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Wire & Cable ASIA – May/June 2017
From the Americas
 Nation-state cyberattacks will move from espionage
to war. Experian expects cyberattacks to continue
against the United States, and – absent any international
agreement governing engagements in cyberspace
– attacks will increase and could escalate existing
tensions among countries;
 Criminals will focus on payment-based attacks,
since many small firms lag in their transition to EMV
chip readers and PIN. Experian recognises there
are legitimate barriers to adopting this technology.
However, it says, the risk of not adopting it is high, as
attackers have demonstrated the ability to exploit older
technology;
 International data breaches will cause big headaches
for international companies. New regulations in Canada,
Australia and the European Union require companies
to notify customers whose data has been stolen. To
prevent breaches, Experian advises all organisations to
train employees on how to spot phishing attacks; keep
all security software fully patched; and have contingency
plans for responding to a ransomware attack;
 As deployment of new mobile apps exposes new
vulnerabilities, health care will become the most targeted
sector for cybercrime. Preventing data breaches is
critically important here, as health care consumers
typically react strongly to instances of compromised
personal information.
Telecom
The new head of the USA Federal
Communications Commission wants
to reinstitute a ‘light-touch’ regulatory
approach
In a rare display of unity, the two major political parties
in the USA have both pushed for an overhaul of the
Telecommunications Act, which underpins telecom policy
and defines the powers of the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC). Dating back to 1934, and updated
in 1996 to add provisions specific to the Internet and
cable TV service, the act has long been seen as ripe for
another congressional do-over. Last summer’s court
decision affirming the FCC’s net neutrality rules prompted
another wave of calls for action, on grounds that Congress
must more clearly define the FCC’s role in regulating the
Internet. On 28th February, at the Mobile World Congress
in Barcelona, the new head of the FCC made plain his own
stand in the matter.
As reported by Grant Gross, who monitors USA government
telecom policy for the IDG News Service, chairman Ajit Pai
presented himself as very much a free-market adherent
firmly opposed to government regulation. (“New FCC
Chairman: Net Neutrality Rules Were ‘a Mistake,’” 1st March)
Net neutrality is broadly defined as requiring Internet service
providers to enable access to content and applications
without favouring or blocking particular products or
websites.
In Mr Pai’s view, its adoption by the FCC, together with
the agency’s reclassification of broadband as a regulated
common carrier, deviated from Washington’s long-standing
“light-touch” regulatory approach toward the Internet.
To Mr Pai, the FCC’s net neutrality rules “injected
tremendous uncertainty” into the broadband market.
Asserting that “uncertainty is the enemy of growth,” he
suggested that broadband investment is down since the
FCC passed the regulations.
But, as noted by Mr Gross, some net neutrality advocates
disagree. According to the digital rights group Free Press,
broadband investment was up by nearly nine per cent over
the two years since passage of the rules, compared to the
prior two-year period.
Capital investment from broadband providers stood at
$76 billion in 2015, down slightly from 2014, trade group
USTelecom said. But that number was the second-highest
of any year since 2001, according to the group.
 Jacob Kastrenakes of the Verge provided some
background on Mr Pai, a member of President Donald
Trump’s Republican party but an appointee of former
president Barack Obama. An FCC commissioner since
2012, when he was confirmed by the Senate, Mr Pai
does not share the progressive views of Mr Trump’s
predecessor and is by no means someone Mr Obama,
a Democrat, would have chosen to lead the commission.
The new commissioner owes his position to Mr Obama’s
observance of a tradition that permits the minority (then
Republican) party to pick two commissioners, since the
majority (Democrats, at the time) may legally hold no
more than three seats on the five-person commission.
(“Trump’s New FCC Chief Is Ajit Pai, and He Wants To
Destroy Net Neutrality,” 23rd January)
Government spending
From a leading Canadian public policy
think tank, a timely warning on expecting
too much from huge infrastructure outlays
Published on 2nd March by the Fraser Institute, “Myths of
Infrastructure Spending in Canada” would make sobering
reading for US President Donald Trump. Mr Trump is
banking heavily on an infrastructure spending plan of his
own to energise the American economy, create tens of
thousands of new jobs, and rebuild roads, airports and
other big facilities across the US.
As Ottawa and several provincial governments plan to
collectively spend hundreds of billions of dollars over
the coming decade on infrastructure, the Fraser Institute
authors – director of fiscal studies Charles Lammam and
policy analyst Hugh MacIntyre – strongly advise against
outsize expectations in these matters.
Abridged and lightly edited, these excerpts from their report
dispel five misconceptions so divorced from fact as to
qualify as “myths”: