President Barack Obama’s privacy speech at the FTC Monday outlined proposals the administration plans to push in the new Congress and prompted a chorus of statements from lawmakers, industry groups and related think tanks. Obama said his appearance at the FTC was likely the first for a sitting president in nearly 80 years.
President Barack Obama’s privacy speech at the FTC Monday outlined proposals the administration plans to push in the new Congress and prompted a chorus of statements from lawmakers, industry groups and related think tanks. Obama said his appearance at the FTC was likely the first for a sitting president in nearly 80 years.
The FCC is seeing some of its deepest divisions ever under Chairman Tom Wheeler, said longtime FCC observers and former agency officials. By one count, in the 14 months Wheeler has been chairman there have been 11 party line votes at meetings, which is more than during the previous 106 months before he took office.
The FCC is seeing some of its deepest divisions ever under Chairman Tom Wheeler, said longtime FCC observers and former agency officials. By one count, in the 14 months Wheeler has been chairman there have been 11 party line votes at meetings, which is more than during the previous 106 months before he took office.
FCC Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai said rules devised for the TV incentive auction will discourage participation by broadcasters, further tilt the playing field in favor of competitors to AT&T and Verizon and effectively mean that the FCC won't offer generic blocks of spectrum. The two vigorously dissented to an incentive auction procedures public notice, citing those and other concerns. The two Republicans and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel also issued a plea for the FCC to simplify the rules as much as possible prior to the auction, now slated to start in 2016. Pai said he wished “luck” for those planning to comment on the auction rules. “They will need it as they try to decipher what these proposals mean and how they are supposed to work,” he said Thursday.
The safe harbor protections of ISPs and free speech rights of consumers hang in the balance as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ full panel prepares to hear Garcia v. Google, said pro-Google briefs filed Tuesday and Wednesday. But a neutral brief by a group of law professors cautioned against overstating the threat of 9th Circuit's previous ruling by a three-judge panel (see 1407140071). Peter Menell, University of California-Berkeley law professor, and David Nimmer, a scholar at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, were among those filing that brief. Oral argument is set for Dec. 15 in Pasadena, California, according to the court’s calendar.
The safe harbor protections of ISPs and free speech rights of consumers hang in the balance as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ full panel prepares to hear Garcia v. Google, said pro-Google briefs filed Tuesday and Wednesday. But a neutral brief by a group of law professors cautioned against overstating the threat of 9th Circuit's previous ruling by a three-judge panel (see 1407140071). Peter Menell, University of California-Berkeley law professor, and David Nimmer, a scholar at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, were among those filing that brief. Oral argument is set for Dec. 15 in Pasadena, California, according to the court’s calendar.
NTIA’s process to develop a code of conduct for commercial uses of facial recognition privacy protections lacks teeth and stakeholder discretion, said privacy and facial recognition industry officials in interviews last week. Although codes of conduct are helpful for guiding new technology, they can deter innovation, said Kevin Haskins, Cognitec Systems government sales manager. Such codes give the illusion of enforcement but don’t carry the weight of law, said Susan Grant, Consumer Federation of America (CFA) consumer protection director. NTIA has to create a forum that’s “forward thinking” on a “really heated” issue, said Michelle De Mooy, Center for Democracy & Technology Consumer Privacy Project deputy director. “That’s not easy,” particularly with slim hopes for privacy legislation on Capitol Hill, she said.
NTIA’s process to develop a code of conduct for commercial uses of facial recognition privacy protections lacks teeth and stakeholder discretion, said privacy and facial recognition industry officials in interviews last week. Although codes of conduct are helpful for guiding new technology, they can deter innovation, said Kevin Haskins, Cognitec Systems government sales manager. Such codes give the illusion of enforcement but don’t carry the weight of law, said Susan Grant, Consumer Federation of America (CFA) consumer protection director. NTIA has to create a forum that’s “forward thinking” on a “really heated” issue, said Michelle De Mooy, Center for Democracy & Technology Consumer Privacy Project deputy director. “That’s not easy,” particularly with slim hopes for privacy legislation on Capitol Hill, she said.
Industry groups and companies reacted along already well-established lines to a Wall Street Journalreport that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is considering a net neutrality order, with some hybrid version of Communications Act Title II, for a vote as early as the Dec. 11 commissioner meeting.