Top tech lobby joins legal battle to keep 'net neutrality'

Yahoo – AFP, January 6, 2018

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai pushed the rollback
of net neutrality (AFP Photo/ALEX WONG)

Washington (AFP) - The lobby group for some of the most powerful US tech firms said Friday it would join the legal challenge to the planned rollback of "net neutrality" rules requiring internet service providers to treat all online traffic equally.

The Internet Association -- a group which includes Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft, among others -- announced it would support legal efforts to block the rollback voted last month by the Federal Communications Commission.

The association gave no specifics but suggested it would seek to intervene in lawsuits expected by several attorneys general, including from Washington and New York states.

Internet Association president Michael Beckerman said the FCC action voted December 14 "defies the will of a bipartisan majority of Americans and fails to preserve a free and open internet."

He said the association "intends to act as an intervenor in judicial action against this order and, along with our member companies, will continue our push to restore strong, enforceable net neutrality protections through a legislative solution."

Last month's vote capped a heated partisan debate and is just the latest twist in a battle over more than a decade on rules governing internet service providers.

FCC chairman Ajit Pai, who pushed the latest effort, has argued that the neutrality rule enacted in 2015 served to stifle investment and innovation in a fast-evolving sector.

But net neutrality backers have argued that clear rules are needed to prevent internet service providers from blocking or throttling services or websites for competitive reasons, and that the rollback would increase the power of a few dominant providers to control what users see online.

Lawsuits could not be filed until the FCC's order was published, which occurred this week. Some lawmakers have also begun efforts to invalidate the FCC's action.

The battle over net neutrality has raged for over a decade in the FCC and the courts, with both sides contending they represent "internet freedom."

The 2015 net neutrality rules were backed by then-president Barack Obama and endorsed by a 3-2 Democratic majority at the time. But the election of President Donald Trump reversed the FCC party majority and it quickly reversed course.

Twitter an awkward child as it turns 10

Yahoo – AFP, Glenn Chapman, 18 March 2016

Twitter's woes include a slump in its stock price to all-time lows this year -- down 

nearly half from its 2013 stock market debut -- and ongoing losses, even as 

its revenue grows (AFP Photo/Emmanuel Dunand)

San Francisco (AFP) - As Twitter marks its 10th birthday Monday, it is somewhat of an awkward child -- having become a powerful communication tool but still struggling to win users and reach profitability.

Since making a star-quality entrance a decade ago, Twitter has become a must-have tool for journalists, activists and celebrities but has struggled to show it can expand beyond its devoted "twitterati" to become a mainstream hit.

March 2006: Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey

 (@jack) sent the first tweet, an automated 

message saying "just setting up my twttr" 

and later the same day, he sent the first

live tweet, "inviting coworkers" (AFP

Photo/Justin Tallis)

While Internet lovers might have trouble envisioning life without Twitter, the San Francisco-based company has seen its stock tank, a chief executive leave, and its staff cut.

Twitter's woes include a slump in its stock price to all-time lows this year -- down nearly half from its 2013 stock market debut -- and ongoing losses, even as its revenue grows.

Twitter's base of monthly active users remained stuck at 320 million at the end of 2015. While that is a big accomplishment, Twitter has failed to keep pace with fast-growing rivals and to expand beyond its base.

The troubles have forced Twitter to bring back co-founder Jack Dorsey as chief executive, but that has not stemmed rumors about a possible buyout or merger.

"It's not dead yet," independent analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group said of Twitter.

"Watching all the metrics, you see they are not getting a lot worse but they don't seem to be getting better either."

Some analysts believe Twitter's true value is being demonstrated in the US presidential race, especially by the Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump.

"Eight weeks ago I would have said the days of Twitter are over; I don't say that anymore," Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry told AFP.

Twitter has 'legs'

Republican presidential candidate Donald 

Trump has boosted the number of his

 followers to nearly seven million, and has

 managed to beat rivals with a campaign 

largely based around Twitter (AFP

Photo/Rhona Wise)

The analyst said Trump has shown how potent Twitter can be for those who embrace it.

"I think that probably the worst for Twitter is over," Chowdhry said. "This platform has legs."

Chowdhry said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also used Twitter effectively to win his campaign and Tesla founder Elon Musk has been shaking up the auto sector with the help of the messaging platform.

Twitter and other social media have been important tools in movements such as the Arab Spring, and in protests in Turkey, where the government has sought to ban it.

An advantage of Twitter is that it lets users "amplify" messages with tweets that echo on the Internet, and assess public sentiment in real-time by getting quick feedback.

Trump has boosted the number of his followers to nearly seven million, and has managed to beat rivals with a campaign largely based around Twitter.

"I am pretty sure most of his followers are not on Twitter, but they know what he is saying on Twitter," analyst Omar Akhtar of the technology research firm Altimeter Group, said of Trump.

"The Twitter effect cannot be ignored. Twitter has a life beyond its platform, the trouble is it doesn't know how to monetize that part."

The research firm eMarketer lowered its revenue estimates for Twitter this month, saying its "monetization" efforts -- the selling of advertising or "promoted tweets" for those who use the platform without logging in -- are falling short.

A man looks at a tweet from US Republican

 presidential candidate Jeb Bush showing a

 handgun and the caption "America" in

 Washington, DC (AFP Photo/Nicholas

Kamm)

"Events like the US election and Summer Olympics this year may prove pivotal to the success of this strategy," said eMarketer's Martin Utreras.

Change brings risk

Twitter bears the weight of being measured against Internet titans such as Facebook, which is only a few years older but has eclipsed the billion-user mark.

Flight VC partner Lou Kerner, whose investor group watches emerging companies, said Twitter has done "an amazing job" creating a new communication medium but appears to have leveled off instead of becoming ubiquitous.

"Like any other company, Twitter is judged on growth," Kerner said. "They have stagnated."

Even more troubling, Kerner noted, is that engagement at Twitter has been ebbing in an indication that "people have tired of it."

While Facebook has evolved with new features, Twitter has changed little since it began, according to Kerner.

"In order to reignite engagement, they would have to make profound changes to what they do," he said.

"The problem is, you can't make a make a massive change without a massive risk."

Some say Twitter has become a victim of

its own success -- it has become so

cluttered with information that it becomes

hard to navigate (AFP Photo/Damien

Meyer)

Some say Twitter has become a victim of its own success -- it has become so cluttered with information that it becomes hard to navigate.

"Twitter is still incredibly relevant when it comes to major cultural events, major news events, the kinds of things people are discussing around the world," said Debra Aho Williamson of eMarketer.

"But anyone who follows just a couple of hundred people can easily be overwhelmed by the amount of information. It becomes work rather than fun."

Dorsey currently is managing two firms, Twitter and mobile payments startup Square -- both multibillion dollar companies struggling to achieve profitability.

Dorsey said Twitter priorities for this year include making it more intuitive to use; live-streaming video, and making it safer for people to freely express themselves on the platform.

Twitter recently revamped its timeline, allowing the "best" tweets to rise to the top, despite warnings of a revolt from members loyal to the real-time flow of the messaging platform.

"If you look at the 10 years as a whole, you will see that Twitter really has revolutionized the way we communicate," Akhtar said.

"To me, it is a utility like electricity or the phone -- it is really part of everyday life."

Twitter an awkward child as it turns 10 https://t.co/by1E6cQsrP pic.twitter.com/B5stMnbKrz

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 18, 2016

¿Que bolá Cuba? Just touched down here, looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people.

— President Obama (@POTUS) March 20, 2016

Related Article:

"You Don’t Know How the Frog Jumps"–  Jan11, 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“…  Last week, I gave you a message about the potentials of 2011. And there were those in this room who attended. I'm going to repeat something I said there, for you need to hear it and it has to do with politics. It would seem intuitive to every single Human Being in the room that in order to accomplish what you do as Americans in Congress, you must have at least two parties. For that is the way it has always been - the red and the blue.

What if I told you that there will come a time when there will be no parties? You might then say, "Well, that's impossible, Kryon, because you're not Human and you don't know how funding works." You might say, "It has to be a party that creates the power to raise money for the ones who cannot, and then the funding is spread around and this is the way we work. If you didn't have parties, you'd have no funding. Nobody could advertise, and no one could get elected."

Oh, really?

Are you aware right now, that you have a president who was elected on the Internet? He figured it out. When everybody can talk to everyone, you have plenty of funding. A few dollars here, a few dollars there. You talk to millions at the same time, they talk to millions at the same time. It's a new paradigm of communication. The young people know all about it, and you can't stop it. Watch for more from this new paradigm.

It is worldwide communication, one person at a time. It doesn't matter how many laws you pass, and it doesn't matter what you decide about who is in charge of it, you can't stop it. It's out of the bag now, and the communities of the young are going to be communicating. This is how the politicians are going to be communicating to you, literally coming into your home in a holographic form perhaps, explaining their position one by one, without a party. Then you will elect them to your Congress without a party and they will sit in the chairs without a division and there will be no such thing as the "other side of the aisle."

And that, Human Being, is called unity and there is a paradigm that you cannot even imagine. And it's in the works. And then you'll have a Congress that works together and gets things done without the current duality.  ….”

WTO strikes 'landmark' deal to cut tariffs on IT products

Yahoo – AFP, Ben Simon, 24 July 2015

WTO director Roberto Azevedo says a "landmark" deal has been reached to 

cut tariffs on some information technology products (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

Geneva (AFP) - Major exporters of information technology on Friday agreed to cut global tariffs on more than 200 products, in the first such deal struck by the World Trade Organization in nearly two decades.

The pact which came after three years of frequently-stalled negotiations, covers products ranging from video games to touch screens and GPS navigation systems.

In all, the 201 products covered account for roughly $1.3 trillion (1.18 trillion euros) or seven percent of annual global trade.

"Today's agreement is a landmark," WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo said in a statement, describing the accord as "the first major tariff cutting deal" at the organisation in 18 years.

The European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom described the deal -- which was initiated and brokered by the EU -- as "a great deal for consumers, and for companies big and small".

While the full terms of the agreement will not be released until next week, the WTO said the highlights include the elimination of "the majority of tariffs" on a diverse range of products within three years.

The trade value of the IT products covered amounts to more than the "trade in automotive products — or trade in textiles, clothing, iron and steel combined," Azevedo.

While only 54 WTO member-states took part in the talks, all 161 nations that make up the organisation can benefit from the outcome, the WTO said.

The EU said an additional, "limited" number of countries is expected to confirm its participation in the deal in the coming days.

The tariff reductions are set to start in 2016, but participating countries must by the end of October submit a draft schedule spelling out their plans to meet the terms of the deal.

Logjam broken

The agreement is an expansion of a pact reached in 1996 by 81 WTO members, known as the Information Technology Agreement (ITA).

In 2012, member states resolved that the ITA needed to be revised because the world's most valuable IT products had been invented after 1996.

But there were considerable hurdles to striking a broader agreement, notably differences between the United States and China.

There were reports that China was fighting to exclude about 60 new product categories, including certain next-generation silicon chips.

US President Barack Obama (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) drink

 a toast at a lunch banquet in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 

November 12, 2014 (AFP Photo/Greg Baker)

In November 2014, President Barack Obama said in Beijing that the two sides had "reached an understanding" on moving the talks forward.

The WTO said that the deal finalised on Friday has provisions to expand the list of products covered, with changes possibly needed "to reflect future technological development."

Lower prices, more jobs

The WTO chief claimed the agreement was set to have "a huge impact" by lowering prices, creating jobs and boosting economic growth worldwide.

For the EU's Malmstrom, much of the immediate benefit was likely to be felt by smaller producers.

"This deal will cut costs for consumers and business – in particular for smaller firms, which have been hit especially hard by excessive tariffs in the past," she said.

WikiLeaks dumps data from Sony hacking scandal

Yahoo – AFP, April 17, 2015

WikiLeaks published thousands of documents from last year's Sony hacking
scandal, calling them an insight into the inner workings of a "secretive" firm

New York (AFP) - WikiLeaks published thousands of documents on Thursday from last year's Sony hacking scandal, calling them an insight into the inner workings of a "secretive" firm.

The website said the searchable data dump includes 30,287 documents from the US-based Sony Pictures Entertainment and 173,132 emails to and from more than 2,200 company email addresses.

The same data was released online after hackers attacked Sony Pictures last November and threatened the company over the release of the comedy film "The Interview," which depicts a fictional CIA plot to kill North Korea's leader.

The threats saw Sony cancel the public debut of the movie and led to the resignation of chairperson Amy Pascal. The leaks showed that Pascal had swapped racially insensitive jokes about President Barack Obama over email.

Washington blamed North Korea for the hack.

"Now published in a fully searchable format The Sony Archives offer a rare insight into the inner workings of a large, secretive multinational corporation," WikiLeaks said in a statement.

It said the original release was not searchable and was removed before the public and journalists could scrutinize them.

Sony data was released online after hackers threatened the company over the release
of "The Interview," which depicts a fictional CIA plot to kill North Korea's leader

WikiLeaks described Sony as an influential corporation with ties to the White House, able to impact laws and policies, and with connections to the US military-industrial complex.

"It is newsworthy and at the center of a geo-political conflict," said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who lives at Ecuador's embassy in London to avoid prosecution for alleged rape in Sweden.

"It belongs in the public domain. WikiLeaks will ensure it stays there," the Australian former hacker said.

Sony condemned the re-release of the data, saying the private information does not belong in the public domain and WikiLeaks is helping the hackers' efforts to harm employees.

"The cyber-attack on Sony Pictures was a malicious criminal act, and we strongly condemn the indexing of stolen employee and other private and privileged information on WikiLeaks," Sony said in a statement.

The data indicates company CEO, Michael Lynton, dined with Obama and Sony employees raised money for the Democratic Party and incumbent Democrat New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, WikiLeaks said.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is a multi-billion-dollar US subsidiary of the Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. It handles film and TV production, acquisition and distribution.

Related Article:

Ben Affleck suppressed slave-owning ancestry, hacked Sony emails claim

Obama authorizes sanctions to combat cyberattacks

US President Barack Obama has issued an executive order which will allow economic sanctions on US and foreign hackers. The move will enable authorities to punish individuals, as well as entities engaged in cyber attacks.

Deutsche Welle, 1 April 2015

In a statement issued by the White House on Wednesday, Obama said cyber threats pose one of the most serious economic and national security challenges to the Unites States.

The US president also said he would "employ the authorities of my office and this administration, including diplomatic engagement, trade policy tools, and law enforcement mechanisms, to counter the threat posed by malicious cyber actors."

Freeze assets

Under the order, the US Treasury would be able to freeze or block assets belonging to those involved in cyber attacks on "critical" US computer networks, such as banking systems or electric power, or the theft of data such as credit card information.

"A new tool against cyber threats." —President Obama on @Medium: http://t.co/x6O38yRWEG #CyberSanctions
— WH National Security (@NSCPress) 1 april 2015

"Cyber intrusions and attacks - many of them originating overseas - are targeting our businesses, stealing trade secrets, and costing American jobs. Iranian hackers have targeted American banks," Obama said.

Sony Pictures hacking

In his statement on Wednesday, the US president also referred to the alleged North Korea cyber attack on Sony Pictures last November which disabled thousands of computers.

In December, the American FBI blamed North Korea for hacking the film studio over the release of Sony Pictures' satire film, "The Interview," which depicts a fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

A month later, Obama signed an executive order authorizing initial sanctions to punish Pyongyang over the alleged hacking, in addition to previous US sanctions which were directed at North Korea's nuclear program.

ksb/jil (Reuters, AFP)

Net neutrality activists score landmark victory in fight to govern the internet

FCC says ‘we listened and we learned’, and passes strict broadband rules that represent ‘a red-letter day for internet freedom’

The Guardian, Dominic Rushe in Washington, 26 February 2015

Protesters hold a rally at the FCC headquarters in Washington to
support net neutrality. Photograph: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

Internet activists scored a landmark victory on Thursday as the top US telecommunications regulator approved a plan to govern broadband internet like a public utility.

Following one of the most intense – and bizarre – lobbying battles in the history of modern Washington politics, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed strict new rules that give the body its greatest power over the cable industry since the internet went mainstream.

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler – a former telecom lobbyist turned surprise hero of net neutrality supporters – thanked the 4 million people who submitted comments on the new rules. “Your participation has made this the most open process in FCC history,” he said. “We listened and we learned.”

Wheeler said that while other countries were trying to control the internet, the sweeping new US protections on net neutrality – the concept that all information and services should have equal access online – represented “a red-letter day for internet freedom”.

“The internet is simply too important to be left without rules and without a referee on the field,” said Wheeler. “Today’s order is more powerful and more expansive than any previously suggested.”

Barack Obama – who had pushed for the regulations – praised the decision and thanked the people who had protested for tighter rules. “I ran for office because I believed that nothing can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change. That’s the backbone of our democracy–and you’ve proven that this timeless principle is alive and well in our digital age.So to all the people who participated in this conversation, I have a simple message: thank you,” the president wrote.

But Republicans and cable companies were quick to attack the move. The National Cable and Telecommunications Association said the rules would hurt “everyday broadband users” by raising costs and reducing investment.

Broadband providers will be banned from creating so-called “fast lanes” blocking or slowing traffic online, and the regulator will oversee mobile broadband as well as cable. The FCC would also have the authority to challenge unforeseen barriers broadband providers might create as the internet develops.

Activists and tech companies argue the new rules are vital to protect net neutrality – the concept that all information and services should have equal access to the internet. The FCC’s two Republican commissioners, Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly, voted against the plan but were overruled at a much anticipated meeting by three Democratic members on the panel.

Republicans have long fought the FCC’s net neutrality protections, arguing the rules will create an unnecessary burden on business. They have accused Obama of bullying the regulator into the move in order to score political points, with conservative lawmakers and potential 2016 presidential candidates expected to keep the fight going well into that election campaign.

Pai said the FCC was flip-flopping for “one reason and one reason only: president Obama told us to do so”.

Wheeler dismissed accusations of a “secret” plan as “nonsense”. “This is no more a plan to regulate the internet than the first amendment is a plan to regulate free speech,” Wheeler said.

“This is the FCC using all the tools in our toolbox to protect innovators and consumers.”

Obama offered his support to the rules late last year, following an online activism campaign that pitched internet organisers and companies from Netflix and Reddit to the online craft market Etsy and I Can Has Cheezburger? – web blog home of the Lolcats meme – against Republican leaders and the cable and telecom lobbies.

Broadband will now be regulated under Title II of the Communications Act – the strongest legal authority the FCC has available. Obama called on the independent regulator to implement Title II last year, leading to charges that he unduly influenced Wheeler’s decision that are now being investigated in Congress.

Broadband providers hit back immediately. The National Cable and Telecommunications Association said the rules would hurt “everyday broadband users” by raising costs and reducing investment.

“Today’s decision by the FCC to encumber broadband Internet services

with badly antiquated regulations is a radical step that presages a time

of uncertainty for consumers, innovators and investors,” said Michael Glover, Verizon’s senior vice-president for public policy and government affairs.

To illustrate what Verizon saw as the FCC’s old-fashioned thinking, the company put out its news release in typewriter font and dated it 1934. The release also went out in Morse code.

.@Verizon doesn't give a font. #NetNeutrality #FCClive http://t.co/Nu08lnMf6T pic.twitter.com/IrJYXV0d8T
— dominic rushe (@dominicru) February 26, 2015

Before the meeting on Thursday, a small band of protesters gathered in the snow outside the FCC’s Washington headquarters, in celebration of their success in lobbying for a dramatic U-turn in regulation. Wheeler and his Democratic colleagues, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, were cheered as they sat down for the meeting.

Joining the activists outside was Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who said the FCC also needed more power to prevent future attacks on the open internet.

“We have won on net neutrality,” Wozniak told the Guardian. “This is important because they don’t want the FCC to have oversight over other bad stuff.”

What a legend. RT @dominicru: @stevewoz outside #NetNeutrality vote. @FCC needs power to stop "bad stuff". pic.twitter.com/qxz1j2NOwR
— Craig Hitchings (@craighitchings) February 26, 2015

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, addressed the meeting via video, saying he applauded the FCC’s decision to protect net neutrality: “More than anything else, the action you take today will preserve the reality of a permission-less innovation that is the heart of the internet.”

“It’s about consumer rights, it’s about free speech, it’s about democracy,” Berners-Lee said.

Clyburn compared the new rules to the Bill of Rights. “We are here to ensure that there is only one internet,” she said. “We want to ensure that those with deep pockets have the same opportunity as those with empty pockets too succeed.”

The fight for net neutrality has been largely fought online. The millions of messages were sent to the FCC during its comment period on the rules before Thursday’s landmark series of votes.

Last year the FCC looked set to approve rules that would have allowed internet service providers to create “fast lanes” on the internet. Critics charged such a move would create a two-tiered internet and stifle competition.

Tiffiniy Cheng, co-founder of internet advocacy group Fight for the Future, said: “This is our free speech struggle in the digital age. Institutions of power should know by now: internet users will not stand idly by while anyone tries to take their freedom away.”

The FCC passed two new orders on Thursday. The first, equally controversial but eclipsed by the net neutrality debate, overturned bans on municipal broadband companies competing with private cable firms.

Municipal broadband companies in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, North Carolina, pushed for the expansion plans, against which private cable and telecom rivals have been lobbied intensely. Twenty US states currently have limits or bans on local governments building, owning or partnering with others to give local businesses and residents a choice in high-speed internet access. That vote, too, fell along party lines, potentially opening many US cities to wider competition.

Voting for the municipality change, Clyburn said millions of people had been left in “digital darkness” because cable companies did not want to expand in their areas. The Republican commissioners, O’Rielly and Pai, called the change “appalling” and “un-constitutional”.

“Unfortunately for the Commission, all the lipstick in the world cannot disguise this pig,” said Pai.

Christopher Mitchell, director of community broadband networks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, said Thursday’s vote could set “an historic precedent” that could “profoundly impact the lives of three-quarters of Americans who are without broadband or a choice in their service because of big cable underinvestment in their towns”.

The FCC was forced to rewrite its broadband rules after Verizon successfully challenged its authority to stop it creating fast lanes or to more broadly regulate the industry under its last set of regulations, the Open Internet Order of 2010. Legal challenges for the new rules are also inevitable.

“When internet users come together to fight for something they believe in,” said Fight for the Future’s Cheng, “nothing can stop them.”

Obama: ‘We cannot allow ISPs to restrict the best
access.’ Photograph: Reuters

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Dutch Offer Preview of Net Neutrality

More Articles related to Net Neutrality......

Obama makes fresh push for cybersecurity legislation

US President Barack Obama has made a fresh push for cybersecurity legislation. It comes in the wake of highly publicized cyber attacks including on the US Central Command's Twitter page, which was targeted this week.

Deutsche Welle, 13 Jan 2015

US President Barack Obama renewed calls on Tuesday for cybersecurity legislation and asked the new Congress to revive an initiative which had been stalled in recent years.

The new proposal would allow increased sharing of information on cyber threats from the private sector with protection from liability.

It would also be a criminal offence to sell stolen financial data and companies would have to notify consumers about data breaches under the measures.

Speaking at a White House meeting with congressional leaders, Obama said that recent events had increased the need for tougher cybersecurity legislation.

"With the Sony attack that took place, with the Twitter account that was hacked by Islamist jihadist sympathizers yesterday, it just goes to show we need to do much more work in the public and private sector to strengthen our cyber security," the president said.

A White House statement said the updated proposal "promotes better cybersecurity information sharing between the private sector and government, and it enhances collaboration and information sharing amongst the private sector."

Sense of urgency over cybersecurity

Obama had pressed for the legislation to be revised in order to allow the private sector to share data on threats without fear of any adverse consequences from the disclosures.

Earlier efforts were stalled due to opposition from civil libertarians who feared the measures could allow too much government interference. In turn, conservatives argued they would create a new bureaucracy.

However, concerns were further heightened by the hacking of Sony Pictures in December, which the administration blamed on North Korea, and major data breaches affecting retailers including Target and Home Depot.

We're back! CENTCOM temporarily suspended its Twitter account after an act of cybervandalism. Read more: http://t.co/hiwvSp3uWt
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 13, 2015

On Monday, the US Central Command suspended its Twitter and Youtube pages after a group declaring its support for "Islamic State" (IS) jihadists hacked its social media accounts and posted internal documents.

However, it seems to have been a temporary hitch as the department's Twitter account was up and running once again on Tuesday:

Obama is scheduled to comment on the legislative proposals later on Tuesday in a speech at the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center in Virginia.

The proposals are also expected to be part of his State of the Union address on January 20.

lw/msh (AFP, AP)

Related Article:

Obama on Sony pulling The Interview: 'They made a mistake'

Obama on Sony pulling The Interview: 'They made a mistake'

• FBI pins blame for massive hack of Sony Pictures on North Korea
• Obama: ‘We cannot have a dictator imposing censorship in the US’
• Obama speaks on North Korean hack of Sony Pictures – live

theguardian.com, Oliver Laughland and Dominic Rushe in New York, Friday 19 December 2014

Obama at the White House said he was sympathetic to Sony’s plight but
said: ‘I wish they had spoken to me first.’ Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Sony “made a mistake” by axing the controversial comedy depicting the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, President Obama said Friday.

Speaking after the FBI pinned the blame on North Korea for a massive hack of Sony Pictures aimed at stopping the film’s release, Obama said: “We cannot have a society where some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States. Because if somebody’s going to intimidate them for releasing a satirical movie, imagine what’s going to happen when there’s a documentary they don’t like.

“Even worse, if producers and distributors start engaging in self-censorship because they don’t want to offend the sensibilities of somebody who, frankly, probably needs their sensibilities offended.

“That’s not who we are. That’s not who Americans are.”

Obama said he was sympathetic to Sony’s plight but added: “I wish they had spoken to me first.”

The president’s comments mark the latest twist in the already extraordinary scandal, which has seen the most high-profile corporate hack in history result in the publication of salacious Hollywood gossip and the cancellation of The Interview, a multimillion-dollar comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen that was set for release on Christmas Day.

The FBI has been investigating suspected links with North Korea’s notorious hacking unit Bureau 121 since early December, and on Friday, investigators said a technical analysis of the malignant software, known as malware, used in the attack had been linked to other malware “that the FBI knows North Korean actors previously developed”.

The FBI also said that the infrastructure used in the Sony attack was similar to other malicious cyber activity aimed at the US that had previously been linked directly to North Korea.

“We are deeply concerned about the destructive nature of this attack on a private sector entity and the ordinary citizens who worked there. Further, North Korea’s attack on SPE [Sony Pictures Entertainment] reaffirms that cyber threats pose one of the gravest national security dangers to the United States,” the FBI said in a statement.

The White House had already labelled the attack as a “serious national security matter” and said it would respond proportionally. The president would not, however, be drawn on what the response would be: “We will respond, we will respond proportionally, and in a place and time that we choose. It’s not something that I will announce here today at this press conference,” he said.

Critics of the Obama administration drew on the investigation’s findings to criticise the president’s track record on cybersecurity.

Senator John McCain, the incoming chairman of the Senate armed services committee, which is responsible for the funding and oversight of the department of defense, described the hack as an “act of war” and pledged to strengthen oversight of the administration’s cybersecurity program when the new Congress convenes in the new year.

Sony has been left reeling from the November attack, after thousands of confidential documents, including employee social security numbers, personal emails, unreleased films, and executive pay were published online.

The hacking group Guardians of Peace (GOP) that claimed responsibility for the attack had demanded Sony pull release of The Interview, which depicted the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

On Wednesday, Sony cancelled the film’s release after threats invoking 9/11 were made against cinemagoers, andafter major US theater groups cancelled screenings.

That decision has drawn the ire of many high-profile names in Hollywood, who have also criticised the press for publishing details from the hacked documents.

George Clooney called on Hollywood to get The Interview released in any format possible. “We cannot be told we can’t see something by Kim Jong-un, of all fucking people ... we have allowed North Korea to dictate content, and that is just insane,” he said in an interview with Deadline.

GOP reportedly sent Sony executives a message on Thursday evening, calling the studio’s Wednesday decision to cancel the release of the controversial film The Interview “very wise”.

The statement was written in broken English and leaked to CNN. It continued: “Now we want you never let the movie released, distributed or leaked in any form of, for instance, DVD or piracy.

“And we want everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately.”

Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.

Reuters had quoted anonymous federal law enforcement officials saying the hack may have been a collaboration between North Korean and Chinese hackers or that servers in China could have been used to disguise the origins of the attack. But Obama appeared to rule out Chinese involvement in the hack.

“We have no indication that North Korea was acting in conjunction with another country,” he said.

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A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“….. Here is the prediction: China will turn North Korea loose soon. The alliance will dissolve, or become stale. There will be political upheaval in China. Not a coup and not a revolution. Within the inner circles of that which you call Chinese politics, there will be a re-evaluation of goals and monetary policy. Eventually, you will see a break with North Korea, allowing still another dictator to fall and unification to occur with the south. ….”

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)  

“…  I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore." Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …”