News written by Rich Fiscus (July, 2010)

Earlier this week a company called Lookout showed how several Android wallpaper apps were accessing user information, including phone number, subscriber identification, voicemail password, browsing history, text messages & the phone’s SIM card number.

The claims were made during a presentation at this week's Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas.

In a number of interviews since then the developer, Jackeey Wu, has released a statement denying most of these claims and Lookout has since agreed that only the phone number, subscriber identification & voicemail password (when stored on the phone) were accessed and sent to Wu's server in China.

Wu stated, "I collected the screen size to return more suitable wallpaper for the phone. More and More users emailed me telling that they love my wallpaper apps so much, because that even “Background” can’t well suited the phone’s screen. I also collected device id,phone number and subscriber id, it has no relationship with user data. There are few apps in Android market has the favorites feature. Many users suggest that I should provide the feature so I use the these to identify the device, so they can favorite the wallpapers more conveniently, and resume his favorites after system resetting or changing the phone."

A web based alternative to the iPhone app store called OpenAppMkt opened today. Instead of native iOS apps, it offers a selection of HTML apps.

To use it you need to install their client, which you can do directly from the OpenAppMkt website.

Google has added a licensing server to the Android Marketplace which will allow an app to verify whether the user has purchased it or not before opening.

In order to use the new service an app must be sold through Google's Android Market store and be on a device running Android 1.5 or later which also has the Market app installed. Free apps can't make use of the service.

Communication with the licensing server will be done exclusively by the Market app itself using RSA public-key encryption.

Following yesterday's announcement of a new DMCA exemption for jailbreaking mobile phones, an Apple representative sidestepped questions about whether the company plans to take action against individuals publishing jailbreaking tools.

Based on the company's filing with the Library Of Congress during the DMCA rulemaking process, they consider jailbreaking copyright infringement.

In that filing Apple said modification of the iPhone's bootloader and OS and the installation of that modified code on an iPhone infringes on their reproduction and modification rights under copyright law.

They also claim ownership of even the copy of the iOS on every iPhone.

The iOS license agreement does, in fact, state, "You own the media on which the iPhone Software is recorded but Apple and/or Apple’s licensor(s) retain ownership of the iPhone software itself."

However, in her report recommending adoption of the jailbreaking exemption Register Of Copyrights Marybeth Peters noted differences between iPhone software & the caselaw Apple cited in defense of their ownership claim. She pointed out, "law relating to who is the owner of a copy of a computer program under Section 117 is in flux."

New DMCA exemptions announced by the Librarian Of Congress make it legal, at least in the US, to jailbreak mobile phones. The new exemption also allows the rooting of Android devices.

The Librarian Of Congress found that jailbreaking is generally done to enable fair use under US copyright law and that the objections of mobile phone providers and vendors were based on business model concerns rather than copyright protection. The exemption for unlocking phones for use on different mobile phone providers' networks was also renewed.

The exemption, which was proposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and strenuously opposed by Apple, could open the floodgates for iPhone apps from major software vendors which would never have been available otherwise.

In addition to the EFF, the jailbreaking exemption was backed by such big names as Mozilla Corporation and Skype.

Thanks to Apple's use of encrypted code during the boot process it was previously a DMCA violation to reverse engineer the iOS. This has allowed them, through the App Store approval process and SDK Terms Of Service, to tightly control what apps were available for the iPhone and even what tools could be used to create them.

Recently Howard Berman, chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, called a new customs enforcement operation to shut down P2P websites "innovative," and said he is exploring ways to expand it.

He was referring to the seizure of nine domain names last month which kicked off "Operation In Our Sites," an initiative spearheaded by US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). A number of questions surround the seizures.

The action was announced at a press conference held jointly by ICE head John Morton and representatives of MPAA member studios.

Although the rhetoric about "lost jobs and real hardships for ordinary working people" from piracy has been plentiful, specifics about what crimes were committed by most of the sites have been non-existent. Instead there has been an effort by government officials like Morton and Berman to confuse the issue by conflating unauthorized file sharing with counterfeiting, which seems to be where ICE comes in.

ICE is the agency responsible for dealing with counterfeit goods entering the US from other countries. However their only connection with copyright enforcement is as head of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), which coordinates anti-piracy efforts between a number of Federal law enforcement agencies.

Yesterday Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced plans to update the streaming video client for the PS3.

The update, which he expects to be available before the company's third quarter earnings are released in October, will eliminate the requirement for a disc. Besides the obvious convenience for customers, this will allow them to continually update the interface as the Netflix Watch Instantly UI is improved.

Netflix continues to grow, largely on the strength of their ever expanding lineup of offerings for streaming to computers, set-top boxes, HDTVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles & other devices.

In the second quarter of 2010 year on year subscriber growth grew to an impressive 42%, which Hastings attributes primarily to the growing popularity of streaming. Although disc shipments continue to increase, they are being replaced by streaming more quickly than Netflix had forecast previously.

In their most recent report on the status of broadband internet in the US, the FCC has finally admitted "broadband is not being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion."

Although this is the sixth Broadband Deployment Report to be issued by the agency since 1999, it is the first to reach this conclusion. Previous reports have been widely criticized for both the benchmark by which broadband was defined and the methodology for determining service areas.

For example, in the last report, from 2008, 200kbps downstream (download) speed was still considered broadband. Additionally, a single address capable of broadband service was equated to the entire zip code being served.

In the current report notes, "Our examination of overall Internet traffic patterns reveals that consumers increasingly are using their broadband connections to view high-quality video, and want to be able to do
so while still using basic functions such as email and web browsing."

In order to more accurately reflect that reality the standard for broadband has been raised to 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. Service areas were based on numbers from the National Broadband Plan, published earlier this year.

A New York judge rejected a plea for lenient sentencing when he determined photos of the defendant performing various charitable works were altered.

Instead he sentenced Daryl Simon, convicted of credit card fraud, to almost 24 years (285 months) in prison. The sentence was more than 4 years more than the maximum under sentencing guidelines.

According to prosecutors, "Evidence that his image was inserted and flipped can be seen by examining the single detail on his shirt above his fingers -- that detail appears on the left side of the shirt in the top photograph, and on the right side of the shirt in the bottom photograph."

In addition to the digitally altered photos, Simon also presented fake letters from various charitable organizations.

Later this year Netflix will be expanding their Watch Instantly streaming video service, making it available to Canadian residents.

In addition to being the first service offered by the home video rental giant outside the US, it will also mark the first time they have offered streaming by itself. To date their streaming video offering has been an add on to their popular rent by mail DVD and Blu-ray service.

That's not likely to be changing any time soon for US customers. When the plan for streaming outside the US was first mentioned last October, CEO Reed Hastings was clear that it was purely due to the logistical issues of shipping discs internationally.

And selling the exclusively online service to Canadians isn't a sure winner either. Although Netflix has made some headway in licensing new releases and increasing their selection of recent TV episodes for streaming, such arrangements are still the exception.

Canadians interested in the service can go to www.netflix.ca and sign up for email notification when the service launches.

Speaking at Apple's Cupertiono, California headquarters this morning, CEO Steve Jobs announced the company will be providing free cases to iPhone 4 buyers. The cases are intended to address a growing controversy over the phone's design flaw, which can cause dropped calls when it is held in a particular way.

Although the problem has only affected a small percentage of users, the controversy surrounding Apple's response has been a PR disaster.

While still not admitting there is anything wrong with the phone's design, Jobs did admit that iPhone users on AT&T have experienced slightly more dropped calls with the new model compared to the previous one.

After yesterday's report from Bloomberg saying Apple was aware of the iPhone 4's antenna issues last year, Apple has denied the claim.

A company spokesman told the Wall Street Journal, "We challenge Bloomberg BusinessWeek to produce anything beyond rumors to back this up. It's simply not true."

As with many Apple statements, this one doesn't necessarily mean what it appears to on the surface.

For starters, Apple doesn't allow employees to disclose what goes on inside the company. In particular, they declined any comment on the story when approached by Bloomberg & denied their request for an interview with the antenna engineer who supposedly reported the issue to Apple management.

Apple's claim is disingenuous at best, & perhaps downright dishonest. It would be impossible for Bloomberg, or anyone else for that matter, to prove much of anything that goes on behind the scenes at Apple thanks to their nigh impenetrable wall of non disclosure agreements.

According to an article from Bloomberg, anonymous sources are claiming Apple was aware of the iPhone 4's antenna design problem months before it went on sale.

One source at Apple, reportedly said senior Apple enginner and antenna expert Ruben Caballero brought the issue to the attention of management as early as last year. Another source indicated that one of Apple's carrier partners raised similar concerns prior to last month's launch.

Apple has declined to make Caballero available for comment on the matter. Hardly surprising considering the company's long established policy of secrecy regarding all internal matters.

Since the iPhone 4's debut there have been numerous complaints about reception problems related to its external antennas. To date they've characterized it as nothing more than a typical issue experienced with all mobile phones despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary.

Every iPhone launch has been followed by a certain number of people complaining of reception issues. But in this case those voices are being joined by more influential sources like Consumer Reports.

Netflix is expanding its lineup of TV shows available for streaming through their Watch Instantly service thanks to a new agreement with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The deal will make all 100 episodes of Nip/Tuck available to Netflix subscribers for the next four years.

Also included in the agreement, which really just extends the two companies' existing arrangement, are other TV series, including Veronica Mars, Pushing Daisies & Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The existing license for streaming a selection of Warner's catalog movie titles has also been renewed for the same four year period.

A deal made earlier this year, which forces Netflix customers to wait 28 days from the DVD/Blu-ray release date to get Warner Bros. new releases on disc remains in place. In fact, increased availability of streaming content was almost certainly a factor in Netflix's decision to make such a deal.

As they continue to improve their streaming lineup this is likely to be less and less important to them. Although disc rentals continue to be the cornerstone of their business, Netflix executives have made it clear in recent years that they believe streaming will eventually replace it.

After a more than a week of dismissing iPhone 4 user complaints about reception problems and dropped calls as a non-issue, Apple has announced they're working on an update to the phone's OS.

The announcement follows an interesting report on AnandTech showing the actual difference in Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) for each additional bar of signal displayed on the phone varies wildly. SNR is essentially an indicator of the phone's signal quality.

In the article, published earlier this week, Brian Klug & Anand Lal Shimpi showed that the signal quality increas from 4 bars to 5 is greater than the difference going from 1 bar all the way up to 4.

An update to solve the problem sounds like just what iPhone users were demanding. Except that the fix is only cosmetic.

While it should make the number of bars displayed more meaningful, that doesn't address the actual reception. Also in the AnandTech article is a comparison of signal loss (attenuation) between the iPhone 4 and other handsets when held in various ways.

Steve Jobs has noted in some tersely worded emails to dissatisfied customers that all phones suffer from attenuation when you hold them in your hand. But AnandTech's data shows the external antennas on the iPhone 4 drastically increase the effect.

RIAA President Cary Sherman recently posted a statement responding to last week's summary judgement in the Viacom lawsuit against YouTube decrying the decision as a "dangerously expansive reading of the liability immunity provisions of the DMCA." He also called it "bad public policy."

He went on to claim the decision will "will actually discourage service providers from taking steps to minimize the illegal exchange of copyrighted works on their sites."

This is nothing surprising coming from the RIAA. Like the MPAA and Business Software Alliance (BSA), they have consistently argued service providers should be responsibile for identifying copyright infringement rather than the content owners themselves.

But as Judge Louis Stanton pointed out in his decision on YouTube's DMCA defense, this responsibility falls solely on the shoulders of the content owners except in rare cases where the infringement is obvious without any investigation.

He wrote, "The DMCA is explicit: it shall not be construed to condition "safe harbor" protection on "a service provider monitoring its service or affirmatively seeding facts indicating infringing activity.""