Techdirt. Stories filed under "interference"

Lots Of People Don't Turn Off Their Devices When They Fly

Mike Masnick — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:29:00 PDT

I've always been careful about putting my phone into "airplane mode" when flight attendants ask. However, a few years back, for reasons that I've yet to see any explanation for, flight attendants changed the script and started insisting that "flight mode" wasn't enough any more and you had to turn the phone all the way off. I've asked many times why this switch was made, and no one can say. At the point when that happened, I happened to have a smartphone that had no ability to turn off. I looked. There was no power button. There was nothing in the software that was a "turn off" function. The only way to turn it off was to pull out the battery. I did that on a few flights and then figured it was stupid. So I stopped. And nothing happened. With my current phone, I've tried to "turn it off" but even when it says it's turning off it's not really turning off (because when I switch the battery, it takes about 3 minutes to boot up -- but if I "turn it off" and then turn it back on, it's ready to go within a second). Today, I still always put it into flight mode, but that's it. I turn off the screen and put the phone away, but I don't "turn it off" because it's pretty clear the phone doesn't actually turn off. And the requirement is silly. Similarly, my tablet stays on in my bag and my laptop is generally in "sleep" mode, but not off.

And I'm not alone. It seems that lots of people leave their devices on when they fly.

In a study released on Thursday by two industry groups, the Airline Passenger Experience Association and the Consumer Electronics Association, as many as 30 percent of all passengers said they had accidentally left a device on during takeoff or landing. About 67 percent said they had never done this, always ensuring that their electronics were turned off. Four percent were unsure.

In another segment of the study, passengers were asked if they turn their devices to “off” when instructed to do so by the pilot. Although 59 percent of passengers said they do fully turn their electronics off, 21 percent said they often simply switch to “airplane mode,” which disables the main radios of a gadget. Five percent sometimes adhere to the rule. And others were either unsure or do not carry electronic devices on a plane.

People give all sorts of reasons for why the devices should be turned off, but none of them make much sense. There is the interference question, but given how many of these devices stay on, there would be at least some real evidence of interference by now if that were really a big concern. There is the "gotta pay attention to the flight attendants" argument, but then they wouldn't let you sleep or read a book during takeoff. There's the "flying device is dangerous if something goes wrong" argument, but that applies equally to books. So, what is the reasoning? There's either some reason that no one's explaining... or just a ridiculous overabundance of caution where it's clearly not necessary.

Of course, as I was finishing up this post, someone passed along a Bloomberg video that claims that phones do interfere with flight GPS. If you look at at the text that goes with the video, they cite a story of a flight that went off course until flight attendants convinced someone to turn off an iPhone. However, nowhere in the video do they even mention that story or give any data or support for that claim. The video claims are also suspect. They name a single study from nearly a decade ago talking about a single phone, which is no longer on the market, that caused some interference. The other "studies" they look at include a very small number of claims from pilots who claim problems and that they "suspect" interference from phones, but those are never confirmed. They found 75 such claims over six years, but without any evidence to back them up.

Again, given how often people leave their devices on, you would expect a lot more verifiable evidence beyond a few pilots "suspecting" that phones were the problem, when a variety of other variables might have been a part of it.

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PeopleBrowsr Gets Temporary Restraining Order Against Twitter For 'Felony Interference With A Business Model'

Mike Masnick — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:04:49 PST

For years, we've seen so many legal disputes that could be jokingly described as arguing "felony interference of a business model" -- a term coined by Steven Bellovin a while ago as shorthand for lawsuits that are much more about a company who bet on the wrong business model, than any actual legal wrongs. Normally, this relates to legacy companies upset at upstarts who win through the disruptive judo of taking a totally different approach. But it can be seen in other arenas as well. We've also talked, for example, about how odd it is that some companies appear to base their entire business on what some other company does -- and they seem wholly unprepared for a situation in which the company they are 100% reliant on changes. As venture capitalist Fred Wilson has summarized, a good company can't be someone else's bitch.

Both of those concepts seem relevant given the news that a startup called PeopleBrowsr has successfully obtained a temporary restraining order against Twitter for changing how it doles out access to its "Firehose" (i.e., the raw stream of all public tweets). As has been covered widely, over the last few months, Twitter has really clamped down on some of its more open practices lately. I actually agree with many people that I'm not sure this is a smart long-term business move, but I can't see how it could possibly be a legal violation. Yet, that's what PeopleBrowsr appears to be claiming. Of course, its Firehose offering has long been an offering that companies had to work out a deal with Twitter to get access to, so even then it was never fully "open."

As part of the changing business strategy, Twitter has cut off many of its "Firehose" partners, including PeopleBrowsr. In response, PeopleBrowsr sued arguing that this change has a negative impact on PeopleBrowsr's business (apparently true), and thus it must be illegal. The company highlights how it has all sorts of highly valuable deals with other companies because of its analytics of Twitter's Firehose.

PeopleBrowsr's products are highly valuable to its users, who utilize them to extract relevant information from the massive Twitter stream, as well as to organizations marketing their messages or brands. PeopleBrowsr has entered into valid contracts including: (1) a three-year, $3 million contract with defense contractor Strategic Technology Research, (2) a long term, $400,000 contract with Cadalys to build a customized Kred application, (3) a long term, $300,000 contract with Radian6 to incorporate Kred into its products, (4) a long term, $400,000 contract with Badgeville to incorporate Kred into its products, (5) a contract with Mashable to power its mRank product through PeopleBrowsr's API, and (6) a contract for at least one year with DynamicLogic, worth at least $75,000. PeopleBrowsr has business relationships that are likely to ripen into new business with firms including Dell Computer, Demand Media, Ogilvy, Bell-Pottinger, and CBS Interactive, among others.

It is not difficult to understand why PeopleBrowsr is upset that Twitter decided to end the relationship, even as PeopleBrowsr claims to pay over $1 million a year to Twitter for access to the Firehose. The key argument that PeopleBrowsr makes, is that Twitter has, in the past, made various statements concerning its embrace of an open platform that allows others to build on top of their work. But I'm not sure why that's actually relevant here. PeopleBrowsr obviously knew that Firehose wasn't completely open since it signed two separate licensing agreements with Twitter (according to its own filing). In fact, they explicitly note that the agreement has a termination provision, so PeopleBrowsr had to know it was a possibility. In addition, most of the statements about openness that PeopleBrowsr cites, are vague statements about the importance of openness. Even the specific comments about keeping Firehose open are things like an engineer noting that he's "fighting to keep access to the Firehose and other API's as open as possible," which should have clearly indicated to PeopleBrowsr that the entire company was not in agreement, and there was a very real chance that it would not remain so open.

In the end, it really seems like the problem is entirely PeopleBrowsr's for building a business in which it relied almost entirely on a single relationship, and did not set up the contract to ensure that relationship would not go away. Again, I'm not sure that Twitter's strategy here is smart, but it's difficult to see how it's illegal. The problems seem entirely self-created by PeopleBrowsr. It even seems to admit that it bet its entire business on this fact, without securing a contract that they knew would last.

The Firehose is an essential input for PeopleBrowsr's business. PeopleBrowsr's products function by creating a comprehensive view of Twitter activity, and a mere sample of Twitter's data is not sufficient to provide the sophisticated analytics PeopleBrowsr's clients have contracted for.

All that says is that perhaps they shouldn't have put things in their client contracts that they really couldn't promise they'd have access to -- or they should have put together a much more solid agreement with Twitter in the first place. While PeopleBrowsr may have won a temporary injunction, preventing Twitter from turning off its access to Firehose for the time being, it seems like a massive long shot to think that it can possibly win this lawsuit. Yes, it sucks that the one partner you bet your business on is changing its own ways of doing business, but that's what happens when you bet your business model on being someone else's "bitch."

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Why You Should Regret LightSquared's Setbacks

Derek Kerton — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:01:00 PST

LightSquared is a new wireless carrier that has been trying to launch a wholesale 4G network across the USA. Funded by private equity firm Harbinger Capital, it sought to re-purpose satellite communication frequencies to build a nationwide cellular-satellite hybrid network, and then re-sell the network capacity to other brands. In January 2011, the FCC, eager to foster new competitors in the mobile space, gave LightSquared the green light to launch using their spectrum with one provision - that their network equipment NOT interfere with GPS signals and devices. Well, over a year has come and gone, and despite incredible effort and wrangling, the independent testing keeps indicating that LightSquared's terrestrial towers are not compatible with GPS device use. As such, the FCC has basically rescinded LightSquared's request to launch service on their 1.5GHz L-Band spectrum.

Note that, while LightSquared DID knock out GPS devices, it was not LightSquared that transmitted on the GPS frequencies, but rather the GPS devices that sloppily "listen" to the adjacent LightSquared frequencies. The GPS chipsets were generally cheaply made with inadequate filtering. That said, who is at fault is irrelevant: it remains LightSquared's problem to solve if they want to launch their network. A long history of spectrum policy states that new entrants must not mess up the existing radio devices.

What we've lost here is the chance to have a truly innovative wireless carrier which would have stimulated competition, energized the vendor community, and provided a white-label network for MVNOs. LightSquared had, in fact, signed up dozens of partners who would offer LTE wireless services as cellular companies, CE makers, and store brands like Best Buy, for example, who could sell connectivity in a bundle with laptops. Maisie Ramsay over at Wireless Week explains how a vast community of over 30 technology vendors have also lost a valuable path to market.

What strikes me, as someone who works with wireless carriers (LightSquared included), is that we may lose one of the scrappiest players out there. And markets thrive when a scrappy player stirs up the pot. Hutchison Whampoa stirred up the UK markets when it launched 3G in 2003, Free is currently doing the same in France. In the USA, we have regional players like Metro PCS, but nothing at the national level. My role at the Telecom Council of Silicon Valley is right where innovators meet with the telcos, and it was gratifying to see the tornado of new ideas, vendors, and possibilities that came about with a new network. Without legacy systems nor legacy thinking, lots of great ideas are free to emerge.

For now, with LightSquared's options dwindling, we may have to have to look elsewhere for new competition and open creativity. The WiFi space is fairly promising, as the spread of hotspots continues to soar, and new versions (802.11ac) promise greater range and throughput. Chipsets are cheap, and billions of WiFi devices have been produced. Republic Wireless exemplifies the possibilities of leveraging WiFi in mobile phones to the limit. Lots of people are hoping that the "white spaces" frequencies in between TV channels will be offered up to a WiFi variant, which will mean low-frequency spectrum that penetrates walls and buildings much better than today's WiFi. I like what the US carriers have done with the (globally) early launch of LTE, but there's no doubt that with increased competition we'd have a more dynamic market.

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Sirius XM Not Happy With The FCC, Again

Carlo Longino — Wed, 5 May 2010 19:10:24 PDT

Satellite-radio company Sirius XM has never been the best of friends with the FCC, thanks largely to the molasses-like speed with which the Commission moved to approve the Sirius-XM merger and the silly restrictions it attached to its approval -- measures which helped push the company into bankruptcy. The animosity is bubbling up again, as Sirius XM isn't happy that the FCC may soon allow some radio spectrum that's near the company's spectrum to be used for wireless broadband services. The spectrum in question is in the 2.3 GHz range. One chunk of it was auctioned off to telcos in 1997, and it's since been used for fixed backhaul transmissions for their networks, but the FCC (and the telcos) would like to see it used for wireless broadband services like WiMAX. An adjoining chunk is used by Sirius XM's network of terrestrial repeaters that complement its satellite signal coverage, and the company is concerned about those repeaters being overpowered and interfered with. This is the typical sort of posturing that comes out of any company who has spectrum that's "threatened" -- like broadcasters seeking to use regulation to stifle any competition from new technologies. The interference issues are important, but the FCC knows that, and typically works to ensure that they aren't a problem. What makes this objection from Sirius XM a little bit ironic, though, is that the the two companies have been cited in the past by the FCC because their terrestrial repeaters violated interference rules. Rules that allow for the more flexible use of spectrum -- while respecting interference -- are the best way forward for everyone, and like the NAB's spurious arguments against the Sirius-XM merger, the satellite company's objections should be rejected here.

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NAB Cries To The Court About White Spaces Spectrum Plans

Carlo Longino — Tue, 3 Mar 2009 18:38:11 PST

One of the better decisions to come out of the FCC during Kevin Martin's reign was the decision to free up the "white spaces" spectrum that lies in between TV broadcasts for other uses. The white spaces are unused spectrum that sit in between TV broadcasters' signals. They were important in analog broadcasts to keep stations' signals from interfering with each other, but they are less crucial in digital broadcasts (like the ones the US will eventually switch to). White spaces proponents say that they can effectively be reused by unlicensed devices that can seek out empty spectrum and use it to communicate, without interfering with licensed broadcasts, and the FCC concurred -- and, of course, made that a key part of its approval of the technologies. But as ever, the National Association of Broadcasters disagrees, and has sued to block usage of the white spaces, arguing it will interfere with their members' broadcasts.

We might be more sympathetic to the NAB's claim if it didn't have such a long and glorious history of trying to stifle anything that competes with incumbent broadcasters, and have such an annoying way of doing it. The FCC has put significant stipulations in place to ensure that white space devices don't cause interference, and despite the NAB's contention, the prototypes that failed in the testing process didn't do so. The FCC got it right by approving use of the white spaces with the restrictions and rules it put in place to tame interference; the NAB has once again got it wrong by trying to stifle innovation, and perhaps competition.

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Some Hospitals Not Just Encouraging Mobile Phone Usage, But Installing Technology To Make It Easier

Mike Masnick — Wed, 5 Sep 2007 22:19:55 PDT

Remember how hospitals were banning mobile phones out of a fear that the signal would interfere with medical equipment? That turned out to not be much of a problem and soon doctors from around the world were clamoring for the right to use their own mobile phones. A recent study even found tremendous benefits in allowing mobile phone usage in hospitals, including better communication among staff members and lower error rates, thanks to that improved communication. The latest is that some hospitals aren't just allowing mobile phone usage, they're making it possible by installing local antennas to make it even easier for mobile phones to work. The hospitals point out that this is likely to lower the likelihood of interference, as the mobile phones don't have to broadcast as strong a signal if the "tower" is so close. Then, of course, there's the benefit of having happier patients who can more easily stay in touch with friends and family (and also making it easier for those friends and family members to visit). All in all it seems to make a lot of sense, though there are still some holdouts among hospitals that don't feel there's enough evidence to allow mobile phones into hospitals just yet.

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