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Apple and Google join 'strike force' to crack down on robocalls

Apple and Google parent company Alphabet have joined a coalition of more than 30 tech companies and telecoms focused on combating automated phone calls, according to Reuters. Called the "Robocall Strike Force," the group is led by the Federal Communications Commission, which held its first hearing on the subject today in Washington, DC. Robocalls include both prerecorded messages from misleading phone numbers and automated text messages.

The FCC is turning to companies like Apple, Alphabet, AT&T, and Verizon because it’s seeking a solution to prevent telemarketers and even big corporations from harassing consumers with prerecorded messages. "We know there is a problem. We know how much consumers dislike these calls," said FCC Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn. "We know the public is frustrated, because they assumed that after they registered for the ‘Do Not Call’ list, this would stop. It did not, so now it is time to take some real action."

The strike force is expected to report to the FCC by October 19th with "concrete plans to accelerate the development and adoption of new tools and solutions," said AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, who is the chairman of the coalition. These solutions could come in the form of Caller ID verification standards that could block spoofed phone numbers, as well as a list of numbers from government agencies and banks that telemarketers would not be able to spoof.

• FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler calls robocalls a "scourge

Speaking today at the meeting, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler called robocalls a "scourge." In fact, the FCC says complaints filed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) accounted for more than half of the 175,000 tickets filed at the FCC’s help center in the first six months of 2016.

The FCC first began addressing the problem from a technical end last year, when it gave phone makers and telecoms the go ahead to implement robocall-blocking software. However, companies like AT&T have been dragging their feet, claiming to need FCC approval for such technology. That prompted Wheeler to post a call to arms in July with a post titled "Cutting Off Robocalls," in which he called on tech companies and carriers to work together with the commission.

• The FCC is pushing companies to work together on blocking robocalls

Commissioner Clyburn was careful to point out in her statements today that the group is walking a fine line between helping consumers and allowing anticompetitive behavior. For instance, the FCC stopped AT&T from blocking iPhone VoIP calls, including those from Google Voice, as part of a contractural agreement it had with Apple. "The Commission has a long-history of prohibiting abusive or anticompetitive use of call-blocking technology," Clyburn said. "But consumers want real relief and I am optimistic that beginning with today’s conversation, we will be able to deliver to consumers the change they are clamoring for."

Tech companies and telecoms also have another reason to cooperate with the FCC. The TCPA has often been used aggressively in the past to sue companies over even basic automated messages. Although the law was devised to crack down on harassing robocalls from, say, a third-party debt collection agency hired by a bank, it’s gotten companies like Facebook and Yahoo sued over notification texts about account sign-ins and welcome messages. By participating in this strike force, tech companies may be able to ease the loose application of the TCPA in these types of class action lawsuits.

T-Mobile deal 'may breach US net neutrality' rules

T-Mobile's new "unlimited" data plan may breach US net neutrality rules, campaigners have said.

The firm claims it offers "unlimited access to the mobile internet", but it charges extra for some services.

The digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation told the news website the Daily Dot it thought that would contravene the rules.

US authorities barred internet service providers from blocking access or speeding it up for a fee.

Jeremy Gillula, the senior technologist at the foundation (EFF), told the Daily Dot that, while the organisation was still in the process of gathering information, "from what we've read thus far it seems like T-Mobile's new plan to charge its customers extra to not throttle video runs directly afoul of the principle of net neutrality".

'Unlimited'

On Thursday, T-Mobile announced it was to start offering "unlimited everything - talk, text and high-speed smartphone data" for a single price, rather than a deal that provides a finite amount of data per month.

The firm said the $70 (£53) per month deal, which is named T-Mobile One, was a "radically simple subscription to the mobile Internet. One low price. Unlimited everything. That's it. It doesn't get any simpler than that".

But it only includes standard definition video and customers wanting high definition need to pay $25 (£19) a month extra.

And T-Mobile added that people who use large quantities of data will be placed at a disadvantage compared to those who use less than 26 gigabytes per month and "may notice relatively slower speeds but only at specific times and places that may experience high, competing network demand or congestion".

It said only three per cent of users were likely to be affected.

'Throttle'

According to Mr Gillula, limiting video to standard definition unless a premium is paid risks breaching the US Federal Communications Commission's Open Internet Order, which "explicitly said that ISPs can't throttle traffic based on its type, or charge customers more in order to avoid discriminatory throttling".

T-Mobile did not respond to a request for comment.

US net neutrality rules instituted last year were designed to protect the open internet. They mean that broadband cannot slow down users' connections unless the customer pays more. Nor can the firms strike deals with content companies to prioritise delivery of their material.

Matthew Howett, an analyst at Ovum, told the BBC that net neutrality rules in both the US and EU were "new and generally untested" and firms were still "getting to grips with what is acceptable and what isn't".

He said: "Critically in the US, carriers believe the FCC overstepped the mark by imposing the rules and are likely to be more hostile to them if they are challenged in court.

"Ultimately, a balance needs to be struck between protecting the consumers on one hand and allowing for innovation and investment in networks on the other.

"To some extent, rule makers will be relying on competitive pressures between carriers and the prospect of consumers voting with their feet if they don't like what's on offer."

In January, T-Mobile was accused of breaking net neutrality rules with its video streaming service Binge On. It included unlimited amounts of low-resolution video with partnered firms. But it was claimed that the deal also affected the quality of other providers' videos, even if they were not a partner.

T-Mobile's chief executive John Legere posted an expletive-filled response on Twitter; for which he later apologised.

People ignore security warnings nine out of ten times

A new study from BYU and Google has found that the current method of warning messages appearing while people are typing, watching a video, uploading files, is pretty dumb because people ignore them.
Researchers found these times are less effective because of “dual task interference,” a neural limitation where even simple tasks can’t be simultaneously performed without significant performance loss.

Study co-author and BYU information systems professor Anthony Vance said that the average punter’s brain can’t handle multitasking very well and software developers categorically present warning messages without any regard to what the user is doing.

“They interrupt us constantly and our research shows there’s a high penalty that comes by presenting these messages at random times.”

More than 74 percent of people in the study ignored security messages that popped up while they were on the way to close a web page window. Another 79 percent ignored the messages if they were watching a video. And a whopping 87 percent disregarded the messages while they were transferring information, in this case, a confirmation code.

Jeff Jenkins, lead author of the study said that you can fix this problem simply by changing the timing of the warnings.

“Waiting to display a warning to when people are not busy doing something else increases their security actions substantially.”

People pay the most attention to security messages when they pop up in lower dual task times such as after watching a video, while waiting for a page to load and after  interacting with a website.

While this seems to be in the “no shit Sherlock” level of research, it is the complete opposite to the way that software is designed. Security warnings are timed to appear when a person is less likely to respond.

Apple suffers as global sales of smartphones grows

The fruity cargo cult Apple is floundering even while the smartphone market has picked up, according to the latest figures from the Gartner Grope.

According to the Big G, Apple has had three consecutive quarters of slowing demand and seen its sales decline by 7.7 percent while its rivals saw an increase of 4.3 percent.

Global sales of smartphones to end users totaled 344 million units in the second quarter of 2016.  Overall sales of mobile phones contracted by 0.5 percent with only five vendors from the top 10 showing growth. Among them were four Chinese manufacturers Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi and BBK Communication Equipment and South Korea’s Samsung.

Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner said that demand for premium smartphones slowed in the second quarter of 2016 as consumers wait for new hardware launches in the second half of the year.

In addition, the decline in sales of “feature phones” (down 14 per cent) bolstered the decline in overall sales of mobile phones in the second quarter of 2016. All mature markets except Japan saw slowing demand for smartphones leading to a decline in sales of 4.9 percent. In contrast, all emerging regions except Latin America saw growth, which led to smartphone sales growing by 9.9 percent.

In the second quarter of 2016, Samsung had nearly 10 percent more market share than Apple. Samsung saw sales of its Galaxy A and Galaxy J series smartphones compete strongly with Chinese manufacturers. Its new smartphone portfolio also helped Samsung win back share it recently lost in emerging markets.

Apple continued its downward trend with a decline of 7.7 percent in the second quarter of 2016. Apple sales declined in North America (its biggest market) as well as in Western Europe. However, it witnessed its worst sales decline in Greater China and mature Asia/Pacific regions, where sales declined 26 percent. Apple had its best performance in Eurasia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe regions in the second quarter of 2016, where iPhone sales grew more than 95 percent year on year, Gupta said.

Among the top five smartphone vendors, Oppo exhibited the highest growth in the second quarter of 2016 at 129 percent. This is due to strong sales of its R9 handset in China and overseas.

“Features such as an anti-shake camera optimized for selfies, and rapid charge technology, helped Oppo carve a niche market for itself and boost sales in a highly competitive and commoditized smartphone market,” Gupta said.

Android regained share over iOS to achieve an 86 percent share in the second quarter of 2016. Android’s performance continued to come from demand for mid- to lower-end smartphones from emerging markets, but also from premium smartphones, which recorded a 6.5 percent increase in the second quarter of 2016.

A number of key Android players, such as Samsung with the Galaxy S7, introduced their new high-end devices, but Chinese brands like Huawei and Oppo are also pushing their premium smartphone ranges with more affordable devices.