January 2015

Ranking Member Nelson Pushing Consumer Data Protection

Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL) said he wants Congress to pass legislation in line with President Barack Obama's proposal that would require companies to quickly notify consumers when there are data breaches, and that he intends to file legislation that would do just that.

The bill would make companies, under most circumstances, notify consumers of data breaches within 30 days. It also would direct the Federal Trade Commission to develop security standards to help businesses protect consumers' personal and financial data. Additionally, the legislation would provide incentives to businesses who adopt new technologies to make consumer data unusable or unreadable if stolen during a breach. The bill is in the final stages of drafting, and is titled the "Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2015".

Chairman Nunes backs collection of phone data

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) is pushing lawmakers to reauthorize the government collection of Americans telephone records before the authority expires in Summer 2015.

Chairman Nunes also said there is no need to make reforms to the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has approved the data collection numerous times. “We don’t want to further encumber intelligence and law enforcement communities who already have a difficult task in tracking those who wish to attack Americans at home and abroad,” he said. Civil liberties advocates see the legislation's expiration date deadline as an opportunity to push reforms to the program that authorizes the National Security Agency's collection of Americans’ telephone metadata -- the call times, numbers and durations, but not the content. Chairman Nunes said he plans to talk to lawmakers about the program and provide freshman lawmakers with top-secret briefings on the authorization. Chairman Nunes said a lot of the opposition to the program stems from misunderstanding. But he disagreed that the government should have provided a public outline of the collection before details of it leaked from documents obtained by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Other intelligence programs should also be kept secret, he said, arguing the leaks have done damage to intelligence gathering.

Why Doesn't President Obama's Data Break Privacy Proposal Apply to Agencies?

[Commentary] President Barack Obama is calling on Congress to mandate that companies whose customer data is breached inform affected individuals within 30 days. But why don’t agencies that are hacked have to notify citizens when their data is compromised?

There currently is no US requirement for notifying breach victims within a certain time period. A hodgepodge of state regulations give companies varying guidance on contacting victims. Less than 30 percent of federal agencies recently surveyed notified affected individuals of high-risk breaches, the Government Accountability Office reported in 2014.

President Obama aims to unleash broadband boost

President Barack Obama is formally announcing his support for expanding competition in the broadband industry and moving to free up new money to support rural Internet networks. President Obama will unveil steps to support new access to faster broadband offerings, including tools for mayors who want to bring new networks to their cities. He also will announce new opportunities for rural areas to secure federal loans or grants to build out new networks.

Broadband Competition Should Be Encouraged, Not Restricted

[Commentary] The experiences of Chattanooga (TN), Kansas City (MO), and other cities and towns like them concretely demonstrate the benefits of broadband entry for consumers.

The Open Technology Institute found that consumers have better options and faster speeds in communities where three or more providers compete. But according to a December 2014 report by the US Department of Commerce, less than one in 10 Americans is served by three or more wireline providers capable of providing 25 Mbps service -- the new threshold for broadband service proposed by Chairman Tom Wheeler of the Federal Communications Commission. The majority of Americans face (at best) a broadband duopoly.

The experience of cities like Chattanooga demonstrates that the prospect of new broadband entry actually appears to spur investment by incumbents. Competition -- whether provided by a private entity or a municipality -- works. It is important that legislators and policy makers considering restrictions recognize the vital role competition plays in achieving better, faster Internet services.

[Terell McSweeny is a Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission]

Rep Latta offers bill to block treating Internet as utility

Rep Bob Latta (R-OH) has reintroduced legislation to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from reclassifying broadband Internet as a utility.

Rep Latta, Vice Chairman of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, called the FCC’s plans misguided. His legislation notes that the strict regulations were “designed for the monopoly telephone system in 1934 and has its origins in 19th century shipping regulations.” “These businesses thrive on dynamism and the ability to evolve quickly to shifting market and consumer forces,” he said. “Subjecting them to bureaucratic red tape won’t promote innovation, consumer welfare or the economy.”

American Cable Association to FCC: Exclude Smaller Operators From Title II Regime

The American Cable Association continues to argue that the Federal Communications Commission need not and should not reclassify Internet access as a Title II common carrier service to any cable operators, full stop. But if the FCC is not stopped by those arguments, says ACA, it should exclude smaller operators from the new regulatory regime.

In a filing, ACA says that the FCC lacks the authority to compel common carrier status on ISPs simply to achieve policy objectives. That, it says, would be against the law and exceed the FCC's authority. "Immediate and blanket forbearance would mitigate many of the potential and significant harms that otherwise would result from reclassification," ACA said. "The case for blanket forbearance is particularly strong for ACA members because, as smaller ISPs, it is evident that they wholly lack the market power over edge providers or in their local markets that would justify any need for regulation," it added.

FCC Can't Pick And Choose Network Neutrality Rules

[Commentary] With forbearance, the Federal Communications Commission is telling America that it can pick and choose which telecommunications regulations to apply to the Internet. There is just one major problem with the forbearance approach the FCC contemplates: It likely will never work.

Any effort by the FCC to forbear from regulations that apply to telecommunications services will certainly be challenged in court, and the courts will likely take years to decide. The nightmare scenario for the Internet, the American economy, and the American consumer is that the FCC designates the Internet as a telecommunications service but federal law does not allow the FCC fully to apply forbearance. That nightmare is not a remote possibility but an all-too-possible outcome. Neither Congress nor a future FCC can immediately undo the damage of a harmful FCC order on network neutrality. The FCC should reflect carefully on that nightmare before proceeding.

[Harold Furchtgott-Roth is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute]

Former Congressman Boucher: Congress Should Guide FCC On Network Neutrality

Former House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rich Boucher says Congress should step in to resolve the debate over how the Federal Communications Commission should restore new open Internet rules, calling it "low hanging fruit".

Boucher said that before the FCC votes Feb. 26 on new rules, Congress should step in to put its stamp of approval on the 2010 rules, which were thrown out by a DC federal appeals court for lack of clear legislative authority, and "circumscribe" the FCC's ability to impose Title II regulations on broadband, which Boucher says would be "onerous" regulations. Boucher agrees with Title II critics that they would be monopoly-era rules from the rotary phone era that would stifle innovation.

Google Is the New Microsoft. Uh-Oh.

[Commentary] The Google of 2015 is not unlike the early 2000s Microsoft -- a hugely profitable company that is having a hard time innovating around its core product.

Unless something is done, it will likely go through spasms of flailing and discontent that will be familiar to longtime veterans of Microsoft. Forget about a moonshot catapulting Google to the forefront of innovation. The worst case scenario for Google is that it continues on its Microsoft-like path and lets the world change even more dramatically, leaving it further behind. Google should be buying innovative companies, as it did with YouTube, and letting those bets flourish with the company’s ample backing. Would it be so crazy for Google to go out and buy Pinterest, Dropbox and Snapchat? Probably. But can Google ever catch up in image search, storage and messaging (which will soon anchor products like payments and on-demand apps)? Probably not. Look north to Redmond, Googlers, and worry.

Benton

Search