Targeted cyberattacks rose 42 percent last year from 2011, said a Symantec report Monday (http://bit.ly/17XrYiQ). Globally, there was an average of 116 target attacks per day in 2012, it said. Small businesses, “the path of least resistance for hackers,” were the target of 31 percent of the attacks, it said. Manufacturers were targeted for more attacks in 2012 than governments, which topped the list in 2011, it said. Attacks on social network sites and mobile devices continue to increase, Symantec said, while spam and phishing attacks have continued to decrease.
Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio service surpassed the 30 million registered users benchmark in less than two years, it said in a Monday new release (http://bit.ly/100wprn). The digital radio service has added registered users at a rate second only to Instagram’s as the fastest-growing digital service, Clear Channel said. “Since iHeartRadio listeners are not required to create an account to stream broadcast radio stations, the number of registered users reflects only a small snapshot of the service’s overall reach."
International Launch Services and EchoStar signed a contract for a future heavy-lift mission launch on an ILS Proton launch vehicle. An EchoStar satellite is planned to be launched into geostationary transfer orbit on an ILS Proton Breeze M in the 2015-2016 timeframe from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, ILS said in a press release (http://bit.ly/15GiRpA). The agreement provides the flexibility and schedule assurance required for the execution of EchoStar fleet expansion programs, EchoStar said in the release.
The FCC extended by a month comment deadlines on its indecency policy. Comments now are due June 19, replies July 18, in docket 13-86, said a Friday public notice. It granted NAB’s request (CD May 2 p11) for a delay. “We recognize the importance of affording all interested parties sufficient time to prepare their comments and to consider the comments filed in preparing reply comments as warranted,” said the notice (http://fcc.us/ZOaCzH). “We also respect the interest of the public in having sufficient time for review and consideration of the various positions and concerns."
Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis issued opposing evaluations of Sprint Nextel’s bid to take full control of Clearwire ahead of the planned May 21 shareholder vote. Sprint has offered $2.97 per share for the Clearwire stock it doesn’t own, for an estimated total of $2.2 billion. ISS backed Sprint’s offer, saying it’s fair and that Clearwire is becoming “increasingly unviable on a stand-alone basis.” ISS also said that since Sprint already owns a majority of Clearwire, it has effective veto power over other bids. Glass Lewis opposed Sprint’s bid, claiming the carrier hadn’t convinced the proxy advisory firm it was Clearwire’s best option. While Clearwire “is in need of a significant capital injection and its stand-alone operating potential is heavily dependent on its ability to execute additional strategic transactions, including spectrum sales and debt or equity financings, it does not appear, in our view, that the board fully explored all available alternatives,” Glass Lewis said. Sprint said it’s pleased with the ISS recommendation, saying Clearwire’s board and special committee unanimously endorsed the carrier’s bid (http://bit.ly/10AJ8SN).
The U.S. Constitution’s intellectual property clause has foundations in philosopher John Locke’s “classical liberal” political philosophy, said Free State Foundation President Randolph May and FSF research fellow Seth Cooper Friday in an essay (http://bit.ly/13mkQvz). As the House begins to re-examine copyright, an appreciation of these “foundational principles should be important,” May said in an email. Locke defined property to include “one’s person, one’s faculties, and the fruits of one’s labor,” May and Cooper said in the blog post. Locke’s philosophy, as interpreted by James Madison and other framers of the Constitution, “confirm the status of copyrights and patents as genuine forms of property, on par with real or personal property,” May and Cooper said. Some now believe that intellectual property “is not property, or that somehow it must be ‘reconstructed’ on different analytical grounds,” they said. “At bottom, such supposed ‘reconstruction’ of intellectual property is inconsistent with fundamental principles concerning our rights that our Founders firmly embodied in the American constitutional order."
By 2018, there will be 110 million subscribers to enterprise mobile content management solutions, ABI Research said in a statement Friday (http://bit.ly/YLbiuk). Jason McNicol, senior analyst for enterprise at ABI Research, said the subscription growth will be partially driven by the security threats that arise as employees are more frequently able to use their own devices and “more corporate content is being placed in the cloud using consumer-grade storage solutions."
The FCC Wireline Bureau denied a petition from Sandwich Isles Communications for a waiver of certain USF and intercarrier compensation rules, said a Friday order signed by bureau Chief Julie Veach (http://bit.ly/15VqdVZ). The company “failed to show good cause for a waiver at this time,” the bureau said. A waiver would “allow it to retain a number of significant and wasteful expenses, totaling many millions of dollars, including significant payments to a number of affiliated and closely-related companies,” the order said. “Indeed, Sandwich Isles’ corporate expenses are 623 percent greater than the average for companies of similar size with the highest corporate operations expenses.” The company could restructure its operations and file a new waiver petition, the bureau said. Sandwich Isles had asked for a 10-year waiver of the FCC’s $250 per line per month cap on high-cost universal service support, the bureau said.
AT&T, Comcast and Google are among the companies with ad dollars supporting online piracy, said a University of Georgia preliminary study. It was detailed in a blog post Wednesday by David Lowery, musician and lecturer at UGA’s Terry College of Business (http://bit.ly/ZPNHHC). AT&T, Comcast and Google did not respond to our requests for comment by our deadline.
Clear Channel said it found radio “is for Millennials & Gen Z,” after a survey in September through March of more than 1,000 people online aged 13-54 and focus groups with more than 50 in three cities. “Young consumers listen as much as the rest of us, and [a] majority expect it to always be part of their lives.” Ninety-four percent of those aged 13-17 listened at least once weekly, as did 89 percent of respondents 18-24, the radio station owner said Friday (http://bit.ly/11YXnh8). “Consumers supplement AM/FM radio listening on other platforms” -- 55 percent on custom streaming playlist sites, 44 percent on streaming terrestrial station programming and 33 percent with satellite radio, it said. “Although digital platforms serve a relatively small portion of total listening hours (TLH), overall TLH for broadcast and digital combined are increasing.” Also “enhancing its currency with listeners” is “access to radio via multiple platforms,” Clear Channel said. Latitude Research and OpenMind Strategy did the research. Executives at other radio-station owners have said the industry faces challenges in perception after advertiser spending on terrestrial spots declined more than online ads are growing (CD April 30 p1).