January 2012

AT&T is coming out swinging over some material changes to Sprint's network in Oklahoma and Kansas that will see it shut down some of its own coverage in favor of roaming agreements with CDMA competitors.

Specifically, AT&T cites two policy changes on the Federal Communications Commission's part that have enabled Sprint's move: first, the end of the Home Market Rule, which prevented carriers from establishing roaming agreements in markets where they owned their own spectrum; second, its decision last year to require carriers offer high-speed data roaming in addition to voice. It seems an odd thing for AT&T to get worked up over, save for a couple important things: one, the intent of the roaming rule was to allow rural carriers to compete on even ground, and two, it only stands to reason that a carrier holding spectrum should be required to exhaust it before turning to roaming agreements in a given market. As AT&T senior VP Bob Quinn says, "Sprint can now use other folks' networks rather than pony up its own investment dollars. Nice work if you can get it."

[Commentary] When Mark Zuckerberg, the 27-year-old co-founder of Facebook, announced last year that he was giving $100-million to set up a foundation to help Newark (NJ) public schools, he became one of the highest profile examples of an increasingly common type of big donor: the Internet geek gone good.

Zuckerberg follows donors like eBay’s Pierre Omidyar and Jeff Skoll and AOL’s Steve Case down what’s becoming a well-worn path for Internet entrepreneurs. Those entrepreneurs and company officials listed on this year’s Forbes ranking of the richest Americans – who represent Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Google, Salesforce.com, Yahoo, and others – account for at least $1.54-billion in gifts announced to the public over their lifetimes, according to a Chronicle tally (and that’s not including Bill Gates, who has given more than $28-billion). Zuckerberg, Omidyar, Skoll, and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz have also signed the Giving Pledge, devoting themselves to giving away a big share of their combined $29.9 billion. Many more young Internet entrepreneurs­ are giving big, setting up foundations, building charity into their companies, and serving on boards relatively early in their lives. They give to causes such as education and health care as well as projects designed to create economic opportunity and expand access to technology. And they aren’t waiting to make a difference.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) urged his colleagues to pass a national law telling companies when and how they must inform consumers their data has breached.

Chairman Leahy issued a statement in advance of Data Privacy Day on Jan 28 arguing that the need for a national data breach standard is greater than ever due to the recent string of high-profile attacks on e-commerce firms and government institutions. "Even as the Internet and other rapidly advancing technologies spur economic growth and expand opportunity, there is growing uncertainty and unease about how Americans’ sensitive personal information is collected, shared and stored," Sen Leahy said. "After a record year of high profile data breaches in the private sector and throughout government, it is more important than ever that Congress step forward and enact meaningful data privacy legislation." Chairman Leahy noted the Judiciary Committee reported his Personal Data Privacy and Security Act in September and has passed similar legislation three times. The bill would force e-commerce firms to take measures to protect consumers' data and create a single nationwide standard for breach notification.

Chairman Leahy also argued a data breach provision should be part of any comprehensive cybersecurity legislation, which the Senate is set to consider in the coming weeks.

This week, which leads up to Data Privacy Day on Jan 28, could be a big one for advancing online privacy policy in Washington (DC) and globally.

In keeping with the push to protect consumers' personal data and privacy online, the Obama administration is expected to release its white paper on privacy, endorsing a "privacy bill of rights" and calling on companies to self-regulate by adopting codes of conduct. On the other side of the pond, the European Commission on Jan 25 will propose big changes to its 17-year-old European privacy policy directive, adopting regulation that by 2014 could require companies like Google and Facebook to obtain explicit consent from consumers before collecting and using their personal data. Both events will cause companies to re-examine privacy policies and "look around the corner to anticipate future privacy policy," said Christopher Wolf, a partner with Hogan Lovells and the co-chair of the Future of Privacy Forum.