February 2015

Google’s latest agreement with a European privacy regulator includes spot checks at its US headquarters to monitor how Google is complying with an order to improve its privacy policy, add new opt-outs for targeted advertising, and disclose how long it keeps users’ data. The Italian data-privacy authority outlined a process for Google to comply with the country’s privacy laws and an order imposed on the company in July.

Google has until Jan. 15, 2016 to comply. A spokesman for the Italian authority said this is the first time in Europe that Google will be subject to regular checks to monitor progress. The regulator will get quarterly updates from Google and the ability to send a privacy officer for “on-the-spot checks” at Google’s Mountain View (CA) offices. The regulator hasn’t decided yet how often it will visit the campus, the spokesman said.

"Ultimately, everybody -- and certainly this is true for me and my family -- we all want to know that if we’re using a smartphone for transactions, sending messages, having private conversations, that we don’t have a bunch of people compromising that process," President Barack Obama said. "So there’s no scenario in which we don’t want really strong encryption." But a new report alleges that British and American spies actively sought to undermine the security features that protect mobile networks around the world.

Some privacy advocates have raised concerns that President Obama's rhetoric may indicate he is not aware of some government surveillance activities. "I suspect the president was not fully briefed on the extent law enforcement and intelligence agencies develop, acquire and exploit vulnerabilities in the software we all use," said Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. "Otherwise, I don't know how he could say that with a straight face."

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has set the briefing schedule on broadcaster challenges to the Federal Communications Commission's April 2014 media ownership rule decision, but has made those briefs far briefer than broadcasters had requested. Initial petitioner briefs, there will be two of them, will be due to the court April 13. One of those is being filed by the National Association of Broadcasters, Nexstar and Howard Stirk Holdings, the other by Prometheus Radio Project. Both have issues with the FCC decision, but Prometheus is opposing what the other broadcasters support, and vice versa. There are intervening deadlines for briefs from amici and intervenors on both sides. The FCC's brief is due June 11. Reply briefs are all due July 27. Final briefs are due Aug. 6. If the court holds to form, that means oral argument in the case will be no sooner than late September 2015.

The National Association of Broadcasters et al. are challenging the FCC's decision to make joint sales agreements of over 15 percent attributable as ownership interests, saying the decision was arbitrary and capricious. Prometheus says that decision was arbitrary and capricious, too, but because the FCC did not explain why 15 percent was the magic number, and because it did nothing to rein in other sharing arrangements.