October 2013

Lawmakers in Brussels have introduced a measure in the European Parliament that could require American companies like Google and Yahoo to seek clearance from European officials before complying with United States warrants seeking private data. The measure, an amendment to a broader electronic privacy law pending in Parliament, is a response to Prism, the secret spying program led by the National Security Agency that came to light in June.

Europeans were outraged by the revelations that some of the biggest American Internet companies, many of whose users live in Europe, were required by the United States authorities to share information in e-mail, Web searches and other online data. Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs may vote on the amendment as soon as Oct 21, said Jan Philipp Albrecht, the German member who is responsible for steering the legislation through the Parliament.

[Commentary] The controversy over what critics have derisively called the "Obamaphone" program is back. In an attempt to take on fraudulent subscribers in the nation's Lifeline program — a service dating to the Reagan administration that gives poor people access to government-subsidized phone lines — Georgia plans to start charging low-income Americans $5 a month for the privilege of getting what residents of other states get for free.

The new rule could wind up punishing more poor people than criminals. Georgia's state public services commissioner, Doug Everett, justifies the rule by saying that there are more free phones floating about in his state than there are people who are eligible for the Lifeline program. According to his estimates, there were at one point roughly a million Lifeline phones active in Georgia, representing more than one phone per qualifying American. "A hundred and twenty-five percent of the total number of poor people had Lifeline phones," Everett said. Later, he suggested that up to 50 percent of phones distributed under the program may have been fraudulent. Running the numbers another way, however, yields slightly different results. The eligibility cutoff for Lifeline is 135 percent of the federal poverty line. That description fits nearly 30 percent of Georgia's population. As of the 2010 Census, Georgia had 9.7 million residents, meaning just under 3 million may have been eligible for an Obamaphone. For Everett's math to stand up, the number of eligible poor in Georgia would have to have been around 880,000 -- or 733,000 according to Everett's 50-percent estimate. It seems like the program is charging a majority of low-income residents what they already can't afford -- just to catch a minority of cheaters.

A White House spokeswoman confirmed that Gen. Keith Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency and the head of US Cyber Command, will step down in the spring.

Gen. Alexander has led the NSA as it has come under intense scrutiny over the scope of its surveillance programs following leaks by former contractor Edward Snowden. But White House spokeswoman Laura Magnuson defended Gen. Alexander's tenure -- the longest of any NSA director. "General Alexander has served an extraordinary tenure and capably led these agencies through critical periods of growth and transition," she said. "The President looks forward to continuing to work with General Alexander until his term is complete and thanks him, and the men and women of the NSA, for their patriotism and dedication as they work every day to keep us safe."

[Commentary] Europe needs a strong data protection law after this year’s revelations about US surveillance, 23 privacy groups said in a letter to members of the European Parliament.

The groups -- including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Consumer Watchdog -- asked Parliament members “to adopt the strongest measures possible” in the data protection law currently being worked on in Europe. “Congress has so far failed to take necessary steps to update US privacy law or to rein in” those surveillance activities, they wrote. “As a consequence, consumers on both sides of the Atlantic remain at risk -- our most sensitive data is too readily available for scrutiny and misuse.” The groups were also critical of US privacy initiatives, including multi-stakeholder efforts and self-regulation programs. These initiatives -- such as voluntary programs to let users opt out of online tracking -- are often cited as one solution to addressing privacy concerns in lieu of legislation.