October 2015

At this roundtable, I've been asked to speak about the American perspective on the regulation of over-the-top video services. The US government has taken a hands-off approach to the regulation of over-the-top video. And I believe that our restraint has yielded terrific results. US regulators have largely left Internet-based video alone. We don’t regulate the content that over-the-top providers offer. We don’t regulate prices. And we don’t regulate business models. We leave those decisions to the market -- to the aggregated choices of millions of Internet-savvy consumers.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, not all US regulators agree with my perspective. Some have proposed extending to over-the-top providers many of the rules that currently apply to cable operators and satellite providers, regulations that in many cases are over two decades old. I strongly oppose this idea. Given the remarkable success of the over-the-top video industry -- success driven in part by regulatory restraint -- I don’t believe we should change our regulatory approach. A leading over-the-top provider, Amazon, put it well when it told US regulators, “There has been no indication that additional regulation is needed to enable this new industry to grow and bring consumers even more benefits.”

[Commentary] Following the exponential growth of the Internet, mobile devices and applications, consumers worldwide are being presented with thousands of options and solutions claiming to support the promise of making your home “smart” and tracking your steps to fitness with the latest wearable. With this rapid race to market, all too many of these products and services lack basic security and privacy protections. Connected devices and the applications are just enablers. The real value and threat to the user and business is the data. Perhaps the Internet of Things (IoT) might be better named the “Internet of Data” as the amount of personal and sensitive data being collected is staggering.

All this data collection increases risk to consumer security and privacy and raises questions internationally from regulators including the Federal Trade Commission. Faced with the convergence of these issues, and building on our past work convening multi-stakeholder efforts, the Online Trust Alliance formed the IoT working group in January 2015 recognizing the need to review security, privacy and sustainability of these devices and services holistically. The group’s initial focus is on the smart home and wearable technologies. Whether you are part of the IoT Trust Working Group (membership is open to all), a security researcher or a privacy professional looking to learn more, OTA is hosting a public Summit in Washington (DC) on Nov 18th where the final draft of the Framework will be reviewed and next steps explored.

[Craig Spiezle is the Executive Director and President of the Online Trust Alliance]

Facebook won dismissal of a $15 billion lawsuit accusing the company of secretly tracking the Internet activity of its users after they log off. US District Judge Edward J. Davila in San Jose (CA) agreed with Facebook’s argument that case should be dismissed because subscribers didn’t specify how they were harmed. Judge Davila, who took more than three years to issue his ruling after hearing arguments in the case, said the users could refile most of their claims in a revised lawsuit.

Facebook users alleged in a 2012 complaint that while they may have agreed to the company’s installation of “cookie” files on their computers to track and transmit their Web browsing, they didn’t consent to such monitoring after logging out of the social network. The lawsuit consolidated similar complaints filed on behalf of US residents who subscribed to Facebook from May 2010 to September 2011 in 10 states, including California, Texas and Alabama. In the San Jose case, the plaintiffs accused Facebook of violating the US Wiretap Act by monitoring their online activity while they weren’t logged on. They also accused Facebook of improperly profiting from their information.

AT&T, Tampnet, and Broadpoint have filed applications seeking approval of a number of license assignments and long-term de facto transfer spectrum leases, as well as issuance of an international section 214 authorization to Tampnet. The subject licenses cover the Gulf of Mexico. The Applicants maintain that the proposed transaction would provide Tampnet with sufficient spectrum that would enable it to deploy offshore LTE in the Gulf of Mexico. The Applicants assert that the proposed transaction also would allow AT&T to provide better coverage for customers and eliminate burdens associated with frequency coordination and interference consents in the coastal areas around the Gulf of Mexico.

The assignment and long-term de facto transfer spectrum leasing applications have been found, upon initial review, to be acceptable for filing. The FCC reserves the right to return any application if, upon further examination, it is determined to be defective and not in conformance with the FCC’s rules or policies. Interested parties must file petitions to deny no later than November 23, 2015.