November 2011

Vice President Joe Biden urged international cooperation to combat cybercrime at a global conference on Internet security in London, but he warned against harsh measure that would curb freedom online.

"The rights of individuals to express their views and petition their leaders, practice their religion, assemble with their fellow citizens online we believe must be protected," he said. "These rights are universal whether they're exercised in the town square or on a Twitter stream." VP Biden said the Internet poses new challenges for international relations. It is more difficult to judge a county's cyberwarfare capabilities than it is to count its tanks, for example. But he said countries must work together to address cyberthreats. The U.S. is working to reach an agreement with Russia that would expand communications between computer security teams and nuclear response centers in the event of a nuclear incident, VP Biden said. He said the U.S. is investing more in cybersecurity and in fighting transnational crime by helping other countries build up their law enforcement capabilities. VP Biden warned against any radical changes to the management of the World Wide Web. But he added that he agreed with suggestions from UK Prime Minister David Cameron to bring more transparency and accountability to the public and private organizations that manage the Web.

The proposal in Congress to auction a 120 MHz portion of the broadcast television spectrum would disenfranchise millions of Americans, seriously damage local TV and raise meager revenues for the U.S. budget deficit, according to officials at Sinclair Broadcast Group. Mark Aitken, VP of advanced technology for Sinclair said: “Spectrum auctions would cause big pain for very little gain. “Forty-six million Americans rely exclusively on over-the-air broadcasting. It is the only reliable medium everyone uses during catastrophes when the cable goes out and the satellite dishes have blown off roofs.”

Sinclair offered a review of what it called the issue’s key facts:

1. All nine of Detroit’s local TV stations would likely go off the air under the proposal to auction 40% of broadcaster spectrum. It says 50%-100% of the TV stations in 22 cities would be left without a new channel assignment. Up to 131 stations nationwide would be forced off the air.
2. TV stations located 360 km (224 miles) south of the Canadian border cannot be reassigned channels without violating U.S.-Canada treaty.
3. The claim of a “looming spectrum crisis” is not supported by facts. Instead, the nation faces a spectrum management failure.
4. The entire block of 108 MHz of spectrum returned to the government by broadcasters during the 2009 DTV transition went unsold and now lies fallow.
5. Officials at Verizon, Sprint and elsewhere acknowledge there is no spectrum shortage, as claimed by auction proponents.
6. An independent analysis conducted by Citigroup found that wireless companies are using only 192 MHz of the 838 MHz available to the industry.
7. Nearly 1,500 MHz of spectrum has been identified by the U.S. Commerce Department that may be available for reassignment, including 115 MHz that could be used for wireless broadband on a swift timetable.
8. The federal government is the single-biggest squatter of the so-called “prime spectrum” (225 MHz-3.7 GHz). Federal entities control 70% of this spectrum and the Government Accountability Office has found federal entities are using it inefficiently.
9. Countless jobs at hundreds of local TV stations forced off the air and related businesses would be at serious risk in what is already a down economy with high unemployment.
10. According to the Congressional Budget Office, a spectrum auction would raise a meager $6.5 billion for the U.S. Treasury to offset a $1.5 trillion budget deficit (representing 0.4% of the deficit).
11. Legislation to audit the spectrum (H.R. 3125) passed overwhelmingly (394-18) in the U.S. House last year but died in the Senate.

The House passed legislation that would temporarily bar states and localities from imposing some new taxes on wireless services like smart phones.

The legislation, authored by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Trent Franks (R-AZ) would impose a five-year moratorium on new state or local taxes on wireless services, unless they are already imposed on other goods and services. The bill's supporters say states and localities are taxing wireless services, which includes service for mobile phones, iPads and other wireless devices, at rates as high as three times the average state sales tax of 7 percent. "This bill would not affect any existing revenues. In fact, it wouldn't affect the ability [of states] to raise taxes on all goods," Rep Lofgren said during the House debate on the bill. "What it would do is keep [states and localities] from singling out wireless services for disproportionate taxation." State and local officials worry the bill would limit their ability to raise revenues, so in July the House Judiciary Committee amended the bill to allow a state or city to impose a new wireless tax if it is approved by the affected voters. Despite this, many groups remain opposed, including the National League of Cities and the National Governors Association

Wireless' recent decision to include a host of new data about consumers in marketing reports is an unfair and deceptive business practice, advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center says in a new Federal Trade Commission complaint.

“After consumers entered into long-term contracts with Verizon Wireless, the company changed its data use and disclosure practices, making the personal information of its customers more widely available to others,” EPIC alleges. The complaint stems from a recent revision to Verizon's privacy policy, which now allows the company to incorporate a host of information -- including people's locations, sites visited and search queries -- in marketing reports. Verizon says that the data won't be personally identifiable and that users can opt out. But EPIC says that Verizon should obtain users' explicit consent before collecting or disclosing this type of data. EPIC also takes issue with Verizon's assertion that the information can't be tied to individuals, pointing out that others have been identified based on supposedly anonymized search queries. This famously happened in 2006, after AOL released search queries of 650,000 anonymized people. Within days, The New York Times identified and profiled one user based solely on her queries. “Users’ location data, Web browsing histories, Internet search terms, demographic information, and mobile device usage information are often personally identifiable,” EPIC states in its complaint. The group also says that Verizon “described the company’s changes so as to falsely assure consumers” that it wasn't disclosing any data that could be used to identify them. EPIC is requesting that the FTC probe Verizon's new policies and order the company to destroy any data collected under its new policy. EPIC also is asking the FTC to order Verizon to obtain users' opt-in consent to any future changes to its data collection practices.