February 2012

A Senate staffer was tasked two years ago with compiling reports for a subcommittee about the number of times annually the Justice Department employed a covert internet and telephone surveillance method known as pen register and trap-and-trace capturing. But the records, which the Justice Department is required to forward to Congress annually, were nowhere in sight. That’s because the Justice Department was not following the law and had not provided Congress with the material at least for years 2004 to 2008. On the flip side, Congress was not exercising its watchdog role, thus enabling the Justice Department to skirt any oversight whatsoever on an increasingly used surveillance method that does not require court warrants, according to Justice Department documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act. The mishap is just one piece of an ever-growing disconnect between Americans’ privacy interests, and a Congress seemingly uncommitted to protecting those interests.

Two years ago, the Winter Games in Vancouver were just beginning. When they ended, NBC Universal reported a loss of $223 million. Now, with the Summer Games in London five months away, NBC is hoping to avoid a big loss on its $1.18 billion rights fee, the most paid for the Olympics by a United States network. So far, sales appear to be off to a strong start. Seth Winter, the senior vice president of the NBC Sports Group, said last week that national advertising sales for the London Games were just above $900 million. Sales have already exceeded the $850 million for the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, for which NBC paid $893 million to the International Olympic Committee to buy the broadcast rights. Winter said that the automotive category was healthy and that two carmakers, General Motors and BMW, would be the only ones advertising on NBC’s Olympic broadcasts. One part of NBC’s strength heading into the Games is a healthy sports advertising economy, especially for major events. Many of the advertisers for last week’s Super Bowl have also committed to the Olympics. The second positive is a large expansion of the amount of advertising time that NBC will be selling on its digital platform.

Cybersecurity legislation in the Senate was designed to avoid unmanageable costs to industry and can be altered in coming weeks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told the US Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business lobbying group.

Sen Reid responded in a letter to concerns raised by the Chamber that a planned cybersecurity bill may increase costs and place too many rules on companies. The measure may be introduced as early as this week. “You are absolutely right that a regulatory framework creating bureaucratic redundancy, over-intrusive requirements, and unmanageable costs is counterproductive and contradictory to the spirit of public-private partnership that must drive our nation’s cybersecurity efforts,” Sen Reid wrote to Chamber president Thomas Donohue. Sen Reid said many of the issues raised by the Chamber were addressed in bill revisions. He said the legislation has been “carefully crafted and narrowly tailored,” and he pledged to hold a “fair and reasonable” amendment process when the bill comes to the Senate floor.

Last week I attended a meeting of Latino business leaders, convened by the White House, to discuss how the broadband industry can grow the jobs of the future in the Latino community.

We often hear about an emerging skills gap in America and the urgent need for more graduates in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Business leaders recognize that to help address this challenge, particularly in the technology sector, broadband Internet access is a priority. Another key to growing a technology-skilled workforce is tackling the broadband adoption gap in the Latino community. NTIA’s research shows that only 57 percent of Hispanic households had broadband service in 2010, which significantly lags behind the national rate. Even when adjusting for socioeconomic factors, like income and education, Hispanic households still trail White households in broadband adoption by 11 percentage points. To encourage the next generation of computer programmers and information technology workers – and to help today’s workers better compete – broadband access at home and in schools is a vital first step. To help tackle this issue, NTIA is vigorously overseeing approximately 230 broadband projects nationwide. These projects, funded by the Recovery Act, are deploying new and upgraded broadband networks, extending broadband access to schools and other community anchor institutions, upgrading and expanding public computer centers, and providing free computer and job training for residents. Of course business leaders understand that bridging the digital divide is not only good for Latinos and others lagging in broadband adoption, but also good for U.S. businesses and economic growth. By leveraging the talents of all our people, and building a stronger workforce, America can best compete in the global 21st century economy.