Tablets’ share of mobile traffic fell in every country last year, said a Monday report from Adobe Digital Insights. In the U.S., tablets generated 8 percent of total web traffic, down from 10 percent in 2014, it said. Discounted tablets over the holidays were some of the hottest selling products of the season, but sales haven’t translated to traffic, said analyst Becky Tasker. Overall U.S. website traffic has remained flat for the past three years, said ADI, with smartphone device usage growing at the expense of other devices. Smartphone visits to the web grew 69 percent since 2014, as desktop and tablet visits declined by 23 and 14 percent, said the research firm. Though the mobile segment is a “battleground” for companies, “the app boom is over,” with installations down 38 percent in the past two years and launches down 28 percent, said Tasker. ADI said consumers in developing countries are bypassing PCs and going straight to smartphones to access the internet. Brazil and Argentina are rising fastest in share of smartphone traffic, said Tasker.
A recent suggestion from Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly that foreign visitors could be required to provide access to their social media accounts as a condition to enter the U.S. was condemned by a coalition of more than 100 civil rights, cybersecurity, media, privacy and technology organizations and notable law and cybersecurity experts. They said in a statement Tuesday that such a requirement wouldn't increase American security and is a "direct assault" on people's rights. Kelly made the comment a couple of weeks ago at a House hearing and cautioned it was only under consideration. Several experts questioned whether such a move would enhance security.
Michigan cable providers saw increased video competition in their franchise areas in 2016, the Michigan Public Service Commission said Wednesday, releasing an annual report on video service competition. By year-end, providers reported having one competitor in 599 franchise areas, two competitors in 199 areas and three competitors in five areas, the report said. The state had 38 total video providers in 2016, five less than in 2015, and had 2,045 franchise agreements, six more than the year before, the report said. The providers served about 2.17 million customers there, down about 178,000 from 2015, it said. In 2016, the commission received 393 informal customer complaints and inquiries pertaining to 10 cable providers, with 64 percent directed to Comcast, 14 percent to AT&T and 11 percent to Charter Communications, the report said. The most common complaints were billing charges, cable line issues and equipment service problems.
Twenty-seven percent of internet users in 17 countries said they’re willing to share personal data in exchange for benefits or rewards such as lower costs or personalized service, GfK reported Friday. Those ages 30-40 are most likely to share data such as health, financial, driving records or energy use for rewards, with China (38 percent), Mexico (30 percent) and Russia (29 percent) topping the list. U.S. respondents skewed slightly lower at 25 percent willing to share data (23 percent who disagreed with the statement). Germany (40 percent), France (37 percent) and Brazil (34 percent) have the most internet users unwilling to share data for rewards, the report said. GfK interviewed more than 22,000 consumers ages 15 and older online last summer.
Eight states and Puerto Rico diverted a portion of state 911 fees for other purposes in 2015, the FCC said in an annual report to Congress. The report was submitted to legislators Dec. 30 and released Friday. The total amount diverted was nearly $220.3 million, or about 8.4 percent of total fees collected, the FCC said. In the previous year’s report, the FCC said eight states diverted $223.4 million, or 8.8 percent of 911 funds, in 2014. And the practice appeared to continue last year despite a few state legislative tries to address it, our earlier research on the topic found (see 1605270020). Also in the report, the FCC said 36 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico combined spent about $164.8 million in 911 revenue on Next Generation-911 programs in 2015. That's 6.26 percent of total 911 fees collected, the FCC said. But 13 states, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands didn't spend any money on NG-911, the agency said. Also, 38 states and three territories spent no 911 funds on 911-related cybersecurity programs for public safety answering points, but nine states and the District did, it said. In addition to seeking comments on the findings, the FCC asked about the role of oversight and auditing in ensuring collected 911 fees are used properly. "As in previous years, the Report finds that almost every reporting jurisdiction collects 911 fees from in-state subscribers, but many states lack authority to audit service providers to verify that the collected fees accurately reflect the number of in-state subscribers served by the provider,” the commission said in a public notice. Comments are due Feb. 13, replies March 15.
The FCC Wireline Bureau authorized Alaska Plan support for 13 rate-of-return (ROR) carriers, consistent with an August order agreed to by commissioners on a 3-2 vote (see 1608310067). The August order provided a “one-time opportunity for Alaskan ROR carriers to elect to receive support frozen at adjusted 2011 levels for a 10-year term in exchange for meeting individualized performance obligations, the bureau order said. Among the carriers, the largest amount of support will go to Matanuska Telephone Association at $18.7 million per year. In comparison, Circle Telephone & Electric is to get $38,532 each year. Each carrier must agree to comply with the public interest obligations adopted in the August order by Dec. 29, the bureau said. “As directed by the Commission,” the bureau said it will review these carriers’ plans on a biennial basis “and adjust the plans based on any changed circumstances.”
Ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden "was not a whistleblower" but a "disgruntled employee" who lied often and did "tremendous damage" to national security through his document leaks, concluded the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in a declassified bipartisan report released Thursday. After a two-year investigation, committee members released the 38-page redacted report along with a document with report highlights and a news release. Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said "it will take a long time to mitigate the damage" Snowden caused, and ranking member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the former contractor wasn't a whistleblower. "Most of the material he stole had nothing to do with Americans’ privacy, and its compromise has been of great value to America's adversaries and those who mean to do America harm," said Schiff. Among the findings, the report said Snowden cheated on an NSA test to obtain a position and had numerous run-ins with supervisors at the CIA and NSA. The report also said "the vast majority of documents" Snowden took were unrelated to electronic surveillance, privacy and civil liberties, but he did infringe on the privacy of NSA personnel by searching their drives without permission. The committee also said it's still concerned the NSA and intelligence community hasn't done enough to lessen the risk of another unauthorized disclosure. In a series of tweets, Snowden countered several report assertions, including one tweet that said: "Bottom line: this report's core claims are made without evidence, are often contrary to both common sense and the public record." Another Snowden tweet said: "It is an endless parade of falsity so unbelievable it comes across as parody. Yet unintentionally exonerating:" Former Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman, who wrote about government surveillance based on Snowden's leaks, also wrote a scathing commentary, calling the committee's report "trifling." Gellman is a senior fellow for The Century Foundation, which published his commentary.
Global government requests to Facebook for user account data rose to 59,229 for the first half of 2016, up 27 percent from the second half of last year, said Deputy General Counsel Chris Sonderby in a Wednesday news release. U.S. law enforcement made 23,854 requests, but most of those requests contained a nondisclosure order that prevented the website from notifying users, he said. "As for content restriction requests, the number of items restricted for violating local law decreased by 83% from 55,827 to 9,663," he said. "Last cycle’s figures had been elevated primarily by French content restrictions of a single image from the November 13, 2015 terrorist attacks" (see 1604280039). The report also includes, for the first time, information on requests from governments to preserve data, he said. These are records that won't be disclosed until Facebook gets a formal and valid legal process, wrote Sonderby, adding that the company received 38,675 preservation requests for 67,129 accounts. The social media service expanded reporting of emergency requests to include countries outside the U.S -- 3,016 requests for 4,192 accounts. It also said the U.S. government lifted a gag order for one national security letter received in the second half of 2015 due to transparency changes introduced this year by the USA Freedom Act.
Spectrum overhaul was a dominant effort this Congress for Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and he pledges to continue fighting for spectrum legislation in 2017 under the administration of President-elect Donald Trump. Emails acquired by Communications Daily through an open records request show a complicated back and forth as Thune tussled with the Obama administration throughout 2015 and 2016 over initial drafts of his Mobile Now bill (S-2555), revealing in detail for the first time publicly specific administration objections that he and other lawmakers referred to in negotiating over the measure. Those debates may pick up next year.
Fostering prepaid and resold wired internet services and thereby creating competition similar to that existing in the wireless industry could close the digital divide and address systemic racial discrimination reducing internet adoption among minorities, Free Press reported Tuesday. It may be a challenge to convince a Republican-led FCC next year to require those options or stop market-power abuses, said Policy Director Matt Wood in an interview. While a prepaid internet service offered by Comcast lowers one adoption barrier, it may raise other hurdles, Wood said.