May 2013

Unprecedented e-mail privacy bill sent to Texas governor’s desk

Texas appears set to enact the nation’s strongest e-mail privacy bill. The proposed legislation requires state law enforcement agencies to get a warrant for all e-mails regardless of the age of the e-mail.

On May 28, the Texas bill (HB 2268) was sent to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk, and he has until June 16, 2013 to sign it or veto it. If he does neither, it will pass automatically and take effect on September 1, 2013. The bill would give Texans more privacy over their inbox to shield against state-level snooping, but the bill would not protect against federal investigations. The bill passed both houses of the state legislature earlier this year without a single "nay" vote. This new bill, if signed, will make Texas law more privacy-conscious than the much-maligned (but frustratingly still in effect) 1986-era Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). With the ECPA, federal law enforcement agencies are only required to get a warrant to access recent e-mails before they are opened by the recipient.

Google is flirting with what company chairman Eric Schmidt once called 'the creepy line.'

[Commentary] Google is flirting with what company chairman Eric Schmidt once called "the creepy line." At its recent developer conference, the Mountain View search giant showcased a number of new personalized technologies that many consumers will find useful, such as alerts of upcoming flights and restaurant recommendations. But the new services underscore the vast amounts of ever more personal data Google has collected on its users.

And given its history and the apparent attitudes of its leadership toward consumer privacy, the new services raise concerns about how Google collected that data and what else it's doing with it. That's because, while the company typically offers such services nominally for free, it's not being simply altruistic. We pay with our data for the services Google offers, and it's not always clear how the company uses that currency. The data that Google has collected could be used to discriminate against individuals in terms of what credit card offers they receive, what mortgage rates they are offered, even what medical treatments they might be offered, warned Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy rights group. And it could be used by law enforcement agencies who would never have been able to assemble such detailed dossiers on individual citizens. "The danger is that the data is being used to target them to make decisions about their personal lives in ways that can be harmful to them, that's not transparent to them and about which they can't have a say," said Chester. And that's just not cool.

Pentagon cyber leak reveals contractor tensions

Chinese hackers may rank high on the military’s list of enemies — but back in Washington, they sometimes double as one of the Pentagon’s greatest political assets. A steady stream of cyberattacks targeting everything from U.S. weapons systems to corporate trade secrets has provided the Defense Department’s brass with new political fodder to hammer government contractors and press for more money and tools on Capitol Hill.

Former EPA Chief Lisa Jackson to Join Apple

Lisa Jackson, former head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is joining Apple.

Jackson left the EPA at the end of 2012, after a four-year term in office, aiming to enact large-scale changes to address climate change and other problems with the environment on a national and global level. But Jackson’s tenure was cut short as she stepped down amid a secretive e-mail scandal, in which she admitted to conducting official private EPA business under a false e-mail alias. Jackson will ostensibly help Apple in dealing with the company’s effects on the environment in its manufacturing and product practices, an area of intense scrutiny for the company in recent years. “

Cuban Centers to Offer a Costly Glimpse of the Web

Cuban authorities said that they would begin offering public Internet access at more than 100 cybersalons across the island, where residential access is greatly restricted.

People can sign up with the state telecom company Etecsa for temporary or permanent accounts to use at one of the 118 centers, according to a measure enacted with its publication in the government’s Official Gazette. Prices are prohibitive. Indeed, some scoffed at the new computer centers’ price tag of $4.50 an hour. That is a stiff fee when state salaries average about $20 per month, although there are an array of subsidized goods and services. “It’s a real bargain,” said a user on the state news Web site Cuba Si who gave the name Osvaldo Ulloa. “I mean, I work for a week and then I can get online for hour — fabulous.” Until now, the Internet has been limited to places like tourist hotels, which charge $8 an hour for Wi-Fi; foreign-run companies; and some sectors of Cuban business and government. Home dial-up accounts are rare and restricted.

France Telecom changes name to Orange

Its customers around the world already call France’s incumbent telecom operator by its brand name Orange, and France Telecom shareholders decided to make it official. Shareholders overwhelmingly voted to formally approve the name change at the group’s annual general meeting in Paris.

The change will come into effect on July 1, and will include the company’s stock exchange ticket symbol. France Telecom has been used since the company was separated from the state in 1990, making the move symbolic within the group and, in particular, for employees in France. Orange was first created as the name for a UK mobile operator owned by Hong Kong’s Hutchison in the early 1990s, before it was acquired by France Telecom from Vodafone in 2000. Marketing experts see it as one of the successful brands in history, having established itself as the French group’s main brand for internet, mobile and TV services since 2006.

SoftBank and Sprint Said to Win National Security Clearance for Deal

SoftBank of Japan has reached a tentative agreement to win national security clearance for its $20.1 billion bid for Sprint Nextel, surmounting one of the biggest hurdles to the deal.

To pass the review by a government panel, both SoftBank and Sprint agreed to a number of concessions, people briefed on the matter said. For example, the companies will give the United States veto power over a director on the new Sprint’s board, the member who would be responsible for overseeing compliance with national security, these people said. The government panel, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or Cfius, had until midnight May 28 to render its verdict. An announcement by the two companies could come as soon as May 29, one of these people said.

Crest urges changing Clearwire minority vote threshold

Crest Financial, an investor in Clearwire, said that the voting threshold for approval of Sprint Nextel’s purchase of Clearwire should exclude strategic investors such as Comcast and Intel.

Strategic investors Intel, Comcast and Bright House Networks have already committed to vote their collective 26 percent of the minority shares in favor of the deal at a special meeting of shareholders scheduled for Friday, May 31. Crest, which is leading a proxy battle against the deal, argued that the strategic shares are "pledged to support Sprint regardless of the alternatives available" and that Sprint is obliged to purchase these shares even if it loses the Clearwire vote. Crest, which owns roughly 8 percent of Clearwire's public shares, said that "for all intents and purposes these are Sprint shares, and their votes should not be counted as minority approval." Crest also urged Clearwire shareholders to vote against the deal.

The Google Perspective: Gigabit Internet in Local Governments

First Austin, Texas, announced it would join Kansas City to become the next local government to receive the Google Fiber treatment. Then Provo, Utah, joined the list, as Google plans to overhaul the city’s existing network. The Internet giant also is spreading its fiber buildout from Kansas City to the adjacent regions.

Many have questioned whether Google may eventually spread its networks across the entire nation, offering gigabit access for all. Though it seems feasible given the interest Google has shown in fiber, there are many reasons we won't ever see massive deployment, the most notable reasons being costs and regulations. The Internet today is like an ’88 Michael Jordan: Everyone knew there was something great there, but they didn’t know he was going to win six championships and completely transform the game. Despite the difficulty in creating a nationwide gigabit network, such a thing has the potential to unlock applications and capability not yet dreamed of. Google Senior Communications Associate Jenna Wandres recently said that high-speed Internet really is the future and that governments have and will continue to play an important role in that development.

Hey parents! The internet of things might just be your new best friend

The internet of things is gaining attention for its role cobbling together our home security systems, letting us play with our lightbulbs and even for helping track our personal fitness goals, but it’s also a fun toy for parents to engage with their kids. Unfortunately, since most connected devices are gaining ground because they borrow the brains and screens of a smartphone for their interface, most children, especially younger ones aren’t really playing with the internet of things widely. But that could soon change.

Benton

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