October 2013

[Commentary] Stunning new details continue to emerge from Edward Snowden’s leaks about the vast electronic data mining carried out by the National Security Agency, setting off one diplomatic aftershock after another. Reports based on Snowden’s information have alleged American eavesdropping on France, Germany, Britain, Brazil, Mexico, European Union offices and European diplomatic missions. More revelations are likely.

The Obama Administration’s response has been that the United States seeks to gather foreign intelligence as other nations do. But the very scale of America’s clandestine electronic operations appears to be undercutting America’s “soft power” — its ability to influence global affairs through example and moral leadership. The fact is that most nations practice electronic surveillance and that citizens everywhere surrender personal data voluntarily to digital services and social networks. That is why free countries must place stern limits on the security institutions allowed to function in the shadows.

Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other tech powerhouses have mounted a quiet new lobbying push around government surveillance laws as they seek to influence potential congressional reforms to controversial National Security Agency programs.

Thrust into the spotlight as a result of Edward Snowden’s leaks, these industry leaders historically haven’t voiced loud support for restraining the NSA’s legal authorities to collect data. But many tech firms’ third-quarter lobbying reports, filed this week and totaling millions of dollars, demonstrate Silicon Valley is devoting more of its bandwidth to an emerging surveillance debate that could affect many companies’ bottom lines. Even Washington-wary Apple reported lobbying between the months of July and September on topics “related to government requests for data.” Never before has Apple explicitly talked up that topic here in the Beltway, according to a review of its previous filings. The company spent almost $1 million on lobbying during the third quarter — its most in D.C. to date — to lobby on a range of policy issues.

[Commentary] Connected devices are becoming inextricably tied to identity.

It is hard to argue that we are entering an age where all of our devices — even items we never would have called “devices” before — are Internet-enabled. Teslas, “smart” TVs like the Vizio E Series, and the seemingly dozens of activity-tracking wristbands are all widely available and popular, and deeply integrate Internet connectivity into their respective user experiences. But looking deeper, you can see something else is being baked into these new technologies. Namely, we’re leveraging our social (and some would say, “real”) identities to interact with these products, and building comprehensive profiles of not just our interests, political beliefs and relationship statuses, etc., but of our behaviors, too.

The list of connected “things” is growing quickly, creating a network of devices that will be able to talk to one another via one central identity. And when our social profiles are connected to the activities we take part in, whether it is running, listening to music or brushing our teeth, the possibilities for personalization are nearly endless. Ultimately I believe that this type of personalization, when measured with healthy privacy controls, will result in real, tangible benefits for marketers and consumers alike.

[Salyer is CEO of Gigya]

A little more than a year away from an election that will decide which of two Democrats will represent California’s 17th Congressional District, Ro Khanna lags far behind the incumbent, Mike Honda, in the polls. But thanks to his well-heeled friends and supporters in the tech community, Khanna has far out-raised the veteran lawmaker.

His treasure chest is big enough to afford hiring a fleet of top campaign operatives from Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. Only 36 years old, the intellectual property lawyer has already served a stint in Obama’s Commerce Department and written a book about how to boost manufacturing in the United States. He’s someone to take seriously. The 17th includes the heart of Silicon Valley.