Verizon Insists Higher Phone Upgrades Are Being Used To Enhance The Network Instead Of Make Up Revenue Decline

from the uh-huh dept

Within Karl Bode's post about Verizon's insistence that all of the people who continue to use grandfathered unlimited data plans don't actually exist was a brief note about the company's decision to increase the cost to upgrade the phones themselves. As mentioned in the post, Verizon claimed that the reason to push upgrade costs from $20 to $30 was due to increasing costs. Fleshing that out a tiny bit, a Verizon spokesman commented for Ars Technica.

When asked why the upgrade fee was raised, a Verizon spokesperson told Ars, "These fees help cover increased cost to provide customers with America’s largest and fastest 4G LTE network."

As both Karl's and the Ars post note, there's a bit of a problem with this statement. Verizon's earnings reports are publicly available, you see, and the company's own reporting details a fairly significant decline in operating costs compared with the previous year. So, what was sold as a need to make up for increased expense appears instead to be something else. Once the post went live, another Verizon spokesman reached out to Ars again.

After this story published, Verizon responded that it was referring to "ongoing costs to maintain and enhance the network," but did not provide any further details.

Making the additional comment rather useless, I would say. We still have source material in the form of Verizon's own financial statements that suggest lower expenses for the company, not higher. What you do find, in addition to that, is a slightly smaller decline in revenue. It would make some sense for the company to try to make up for a revenue decline by raising upgrade fees. If that were the case, however, why not just say so? Why instead invoke the expense and the spectre of the future without anything concrete to back that up? It's not like the telecom industry has some sterling reputation when it comes to how and when it deploys the cost of maintaining or upgrading their networks as the reason to take certain actions. And why on the one hand charge extra fees to burgeon the network while at the same time eliminate data plans that could take advantage of a beefed up service?

The only thing that's certain in this is that Verizon appears to be dipping ever-further into tactics that are designed not to provide its customers with additional value, but to instead merely prop up a decreasing revenue number.

Filed Under: costs, network, revenue, upgrades
Companies: verizon

Juniper Reveals 'Unauthorized Code' That Decrypts VPN Connections

from the let-the-speculation-begin dept

Well, well, well. Yesterday morning, Juniper Networks announced that it had discovered some "unauthorized code" in its ScreenOS that would allow "knowledgeable" attackers to decrypt VPN traffic on Juniper's NetScreen devices:

During a recent internal code review, Juniper discovered unauthorized code in ScreenOS that could allow a knowledgeable attacker to gain administrative access to NetScreen devices and to decrypt VPN connections. Once we identified these vulnerabilities, we launched an investigation into the matter, and worked to develop and issue patched releases for the latest versions of ScreenOS.

At this time, we have not received any reports of these vulnerabilities being exploited; however, we strongly recommend that customers update their systems and apply the patched releases with the highest priority.

Not surprisingly, speculation is running rampant concerning how this happened. Since this isn't just using some sort of zero day exploit, but rather "unauthorized code" -- it's pretty clear this isn't just some random security folks having fun. The most obvious possibilities here are nation-state level actors -- with a lot of finger pointing in the NSA's general direction. I would imagine, whether or not it's the NSA, there was a lot of freaking out at Ft. Meade yesterday as this came out. Either their own handiwork was exposed... or their own failure.

You may recall that, almost exactly two years ago the German newspaper Der Spiegel had a fairly revealing article about the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) unit, that focused on figuring out how to get into basically any computer or network. The article also discussed another group, Advanced or Access Network Technology (ANT) which focused on creating exploits in equipment. In the accompanying article about the "catalog" that ANT produces for the NSA to "purchase" exploits, it discusses targeting Juniper equipment:

In the case of Juniper, the name of this particular digital lock pick is "FEEDTROUGH." This malware burrows into Juniper firewalls and makes it possible to smuggle other NSA programs into mainframe computers. Thanks to FEEDTROUGH, these implants can, by design, even survive "across reboots and software upgrades." In this way, US government spies can secure themselves a permanent presence in computer networks. The catalog states that FEEDTROUGH "has been deployed on many target platforms."

Of course, if the code is already directly in the OS, that explains why the code can "survive 'across reboots and software upgrades'." In other words, while the original article suspected malware, perhaps the malware was already in the OS itself.

And, remember, this is the same government/NSA that now wants tech companies to share even more information with it via CISA...

Filed Under: decryption, encryption, feedthrough, network, nsa, screenos, surveillance, unauthorized code, vpn
Companies: juniper, juniper networks

Announcing The Copia Institute: A New Business Network & Think Tank Exploring Ideas In Abundance

from the welcome dept

I wanted to drop a note to the Techdirt community about an exciting new project that we're launching one month from today: The Copia Institute, a new network of future-focused innovators. Copia is Latin for "abundance" -- and information abundance is the hallmark of our time, and the source of many of its biggest opportunities and toughest challenges. We're working collaboratively with everyday internet users, business experts and technology policy leaders to focus on the challenges and opportunities we face in this age of abundance.

Think of it as a think tank for the information era.

While following and writing about issues related to innovation, business models and policy, we've seen up close the amazing power of innovative startups and pioneering technologies to change the world in powerful ways. It's hard to remember what things were like just a decade ago -- before Facebook, iPhones, YouTube, Twitter, Airbnb and more. Our lives have changed in profound and exciting ways -- and such change will continue to advance rapidly in the future. It's inspiring, exhilarating and wonderful. But it also presents unique challenges. Innovation can upset existing industries. It can collide with outdated regulations that were originally designed to protect us but now serve as roadblocks that slow progress and weaken the innovative spirit. And, sometimes, it creates ethical challenges and questions that deserve deeper levels of consideration.

With Copia, we'll bring together innovators, internet users, policymakers and experts with diverse and distinct perspectives to discuss these issues. But we won't just talk, we'll act. We will work to resolve the issues of today while preparing to address the issues of tomorrow. We want to help innovators tackle issues early on -- and look where we, as a group, can develop creative ways to embrace opportunities that make the world a better place while minimizing downsides or negative consequences.

We're launching Copia with an Inaugural Summit on March 12-13th at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose. We'll host stimulating brainstorming sessions on disruptive innovations and policy challenges, as well as a special tech industry General Counsels' roundtable to discuss principles of innovation.

We have an ambitious agenda, so stay tuned. We will share more details as the summit approaches, but until then, I look forward to seeing some of you there!

Filed Under: abundance, copia, copia institute, disruption, innovation, network, think tank
Companies: copia institute

Hackers Breached White House Network... And Some Other Country Told The US About It

from the best-cybersecurity-folks? dept

So, there's a story in the Washington Post that's getting a bit of attention about how Russian hackers apparently breached a White House computer network (an unclassified network, so not as troubling as it could have been). And that story is kind of interesting, but it seems like the bigger deal is this:

U.S. officials were alerted to the breach by an ally, sources said.

Wait a second. After all we've been told about the brilliant minds at the NSA/US Cyber Command and their "cybersecurity" skills -- it seems immensely troubling that (1) the US didn't catch this themselves and (2) that some other country did catch it. So, uh, just why is some "ally" monitoring the White House's network?

As for the rest of the report, as the Washington Post notes, this isn't even that big of a deal. Foreign state hackers are always going to try to breach US government computers, and sometimes they're going to succeed. That's the nature of the beast. But, it does seem profoundly odd that it was discovered by some other country.

Filed Under: cybersecurity, hacking, network, nsa, russians, security, us cyber command, white house

Keith Alexander, On Stage While Story Of NSA Infiltrations Breaks, Tries To Mislead With Response

from the servers-or-datacenter dept

In an interesting bit of timing, just as the Washington Post was breaking the news that the NSA had infiltrated Google and Yahoo's cloud data by hacking into the (stupidly) unencrypted data links between data centers, it turned out that NSA boss Keith Alexander was on stage at a Bloomberg Government Cybersecurity conference. He was asked about the report, and he tried to tap dance around it by claiming the NSA doesn't have access to Yahoo and Google's servers. The Guardian has a brief summary:

Alexander, asked about the Post report, denied it. “Not to my knowledge, that’s never happened,” the NSA director said, before reiterating an earlier denial Prism gave the NSA direct access to the servers of its internet service provider partners.

“Everything we do with those companies that work with us, they are compelled to work with us,” Alexander said. “These are specific requirements that come from a court order. This is not the NSA breaking into any databases. It would be illegal for us to do that. So I don’t know what the report is, but I can tell you factually: we do not have access to Google servers, Yahoo servers, dot-dot-dot. We go through a court order.”

But, of course, in typical Alexander fashion, he's choosing his words carefully -- and thankfully people can more easily see through it at this point, since they're getting so used to it. The report didn't say they were accessing those companies' servers or databases, but rather hacking into the network connection between their data centers. That's like a report breaking of the NSA hijacking armored cars with cash, and Alexander claiming "we didn't break into the bank." Nice try.

Filed Under: datacenters, infiltration, keith alexander, network, nsa, nsa surveillance
Companies: google, yahoo

AT&T More Upset About Stupid Analyst Report About Its Network Than Actual Network

from the forest-for-the-trees dept

AT&T is apparently "miffed" that a recent report from a research firm said that it carries less data traffic on its mobile network than either Verizon or Sprint. Meanwhile, the rest of us are trying to figure out exactly why the company cares so much. AT&T has been much maligned for its network's inability to keep up with iPhone users' data (and sometimes, voice) demands; perhaps the company is concerned that ranking third in overall data traffic will somehow push the perception that its network is underpowered even further. AT&T's own analysis of mobile data traffic shows it carries more than half of US mobile users' data, it says -- which is great. But that figure doesn't matter much to an iPhone user who can't connect to the network or whose device doesn't live up to their expectations because of spotty coverage. And those users' stories are probably much more persuasive among consumers than some pretty meaningless stats.

Filed Under: network, study
Companies: at&t

Telcos Still Pretending Google Gets "Free Ride"

from the repeating-something-relentlessly-does-not-make-it-true dept

Back in 2005, former AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre (now the head of GM) boldly proclaimed that Google was getting a "free ride" on his company's "pipes," and that they should be charged an additional toll (you know, just because). As we've discussed several times now, Whitacre's argument made absolutely no sense, given that Google not only pays plenty for bandwidth (as do AT&T's customers), but the company owns billions in international and oceanic fiber runs, data centers and network infrastructure. Despite making no sense, this idea that Google was some kind of free ride parasite quickly became the cornerstone of the telco argument against network neutrality. In response,Techdirt has suggested that telco spokespeople should pay for Google's bandwidth bill for a month if it's so low -- with no takers.

Of course, lost under the circus of the network neutrality debate was Whitacre's real goal: to get content providers to subsidize AT&T's network upgrades, something many myopic investors don't want to pay for. Whitacre was also afraid; he understood Google poses an evolutionary threat, the likes of which traditional phone companies like AT&T had never seen before. Incumbent phone companies had grown comfortable sucking down regulatory favors, subsidies and tax cuts while operating in non-competitive markets. Suddenly, increasingly-ubiquitous broadband allowed companies like Google to enter "their" telecom space, gobbling up ad dollars and offering disruptive products like Google Voice -- which threaten sacred cash cows like SMS and voice minutes.

Instead of competing with Google by out-innovating them, Whitacre's first reaction was to impose an anti-competitive toll system like some kind of bridge troll -- which should tell you plenty about pampered phone company thinking. Whitacre's fuzzy logic was given a new coat of paint in pseudo-scientific studies paid for by phone carriers, and has since floated overseas. In the UK, incumbent phone companies have taken a page from Whitacre, insisting that the BBC should pay them extra money -- just because people were using the BBC iPlayer. Now Google's non-existent free ride has popped up in Europe this week, with Telefonica, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom all jointly insisting that Google should be paying them a special toll for carrying Google traffic:

Cesar Alierta, chairman of Telefonica, said Google should share some of its online advertising revenue with the telecoms groups, so as to compensate the network operators for carrying the technology company's bandwidth-hungry content over their infrastructure. "These guys [Google] are using the networks and they don't pay anybody," he said.

Yes, Google doesn't pay anything -- except for the billions they pay for bandwidth and extensive infrastructure. Were Google a telecommunications carrier, they'd be the world's third biggest according to Arbor Networks. It's absolutely stunning that such a ridiculous argument remains in circulation (and that many press outlets don't debunk the concept as painful nonsense). If electric companies went to AT&T or Telefonica to inform them that they wanted a cut of revenues on top of payment for electricity "just because" -- they'd be laughed out the building. Yet somehow we're supposed to take phone companies seriously, when in reality they're simply repeating total nonsense in the hopes that repetition will magically make it true.

Filed Under: bandwidth, infrastructure, network, telcos
Companies: at&t, google

AT&T Says Its Network Can't Keep Up With All The Cool Stuff You Can Do With The Smartphones It Sells

from the nice-touch dept

AT&T caught a lot of flak at the beginning of April, when it updated the terms of service for its mobile data network, banning all sorts of activities on it. AT&T later said the changes had been made in "error" and removed the new language, though it later reinserted language banning "redirecting television signals for viewing on Personal Computers" -- a ban apparently aimed directly at the forthcoming SlingPlayer application for the iPhone, which lets users watch TV from their Slingbox at home on their mobile device. The app has now been released, but it only works over WiFi, not the 3G mobile connection, because AT&T says, in a nutshell, that its mobile network doesn't have enough capacity to support streaming-video services if they take off. So all those cool data applications Apple and AT&T tout for the iPhone or other smartphones sold by the operator? Just remember they exist only at the behest of the carrier; if they threaten to expose its network's shortcomings, they'll get blocked.

Filed Under: impressions, network, promises, smartphones
Companies: at&t