FCC to vote on net neutrality rules in February | PCWorld#tk.nl_today#tk.nl_today#tk.nl_today

 

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission plans to vote on new net neutrality rules during its February meeting.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will bring a proposal to a vote during the commission’s Feb. 26 meeting, FCC spokeswoman Kim Hart said Friday, following a report in the Washington Post.

It’s unclear, however, what form those rules will take. Hart declined to comment further on the net neutrality order Wheeler plans to circulate in February.

Many telecom policy experts had expected the FCC to take action on net neutrality early this year after a year-long fight over the issue.

Nearly a year ago, a U.S. appeals court threw out a large portion of net neutrality rules the FCC approved in late 2010. The court ruled that the FCC’s rules came too close to common carrier regulations when the commission didn’t take the step of reclassifying broadband providers as regulated utilities. The court, however, pointed to a couple if sections of the Telecommunications Act that the FCC could use to pass net neutrality regulations.

After launching a net neutrality proceeding in early 2014, the FCC has received nearly 4 million public comments about proposed regulations. Wheeler originally proposed that the FCC adopt rules that would allow broadband providers to engage in “commercially reasonable” traffic management, and in limited cases, charge Web content providers and services for prioritized traffic.

But many people filing comments, and groups like Free Press and Public Knowledge, called on the FCC to pass stronger rules prohibiting traffic prioritization deals. Many advocates of strong net neutrality rules want the FCC to reclassify broadband as a regulated public utility, while exempting them from some common carrier rules, like price regulation.

Recent news reports have suggested Wheeler is leaning toward so-called hybrid net neutrality rules that would classify a part of broadband service as a regulated public utility.

The hybrid approach would divide broadband into two services for the purpose of regulation. One service would be retail broadband access, which would remain lightly regulated, and the second would be back-end transit service, which the FCC would reclassify as a regulated common carrier, similar to utility-style regulation for traditional telephone service.

In November, however, President Barack Obama called on the FCC to reclassify all broadband service as a regulated utility.

FCC to vote on net neutrality rules in February | PCWorld#tk.nl_today#tk.nl_today#tk.nl_today

Advanced iOS virus targeting Hong Kong protesters: security firm

 

BOSTON (Reuters) - Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a computer virus that spies on Apple Inc's iOS operating system for the iPhone and iPad, and they believe it is targeting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

The malicious software, known as Xsser, is capable of stealing text messages, photos, call logs, passwords and other data from Apple mobile devices, researchers with Lacoon Mobile Security said on Tuesday.

They uncovered the spyware while investigating similar malware for Google Inc's Android operating system last week that also targeted Hong Kong protesters. Anonymous attackers spread the Android spyware via WhatsApp, sending malicious links to download the program, according to Lacoon.

It is unclear how iOS devices get infected with Xsser, which is not disguised as an app.

Lacoon Chief Executive Michael Shaulov told Reuters that Xsser is the most sophisticated malware used to date in any known cyberattack on iOS users.

"This is one the most interesting developments we have seen," he said. "It’s the first real indication that really sophisticated guys are shifting from infecting PCs or laptops to going after iOS devices."

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Hong Kong and Taiwanese demonstrators gather to support pro-democracy protests taking place in Hong  …

The code used to control that server is written in Chinese. The high quality of the campaign and the fact it is being used to target protesters suggests that it is coming from a sophisticated attacker in China, Shaulov said.

"It is the first time in history that you actually see an operationalized iOS Trojan that is attributed to some kind of Chinese entity," he said.

A Trojan is a term used by cyber researchers to describe malware that enters a device disguised as something harmless.

Still, he said that his company's research team has yet to identify any specific victims of the iOS Trojan.

Lacoon said on its blog that it is possible the attackers might have deployed the Trojan in other places, in addition to spying on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

"It can cross borders easily, and is possibly being operated by a Chinese-speaking entity to spy on individuals, foreign companies, or even entire governments," they said in a blog post describing their analysis.

Read more:  http://news.yahoo.com/advanced-ios-virus-targeting-hong-kong-protesters-security-210741365.html