November 2011

Staying true to stereotype, our Chicago office's Internet access has be blown away this morning. Here's all the news we found as of yesterday; we"ll catch up online (hopefully) later today and see you again tomorrow morning.

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Cybersecurity and the Smart Grid on today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2011-11-29/

AT&T/T-MOBILE
   What’s next for AT&T and T-Mobile merger? - analysis
   Can AT&T Really Walk Away From The FCC While Keeping The T-Mobile Deal Alive? - analysis
   AT&T: It's all about the dividend
   AT&T CEO’s surprise call from FCC chairman
   Judge postpones court meeting in Justice case against AT&T, T-Mobile
   Public Knowledge, Media Access Group urge FCC to deny AT&T's bid to drop merger application

MORE WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Why Simply Selling Our Airwaves Will Cost Us in the Long Run - analysis

OWNERSHIP
   Tribune bankruptcy case may set precedents on leveraged buyouts

ADVERTISING
   Google Looks Forward to an Early Christmas Present From Washington: An Okay for Admeld
   Can We Trust The Online Ad Industry To Regulate Itself?

POLICYMAKERS
   Sen Grassley Hold Threat Still Hangs Over FCC Nominees

TELEVISION
   MAP, PK Call for Major Program Carriage Changes

CONTENT
   Feds shut down 150 websites in 'Cyber Monday' crackdown
   Decline of Flat Rate Provides Opportunities for Over-the-Top Players - analysis
   Lending is the right model - analysis
   ComScore: Record 42.6 Billion Online Videos Viewed in October [links to web]

OPEN GOVERNMENT/CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
   President Obama Signs Memorandum to Modernize Management of Government Records - press release
   We the People draws a curious crowd - research

LABOR
   Estimates of ARRA’s Impact in the Third Quarter of 2011 - research [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:

   European Commission Presses 16 States to Implement New EU Telecoms Rules
   European high court rejects Internet traffic filtering as violation of fundamental rights
   European Parliament joins criticism of SOPA
   Head of French privacy watchdog presses Europe to hold hard line with security-minded US
   China appeals to Washington to avoid politics in investment after tech probe launched
   Google seeks EU approval for Motorola Mobility deal [links to web]
   Europe scrutinizes Facebook’s data collection — again? [links to web]
   China vows government offices will use legal software [links to web]
   Test-Aankoop finds mobile internet expensive in Belgium [links to web]
   Belgium Auctions off 4G License Spectrum [links to web]

back to top

AT&T/T-MOBILE

WHAT NEXT FOR AT&T/T-MOBILE?
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
What’s next for AT&T and T-Mobile? Not a merger in the near future. The wireless giants say they are fighting to salvage their $39 billion deal. But some analysts say the firms look unlikely to win their mounting regulatory battles against the Justice Department and now the Federal Communications Commission. By withdrawing their merger application at the FCC, the companies hoped to focus on their legal defense against Justice’s suit to block the deal. As reported, last week the chairman of the FCC signaled he opposed the deal and would send the proposal to an administrative judge. “We believe the DOJ will likely win in court, and the FCC arguments provide it with further ammo,” said Christopher King, a principal at Stifel Nicolaus. “We also believe the initial FCC resistance provides DOJ with added leverage to keep fighting if it loses the first round of litigation, or to negotiate a settlement, if necessary.” AT&T has said it will reapply for the merger at the FCC. And Bloomberg reported last week that AT&T is preparing a settlement offer to divest 40 percent of T-Mobile’s assets. But don’t expect a wireless mega-merger next year or in the foreseeable future, analysts say. Expect cable and satellite Internet service providers to eye T-Mobile as a way to enter the lucrative wireless business their customers seek. “In the short term, we expect T-Mobile to be a disruptive pre-paid operator. Longer term, we speculated that a deal with the cable operators is T-Mobile’s best available option,” said Craig Moffett, an investment analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein.
benton.org/node/106070 | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CAN AT&T REALLY WALK AWAY FROM FCC?
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] Given how incredibly unlikely AT&T is to win approval of its acquisition of T-Mobile at this point, why is AT&T drawing this out? Do they really think they can win in court? Why not just call it quits, or vow to fight it out before the Federal Communications Commission’s administrative law judge? I think a number of things are going on here. First, AT&T was, once again, caught by surprise on the timing. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski played this like a total master. He kept his cards close, counting on his reputation for avoiding political conflict with powerful entities like AT&T, then sprang it on them when Congress was out of town and AT&T could not pull together powerful political pushback. The announcement that the Chairman would do this on circulation, rather than wait 3 weeks for the December Public Meeting¸ further limited AT&T’s options.
Caught by surprise with very limited options, AT&T had two choices: 1) try to tough it out and lobby like hell to prevent a vote, or 2) try to pull the applications to avoid an hearing designation order (HDO). Between these two bad choices, AT&T probably made the right calculus. It seems extremely unlikely that AT&T could prevent a vote for the HDO. Neither Democrat is likely to undercut both the Chairman and the Department of Justice, even if he or she wanted to vote against it. Nor is it certain the FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell would vote against a designation for hearing. As I have observed before, Commissioner McDowell is not a corporate shill so much as a true believer in the Gods of the Marketplace. This is precisely the case where Commissioner McDowell might say: “Well, this is definitely the thing to do, refer to a hearing rather than leverage our authority to extort concessions. There are real questions about market power here, and they ought to be resolved by a hearing as required by law.” Heck, this kind of once-in-a-blue-moon vote is precisely the sort of thing that burnishes credentials as a genuine believer in the free market rather than simply pro-big business.
AT&T can still hope to renegotiate the breakup fee with Deutsche Telekom (DT) by stretching out the proceeding. If DT knows it can’t get the deal done, it will want to unwind as quickly as possible so it can maximize the value of T-Mo to another buyer, or as a standalone initial public offering (IPO). While one Wall St. analyst recently valued such an IPO at $28 billion, that will decline if T-Mobile remains shackled to the deal and continues to experience churn as a result. So AT&T may be content to have the case in abeyance before the district court. At this point, keeping the case open is the only leverage it has to renegotiate the breakup fee. If the case is in abeyance, AT&T can threaten to leave it that way until the breakup fee comes due in September 2012 unless DT agrees to renegotiate the fee downward.
benton.org/node/106069 | Public Knowledge
Recommend this Headline
back to top

AT&T’S DIVIDEND
[SOURCE: CNNMoney, AUTHOR: Paul La Monica]
Ma Bell's plan to buy T-Mobile may still technically be on life support. But make no mistake, AT&T's stock looks pretty dead. If AT&T has to pull the plug on the deal -- leaving that pretty T-Mobile spokesgirl looking for another corporate gentleman caller (paging Sprint!) -- it may be tougher for Ma Bell to compete as effectively with its top rival Verizon. But analysts said that as long as AT&T keeps paying that big, fat dividend, investors may not care. AT&T's annual dividend is $1.72 a share. That works out to a yield of nearly 6.2%. To put that in comparison, it's more than triple the puny 2% or so that you get from holding onto a 10-year Treasury bond. And despite all the problems facing Ma Bell -- slow growth, more competition, and a relative paucity of spectrum for its 4G network, to name a few -- it looks like AT&T is a safer bet than the U.S. government. It costs AT&T about $10.2 billion to pay its annual dividend to all its shareholders. That's a lot of money. But consider that AT&T generated $12.4 billion in free cash flow in just the first nine months of the year. So while not being able to buy T-Mobile would be a blow, it's not significant enough to cause any questions about the safety of the dividend.
benton.org/node/106068 | CNNMoney
Recommend this Headline
back to top

SURPRISE CALL FROM FCC
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
A couple days before Thanksgiving, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson received probably one of the worst phone calls of his career. With no warning, the Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski called on Nov 22 to say he was moving to oppose AT&T’s bid for T-Mobile by handing the merger application to an administrative judge. During the call, Chairman Genachowski indicated that he would be circulating to his fellow Commissioners a draft order approving the Qualcomm transaction and a draft order designating the T-Mobile transaction for an administrative hearing. Chairman Genachowski indicated that the draft designation order would likely be voted in the next several days or weeks but the administrative hearing would be deferred until after resolution of the pending litigation with the Department of Justice. Chairman Genachowski made a similar call that day to Rene Obermann, chief executive of T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom. Hours later, the agency revealed its plan to the media. AT&T’s stock dropped about 3.4 percent over the next day. The call came one day after Justice Department officials canceled a meeting with AT&T.
benton.org/node/106094 | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top

JUDGE POSTPONES AT&T/DOJ HEARING
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
US District Court of the District of Columbia Judge Ellen Huvelle has postponed a much anticipated Nov 30 meeting with AT&T and T-Mobile and the Justice Department to early next month, citing a scheduling conflict. Jude Huvelle will now meet with the parties at 10 a.m. Dec. 9 to get an update on the status of the case. In the December meeting, Judge Huvelle may inquire about the status of AT&T’s request to remove it merger application at the Federal Communications Commission. Justice’s case against the merger goes to trial in February.
benton.org/node/106093 | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top

ADVOCACY GROUPS URGE FCC DENY AT&T WITHDRAWAL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Public Knowledge and Media Access Project urged the Federal Communications Commission to deny AT&T's request to withdraw its application to buy T-Mobile, accusing the company of engaging in "litigation gamesmanship." The groups argue that allowing AT&T to withdraw its application would harm the public interest. The brief accuses AT&T and T-Mobile of trying to drop their application so they can "seek a favorable decision in federal court, which the companies can then use to pressure the Commission to approve the merge." The FCC has no obligation to honor AT&T's strategic move, the filing argues. The brief also argues the FCC should release the proposed order that would have sent the issue to an administrative hearing, regardless of whether AT&T withdraws its application. "The Commission, as the expert agency in this proceeding, has spent seven months collecting evidence and carefully evaluating whether the proposed transaction will further the public interest," the groups write. "Applicants have made no secret of their desire to short-circuit a true review on the basis of facts via a procedural loophole. But the public deserves for the Commission’s determinations to see the light of day."
benton.org/node/106092 | Hill, The | PK/MAP release
Recommend this Headline
back to top

MORE WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

SPECTRUM AUCTIONS
[SOURCE: Technology Review, AUTHOR: Yochai Benkler]
The deficit super committee and congressional technology committees searching for new money are considering "incentive auctions" of the TV band spectrum. Versions of these plans that focus on simply selling as much spectrum as possible would threaten the future of wireless innovation in the US. For starters, it would threaten what appears to be the next wave in wireless communications—a wave exemplified by two recently launched products. The first product is Amazon's Kindle Fire, which came out as a purely Wi-Fi device from a company that only four years ago launched the Kindle as a cellular-only device with service baked into the device price. The second is a $19.99 unlimited voice, text, and data service from Republic Wireless, which uses Wi-Fi as baseline infrastructure, and cellular as its fallback. Just as packet switching and Internet protocol replaced circuit switching and the old telephone model, the two launches capture a fundamental switch in how wireless infrastructures are built. Open wireless models, like Wi-Fi, are becoming the basic infrastructure for wireless communications, while exclusively licensed services, like cellular, are becoming the (still critical) backup and supplement.
benton.org/node/106062 | Technology Review
Recommend this Headline
back to top

OWNERSHIP

TRIBUNE BANKRUPTCY UPDATE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Michael Oneal, Ameet Sachdev]
Mark Lies was among thousands of Tribune shareholders who cashed out when the media conglomerate went private in 2007. And like those others, he stands to lose some of his winnings if junior creditors succeed in their legal bid to claw back more than $2.5 billion of the $8.2 billion in proceeds from Tribune's disastrous leveraged buyout. Lies and his fellow shareholders are caught in a legal battle that may be the most perplexing yet in a Tribune bankruptcy that has groaned on for three years. The junior creditors, led by New York hedge fund Aurelius Capital Management, claim that the complex deal orchestrated by Chicago billionaire Sam Zell was a fraudulent conveyance, doomed to fail from the start. If the buyout is proved to be a fraudulent conveyance, creditors argue, investors shouldn't have benefited, and proceeds from their stock transactions should be made available to satisfy the $2.5 billion that creditors claim they are owed. In all, 33,000 to 35,000 investors are potentially on the hook for money they received in 2007, when the company went private at $34 a share. Defendants include thousands of current and former employees of Tribune. Many others are people around the country like Lies who had nothing to do with the company — they simply bought the stock. It is far from clear that the creditors' maneuver will work. And defendants warn that if Aurelius and its allies prevail, markets that depend on the sanctity of a settled transaction could be disrupted by making it difficult for investors to assess risks in participating in a leveraged buyout.
benton.org/node/106067 | Los Angeles Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top

ADVERTISING

ADMELD OK?
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Kafka]
Google’s deal to buy ad tech start-up Admeld, announced in June, looks like it is finally ready to close. Industry sources expect the Department of Justice, who had been reviewing the $400 million transaction for antitrust violations, to approve the deal in the next couple weeks, perhaps as early as this week. It’s unclear whether the DOJ will impose any restrictions on the deal. But Web ad players, reading tea leaves and DOJ body language, are betting the sale goes through unhindered.
benton.org/node/106095 | Wall Street Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CAN WE TRUST ONLINE AD INDUSTRY?
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Jeff Roberts]
Internet advertisers this month took a fresh stab at persuading federal privacy regulators to leave them alone. The advertisers are touting new industry guidelines which they believe will resolve consumer concerns about data disclosure once and for all. Why, then, does the effort still feel like wishful thinking? For anyone who missed it, the advertisers’ new initiative is an expanded set of principles to govern what they can do with the information they collect about people’s internet surfing habits. The ad companies have already provided a consumer opt-out system but the Federal Trade Commission suggested the scheme did not go far enough. The new industry rules are intended to provide additional measures of reassurance, for instance by saying that companies can’t use browsing information to help determine whether someone is eligible for credit or insurance. According to Stu Ingis, general counsel for the Digital Advertising Alliance, ad companies weren’t using the information for eligibility reasons in the first place. Still, he said in an interview, the new principles formally expand the existing guidelines and represent “a holistic response to policy makers and consumers.” So what does all this actually mean? In a nutshell, it means the industry thinks it has done enough to allay privacy concerns by offering consumers a one-stop website where they can see which ad companies are tracking them.
benton.org/node/106087 | paidContent.org
Recommend this Headline
back to top

POLICYMAKERS

GRASSLEY COULD HOLD FCC NOMINEES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) may still block a vote on new Federal Communications Commission commissioners stemming from his disaffection with the FCC's response to him, or lack of it, on its LightSquared waiver. "The hold is still a possibility," said a Grassley spokesperson. "Nothing has been resolved." The Senate Commerce Committee is holding a hearing on the nominees -- Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai -- on Nov. 30, but the hold would not become relevant until the nominations were voted out of the committee and sent to the floor for a vote.
benton.org/node/106091 | Broadcasting&Cable
Recommend this Headline
back to top

TELEVISION

PROGRAM CARRIAGE COMMENTS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission has proposed changes to its program carriage rules, which included providing for standstills during program carriage disputes and price "true ups" for the winners of complaints about non-carriage, as well as a number of other changes. In joint comments on the proposal, Media Access Project and Public Knowledge said the FCC should adopt baseball-style arbitration for program carriage disputes, as well as a shot clock for action on complaints, expedited discovery, putting the burden on complaint defendants to "establish a non-discriminatory reason for its carriage decision" -- per program access rules -- and applying the rules to online video delivery. "[L]ax and delayed enforcement of the rules added to the growing sentiment among video programming vendors that pursuing a program carriage complaint would be a moot point," said the groups in their filing. "The recent revisions of the program carriage rules, combined with the proposals in the NPRM, do much to reconcile the rules regime with Congressional intent."
benton.org/node/106090 | Broadcasting&Cable
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CONTENT

CYBER MONDAY CRACKDOWN
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The Justice Department and other federal agencies shut down 150 websites accused of selling copyrighted materials and counterfeit products. The crackdown was timed to coincide with "Cyber Monday," the most profitable day of the year for online retailers. As part of the operation, federal agents ordered products such as sports jerseys, DVD sets, shoes, handbags and sunglasses. If the company confirmed the products were counterfeit, the Justice Department obtained an order from a federal judge to seize the website. Visitors to the 150 websites that were seized will now find a banner notifying them that federal authorities have taken over the domain.
benton.org/node/106066 | Hill, The | Dept of Justice | Politico | White House
Recommend this Headline
back to top

FLAT RATES AND OTT PLAYERS
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Alex Leslie]
On the face of it, the death or decline of flat-rate pricing from telcos will mean the end of the ‘free’ ride that over-the-top (OTT) players have been enjoying for the last few years. This has already produced casualties. Netflix, for instance, the shining star of the new content world, had to radically change its business model. Google’s YouTube and ‘catch up’ TV was causing unsustainable bottlenecks for telcos. Something had to give. As flat rate declines, however, new opportunities arise. Fuelled by the network neutrality debate, telcos and OTT players have looked upon each other as enemies and reached for their legal arsenals to try and win the battle. The truth is that telcos and OTT have a natural and intuitive synergy. This is based, not on operating outside comfort zones, but sticking to core business. Telcos are great at bundling, billing, network management, and getting better and better at customer service, helped by the rise of analytics and policy management. OTT players are great at producing many forms of compelling content, games, music, movies, and more.
benton.org/node/106065 | Connected Planet
Recommend this Headline
back to top

LENDING E-BOOKS
[SOURCE: Digitopoly , AUTHOR: Joshua Gans]
Book publishers are struggling with eBook lending. The latest to have a problem is Penguin who announced last week they would opt out of library lending programs citing security concerns. (They subsequently softened their exit to something temporary). The Penguin move specifically highlighted the Kindle lending program. Of course, this is just the latest following Harper Collins’ approach to limit lending to 26 times per year. And as many have pointed out, the problem publishers have with eBook lending is the same problem they have with book lending: it undermines their business model of relying on ownership to sell books. Here is the central fact about book publishing: lending is the natural state. Authors produce a book that is improved by others (including editors etc). Then people read the book and that is where it has primary value. Notice that there is no ‘then people buy the book’ stage in the middle or ‘then people place the book on their shelves forever more’ after these. Those are things people did because (a) they had to buy a physical copy and (b) they got used to keeping the physical copy. But for libraries, none of that was relevant. The issue book publishers face — and so many have said it I really shouldn’t bother, but I will — is that they are wedded to a strategy whereby they sell owned copies rather than reading.
benton.org/node/106086 | Digitopoly
Recommend this Headline
back to top

OPEN GOVERNMENT/CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

MANAGING GOVERNMENT RECORDS
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Press release]
President Barack Obama took the most significant steps since the Truman Administration to improve the management of federal records. The Presidential Memorandum directs agencies to move into a digital-based records keeping system, a move that will save taxpayer dollars, promote accountability, and increase government transparency. The action delivers on a commitment the President made in September 2011 when the White House put forward the Open Government Partnership: National Action Plan for the United States. The Presidential Memorandum initiates a comprehensive assessment of agency systems for collecting, maintaining, and preserving the records that document the operation of our democracy. Specifically, it calls for reports within the next 120 days, by each agency head, describing current plans for improving records management programs; outlining current obstacles to sound, cost-effective records management policies; and cataloguing potential reforms and improvements. The agency reports will inform, and be followed, by a Records Management Directive, to be issued by the Director of OMB and the National Archivist of the United States that will identify specific steps agencies must take to reform records management policies and practices. The Management Directive will focus on making records management more cost-effective and accessible to the public and on transitioning from paper-based records to electronic records where appropriate. In a key provision, the President has required the Director of OMB and the National Archivist to consult with those inside and outside the government – including public stakeholders interested in improving records management and open government.
benton.org/node/106064 | White House, The | read the Presidential Memorandum | blog – Cass Sunstein
Recommend this Headline
back to top

WE THE PEOPLE
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Joseph Marks]
During roughly two months since its launch, the Obama Administration's We the People online petition website has drawn environmentalists looking to kill the Keystone pipeline project, graduate students seeking more subsidized loans and immigrants advocating for a less labyrinthine visa system. It's also attracted online poker enthusiasts asking for consumer protections, Wiccans looking for legal protections and three children seeking the return of their deported mother. Curious about who was using this experiment in digital democracy, Nextgov pulled the 119 petitions posted to We the People on Nov. 14 and organized them by broad subject matter. The list includes all unanswered petitions that are less than 30 days old and have met the 150 signature threshold to be posted to the public petition site. Nextgov did not distinguish between petitions that had reached the 25,000 signature threshold for an official White House response and those that had not. Petitions that fail to meet that threshold within 30 days are removed from the site and archived.
benton.org/node/106088 | nextgov | see the research
Recommend this Headline
back to top

STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:

EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESSES 16 STATES TO IMPLEMENT NEW EU TELECOMS RULES
[SOURCE: cellular-news, AUTHOR: Simon Davies]
The European Commission has written to sixteen Member States which have failed to fully implement new EU telecoms rules into national law, six months after the deadline to do so. The new rules give EU customers new rights regarding fixed telephony, mobile services and Internet access. For instance, the right to switch telecoms operators in one day without changing their phone number and the right to clarity about data traffic management practices employed by Internet Service Providers. There is now also better protection of privacy and personal data online.
benton.org/node/106082 | cellular-news
Recommend this Headline
back to top

EUROPEAN HIGH COURT REJECTS INTERNET TRAFFIC FILTERING AS VIOLATION OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
[SOURCE: Ars Technica, AUTHOR: Sean Gallagher]
While Thanksgiving is an American holiday, Internet service providers and users in Europe had reason to give thanks. The highest court in the European Union overturned a ruling that would have forced a Belgian ISP to preemptively filter Internet traffic to prevent the unauthorized sharing of music files. The European Court of Justice overturned a ruling by a Belgian court in a suit brought by the Belgian Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SABAM). SABAM filed it against Scarlet Extended over alleged illegal peer-to-peer filesharing by Scarlet's customers. That 2007 ruling required Scarlet to filter traffic on its network, so that it could identify and block illegal peer to peer filesharing traffic. It was based on an interpretation of Belgian copyright laws that put the burden of enforcement on ISPs.
benton.org/node/106081 | Ars Technica
Recommend this Headline
back to top

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT JOINS CRITICISM OF SOPA
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Jennifer Baker]
The European Parliament has added its voice to those criticizing the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the United States criticizing the use of domain name seizures by U.S. authorities on copyright 'infringing' websites. The parliament adopted, by a large majority, a resolution that "stresses the need to protect the integrity of the global Internet and freedom of communication by refraining from unilateral measures to revoke IP addresses or domain names." The move comes after more than 60 civil and human rights organizations wrote a letter to Congress on Tuesday calling for the rejection of SOPA. The letter argues that the act "is as unacceptable to the international community as it would be if a foreign country were to impose similar measures on the United States." SOPA would enable the U.S. government to block access to websites internationally. This not only includes the .com domain, but also .net and .org, domain names which are used by millions of organizations outside the legal jurisdiction of the United States. But civil liberties groups say that the definitions in SOPA are so broad that it could be interpreted so that no online resource anywhere in the world would be outside U.S. jurisdiction.
benton.org/node/106061 | IDG News Service
Recommend this Headline
back to top

HEAD OF FRENCH PRIVACY WATCHDOG PRESSES EUROPE TO HOLD HARD LINE WITH SECURITY-MINDED US
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Jamey Keaten]
Europe and the United States don't agree on how to strike the right balance between protecting privacy rights and battling the terror threat, the head of France's data protection watchdog said. Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin said the EU Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, should defend data privacy rights amid "strong" pressure from U.S. officials to get access information about European citizens for security reasons. "In my view, notably in the international sphere and in talks with the United States, the balance between data protection and security is very strained," said Falque-Pierrotin. European authorities "understand" America's concerns about terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, she said. But Europe "is trying to negotiate to make sure that data and Internet privacy is respected. On that matter, we're not totally aligned."
benton.org/node/106060 | Associated Press
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CHINA APPEALS TO WASHINGTON TO AVOID POLITICS IN INVESTMENT AFTER TECH PROBE LAUNCHED
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR:]
China appealed to Washington to avoid politicizing investment after a congressional panel said it would look into whether Chinese technology firms operating in the United States pose a security threat. A foreign ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin, said Chinese companies operating abroad obey the law and act according to market principles.
"We hope the U.S. side will not politicize our economic cooperation," Liu said. The US House of Representatives intelligence committee said it will investigate whether allowing Chinese companies to expand in the United States might aid Chinese electronic spying. It cited Huawei Technologies Ltd. and rival ZTE Corp., makers of telecommunications gear, as being among the companies to be examined.
benton.org/node/106059 | Associated Press
Recommend this Headline
back to top