News Briefs

Loon Balloons Restore Internet After a Massive Earthquake Strikes Remote Parts of Peru

On Sunday, when a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck remote parts of Peru’s Amazon region, at the request of the government of Peru and Telefónica, Alphabet re-directs a group of its Loon balloons to the impacted area to restore Internet access. Within 48 hours, people on the ground had wireless broadband communication, reports Alphabet. more

Critics Say FCC’s New Report Declaring US Broadband Healthier Than Ever is Based on Flawed Data

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its 2019 Broadband Deployment Report on Wednesday stating the digital divide is shrinking substantially, and more Americans than ever have access to high-speed broadband. more

Huawei Files Motion in US Federal Court Calling Ban Unconstitutional, an Assault on Human Rights

Huawei has filed a legal motion in the United States federal court calling for the ban to be declared unconstitutional and deemed an assault on global human rights. more

ICANN’s Recent .amazon Decision Denounced by Presidents of Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia

The presidents of Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia have criticized the recent ICANN decision to grant global retailer Amazon the rights to the .amazon top-level domain. more

Microsoft Becomes the Latest Company to Join the Internet Society’s MANRS Initiative

Microsoft has joined the Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) initiative, supported by the Internet Society (ISOC) with the primary objective is to reduce the most common threats to the Internet's routing system. Microsft is the latest of a number of industry giants around the world - including Oracle, GÉANT, and Comcast - to join MANRS. more

SpaceX Succeeds in Launching Its First Full Batch of Starlink Internet Satellites

SpaceX on Thursday successfully launched 60 Starlink satellites with its Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. more

UK Announces $28M Fund for Army Cyber Operations Centers

The UK Ministry of Defence has announced a £22m ($28 million) fund for the development of British Army cyber operations centers across the country. more

Baltimore Gets Hacked: Main Computer Systems Crippled, Experts Estimate Months to Recover

On May 7, hackers breached parts of the computer systems that run Baltimore's government, taking down essential systems such as voice mail, email, a parking fines database, payment systems used for water bills, property taxes, real estate transactions and vehicle citations. more

US Huawei Ban Threatens Internet Access in Rural Areas, Some Providers May Fold

Much of rural America with very low population density, depends on small wireless carriers for their internet access as AT&T, T-Mobile and other large providers have no interest in providing services. more

DDoS Storm Is Coming, Warn Researchers Noting an 84% Surge in the First Quarter of 2019

The number of DDoS attacks during the first three months of 2019 increased by 84%, compared with the previous quarter. more

Qualcomm’s Licensing Practices Are Illegal, U.S. Judge Rules

A U.S. district court judge rules that Qualcomm violated anti-trust laws and has ordered the chip maker to change some of its licensing and negotiation practices. more

Microsoft Sees Serious Appetite for Revised Privacy Laws in US, Says It’s Time to Match EU’s GDPR

With the first anniversary of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) approaching in just a few days, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Julie Brill says GDPR has been an important catalyst for progress in privacy protection around the world. more

NGOs, Academics Warn Against EU’s Deep Packet Inspection Problem, at Least 186 ISPs Breaking Rules

European Digital Rights organization (EDRi) along with 45 NGOs, academics and companies from 15 countries sent an open letter to European policymakers and regulators on Wednesday warned against the widespread use of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology by Internet service providers in the EU. more

ICANN Says Amazon Inc’s Application for .AMAZON TLD Can Proceed Following 30 Days of Public Comment

The giant online retailer Amazon Inc is one step away from winning the .AMAZON top-level domain name after a 7-year battle with the eight Latin American countries. more

Two Years Later WannaCry Continues to Spread to Vulnerable Devices, Nearly 5M Devices Affected

Two years after the initial wave of WannaCry attack in May of 2017, security researchers say the ransomware continues to spread to vulnerable devices. WannaCry infection has affected close to 5 million devices to date. more