and who is in charge of that experience. Is it you or is it your internet service provider? That is the question.

O’Brien: And I think critics say the repeal has put control in the hands of the service providers, and I’m gonna read a little bit from my notebook cause I wanna make sure I get these quotes right. So, not that long ago the chairman recorded a skit for the Federal Communications Bar event. He used to work at Verizon. He joked with a senior VP of Verizon that it was: “An awesome idea to “brainwash and groom a Verizon puppet to become the FCC chairman.” How does that impact his credibility and the credibility of the commission as a whole?

Clyburn: [I’m] not trying to defend the chair because again, he can do that for himself. But that night is a very quirky night in telecommunications. We call it the Telecommunications Prom, basically for geeks that are in the space. And so it’s sort of tongue-in-cheek. It’s our own correspondents’ dinner. It’s that. Again, people are joking around. You can take issue whether the joke was funny. Just looking at that at in isolation, I might not put too much weight on that. But I do put all the weight on what he’s been advocating for the past several years and what we did last month, which I think is problematic.

O’Brien: I think that what a lot of people took issue with is that in context it seems bad where Chairman Pai first announced the intentions to repeal net neutrality. I also believe Commissioner Michael O’Reilly suggested that no amount of public outcry could change their mind on it.

Clyburn: I’ll respond to that in this way: There were millions, tens of millions, of legitimate comments. The majority of those were not in favor of changing or shifting the course of repealing on net neutrality. There were 47,000 complaints that were not entered into the record, that the majority obviously did not take into account that showed that the ecosystem is not perfect. Those to me are problematic. They are issues that run counter, I believe, to us taking everything into account. Particular are people’s opinions about what direction I think we had.

So I do take issue with my colleagues ignoring all comments. Particularly the legitimate comments, because this impacts us. There are 300-plus million people who are impacted by the decision of three people. And I think, part of that evaluation matrix should include what you feel.

O’Brien: The impact seems to go beyond just this net neutrality repeal order as well. In November there was also repeal of rules around media conglomeration. Does that not also bode poorly for a future in which there is no net neutrality?

Clyburn: I think it’s problematic. The lifeline item that is problematic. People who are economically disadvantaged … their gateway to connectivity. You’ve got uncertainty, I believe, that will come at the state level. We’ve got a Universal Service Fund that is responsible for $4.5 billion a year going into local rural communities that would be impacted by our decision because we no longer have the strongest legal authority to ensure that money is flowing. So I know the headlines might read one way, but when you peel down; when you go to the next layer, there are a lot of everyday things that are happening that we take for granted in this country in terms of investments and local communities that are now at risk, because we moved in this direction.

O’Brien: And that lifeline also seems like it’s potentially in danger?

Clyburn: I am fearful that the one, the only program that we have that is targeted for affordability at the FCC is on. I can hear the death rattles right now, and that’s a shame. Because it’s not just about infrastructure investment, though that’s important. If you build it and I can’t afford to come? That’s problematic. I think we’re putting at risk the one program that will address those millions of people that can’t afford a dial tone and they certainly can’t afford Broadband access. That’s problematic for all of us.

O’Brien: I know you have a very busy schedule. I don’t want to take too much more of your time, but I also don’t want to end on such a downer note.

Clyburn: Oh no.

O’Brien: The Senate is about to vote on net neutrality again. What can people do if they really value those protections?

Clyburn: So, what I’ve been saying a lot is the FCC does not have the final word, and thank goodness for that. We’ve got a number of parties who said they will challenge this decision in court. I think if the court rules in favor of this innovation and listening to the will of the people, ensuring that we have certainty going forward, then I think that we have a positive feature. There’s a congressional resolution that you mentioned that I think is on the [verge] of reaching critical mass in terms of numbers. I think if they weigh in and say, and listening to their constituents, I think that there’s a positive future. I’m like you. I am an eternal optimist that the people’s voices and opinions will reign supreme, and I’m looking forward to that day.

O’Brien: Let’s hope so. Thank you so much, commissioner, for joining us. And make sure to stay tuned for more here live from Engadget.

Dolby’s plan for 2018 includes Atmos and Vision in more places

It’s no surprise that many companies are touting Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos in products announced at CES. You’re making a safe bet if you assume that’s an annual occurrence. However, there’s always something unique about the devices that carry Dolby’s visual and audio tech, and this year is no different. Here’s a quick rundown of what was announced in Vegas and what Dolby has in store for 2018.

For the first time, Dolby Vision is available in a PC — thanks to Lenovo’s Thinkpad X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga. Windows 10 already includes support for Dolby Atmos, so the new Thinkpad now completes the pair. Speaking of Atmos, a number of companies rolled out audio gear that featured the tech, including Sony. Sony typically announces new Atmos home theater gear at CES and this year one of those was the HT‑Z9F soundbar.

During our time at the Dolby Showroom, we listened watched sports, movies and a TV show with Atmos simulated surround sound just from the soundbar. You definitely still get the same effect of spacial audio, but with only one speaker. What’s more, those devices that offer Dolby Atmos are now way more affordable. In fact, one of Sony’s new models will retail for $600. You used to have to spend $1,000 or more to get your hands on Atmos gear in the not-too-distant past.

Then there are the TVs. Dolby Vision has been available on pricey sets for a while, but it’s begun popping up on more affordable displays as well. New TVs from TCL and Hisense are a couple options that shouldn’t completely break the bank when they’re available later this year. The models we saw during our time with Dolby look quite impressive, even positioned close to an LG OLED TV.

Dolby also touted more supported content for 2018. From live sports to movies and streaming, expect the Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos stamp to appear more places you watch stuff. And while Atmos has already popped up on Xbox with a few supported titles (like Gears of War 4 and Assassin’s Creed), the company says that it expects most big-name games to be supported in 2018. It’s always good news when you’re moving through battle zones and the audio realistically reacts to your position.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

The latest ASUS gaming tower adds more than just flashy lights

ASUS didn’t have many brand new computers to show off at CES 2018, since it seemed to focus on unveiling unconventional routers instead. But it did release a new gaming tower via its Republic of Gamers sub-brand, which features a few updates. The ROG Strix GL 12 now comes with an overclockable eighth-generation Intel Core i7 CPU, NVIDIA GTX 1080 graphics and an easily swappable SSD tray that ASUS says is “eSports-ready”.

I’m not an eSports player myself, but during my time with the GL 12, I found it easy to pull out and insert the 2.5-inch SSD tray, which sits under a magnetic cover on the front of the tower. I don’t know why eSports players would want to switch out SSDs quickly, since it doesn’t seem like an integral part of competitive gaming, but if they need to they definitely can.

If you want to make more in-depth upgrades to your system, you can remove the GL 12’s transparent side panel, which has been reorganized to look neater. ASUS said it moved the motherboard 1mm over to the middle, creating a little gap with which to hide cables. It seems to have worked — I didn’t notice many wires hanging around inside the tower.

I played a bit of Overwatch on the GL 12, and even though I typically died within seconds of the enemy reaching my team, I at least did so without lag and respawned almost instantly. The graphics card also kept up with my frantic exploration of the Overwatch arena.

There are few better ways to show your team spirit than to beam your colors from all your gaming hardware. You could use ASUS’ Aura Sync technology before to display the same color lights across ROG laptops — now, you can do so on the tower as well. Go team!

The GL 12 will be available in Q2, although prices haven’t been announced yet. If you’re looking to truly up your team spirit at your next gaming house party, or perform some high-speed SSD swapping, you won’t have to wait too much longer.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Telegram targeted by fake apps that serve malware and ads

Make sure you check an app’s name before you download it: Telegram, for instance, had an evil twin on Google Play named “Teligram.” According to Symantec, which discovered its existence, its profile and description on the store mirrored the authentic app’s, with the only difference being the slightly altered logo. It was also branded as “New version updated” in an effort to fool users into thinking it’s the new version of Telegram. And it probably could’ve fooled people, too, since it actually works as a messaging platform.

Teligram (with the “i”) served ads within the chat list and also showed full-screen advertisements. While it didn’t seem to have malicious content, it’s still good to know that Google Play has already pulled it down. Symantec has discovered another fake Telegram app that can install malware into your system, though. That one was built using the real app’s open source code and is being distributed on third-party platforms with the same package name (org.telegram.messenger). Once you install it, a hacker can add a backdoor or an ad clicker to your system. Thankfully, it’s easy to avoid it: simply don’t install apps from sketchy websites.

Apps on Google Play like Teligram are more deceptive, and it’s definitely not the first time Symantec has spotted an impostor on the official store. Just a while ago, the security firm also found a phony Uber app that can steal your log-in credentials. It even deep links to a URL in the real application to look legit.

Intel reveals possible slowdowns from ‘Meltdown’ processor fix

Your personal computers will be less than 10 percent slower after you install the Spectre/Meltdown fix, Intel has revealed in a blog post. Intel has come to that conclusion after assessing the performance changes in computers using 6th, 7th and 8th Generation Intel core processors with Windows 10. Systems equipped with 8th generation (Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake) chips and SSDs will be the least affected, with the expected impact being less than 6 percent. Devices using the 7th Gen Kaby Lake-H mobile processors will be around 7 percent slower, while the performance impact on systems with the 6th Gen Skylake-S platform is approximately 8 percent.

Depending on how you use your computer, you may not even notice a difference. Based on Intel’s benchmark results, though, you will notice some slowdown if use browse the web and use applications, and it’s safe to say that most people do. Obviously, if you use your computer for heavy applications, the slowdown will be more noticeable. As Intel explained:

“In certain cases, some users may see a more noticeable impact. For instance, users who use web applications that involve complex JavaScript operations may see a somewhat higher impact (up to 10 percent based on our initial measurements).”

The tech titan has confirmed the Spectre/Meltdown vulnerability’s existence late last year, admitting that its latest chips have security holes remote attackers could exploit. A few days ago, Intel admitted that the fix for the flaw will slow down PCs, but it has changed its wording a few times when it comes to discussing the patch’s performance impact. These numbers will give you a more concrete idea of how much you’ll be affected.

In addition to releasing its benchmark results for PCs, Intel said it plans to share initial data on its assessment of server platforms these next few days. It also insisted that it has yet to receive any information that the Spectre/Meltdown flaw has been used to obtain customer data, but it’s probably for the best to install the fix when you get it anyway.

Via: Bloomberg

Source: Intel

South Korea to ban cryptocurrency trading amid fears of tax evasion

In a move that’s sent bitcoin spiralling, officials in South Korea have announced plans to ban cryptocurrency trading in the country. The plans come against a backdrop of concerns regarding tax evasion, as cryptocurrency trading in the country is highly speculative and similar to gambling. Many currencies, such as bitcoin and ethereum, are priced much higher in South Korea’s exchanges than elsewhere in the world. Industry data provider CoinMarketCap has even begun excluding some South Korean exchanges in its calculations “due to extreme divergence in prices from the rest of the world”.

Earlier this week, police and tax agencies raided the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. A source at Coinone, a major exchange in South Korea, told CNBC that local police have been investigating the company since last year, adding that “they think what we do is gambling”.

“There are great concerns regarding virtual currencies and justice ministry is basically preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges,” said South Korea’s justice minister Park Sang-ki at a press conference. The proposed legislation will need a majority vote of all 297 members of the National Assembly in order to ban trading outright.

But according to Mun Chong-hyun, chief analyst at EST Security, the ban “will make trading difficult here, but not impossible”. Speaking to Reuters, he said, “Keen traders, especially hackers, will find it tough to cash out their gains from virtual coin investments in Korea but they can go overseas, for example Japan”.

Nonetheless, the announcement triggered a massive selloff of cryptocurrency on both local and offshore exchanges, with the local price of bitcoin dropping as much as 21 percent. Despite the drop, it still trades at around a 30 percent premium compared to other countries, highlighting the disparity of prices in the country.

Via: CNBC

Source: Reuters

Engadget Today | The darkness after the storm

Technology and innovation are amazing. It’s why we do what we do here at Engadget every day. But it’s all for naught if the electricity goes. There was no reminder of this more timely or apt than a huge power failure at CES on Wednesday. Exhibitors got angry, attendees got confused and companies got spicy on Twitter (oh, brands!). That didn’t stop us checking out the best of the rest so far though. Enjoy.

HBO’s ‘Silicon Valley’ returns for its fifth season on March 25

Silicon Valley is about to return for a fifth season, and as the new trailer shows, things in Pied Piper’s world of startup tech are not running smoothly. There’s no Erlich Bachman, for a start (although T.J Miller, who played Bachman, has tweeted his praise for the Erlich-free season), hapless CEO Richard Hendricks is struggling to get the new internet off the ground and Jian-Yang has embraced a new badass attitude. Also there’s a dead pig for some reason. Startups, eh? Catch the new season on March 25 on HBO.

Via: Tech Crunch

Mini-Hubble will scan dim stars to see if they can support life

It doesn’t take hugely expensive space telescopes like the Hubble and future James Webb Space Telescope to hunt for habitable exoplanets. NASA and the University of Arizona will launch a small telescope the size of a cereal box called the Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat, or SPARCS, in 2021. The aim is to find so-called M Dwarfs, stars 20 times dimmer than our sun, and see if they emit too much radiation to support life on other worlds.

The telescope is just 9 centimeters, or 3.6-inchs in diameter, and equipped with a camera and two ultraviolet-sensitive detectors. Most stellar ultraviolet radiation is blocked by the Earth’s atmosphere, but the orbiting SPARCS, despite its small size, will have a clear view.

“This is a mission to the borderland of astrophysics and astrobiology,” Evgenya Shkolnik, principal investigator for the SPARCS mission, told ASU. “We’re going to study the habitability and high-energy environment around stars that we call M dwarfs.”

The SPARCS mission will scan red dwarf stars less than half the size of our sun and with 1 percent of the brightness, like the one at the heart of the Trappist-1 system. Such stars are 20 times more plentiful than yellow dwarfs like our own sun, so there are about 40 billion of them in the Milky Way galaxy.

On top of that, researchers have found that one in four M Dwarfs have a rocky planet within their habitable zones where liquid water could exist. It’s also easier for telescopes like Hubble to spot exoplanets around such stars, as the dimming when they pass in front is more more noticeable.

Shortly after the Trappist-1 discovery, however, scientists noticed a big problem. The solar winds on the Trappist-1 star’s surface are much more violent than we experience here, so the planets would be bombarded with ultraviolet radiation. Because they’re so close to the star, its radiation has probably stripped the planets of their atmospheres and made them uninhabitable.

The SPARCS mission, then, is to see if some, all or most M dwarf stars have equally violent ultraviolet outbursts. Unlike with the Hubble, where astronomers are only given brief windows for observations, scientists will be able to focus it on the same dwarf stars for weeks at a time.”Hubble provides us with lots of detail on a few stars over a short time. But for understanding their activity we need long looks at many stars instead of snapshots of a few,” Shkolnik said.

The mission will provide insight into habitable star systems, and possibly help researchers figure out where to train the big space telescopes. It’ll also help reserachers train future generations of NASA and ESA researchers at ASU and other institutions. “The SPARCS mission will show how, with the right technology, small space telescopes can answer big science questions,” Shkolnik added.

Source: Arizona State University

Ford will fit auto emergency brakes on two 2019 models

Ford always seems to be on the back foot when it comes to vehicle innovation — it only began working on a robotics team last year, for example. Now the brand is playing catch-up again, announcing plans to install automatic emergency brakes as standard on two key 2019 models, which is something its rivals have been doing for a while.

The brakes, designed to help drivers avoid collisions, will be fitted on Ford’s redesigned 2019 Edge midsize crossover and its 2019 Ranger midsize pickup. The Edge also offers a range of new optional safety features, including automatic steering assist and a revamped cruise control system.

According to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, four out of 20 carmakers installed these kinds of brakes on at least half of their US models in 2017. They can be found on 56 percent of Toyota’s fleet, compared to less than 10 percent of Ford’s.

Twenty brands have pledged to fit all of their new passenger vehicles with automatic emergency brakes by September 2022, but Ford has so far kept its own plans, if any, quiet. Raj Nair, president of the company’s North American operations, has only said that Ford intends to be “more aggressive” in standardizing safety features.

Source: Reuters