January 2011

The European Union's competition authorities have cleared Intel's proposed acquisition of McAfee subject to certain conditions.

The European Commission had conducted an investigation into the planned deal amid fears that rival IT security products could be excluded from the marketplace due to Intel's strong position in the global computer chip market. The concern was that Intel would build security functions into its chips that would only work with McAfee products. However, to alleviate those concerns, Intel made commitments to the Commission earlier this month that it would ensure the interoperability of the merged entity's products with those of competitors. The Commission indicated that those promises had been sufficient and decided to approve the acquisition rather than continue with a further four-month probe. The approval is conditional upon Intel's commitments to ensure fair competition between the parties and their competitors in the field of computer security.

There’s a vigorous privacy debate in Washington, spurred by the Federal Trade Commission and others, that is questioning whether Internet companies have too much data about users’ net-browsing activities. The House Judiciary Committee looked like a parallel universe Jan 25 -- although nobody seemed to recognize the irony.

A lawyer from the Department of Justice told Congress that in order to hunt down child pornographers and other criminals, Internet service providers need to retain data, such as records of which users are at which IP addresses, for a much longer period -- perhaps a year. That would be a big change for ISPs, which have varying data-retention practices and aren't currently required to hold data at all, although most do for a short period. Politicians from both parties were annoyed by the DOJ request, but mainly because it lacked specifics.

Cass Sunstein, the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Management and Budget, testified before the House Commerce Committee's Oversight Subcommittee on Jan 26. He said President Barack Obama's new executive order calling for government agency regulatory review does not apply to independent agencies including the Federal Communications and the Federal Trade Commission.

Sunstein said President Obama was following the lead of Republican President Ronald Reagan, who he said began the practice of not applying executive orders to independent regulatory agencies out of concern for overreaching executive branch authority. Sunstein said that practice had been followed by subsequent presidents. He conceded that OIRA did oversee information gathering, including from those independent agencies, per the Paperwork Reduction Act. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chair of the House Commerce Committee, suggested the issue needed to be studied and perhaps some action taken. "No agencies should be exempt," he said. Committee Republicans talked about the explosion of regulations under the Obama administration, while Sunstein countered that the number of regulations was about the same as the last two years of the Bush administration. Ranking Committee Member Henry Waxman (D-CA) said it looked like the Republicans were repeating their 1995 "all-out assault" on regulations. He warned against painting the issue with too broad a brush. He said he believed in eliminating unnecessary regulations, but that regulations also grow the economy and preserve the environment. He called myths the suggestion that regulations destroy jobs and stymie the economy.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted an order granting LightSquared Subsidiary LLC (LightSquared), a Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) licensee in the L-Band, a conditional waiver of the Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) "integrated service" rule.

On November 18, 2010, LightSquared submitted an application for modification of its existing ATC authorization, asserting that the services it plans to offer would meet the Commission's integrated service requirements for MSS/ATC for L-Band MSS systems. In considering LightSquared's request, and in granting this waiver, the FCC considered several factors, including LightSquared's provision of substantial satellite service in the L-Band, its ongoing efforts to coordinate with other L-Band operators and make substantial investments to rationalize operations in the L-Band to enable use of this spectrum for both MSS and ATC broadband services, the steps it has taken to promote an MSS/ATC marketplace that includes dual-mode satellite/terrestrial devices, and its deployment of a 4G satellite/terrestrial network in the L-Band pursuant to unique and substantial terrestrial buildout requirements. The FCC attached conditions to the waiver, drawn from commitments made by LightSquared in its request, to ensure that LightSquared's proposed service offering - both its improved satellite service and its ancillary terrestrial component - will achieve the purposes of the integrated service rule. The FCC also attached conditions to address concerns that commenters and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have raised about potential interference with Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers.

NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling said, "We are pleased that the FCC has taken our recommendation and is requiring that the potential interference concerns be addressed before LightSquared begins offering commercial broadband service. We will continue to work in consultation with the FCC, government agencies, and industry to ensure that any harmful interference concerns are resolved.”