May 2015

As Facebook Sweeps Across Europe, Regulators Gird for Battle

One arm of the European Union is looking into whether Facebook and other tech companies unfairly favor their own services over those of rivals. At least five data protection watchdogs across the region are questioning Facebook’s privacy settings. And in a case that could have broad implications for many tech companies, the region’s top court will issue a preliminary decision next month on whether Facebook can continue transferring user data between Europe and the United States. Move over, Google. Facebook is the latest American tech giant that Europeans love to hate. The scrutiny is mounting as the company’s messaging and digital advertising services spread globally. More than 1.4 billion people now use Facebook, and hundreds of millions of people also rely on the company’s mobile messaging services, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and its photo-sharing service, Instagram.

Who’s the Watchdog? In Europe, the Answer Is Complicated

Who has the right to regulate Facebook? That question lies at the heart of a growing fight after many of Europe’s privacy watchdogs opened investigations into how the social network obtains and uses individuals’ online data.

The investigations are concerned with changes in Facebook’s privacy settings, which were updated this year and simplified the often hard-to-understand rules into concise and comprehensible language. For some of Europe’s regulators, which oversee stricter data protection rules than those in the United States, the changes raised concerns that the social network did not give people enough say over how their online data was used. The watchdogs also questioned how Facebook collected information on people who visited websites other than Facebook that had embedded “like” buttons connected to the social network. At least five European regulators — France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium — are investigating Facebook’s new privacy settings.

Senate rejects compromise bill on surveillance

Senators left Capitol Hill May 23 without taking action to extend or replace a controversial surveillance program set to expire at the end of May, paralyzed by a debate over the proper balance between civil liberties and national security.

In an after-midnight vote, the Senate turned back a House-passed bill that would end the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of private telephone records, the only legislation that offered a smooth transition ahead of a June 1 deadline. A procedural vote on the bill failed 57-42, unable to gain the 60 votes necessary to proceed. A small cadre of senators, led by Rand Paul (R-KY), then rejected a variety of short-term extensions to the current authority in a dramatic floor exchange. That led Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to recall senators to the Capitol a day earlier than planned, on May 31, for a rare Sunday session hours ahead of the deadline.

An Obama Administration official said that because Senate did not take action, the process of winding down the surveillance program is now underway.

Sen Wicker Sets Hearing on FCC Lifeline Program

In the wake of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline program, Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) has scheduled a June 2 hearing. Lifeline is a Universal Service Fund subsidy to provide basic communications service to low-income and hard to reach Americans. The FCC is migrating the fund from support of telephone service to broadband. Chairman Wickers's office said the hearing would look at the efficiency and effectiveness of the program -- the GAO advised it to evaluate those performance goals -- and at preventing waste, fraud and abuse. Scheduled to testify are Randy May, Free State Foundation; Michael Clements, GAO; Scott Bergmann, CTIA - The Wireless Association; Commissioner Ronald A. Brisé, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC); and Jessica Gonzalez, National Hispanic Media Coalition.

Senate is ‘playing chicken’ with NSA spy program, White House says

The White House and top Republican Senators traded dire warnings as a standoff over a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program threatened to continue into the weekend. If Senators do not act before leaving Washington for a week-long recess, the legal authority underpinning the NSA’s bulk collection of private telephone records will expire at midnight May 31. The House, now on an extended recess of its own, passed a White House-backed bill replacing the existing program with one that would keep the records in private hands except under limited circumstances.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has fiercely opposed that legislation, calling it untested and potentially harmful to national security. White House press secretary Josh Earnest renewed calls to pass the House bill, known as the USA Freedom Act, saying any other legislation would lead to a lapse in legal authority for the phone records program -- which would phase out over a six-month period -- as well as other less-controversial investigative tools. “We’ve got people in the US Senate right now who are playing chicken with us,” he said, adding that “there is no plan B” if the House bill is not passed.

Dish, Others Ask Court to Reject Title II Stay

Supporters of Title II-based network neutrality rules -- including Public Knowledge, Free Press, Cogent, COMPTEL, Dish Network and others -- have asked the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to deny petitions by cable and telecommunications Internet service providers to stay implementation of the Federal Communications Commission's reclassification of Internet access as a common-carrier service until the court has heard their underlying challenge. In the opposition to the motion to stay, the groups and companies said that a stay would "deny customers the guarantee of an Open Internet while causing uncertainty for companies and consumers alike."

The ISPs have not asked the FCC to stay the bright-line rules against blocking, throttling or paid prioritization, but do want the court to put a hold on the Title II reclassification, the application of Title II to interconnections, and its general Internet conduct standard. “For the rules to be stayed, the carriers must meet an exacting legal standard. They have failed to do so," the companies told the court.

FCC Grants TiVo a Pass

In a win for TiVo and a set-back of sorts for the Digital Living Network Alliance’s new “VidiPath” secure IP home networking standard, the Federal Communications Commission granted TiVo a waiver that will defer it from having to implement the DLNA’s technology until June 1, 2017. In the FCC order, the Commission acknowledged that TiVo does not use an “open industry standard” as required by the rule, but did “find that its network interoperability solution enables subscribers to set up a home network and, given TiVo’s market share, we do not believe that a temporary waiver will undermine the goals” of the rule. The rule on leased cable set-tops is set to take effect on June 1, 2015 (smaller cable companies had until Sept. 1, 2015 to comply), so TiVo has effectively secured a two-year waiver.

Next-Gen TV Benefits Well Worth The Cost

[Commentary] Moving to ATSC 3.0 does not strike me as prohibitively expensive, except, perhaps, in the smallest TV markets where they may still be waiting to upgrade to HD in the newsroom. And there are ways to mitigate the expense. But in the long run, the myriad financial benefits from the new standard should be evident to those broadcasters who intend to stay in business for the foreseeable future.

FCC wants quick court decision on net neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission and those trying to kill its new network neutrality rules agree on at least one thing: The court should make quick work of the case. The FCC filed a brief urging the court not to put the agency's newly approved net neutrality rules on hold while the broader legal challenges are worked out. But the FCC agreed with another motion by Internet service providers -- like AT&T and CenturyLink -- to expedite the case, so it can be resolved as soon as possible. "Although petitioners have not met the standard for a stay, we believe that the public would be served by the Court’s expedited consideration of this case," The FCC said in a brief to the US Court of Appeals for DC. A group of companies and advocates supportive of the new Internet rules made similar arguments in their own legal filing.

CBO Scores Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act

The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act of 215 (S. 1180) would authorize activities to operate and modernize the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) within the Department of Homeland Security over the 2016-2018 period. The bill also would establish a committee to develop and submit recommendations for improving the system. CBO estimates that implementing S 1180 would cost $37 million over the next five years, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts over the 2016-2018 period. Enacting this legislation would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. S 1180 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would not afffect the budges of state, local, or tribal governments.

Benton

Search