December 2012

Verizon names new head of Washington operations

Verizon Communications named Randal S. Milch executive vice president of global public policy and communications, the lead role in Washington for the telecom giant. Milch in effect replaces Thomas J. Tauke, who is switching gears to advise chief executive Lowell McAdam on legislative strategy including federal telecom law and corporate tax reform, the firm said. The changes were part of a broader organizational shift with Verizon merging federal, state and legal operations. Tauke, 62, served as a Republican representative of Iowa from 1979 to 1991.

Facebook’s chief privacy officer works to keep 1 billion friends in the loop

A profile of Erin Egan. She joined Facebook in September 2011 and became the company chief privacy officer for policy, located in the nation’s capital.

The company needed her. Since its launch in 2004, Facebook has amassed a mountainous hoard of user data and has been scrutinized by lawmakers and federal regulators for how it uses that data and keeps it private. Egan’s job is to help explain the company’s privacy policies to its gigantic user base, which reached 1 billion monthly active users in October. She also ensures that feedback from lawmakers and regulators is incorporated into Facebook’s policies and weighs the privacy implications of new products the social network is looking to roll out.

Clegg orders Internet monitoring rethink

Nick Clegg has told the British Home Office to go “back to the drawing board” on proposals for police and security services to monitor e-mail, web searches and Skype phone calls, after a cross-party committee issued a scathing report on the plans.

The deputy prime minister commissioned a joint committee to scrutinize the government’s draft legislation on communications data earlier this year, following concerns that awarding police new powers would breach civil liberties. In its report, the group of peers and MPs has accused the Home Office of using “fanciful and misleading” figures to justify its proposals, which it says go much further than is needed to pursue criminals and do not include necessary safeguards. Clegg highlighted the “serious criticisms” in the document, covering the scope of the plans, proportionality, cost and checks and balances. While the deputy prime minister said he understood that law enforcement agencies needed new powers to fight crime, he made clear that the government needed to have a “fundamental rethink” about the legislation. “We cannot proceed with this bill and we have to go back to the drawing board,” he said.

Russia backs down on proposals to regulate the Internet

A Russia-led coalition withdrew a proposal to give governments new powers over the Internet, a plan opposed by Western countries in talks on a new global telecom treaty.

Negotiations on the treaty mark the most sustained effort so far by governments from around the world to agree on how - or whether - to regulate cyberspace. The United States, Europe, Canada and other advocates of a hands-off approach to Internet regulation want to limit the new treaty's scope to telecom companies. US ambassador Terry Kramer welcomed the decision to withdraw the Russia-led plan. But he also said: "These issues will continue to be on the table for discussion in other forms during the remainder of the conference." China, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates had co-signed the aborted proposal. The UAE insisted the document had not been withdrawn.

Ambassador Kramer: Reports of WCIT Walkout Threat Untrue

Ambassador Terry Kramer, head of the U.S. delegation to the World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai, said in a statement that reports the US may pull out of the conference were not true, but according to a press conference with ITU representatives, there has been little consensus on the issues that the U.S. has suggested were nonnegotiable from its side, which are primarily ones that would introduce Internet governance and security and sender-pays models to the treaties being discussed.

"In the past few days, a small number of media reports have characterized the United States as 'threatening' to withdraw from the WCIT negotiations," he said. "These speculative reports are inaccurate and unhelpful to the Conference," Kramer said. "The United States has made no such threat, and it remains fully committed to achieving a successful conclusion to the WCIT. The U.S. Delegation will continue to provide information to the media as negotiations continue throughout this week."

Keep Internet Free From Public and Private Meddling

[Commentary] In an age when global networks are used increasingly for important purposes such as electronic health record-keeping and long-distance education, it is essential that ITU governments continue to say no to tollgates and monitoring of all kinds -- and preserve the open Internet we have had since its inception. The World Conference on International Telecommunications is being held in Dubai to update the treaty that governs how communications networks connect to one another around the world -- regulations that have existed since the 19th century but haven’t been revised since 1988, before the Internet became what it is today.

The outcome of the Dubai meeting, standing alone, is not likely to change the Internet used by people in the US. Congress would have to adopt any treaty amendments before they could be effective in the US. What’s at stake, however, is the free global Internet pathway. If any one country erected a toll system by itself, it would probably lose its connection to the rest of the Web and become an unpopular and isolated island. But if a large group of countries collectively agreed that such toll-taking makes sense, the decision could change the architecture and generative nature of the Internet for everyone.

Media Ownership Decision Delayed - What Issues Are Being Debated?

The Federal Communications Commission's media ownership proceeding was going to be decided, at last, before Christmas, or, at least, that was what was suggested by many news reports as recently as early last week. Published reports suggested that a draft proposal was circulating at the FCC, and that it was expected to be acted on in December – perhaps at or before next week's open meeting. That timetable now seems to be out the window, as the FCC has asked for additional comments on the summaries of the information gleaned from the FCC Form 323 Ownership Reports as to minority and female ownership of broadcast stations released late last month. The summary of those reports showed low levels of minority ownership in many parts of the broadcasting world. As the Third Circuit's remand of the last multiple ownership order (which we summarized here) was based in part on the Commission's failure to address the impact that its minor liberalization of the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules would have on minority ownership, this request for additional comments seems addressed, at least in part, to addressing that perceived deficiency.

Seize the Airways!

[Commentary] If the Federal Communications Commission is sincere about its role in protecting the public’s interest in telecommunications and media markets, then they cannot further relax media ownership rules. The recent proposal on the table threatens to gut the 30-year-old broadcast/newspaper cross-ownership rule that allows one company to own a daily newspaper, two TV stations and up to eight radio stations in one town. We know that today, media ownership is already concentrated in the hands of a few corporations thanks to the loosening of ownership rules by Washington in the last several decades. These corporate media giants not only own the broadcast networks and local stations; but also own the pipeline — the cable and the Internet signals that deliver most of the media content.

The People Have Spoken

[Commentary] “Our nation’s media market must reflect the diverse voices of our population, and it is essential that the FCC promotes the public interest and diversity in ownership.” That’s not some crazy media activist talking. It’s Barack Obama, back in 2008. So it’s almost unfathomable that Obama’s appointed FCC chairman is now rushing to gut the longstanding rules that limit how much one company can own in a single market.

These are the rules keeping Rupert Murdoch, the Fox News kingpin and phone hacker, from buying the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune ¬– which he covets. Apparently, the FCC was hoping no one would notice the change. Well, they’ve noticed. And the chorus of opposition against the FCC’s plans to gut longstanding media ownership rules is growing louder and louder. In just the past two weeks, some 200,000 people have taken action against the FCC’s move. Thousands more have called Congress. It’s making a difference: A dozen members of Congress have weighed in with letters to the FCC urging them to stop the rush for more media consolidation. So have the nation’s leading civil rights organizations. But why an Obama appointee is suddenly in such a hurry to do Rupert Murdoch’s bidding remains a mystery.

Will The FCC’s Chairman Give Rupert Murdoch A Holiday Gift In 2013?

The curious thing about Julius Genachowski‘s tenure as Federal Communications Commission chairman is that he’s been a virtuoso in dealing with broadband issues but tone deaf when it comes to traditional media. Case in point: Look at all the people he has infuriated with his attempt to make it easier for a company to own a TV station and major newspaper in the same city. (A proposal Genachowski circulated would put the burden on the FCC to show why it should block a cross-ownership arrangement in the 20 largest markets.) The effort is tailor-made for Rupert Murdoch.

Benton

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