December 2008

EFF to court: Don't shield telecoms from illegal-spying suits

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group for Internet users, is expected to argue in court on Tuesday that it's unconstitutional to prevent Americans from suing the telecom companies that allegedly helped the federal government unlawfully spy on them. The FISA Amendments Act (FAA) gives telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for opening their networks to the National Security Agency. The telecoms can walk away from lawsuits as long as the government claims the request was "lawful" and authorized by the president. Before the law was passed, EFF had brought a lawsuit against AT&T that is before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. "The flawed (statute) improperly attempts to take away Americans' claims arising out of the First and Fourth Amendments," EFF wrote on its Web site. "(The law) violates the federal government's separation of powers as established in the Constitution, and robs innocent telecom customers of their rights without due process of law." Opponents have said that the law is an endorsement by both major political parties of illegal surveillance conducted by the Bush administration. Among the senators who supported the law was President-elect Barack Obama.

Massachusetts Passes Security Law

Telecommunications providers in Massachusetts will be grappling with a new data security law that legal experts indicate is among the most forward-looking in the nation. The state law requires businesses that "own, license, store or maintain personal information" on customers to encrypt that data, especially on portable devices such as laptops. That responsibility is extended from the primary business to contractors, such as telemarketing firms, and it extends to transmissions on wireless devices such as BlackBerries. "This law is very ahead of the curve," said Miriam Wugmeister, a partner with Morrison Foerster, a law firm that tracks trends in data security law. Currently, the law takes the view that companies had wide leeway to collect data — such as Social Security numbers, driver's licenses and financial account numbers — as long as it did not cause overt harm to the consumers. The Massachusetts law is reflective of European law, which places more restrictions on data collection. The legislation is not unlike rules that now govern the way hospitals protect and contain the release of patient information, Wugmeister said.

Online shoppers bring to the hunt a lot of baggage from retailers

People who shop online share lots of information about themselves, even when they're not buying anything, said Jules Polonetsky, the former chief privacy officer at AOL who now heads the Future of Privacy Forum. "Simply visiting a Web site leads to an explosion of data to dozens of other companies," he said. "You (may) think you're shopping alone when you sit there at home, (but) you've got as many folks along with you as if you were in a crowd at the mall." Here are some of the things that Web sites can know about you when you land: Which search term you used to get there, what Web site you came from and other purchases you've made, whether you bought online or in a physical store. None of these things leads to identity theft or phishing, he said, because the data is anonymized so it can't be used to identify you personally. But it does mean that "companies are making decisions about what they show you all over the Internet." If you'd like to be more in control of what information you're sharing, the forum is offering help in honor of the holiday shopping season. One tip is to consider using different online services for e-mail and searching so your search history and your e-mail identity can't be linked.

Carlyle's Bet on Telecom in Hawaii Ends Badly

Hawaiian Telcom Communications filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, a black eye for buyout firm Carlyle Group and another blow to the reeling world of private-equity investing. Carlyle bought Hawaii's largest telephone carrier from Verizon in 2005 for $1.6 billion, putting up $425 million in equity and using debt to finance the rest. Carlyle stocked the board with a team of telecom experts, including William Kennard, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and former Nextel Communications Inc. Chief Executive Daniel Akerson. But the private-equity firm faced problems from the start. State utility regulators delayed the deal's closing. And billing and customer-service issues plagued Hawaiian Telcom as it created back-office systems from scratch. That spurred customers to drop service for wireless and cable providers.

Regulators hang up on cell tower backup rules

The White House Office of Management and Budget has rejected proposed changes by the Federal Communications Commission that would require all cell phone towers to have at least eight hours of backup power. OMB ruled that the FCC failed to get public comment before passing the regulations last year and didn't show that the information required from wireless companies would actually be useful. It also said the FCC hadn't demonstrated that it had enough staff to analyze the hundreds of thousands of pages of documents that the wireless industry said its members would likely have to produce as part of the regulations. A federal appeals court put the rules on hold this summer pending a review by the OMB, which is tasked with overseeing federal regulations. FCC officials said they were considering their options, which could include changing the proposed regulations or voting to override the OMB's decision. The court would still have to rule before any regulations went into effect.

"NewsHour" receives grant for world health reports

PBS' "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" will add a production unit to focus on global health issues in the developing world. The three-year, $3.5 million grant is being funded through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Forty to fifty documentary reports on issues like HIV/AIDS, measles and tuberculosis in the developing world will air on the TV program, as well as digitally. There's also an outreach component to the grant. The Gates grant joins a similar grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for "The NewsHour" to report on domestic health issues.

Time Warner Appeals FCC's MASN Ruling

Time Warner Cable is asking the five members of the Federal Communications Commission to nullify a staff order that required the cable company to widely distribute a Washington-Baltimore regional sports network to hundreds of thousands of North Carolina cable subscribers. The cable company filed its appeal on Nov. 26, attempting to nullify a staff ruling that mandated carriage of Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), the pay-TV home of the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals baseball clubs. MASN also airs 200 NCAA basketball games, including 30 contests that include North Carolina schools, MASN spokesman Todd Webster said. Time Warner's appeal was filed under seal. A public version is expected to be available with a few days.

Look to the Internet to fight poverty

[Commentary] In the past decade, information technology has begun to transform anti-poverty efforts and bring to the poverty world some of the increases in productivity that have been common in the private sector. If President-elect Obama can expand on this, the chances for him to make good on a broad social justice agenda will increase in spite of the other challenges he faces. In the past two decades, electronic database and Internet technologies have driven down the cost of government overhead while significantly elevating the productivity of the nation's anti-poverty programs. Fraud has been reduced while the needs of the economically distressed are addressed in a more timely manner. This has freed up money for other pressing anti-poverty needs. Internet innovation has transformed business, entertainment, and even government. In an Obama administration, it can transform approaches to poverty at home and abroad. The government's efforts should be focused on expanding access to Internet and other technologies for as many Americans as possible while continuing to develop our national broadband capacity. (Elaine Kamarck is a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.)

USF problems snowball toward 2009

Universal Service Fund reform is looking like an even bigger issue for the next iteration of the Federal Communications Commission to deal with, along with a White House administration and Congress that already seem poised to make telecom issues a high priority. It is not known yet who the next FCC chairman will be, but all the candidates for that job would do well to read up on the troubled 12-year history of the USF.

Challenges await Obama in bid to build up security

As President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office, the task of upgrading the security of federal computer systems continues to be a work in progress. Several cybersecurity initiatives launched during the Bush administration are still years away from being completed. Others are closer to completion but don't do enough by themselves to defend networks and systems against increasingly sophisticated attacks, according to IT security analysts. And, they said, resolving the security issues will require Obama to focus on more than just finishing the ongoing initiatives.

Benton

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