FCC demands carriers protect customer privacy in declaratory ruling

Privacy has been a hot-button topic of late, no more so than in the area of telecommunications. Perhaps as a response to these concerns, the FCC voted today for a Declaratory Ruling that all carriers must safeguard the private data in their customers' mobile devices. This data is known as customer proprietary network information (CPNI) and consists of metadata like phone numbers, call duration, call locations and call logs. Providers are supposed to protect such data already, but until today that only applied to the network -- now phones are covered under it as well. Carriers are still allowed to collect the information for network support purposes, but all precautions must be met so it's not compromised. It appears that third-party apps and services aren't covered under the ruling, and there aren't any strict regulations on how the CPNI may be gathered or protected. Still, the FCC made it clear that if any of the data is exposed, the carriers would have some serious 'splainin to do. To learn more about the ruling, check out the press release after the break.

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Via: Fierce Wireless

Source: FCC

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/HOKVFchbev4/

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It?s Groundhog Day for Fact-Checkers

Patriot Majority USA, a Democratic political action committee, taps the same old playbook from summer 2012, dredging up all-too-predictable Medicare and health care claims in attacking Arkansas Republican Rep. Tom Cotton, a potential 2014 Senate candidate.

The group?s ad, launched with the Senate Majority PAC, claims that Cotton supported a plan that ?essentially ends Medicare? and costs ?some seniors $6,000 more a year.? Sound familiar? We debunked those same distortions from this very same Democratic group last July ? we?re only a week shy of publishing this story on the same day we posted last year?s. The ad also throws in the convoluted claim that Cotton, by voting to repeal the Affordable Care act, was ?voting Congress taxpayer-funded health care for life.?

Cotton, an Army veteran and lawyer who?s a freshman in the House, hasn?t declared his candidacy, but Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor faces a potentially tough reelection race in 2014.

So, the target for Patriot Majority and Senate Majority PAC is new; the tactics, not so much. In fact, as Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post?s Fact Checker, said in writing about this ad, all three major fact-checking organizations (FactCheck.org, PolitiFact.com and The Fact Checker) have previously debunked these claims.

Let?s start with the claim that Cotton was ?voting Congress taxpayer-funded health care for life.? Actually, Cotton cosponsored and voted for a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which requires members of Congress and their staffs to get health insurance through the exchanges created by the law. If the ACA were to be repealed, members of Congress and their staffs would continue to get their health insurance through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, an exchange-like program that offers a choice of many private plans to more than 8 million federal employees and retirees.

In other words, one impact of repealing the law would be that Congress would continue getting health insurance from the FEHB program, which was created in 1959.

It?s true that federal government retirees can continue to receive insurance through the FEHB program as long as they?re eligible for an immediate annuity and were enrolled in the program for at least five years before retirement. And the government pays a good chunk of federal employees? premiums: an average of 72 percent. It?s largely ?taxpayer-funded,? just as most work-based coverage is largely employer-funded. But that?s expected to still be the case once members start getting insurance through the exchanges. There?s concern on Capitol Hill that the transition won?t be that smooth, but congressional staffs are expected to get the same benefits, simply from a different insurance source.

Medicare Memories

As we mentioned, nearly one year ago, we fact-checked the claims that lawmakers supported a plan to ?end Medicare? that would have cost seniors an additional $6,000. (And the claims were old even then ? the ?end Medicare? claim made our ?Whoppers of 2011? list.) The reference is to the budget plan from Rep. Paul Ryan ? but the ?end Medicare? quote is taken out of context, and the $6,000 claim pertains to his plan from 2011. That was before Cotton was even elected.

The ad says Cotton was ?supporting a plan that the Wall Street Journal said essentially ends Medicare,? as the phrase ?essentially end Medicare? and a citation for the Journal pops up on screen. But the April 4, 2011, article said that Ryan?s plan would ?essentially end Medicare ? as a program that directly pays those bills.?

Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2011: The plan would essentially end Medicare, which now pays most of the health-care bills for 48 million elderly and disabled Americans, as a program that directly pays those bills.

That?s not the same as saying Ryan?s plan would put an end to a government plan for health insurance for seniors. His plan would have been a big change: He called for a ?premium-support? system, where the government would send payments, like subsidies, to private insurance companies that would compete for seniors? business on a Medicare exchange. He proposed implementing such a system for new beneficiaries beginning a decade in the future. The government would be paying insurance carriers, rather than directly paying health care bills.

While the Democratic claims haven?t changed in two years, Ryan?s plan has. His latest plans called for traditional Medicare to remain an option on his Medicare exchange.

As for the claim about some seniors paying thousands more under the Ryan plan, CBO did find, for the 2011 plan, that seniors with private plans would pay more than they would under the traditional Medicare system, and its analysis indicated that in 2022, a 65-year-old would pay about $6,000 more. The subsidies under that plan were set to increase with the rate of inflation.

But Ryan?s subsequent plans upped the rate of increase. CBO has only said of the latest plan that ?beneficiaries might face higher costs,? but there was no more definitive estimate than that. Patriot Majority, however, hasn?t updated its attacks. It offers the same distortion it pushed a year ago.

The plan Ryan introduced in 2013, and the one Cotton voted in favor of, echoes his 2012 plan. The groups behind the ad point to a Dec. 15, 2011, tweet that Cotton sent from his personal account supporting Ryan?s Medicare plan: ?Medicare needs reform, and @RepPaulRyan has a bipartisan plan to fix it: http://bit.ly/sBZnL4. #ar4 #argop #tcot.? But that?s a reference to the plan Ryan was about to introduce in 2012, as evidenced by the link to a National Review article on that topic.

Here?s hoping there?s no Groundhog Day in the summer of 2014.

? Lori Robertson

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/groundhog-day-fact-checkers-211240505.html

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Marc Edwards' app design workflow

Don't know how I missed this. Marc Edwards, my co-host on Iterate is not only one of the best designers on the planet, but one of the most generous, and on top of all the articles and scripts he's already shared, he's now gone and posted his entire app design workflow on Bjango.com:

Here it is ? my complete iOS, Android and Mac app design workflow, starting from the first time you open Photoshop, to the app release and beyond. Now seemed like a good time to document how I?ve been working, because my workflow is about to drastically change again, with the release of Skala.

Perhaps with iOS 7 as well? I'm really looking forward to seeing how Marc updates the Bjango apps, and if -- and how -- his workflow evolves. In the meantime, if you're interested in app design, check out how one of the best in the business goes about practicing his craft.

More: Bjango.com:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/-9X57JtSsCo/story01.htm

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NSA leaker's dad says son would return to US

A supporter of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden holds a poster outside Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow Friday, June 28, 2013. Russian and foreign journalists continued to monitor the Sheremetyevo international airport, where Snowden is believed to remain at the transit zone. The poster reads : Edward! Russia is your second Motherland! (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

A supporter of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden holds a poster outside Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow Friday, June 28, 2013. Russian and foreign journalists continued to monitor the Sheremetyevo international airport, where Snowden is believed to remain at the transit zone. The poster reads : Edward! Russia is your second Motherland! (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

A Snowden supporter holds a poster outside Sheremetyevo, airport in Moscow Friday, June 28, 2013. Russian and foreign journalists continued to monitor the Sheremetyevo international airport, where National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden is believed to remain at the transit zone. The poster reads: "Russia is for Snowden!" (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The father of NSA leaker Edward Snowden acknowledged Friday that his son broke the law but said he doesn't think he committed treason, as the Obama administration renewed its calls to Russia to expel Snowden so he can be tried under the Espionage Act.

Meanwhile, Ecuadorean officials say Russian authorities have stymied the country's efforts to approve a political asylum application from the former National Security Agency systems analyst, according to government officials with direct knowledge of the case. Their accounts further complicate the already murky understanding of his current status.

In conceding his son's guilt, Snowden's father, Lonnie Snowden, told NBC's "Today" show that his lawyer had informed Attorney General Eric Holder that he believes his son would voluntarily return to the United States if the Justice Department promises not to hold him before trial and not subject him to a gag order.

"If folks want to classify him as a traitor, in fact, he has betrayed his government. But I don't believe that he's betrayed the people of the United States," Lonnie Snowden said. The elder Snowden hasn't spoken to his son since April, but he said he believes he's being manipulated by people at WikiLeaks. The anti-secrecy group has been trying to help Edward Snowden gain asylum.

"I don't want to put him in peril, but I am concerned about those who surround him," Lonnie Snowden told NBC. "I think WikiLeaks, if you've looked at past history, you know, their focus isn't necessarily the Constitution of the United States. It's simply to release as much information as possible."

Lonnie Snowden declined to comment when The Associated Press reached him Friday.

U.S. officials said their outreach to Russia, Ecuador and other countries where Snowden might travel to or seek refuge is ongoing.

"We continue to be in touch, via diplomatic and law enforcement channels, with countries through which Mr. Snowden might transit or that could serve as a final destination, also in touch, clearly, with the Russian authorities," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters. "We're advising governments that Mr. Snowden is wanted on felony charges and should not be allowed to proceed any further, other than necessary to return to the United States. So we continue to make that active case through diplomatic and law enforcement channels."

Ventrell said the U.S. message to Russia has been consistent.

"We don't want this to negatively impact bilateral relations. It's understandable that there are some issues raised by this, but from our perspective, based on our cooperative history of law enforcement, and especially since the Boston bombings, that there's certainly a basis for expelling Mr. Snowden," he said, citing "the status of his travel documents and the pending charges against him."

The State Department revoked Snowden's visa last weekend.

Ecuadorean officials have said publicly they cannot start considering Snowden's asylum request until he arrives either in Ecuador or in an Ecuadorean embassy.

Two government officials with direct knowledge of the negotiations said Ecuador had been making detailed plans to receive and host Snowden.

One of the officials said those plans had been thwarted by Russia's refusal to let Snowden leave or be picked up by Ecuadorean officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the case by name.

Snowden intended to travel from Moscow with the intention of going on to the Ecuadorean capital of Quito but after he was held up in the Moscow airport, Ecuador asked Russia to let him take a commercial flight to meet Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino in Vietnam or Singapore, where Patino was on a pre-planned official trip, in order to be taken back to Quito by Patino, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak to the press.

The Russians rejected Ecuador's requests to let Snowden leave Moscow, or to let an Ecuadorean government plane pick him up there, the official said.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa told reporters on Thursday that Snowden was "in the hands of the authorities" in Russia.

But Russian authorities have said Snowden is outside Russian control in a transit area of the Moscow airport, which is technically not Russian territory.

Edward Snowden is charged with violating U.S. espionage laws for leaking information about NSA surveillance of Internet and telephone records to detect terrorist plots.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-06-28-US-NSA-Surveillance/id-f39b704c31774c77b8b970878327aeb8

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BlackBerry lost 4 million subscribers in Q1 despite new launches

BlackBerry lost 4 million subscribers in Q1 despite new launches

BlackBerry posted dismal fiscal first-quarter results on Friday morning, and the hits kept on coming during the vendor?s earnings call. CEO Thorsten Heins did his best to paint a picture of a company on teetering on the brink of a turnaround, but investors weren?t convinced and BlackBerry shares plummeted more than 20% during Friday?s pre-market session. Among the worst news ? aside from the fact that BlackBerry initially failed to disclose BB10 unit sales in the June quarter, which, by the way, was the first full quarter of Z10 sales and the quarter in which the Q10 launched ? was word that BlackBerry?s new devices are not bringing in new subscribers as quickly as old ones are fleeing: BlackBerry said

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blackberry-lost-4-million-subscribers-q1-despite-launches-130049455.html

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Ijaw group to FG: Establish military academies in N-Delta - Vanguard

By Emma Amaize

WARRI ? IJAW Peoples Development Initiative, IPDI, has called on Federal Government to establish military academies in Niger-Delta, to ease recruitment of youths from the region into the military and police.

President of IPDI, Mr. Austin Ozobo, in a statement, said ?The Federal Government should site Nigeria Defence Academy, NDA and Police Academy in the Niger-Delta to ease the pains and agonies youths of the region face in their attempt to get admission into thee academies.

?The North has taken undue advantage of these institutions to the disadvantage of the people of the South with its high military presence.? Many of the fairly educated youths in the Niger Delta became militants out of frustration in their efforts to get recruited or admitted into NDA and Police Academy in the country.

?Failure to timely address this demand may collapse ties between the Federal Government and the region because the North appears to have benefited more in terms of recruitment of military officers through NDA and Nigeria Police Academy admissions.

?Ninety per cent of recruitment of soldiers, NDA and Police Academy admissions go to the North, and it makes the North so powerful against their southern counterparts in the country. It is frustrating and shocking that nobody from the South could gain admission successfully into the sister schools or be recruited without seeking for help from a northern military senior officer.

?Both academies are seen as northern schools as it failed to address the military needs of the entire country because by its mode of operation, Nigeria Defence Academy and Police Academy are sectionalised and tribalised.?

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/ijaw-group-to-fg-establish-military-academies-in-n-delta/

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New Aussie PM hopes for 'kinder, gentler' politics

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) ? Kevin Rudd has wrenched back the job of Australian prime minister from the woman who had maneuvered him out three years ago, possibly just in time to soften a crushing defeat that his party likely faces in upcoming elections.

He was sworn in Thursday and urged fellow lawmakers to be "a little kinder and gentler" toward each other following the internal coup that ousted Julia Gillard, the country's first woman prime minister.

Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat, forced Gillard out Wednesday in nearly the same way she ousted him in 2010. Each faced a party leadership vote in the face of a revolt from Labor Party lawmakers, but while Rudd did not contest Gillard's earlier challenge, she went ahead with a vote that she lost 57-45.

Gillard tendered her resignation Wednesday night.

In a brief statement to Parliament two hours after he was sworn in as national leader, Rudd praised Gillard's "major reforms" on issues such as industrial law and school literacy testing, as well "her great work as a standard bearer for women."

Rudd's ouster had created a rift in the Labor Party and endless infighting. He had tried twice previously to oust Gillard, last year and in February. Many took the fact that he never posed for a Parliament House portrait, as other former prime ministers had done, as a sign that he never gave up on returning.

"As we all know in this place, political life is a very hard life; a very hard life indeed," Rudd told Parliament.

"Let us try ? just try ? to be a little kinder and gentler with each other in the further deliberations of this Parliament," he added.

Markets reacted calmly to the change in leadership, which is not expected to affect Australia's economy or its strong dollar. Amid global financial instability and after years of growth fueled largely by a mining boom, the nation's economy has cooled.

Rudd's way back to leadership was paved with the Labor Party's dismal opinion polling under Gillard, ahead of elections she had set for Sept. 14 but that Rudd could schedule as early as Aug. 3. Australians favor Rudd over Gillard, and while the conservative opposition is still favored to win the next election, Rudd's leadership could help avoid a landslide defeat.

Rudd had warned that Labor was facing its worst election defeat under Gillard's leadership in the 111-year history of the Australian federation.

Gillard lacked Rudd's charisma, and although many Labor lawmakers preferred her style, her deepening unpopularity among voters compelled a majority to seek a change.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott demanded an explanation from Rudd of why Gillard was deposed with elections looming. Abbott also called for an election date to be confirmed.

"Politics is a tough business and sometimes it is far more brutal than it needs to be," Abbott said.

"This is a fraught moment in the life of our nation. A prime minister has been dragged down; her replacement owes the Australian people and the Australian Parliament an explanation," he added.

Rudd's office could not immediately confirm whether Rudd would replace Gillard in a visit to Indonesia that had been scheduled for next week.

Governor-General Quentin Bryce commissioned Rudd as prime minister on Thursday, what is likely to be Parliament's last day before elections.

Anthony Albanese was sworn in as deputy prime minister and Chris Bowen was sworn in as treasurer during the same ceremony. Rudd has yet to say when he will announce his complete Cabinet after seven ministers resigned following Gillard's ouster.

Rudd faces a potential no-confidence vote in Parliament. He probably would survive it, but a loss could trigger an election as early as Aug. 3.

Bryce revealed that she took late-night legal advice on whether she should swear in Rudd. A minority government such as Gillard led has not been seen in Australian federal politics since World War II, and Labor's leadership change raised unique constitutional questions.

While Rudd has the support of his party, Labor has just 71 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives. Gillard was able to govern with support from some independents and the minor Greens party. They are not obligated to support Rudd, though he did get the backing of at least two independent lawmakers who had not supported Gillard.

Rudd's statement fulfilled a condition set by Bryce that he quickly notify Parliament of his appointment so that lawmakers had an opportunity to take action.

Gillard said after her loss Wednesday that she was proud of her government's achievements, including the introduction of an unpopular carbon tax paid by the biggest industrial polluters. She had been dogged by her pre-election promise never to introduce such a tax.

Gillard's gender was a focus several times during her tenure, and she made international headlines for calling Abbott a misogynist.

She said Wednesday that because of her tenure, "It will be easier for the next woman and the woman after that and the woman after that. And I'm proud of that."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/aussie-pm-hopes-kinder-gentler-politics-045919297.html

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