BlackBerry's phones have been off to a weak start in Canada, the company's own home turf. But the Z10 touch-screen is getting a warm welcome from Verizon Wireless, the biggest American carrier.
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Friday, May 10, 2013
Details Emerge About Syrian Electronic Army’s Recent Exploits
At The Onion it’s all fun and games, except when the company’s Twitter account gets hacked.
This week, after the parody site became the latest publication to have its Twitter account hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army, The Onion took a more serious note, explaining in a detailed blog post how the company’s account was hacked, and warning others how to avoid the exploit.
In the blog post, Onion engineers explained that the company’s Twitter account was hacked using a basic phishing exploit, where a false e-mail redirected people to a fake Web site which then asked for Google Apps credentials.
“At least one Onion employee fell for this phase of the phishing attack,†the company said.
Exposing details about an attack is not the normal approach companies take after they are hacked. The New York Times revealed earlier this year how Chinese hackers breached its systems, but that was an anomaly. Most companies fear what such disclosures will do to their reputations, or their stock price.
The Associated Press, for example, has remained silent after its Twitter account was hijacked and a fake message was posted about explosions at the White House.
In recent attacks on The A.P., Human Rights Watch, and the Onion, the group used sophisticated â€spearphishingâ€attacks to break into each organization. Employees received similarly worded e-mails, asking them to click on a fake news article that then redirected them to a fake Google Mail or Microsoft Webmail site where they were asked to re-enter their username and password.
The hackers used their login credentials to send e-mails to other employees from their inboxes until they found people with access to the organization’s social media accounts. Once inside those people’s inboxes, the hackers reset their Twitter passwords, giving them exclusive access to the account, until Twitter could suspend it. In the case of The A.P., a single Tweet was sufficient to nearly crash the stock market.
One hacker, who identifies himself only by his hacker handle Th3 Pr0, said the group attacked The A.P. because the Syrian Electronic Army believed the United States was “supporting the terrorist groups in Syria†and because the United States had seized its Web domains. Th3 Pr0 said the group was able to trick more than 50 A.P. employees to click on its malicious link, including a handful of the organization’s social media editors. Th3 Pr0 sent The New York Times several screenshots taken during the AP attack to prove the Syrian Electronic Army, or S.E.A., was behind it.
Security researchers tracking the hackers also confirmed the group was responsible. According to forensics reports, several recent Twitter hacks by the group, including an attack on Human Rights Watch last March and The Onion this week, were orchestrated from the same Internet addresses in Russia. But they believe those addresses are a proxy that masks the true origin of the attacks, which they say, is in Syria.
“From examining the details of this incident, as well as those effecting The A.P., Guardian and others, it’s clear that the S.E.A. is not using complex methods of attack,†The Onion’s tech team wrote. “All of the hacks so far have been a result of simple phishing, or possibly dictionary attacks â€" all of which are preventable with a few simple security measures.â€
Among the tactics that can be used to ward off attacks, the engineers note that people should be aware of suspicious links and setting up a Twitter account on a different e-mail address than the one belonging to your organizations.
But The Onion has also managed to have a little fun at its own expense this week posting a satirical article on its hacking, titled: “Onion Twitter Password Changed To OnionMan77: ‘That Ought To Do It,’ Company Sources Confirm.†Then it posted another piece making fun of the hackers.
Printable-Gun Instructions Spread Online After State Dept. Orders Their Removal
The State Department, citing possible compliance concerns regarding the export of firearms, has ordered a Web site to remove what are believed to be the world’s first online instructions on how to build a 3-D printable handgun.
Although the blueprints had been published for only a couple of days before the removal notice was issued late Thursday, it was too late. The instructions had been downloaded more than 100,000 times, and they are now published on multiple other Web sites, blogs and an Internet file-sharing service, the Pirate Bay.
Some people have already gotten started with their do-it-yourself gun craft projects and have made videos of their efforts with 3-D printers.
“If you want it, it is out there,†said Cody Wilson, 25, the owner of the Web site, Defense Distributed, that published the gun-making blueprints. Mr. Wilson, a second-year law student at the University of Texas, said he had spent almost a year crowdsourcing the instructions.
He said his goal was not to increase the number of guns made from 3-D printers, but rather to show that, in the Internet age, neither industry nor the government can control information about new technology or how that information is used. “I don’t care about the project,†he said. “This is about the future of the freedom of information and regulation of the Internet.â€
Mr. Wilson spoke to my colleague Nick Bilton last fall about his project. Mr. Bilton explained that 3-D printers were quickly becoming a consumer product.
“These printers, which now cost about $1,000, can print objects by spraying thin layers of plastic, metal or ceramics that are built up into shapes,†he wrote. “Long used by industrial companies to make prototypes and parts, 3-D printers are becoming faster and less expensive almost weekly.â€
At the time he spoke to Mr. Bilton, Mr. Wilson was already running into opposition from gun-control advocates, who were concerned that he was providing instructions on how to make a plastic gun that could possibly evade airport security or help someone avoid a background check at a gun store.
After Mr. Wilson published the instructions online, Representative Steve Israel, Democrat of New York, renewed his call for Congress to pass his recently introduced Undetectable Firearms Modernization Act, which would extend a ban on plastic firearms and include homemade, plastic high-capacity magazines and receivers. The existing ban on plastic guns expires this year and does not clearly cover these major components.
“Security checkpoints, background checks and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print plastic firearms at home and bring those firearms through metal detectors with no one the wiser,†Mr. Israel said in a statement. “When I started talking about the issue of plastic firearms months ago, I was told the idea of a plastic gun is science fiction. Now that this technology is proven, we need to act now to extend the ban on plastic firearms.â€
This spring, Mr. Wilson began uploading videos to YouTube showing how the handgun, which he called “The Liberator,†could be used at a firing range. He acknowledged that, to help him cover the costs of making the gun, he had received financial backing and other guidance from several individuals who are ardent supporters of gun rights.
The only part of the gun that is not made from a 3-D printer, he said, is the bullet. The instructions suggest using a roofing nail. He demonstrates the gun in a YouTube video and includes photos of the different parts on a Tumblr blog.
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Cody Wilson demonstrates his homemade handgun, made from a 3-D printer, in a YouTube promotional video that has been viewed more than three million times.
In a statement, a spokesman for the State Department said that he could not discuss specific compliance matters but confirmed that the department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls had been in touch with Mr. Wilson’s company.
Exports of nonautomatic and semiautomatic firearms up to .50 caliber are controlled under the United States Munitions List.
Mr. Wilson said the State Department had told him in a letter to take the files down while the department conducted a review of whether his business had to be registered with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and whether he needed a license for exports of defense articles.
He said he complied, emphasizing that, for him, guns were not the point. He said he thought printing a gun was the most compelling way to make his point, but added, “3-D printing is a ridiculous way of making gun parts.â€
“This is a fight about two competing visions of the future,†Mr. Wilson said. “I think my vision of distributed technology will win.â€
Activist Is Detained in Egypt for ‘Inciting Protests’ Against Morsi Government
Ahram Online Ahmed Maher, founder of the April 6 Youth Movement, was arrested on Friday at the airport in Cairo upon returning from the United States.The Egyptian police arrested Ahmed Maher, a high-profile figure from the country’s 2011 revolution, at Cairo International Airport on Friday as he returned from a 13-day trip to the United States. The authorities ordered that he be detained for four days pending investigation into charges of “inciting protests†in connection with a demonstration held in March, according to local media reports.
Al Masry al Youm, the largest circulation daily newspaper in Egypt, reported that Mr. Maher was arrested on charges of vandalism and destruction in connection with the March protest, during which activists from his April 6 Youth Movement group waved women’s underwear to the home of the Egyptian Interior Minister.
Ahram Online, an English language news Web site connected with the country’s flagship state-run newspaper, reported that Mr. Maher would be held for four days, citing reports from the government’s official Middle East News Agency.
Bassem Sabry, a well-known commentator on Egyptian politics, posted an update to Twitter that appeared to express shock at the odd-sounding charges of vandalism via underwear.
Mr. Maher, 32, may not have been aware of the charges against him at the time of his arrest, according to a report in The Daily News Egypt, an independent English-language daily newspaper, which interviewed Khaled al-Masry, a spokesman for the April 6 group.
“We don’t know why he was arrested or what he is being charged with,†said Al-Masry, who said members of the group tried to reach Maher at the airport after police arrested him. Maher was not made aware of the reason for his arrest before his phone was turned off, according to Al-Masry.
Mr. Maher founded the April 6 Youth Movement in 2008 to organize young people and express solidarity with striking textile workers in the Nile delta town of Mahalla, north of Cairo. It began on Facebook, where the first April 6 group page attracted 60,000 members and the attention of the security forces, who arrested, tortured and threatened to rape Mr. Maher in 2008.
He described the ordeal in a 2008 interview with The Christian Science Monitor:
After his 12-hour ordeal, Maher was put in a small cell where officers treated his bruises and tried to explain themselves. “They came to me and tried to apologize,†says Maher. “They kept saying ‘Oh, the men who beat you were just a few bad guys. We love Egypt, too. We love this country as much as you do, but Egyptians aren’t ready for democracy. Just look at what happened in Iraq.â€
The activist’s arrest at the Cairo airport immediately drew a parallel between the Hosni Mubarak era and today, when Egypt’s first democratically elected president, the former Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi, stands accused by critics of engaging in anti-democratic behavior of his own.
That was a point made by Michael Hanna, a fellow at the Century Foundation, in an update posted to Twitter.
Mr. Sabry, the prominent commentator on Egyptian politics, agreed.
Hisham A.Hellyer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, made note of Mr. Maher’s arrest in an update posted to Twitter. Just one year ago, he was an outspoken supporter of Mr. Morsi’s presidential candidacy, when he was a candidate in a runoff against the Mubarak-era prime minister Ahmed Shafik.
The “underwear protest,†which appears to have landed Mr. Maher in a jail cell, was held on March 29 outside the home of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim in the upscale suburb of New Cairo. Protests waved the underwear at Mr. Ibrahim’s house and held banners that accused the Interior Ministry of “prostituting†itself to the Morsi government, according to a report in Ahram Online, an English-language news Web site that is tied to a state-run newspaper.
Four members of the April 6 group were arrested during the March 29 protest and charged with “rioting and resisting authorities,†according to Ahram Online, although all four were released “without any bail conditions.†At the time, Mr. Masry, the April 6 group’s spokesman, denied rumors that authorities has issued a warrant for Mr. Maher’s arrest in connection with the protest.
Nevertheless, Mr. Maher said he was worried that he might be arrested upon returning to Egypt, said Cole Bockenfeld, the advocacy director of the Project on Middle East Democracy, a group in Washington that organized Mr. Maher’s trip to the United States. In an interview with The Lede, he said he was the last person to see Mr. Maher before he left for the airport in Washington.
“I saw him at his hotel yesterday and then sent him to the airport, and he said he anticipated this on his arrival at Cairo airport,†said Mr. Bockenfeld, who recalled that Mr. Maher said there were “rumors of a warrant for his arrest.â€
“Ahmed said there was an escalating campaign against April 6 members and that more and more of their members had been arrested on these kinds of charges in the last few weeks - inciting violence through protests, insulting the president,†Mr. Bockenfeld said.
Mr. Maher traveled across the United States during his visit, Bockenfeld said, going to three universities on the West Coast and appearing on at least two panels at public events.
In video posted online from one event, the Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles, Mr. Maher expressed frustration at the path Egypt’s transition had taken since the 2011 uprising, but also optimism at the ability of young people to affect change.
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During his visit to the United States, Ahmed Maher spoke at a conference in Los Angeles about Egypt’s troubled path toward democracy.
Mr. Maher also met with senior officials at the State Department and the National Security Council as well as staff members at the White House and on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Bockenfeld said the “underwear protest†was a “harmless, nonviolent protest,†and described Mr. Maher’s arrest as indicative of the kinds of abuses that he decried in his many meetings in the United States.
“One thing that Ahmed said to every person he met with in Washington was that he played by the rules of the game - he played politics, he engaged in negotiations with Morsi - and those negotiations broke down because of false promises,†Mr. Bockenfeld said. “Now he said that he had to organize against Morsi and oppose him, and that the U.S. was not speaking up strongly enough against Morsi’s transgressions and anti-democratic behavior.â€
United Nations Agency to Discuss Internet Governance Again
Here we go again. The United Nations is trying to take over the Internet! Or maybe it isn’t.
Only five months ago, at a treaty conference convened by a U.N. agency called the International Telecommunication Union, the U.S. delegation stormed out, refusing to sign the proposed document, saying it posed a threat to the current, decentralized Internet governance system. Several dozen other countries joined the boycott.
The telecommunication union has always insisted that the treaty, which it is still lobbying holdout governments to sign, had nothing to do with the Internet, even though pretty much everyone else in Dubai seemed to think it did.
Next week, beginning Monday, the agency can make no such protestations about a meeting it is convening in Geneva. The stated topic of the World Telecommunication Policy Forum is, yes, Internet governance.
On the agenda are issues like the expansion of broadband access and the adoption of the IPv6 protocol for Internet addresses. But it doesn’t look like the telecommunications union is planning an Internet land grab; one of six draft “opinions†prepared for the meeting urges support for “multistakeholderism in Internet governance.†That is jargon for the current sharing of duties among a variety of acronym-rich groups with representation from government, the private sector and non-governmental organizations.
This time around there will be no treaty, but the opinions are intended to help set the agenda for a plenipotentiary meeting of the telecommunications union next year â€" which, given the fireworks in Dubai, promises to be a doozy.
Even if the official opinions are largely banal, individual governments will have the right to stand up in Geneva next week to make their own policy statements. Countries like Russia and China, as well as governments in some parts of Africa and the Middle East, have made no secret of their desire to exercise more control over things like the Internet address system.
Congress has been looking at Internet governance, too. In April, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill stating that “it is the policy of the United States to preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet.â€
But some critics noted that wording adding that the United States also supported “a global Internet free from government control†was removed from the bill.
“It’s interesting that just as the I.T.U. is raising these issues, the U.S. is backing down on saying we don’t want the Internet under government control,’’ said Milton Mueller, author of “Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace.â€
Others say they see signs of an effort to avoid a repeat of the fractious tone that marked the December treaty negotiations.
“The Dubai conference was unnecessarily divisive,†said Markus Kummer, vice president for public policy at the Internet Society, a non-profit group that campaigns for an open Internet. “There are some governments with extreme positions, but most are somewhere in the middle.â€
F.C.C. Advances Plan for Faster In-Flight Wi-Fi
F.C.C. Advances Plan for Faster In-Flight Wi-Fi
Marty Katz for The New York Times Using Wi-Fi on a Southwest flight. A new proposal would increase in-flight Internet speeds to about 300 megabits per second.
WASHINGTON â€" It may soon be easier and faster to surf the Web at 30,000 feet.
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday proposed auctioning off the rights to use newly available airwaves to provide better in-flight Wi-Fi connections, as the government agency seeks to improve the speed and lower the cost of Internet service on commercial flights.
The commission’s proposal is the first step toward a goal that it is likely to take a couple of years, at least, to reach: providing in-flight Internet service that can match or exceed the capabilities that most Americans have at home or can find in coffee shops.
The new format would use a more reliable system of contact between a plane and the ground, agency officials said, and should allow providers to offer more consistent service that is some 30 times faster than the service that many Americans have in their homes.
Although it will be at least a couple of years before the new service is available, federal officials and people in the broadband business expressed excitement that the new format could free airline passengers from being captive to the expensive and rather slow Wi-Fi that is currently available on only some domestic flights.
“The reality is that we expect and often need to be able to get online 24/7, at home, in an office or on a plane,†Julius Genachowski, the F.C.C. chairman, said at a meeting where the commission voted 4 to 0 to begin the necessary steps. “This will enable business and leisure travelers aboard aircraft in the United States to be more productive and have more choices in entertainment, communications and social media, and it could lower prices.â€
The agency’s plan calls for the sale of one or more licenses to allow an Internet service provider to share certain airwaves with satellite communications companies. Those airwaves would then be used for an air-to-ground system of connections that employs cellphone towers.
Before the auction, the agency will have to decide how many licenses to grant in the 500-megahertz block of spectrum and what engineering rules will be required to prevent interference between the various services. The agency’s action Thursday kicks off the process by requesting public comment.
Roughly a quarter of daily domestic flights have Wi-Fi service, according to Routehappy.com, which tracks travel information. Another 12 percent of flights have trial service or offer service on a given route depending on the aircraft used. But it is not always easy to tell when booking a flight whether it will have Wi-Fi service, said John Walton, director of data for Routehappy.
In-flight service is now usually limited to about 3 megabits per second, per plane â€" barely half the speed of the average household DSL connection and one-third the average wired broadband speed. The new system will be faster in part because it will operate on a different band of spectrum, and in part because of the way it transmits signals.
Currently, there are two types of in-flight broadband service: satellite-based and air-to-ground. Satellite systems use antennas mounted on the top of planes to communicate with satellites. Air-to-ground systems send signals between a ground-based network and an antenna on the bottom of a plane.
The new system would share the 14.0-14.5 gigahertz band of the electromagnetic spectrum, a 500-megahertz band that is far wider than the current 4-megahertz band used in air-to-ground systems. All of that means that the new system would be capable of transmitting data at up to 300 gigabits per second â€" or 30 times the average home broadband speed.
“Air-to-ground connectivity is inherently less expensive than satellite systems,†said Mary Kirby, editor in chief of Airline Passenger Experience magazine. “The industry knows that they need to meet consumer demand for increased connectivity. It’s quite literally become the cost of doing business.â€
Not everyone is so enthusiastic. The Satellite Industry Association said it had filed with the commission “detailed technical analyses that demonstrate that the proposed air-ground service would cause interference into the satellite services.â€
Those services have first rights to the airwaves in question, which are used by media, public safety and American military customers for essential communications, the association said. Companies like Boeing, which makes satellites as well as planes, also oppose the proposal.
Jessica Rosenworcel, a commissioner who supported getting the proposal under way, said it was clear which way the requirements for connectivity were moving.
“In our hyperconnected age, we need and expect access to connectivity and content anytime and anywhere,†Ms. Rosenworcel said. “The world simply does not wait for us to get off the plane.â€
A version of this article appeared in print on May 10, 2013, on page B3 of the New York edition with the headline: To Keep Fliers Connected, F.C.C. Advances a Plan to Speed Up Wi-Fi on Jets.
YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee
YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee
YouTube on Thursday detailed its plan to let producers sell paid subscriptions to their videos, creating a prominent new marketplace for programming on the Internet.
Children’s programming, like BabyFirst Plus, is prominent among the new YouTube channels requiring paid subscriptions.
The first paid video channels appeared on the sprawling video Web site, a unit of Google, Thursday afternoon, with subscription rates ranging from 99 cents to $7.99 a month. The early participants include Sesame Workshop, the producer of “Sesame Street,†which streams full episodes of the children’s show to paying subscribers; Ultimate Fighting Championship, the mixed martial arts league, which streams classic fights to fans; and The Young Turks, a progressive talk show.
YouTube identified about 30 of these partners on Thursday and said other video makers would soon be able to set up their own paid channels. In a conference call for reporters, Malik Ducard, the director of content partnerships for YouTube, suggested that this “self-service feature†was the most important piece of the announcement.
“As we roll out wider and as we roll out self-serve, you’ll see a lot of innovation,†he said, predicting that homegrown YouTube stars with fan followings would set up paid channels.
YouTube’s subscription plans were widely reported this week, but the names of the participants were not disclosed until Thursday. The arrangement gives the creators of videos â€" some of whom have expressed dissatisfaction with the payments from the advertisements attached to their videos â€" a new way to profit from their popularity. The plan also gives YouTube a new source of revenue, although there are widespread doubts about whether people will be willing to pay for channels, since the name YouTube is almost synonymous with free streaming video on the Web.
Absent from the list of partners on Thursday were all of the biggest media companies in the United States, like the Walt Disney Company and Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal. Instead there were start-ups like the Rap Battle Network, BabyFirstTV and Cars.TV. Some of the partners have tried to gain distribution on cable and satellite television systems, but say they view YouTube as another appealing way to gain an audience.
Several companies specializing in how-to videos are among the initial partners, including iAmplify, a producer of instructional workout videos. Another area of concentration is children’s programming: in addition to Sesame Workshop, there will be paid channels from National Geographic Kids and the Jim Henson Company. Henson will stream full episodes of shows like “Fraggle Rock.†There will also be several channels devoted to movies and documentaries, though most of the film titles are obscure. Other channels will have reruns of television shows from outside the United States.
Mr. Ducard said all the paid channels would have 14-day free trials and many would offer discounted yearly rates for subscribers. Viewers will pay with Google Wallet, the same system Google’s app store uses. As the channel owners set their own prices, YouTube and the partners hope to find out quickly what price ranges are most successful.
YouTube declined to say exactly how it would split the revenue from paid subscriptions with the producers of channels. It now keeps 45 percent of the revenue from the ads it sells and gives producers the rest. Mr. Ducard said the subscriber revenue split would be “very similar to the ad-support business.â€
A version of this article appeared in print on May 10, 2013, on page B8 of the New York edition with the headline: YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee.
YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee
YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee
YouTube on Thursday detailed its plan to let producers sell paid subscriptions to their videos, creating a prominent new marketplace for programming on the Internet.
Children’s programming, like BabyFirst Plus, is prominent among the new YouTube channels requiring paid subscriptions.
The first paid video channels appeared on the sprawling video Web site, a unit of Google, Thursday afternoon, with subscription rates ranging from 99 cents to $7.99 a month. The early participants include Sesame Workshop, the producer of “Sesame Street,†which streams full episodes of the children’s show to paying subscribers; Ultimate Fighting Championship, the mixed martial arts league, which streams classic fights to fans; and The Young Turks, a progressive talk show.
YouTube identified about 30 of these partners on Thursday and said other video makers would soon be able to set up their own paid channels. In a conference call for reporters, Malik Ducard, the director of content partnerships for YouTube, suggested that this “self-service feature†was the most important piece of the announcement.
“As we roll out wider and as we roll out self-serve, you’ll see a lot of innovation,†he said, predicting that homegrown YouTube stars with fan followings would set up paid channels.
YouTube’s subscription plans were widely reported this week, but the names of the participants were not disclosed until Thursday. The arrangement gives the creators of videos â€" some of whom have expressed dissatisfaction with the payments from the advertisements attached to their videos â€" a new way to profit from their popularity. The plan also gives YouTube a new source of revenue, although there are widespread doubts about whether people will be willing to pay for channels, since the name YouTube is almost synonymous with free streaming video on the Web.
Absent from the list of partners on Thursday were all of the biggest media companies in the United States, like the Walt Disney Company and Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal. Instead there were start-ups like the Rap Battle Network, BabyFirstTV and Cars.TV. Some of the partners have tried to gain distribution on cable and satellite television systems, but say they view YouTube as another appealing way to gain an audience.
Several companies specializing in how-to videos are among the initial partners, including iAmplify, a producer of instructional workout videos. Another area of concentration is children’s programming: in addition to Sesame Workshop, there will be paid channels from National Geographic Kids and the Jim Henson Company. Henson will stream full episodes of shows like “Fraggle Rock.†There will also be several channels devoted to movies and documentaries, though most of the film titles are obscure. Other channels will have reruns of television shows from outside the United States.
Mr. Ducard said all the paid channels would have 14-day free trials and many would offer discounted yearly rates for subscribers. Viewers will pay with Google Wallet, the same system Google’s app store uses. As the channel owners set their own prices, YouTube and the partners hope to find out quickly what price ranges are most successful.
YouTube declined to say exactly how it would split the revenue from paid subscriptions with the producers of channels. It now keeps 45 percent of the revenue from the ads it sells and gives producers the rest. Mr. Ducard said the subscriber revenue split would be “very similar to the ad-support business.â€
A version of this article appeared in print on May 10, 2013, on page B8 of the New York edition with the headline: YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee.
YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee
YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee
YouTube on Thursday detailed its plan to let producers sell paid subscriptions to their videos, creating a prominent new marketplace for programming on the Internet.
Children’s programming, like BabyFirst Plus, is prominent among the new YouTube channels requiring paid subscriptions.
The first paid video channels appeared on the sprawling video Web site, a unit of Google, Thursday afternoon, with subscription rates ranging from 99 cents to $7.99 a month. The early participants include Sesame Workshop, the producer of “Sesame Street,†which streams full episodes of the children’s show to paying subscribers; Ultimate Fighting Championship, the mixed martial arts league, which streams classic fights to fans; and The Young Turks, a progressive talk show.
YouTube identified about 30 of these partners on Thursday and said other video makers would soon be able to set up their own paid channels. In a conference call for reporters, Malik Ducard, the director of content partnerships for YouTube, suggested that this “self-service feature†was the most important piece of the announcement.
“As we roll out wider and as we roll out self-serve, you’ll see a lot of innovation,†he said, predicting that homegrown YouTube stars with fan followings would set up paid channels.
YouTube’s subscription plans were widely reported this week, but the names of the participants were not disclosed until Thursday. The arrangement gives the creators of videos â€" some of whom have expressed dissatisfaction with the payments from the advertisements attached to their videos â€" a new way to profit from their popularity. The plan also gives YouTube a new source of revenue, although there are widespread doubts about whether people will be willing to pay for channels, since the name YouTube is almost synonymous with free streaming video on the Web.
Absent from the list of partners on Thursday were all of the biggest media companies in the United States, like the Walt Disney Company and Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal. Instead there were start-ups like the Rap Battle Network, BabyFirstTV and Cars.TV. Some of the partners have tried to gain distribution on cable and satellite television systems, but say they view YouTube as another appealing way to gain an audience.
Several companies specializing in how-to videos are among the initial partners, including iAmplify, a producer of instructional workout videos. Another area of concentration is children’s programming: in addition to Sesame Workshop, there will be paid channels from National Geographic Kids and the Jim Henson Company. Henson will stream full episodes of shows like “Fraggle Rock.†There will also be several channels devoted to movies and documentaries, though most of the film titles are obscure. Other channels will have reruns of television shows from outside the United States.
Mr. Ducard said all the paid channels would have 14-day free trials and many would offer discounted yearly rates for subscribers. Viewers will pay with Google Wallet, the same system Google’s app store uses. As the channel owners set their own prices, YouTube and the partners hope to find out quickly what price ranges are most successful.
YouTube declined to say exactly how it would split the revenue from paid subscriptions with the producers of channels. It now keeps 45 percent of the revenue from the ads it sells and gives producers the rest. Mr. Ducard said the subscriber revenue split would be “very similar to the ad-support business.â€
A version of this article appeared in print on May 10, 2013, on page B8 of the New York edition with the headline: YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee.
YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee
YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee
YouTube on Thursday detailed its plan to let producers sell paid subscriptions to their videos, creating a prominent new marketplace for programming on the Internet.
Children’s programming, like BabyFirst Plus, is prominent among the new YouTube channels requiring paid subscriptions.
The first paid video channels appeared on the sprawling video Web site, a unit of Google, Thursday afternoon, with subscription rates ranging from 99 cents to $7.99 a month. The early participants include Sesame Workshop, the producer of “Sesame Street,†which streams full episodes of the children’s show to paying subscribers; Ultimate Fighting Championship, the mixed martial arts league, which streams classic fights to fans; and The Young Turks, a progressive talk show.
YouTube identified about 30 of these partners on Thursday and said other video makers would soon be able to set up their own paid channels. In a conference call for reporters, Malik Ducard, the director of content partnerships for YouTube, suggested that this “self-service feature†was the most important piece of the announcement.
“As we roll out wider and as we roll out self-serve, you’ll see a lot of innovation,†he said, predicting that homegrown YouTube stars with fan followings would set up paid channels.
YouTube’s subscription plans were widely reported this week, but the names of the participants were not disclosed until Thursday. The arrangement gives the creators of videos â€" some of whom have expressed dissatisfaction with the payments from the advertisements attached to their videos â€" a new way to profit from their popularity. The plan also gives YouTube a new source of revenue, although there are widespread doubts about whether people will be willing to pay for channels, since the name YouTube is almost synonymous with free streaming video on the Web.
Absent from the list of partners on Thursday were all of the biggest media companies in the United States, like the Walt Disney Company and Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal. Instead there were start-ups like the Rap Battle Network, BabyFirstTV and Cars.TV. Some of the partners have tried to gain distribution on cable and satellite television systems, but say they view YouTube as another appealing way to gain an audience.
Several companies specializing in how-to videos are among the initial partners, including iAmplify, a producer of instructional workout videos. Another area of concentration is children’s programming: in addition to Sesame Workshop, there will be paid channels from National Geographic Kids and the Jim Henson Company. Henson will stream full episodes of shows like “Fraggle Rock.†There will also be several channels devoted to movies and documentaries, though most of the film titles are obscure. Other channels will have reruns of television shows from outside the United States.
Mr. Ducard said all the paid channels would have 14-day free trials and many would offer discounted yearly rates for subscribers. Viewers will pay with Google Wallet, the same system Google’s app store uses. As the channel owners set their own prices, YouTube and the partners hope to find out quickly what price ranges are most successful.
YouTube declined to say exactly how it would split the revenue from paid subscriptions with the producers of channels. It now keeps 45 percent of the revenue from the ads it sells and gives producers the rest. Mr. Ducard said the subscriber revenue split would be “very similar to the ad-support business.â€
A version of this article appeared in print on May 10, 2013, on page B8 of the New York edition with the headline: YouTube Offers ‘Sesame Street’ and Martial Arts, for a Fee.
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