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TECHNOLOGY Saturday 20 May 2017

FCC vote kicks off a battle over regulation of the internet

TALI ARBEL segment helped popular-
AP Technology Writer ize net neutrality as an is-
NEW YORK (AP) — A feder- sue (nearly 4 million com-
al agency voted to kick off ments filed back in 2015),
the repeal of “net neutral- got into the mix again with
ity” rules designed to keep another segment on May
broadband providers like 7, urging viewers to tell the
AT&T, Verizon and Com- FCC to keep the net neu-
cast from interfering with trality rules.
the internet. But the vitriol often un-
It’s the latest change that leashed by the internet is
the Federal Communi- already leaking into this
cations Commission has inter-industry tech-policy
made to ease regulation of battle. The chairman and
the phone, broadcast and his staff have complained
cable industries. about mean or racist com-
Undoing the net neutrality ments directed at Pai, who
rules — which, for instance, is Indian-American. Oliver
block providers from fa- even begged supporters
voring their own apps and to be civil in an online vid-
services over those of com- eo posted Sunday.
petitors like Netflix — may There are also reports that
be the biggest battle yet many of the 2 million com-
triggered by FCC Chair- ments already filed to the
man Ajit Pai. The tech FCC are fake. And the FCC
industry, which sees net said its site was attacked
neutrality as necessary to In this Feb. 26, 2015, file photo, Federal Communication Commission Commissioner Ajit Pai speaks the night of Oliver’s first
innovation, is already push- during an open hearing and vote on “Net Neutrality” in Washington. segment, making it hard to
ing back by lobbying poli- Associated Press leave a comment.
ticians, sending letters of study by Hal Singer, a net- fended the analysis he re- strong,” said Moody’s Mark FCC officials have said,
protest to the agency and neutrality critic and econo- lied on, saying it’s the more Stodden, who analyzes however, that it’s not a
starting to rally supporters. mist who has worked as a accurate measure of in- telecom companies like numbers game, and they
The FCC’s three commis- telecom-industry consul- vestment in the U.S. Verizon and AT&T. “I hear pay more attention the
sioners voted 2-1, with the tant. Singer found that such Industry analysts, however, companies complaining know-how of the person
lone Democrat opposed, infrastructure investment say it’s so far hard to say, about net neutrality and or group making the com-
to start a process aimed at by network companies and note that other factors Title II, but I think it’s a cop- ment rather than how
unwinding the net neutral- has declined 5.6 percent also affect investment. out. I don’t think they’re many are filed on each
ity rules. It will be months in 2016 from 2014. The tele- In June 2015, the Obama- actually spending less. They side.
before final rules are up for com trade group USTele- era FCC decided to regu- don’t like it so they com- INDUSTRY COMFORT
a vote. com likewise says broad- late broadband as a “Title plain about it.” A preliminary version of
BATTLE OF THE INVESTMENT band investment is falling in II” service — putting it, like RALLYING THE TROOPS Pai’s proposals, released
STUDIES the aftermath of the net phone service, under strict- Some net-neutrality sup- last month, raised concerns
Pai often argues that net neutrality rules. er government oversight. porters have already start- that the FCC would only
neutrality rules are heavy Free Press, an advocacy That gave the FCC author- ed to push back against repeal, but not replace,
handed and discourage group that supports net ity to enforce net neutrality the repeal effort. The net neutrality protections.
broadband investment. His neutrality, has its own rules. Companies worried Firefox browser has a call to Thursday’s proposal asked
goal, he says, is to encour- competing study showing that regime would make it action that goads users to whether it’s still necessary
age companies to build broadband companies’ easier to regulate the pric- “tell the FCC that you heart to bar internet providers
out their wired and wireless infrastructure spending es they charged for broad- the open web!” and links to from blocking or slowing
broadband networks and rose, and says USTelecom band. a site collecting signatures down certain websites or
draw more Americans on- is wrong to exclude some “From where we sit, the for a letter to Pai. apps, or from charging ser-
line. spending by AT&T and overall level of investment John Oliver, the HBO com- vices like Netflix extra for
For support, Pai turns to a access to consumers. q
Sprint. Pai on Thursday de- in the business is still pretty edy-news host whose 2014
Frenchmen claim cure for WannaCry-infected computers

PARIS (AP) — French re- that reason, the technique Friday, the three accounts WannaCry. succeeded in applying the
searchers have released isn’t likely to help many known to collect ransom In his research summary, technique to the newer
software tools that they people. payments had received Guinet — who works for Windows 7 system as well.
claim can restore some of In addition, companies less than $100,000 worth of the Paris-based firm Quark- Chris Wysopal, chief tech-
the computers locked up needing to restore their the cybercurrency bitcoin, slab — said his software nology officer with the soft-
by a global cyberattack operations right away like- an amount that security re- had only been tested to ware security company
that held users’ files for ran- ly would have turned to searchers say is small com- work under Windows XP. He Veracode, said that after
som. backups, if available, by pared with how widely added the software helps ransomware attacks, re-
The researchers said, how- now. WannaCry spread. recover the prime numbers searchers will often infect
ever, that the tools are not The developments came The researchers — Adrien of the RSA private key that one of their own machines
perfect and work only if the Friday, the apparent dead- Guinet, Matthieu Suiche are used by WannaCry. on purpose to see if the
computers infected with line for owners of some in- and Benjamin Delpy — After Guinet’s fix came out, key is somehow left in the
the WannaCry ransom- fected machines to pay worked separately to find others looked for ways to memory. That happened
ware have not been re- a ransom of up to $600 or ways to decrypt files scram- extend that to other op- here with some systems of
booted after being hit. For lose their files forever. As of bled and held hostage by erating systems and have Windows.q