The EU-U.S. safe harbor agreement for transfer of personal data is invalid and should be suspended, European Court of Justice (ECJ) Advocate General (AG) Yves Bot said Wednesday in an advisory opinion. The European Commission, which is scurrying to renegotiate safe harbor with U.S. officials, said it's "confident" of a "positive conclusion" soon. Industry lawyers warned that the opinion, if adopted by the ECJ, could spell trouble for American companies seeking to do business in Europe. Privacy advocates, however, said it could signal the beginning of a better data protection system. The ECJ isn't bound by its advocates' opinions but generally follows them.
The FCC net neutrality order is reasonable, "light-touch" broadband regulation to maintain Internet openness that fosters innovation, economic growth and societal benefits, responded that agency and the Department of Justice to petitioners challenging the order. Net neutrality rules constrain broadband “gatekeepers” from thwarting consumers and edge providers using the Internet, and its broadband reclassification under Title II of the Communications Act provides a solid statutory foundation, DOJ/FCC told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. It hears oral argument Dec. 4 in USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063.
Bipartisan net neutrality legislative negotiation in the Senate didn’t die with the start of the long congressional recess, senators from both parties told us before leaving Washington. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., has sought compromise with ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., on possible legislation since before January and had seemed to have made progress by summer. But observers question lawmakers’ ability to dig into anything later in the year, caught between debate over government funding and the 2016 White House race.
Some 1,997 public comments were filed with the FTC after its June workshop on competition, consumer protection and economic issues raised by the so-called "sharing economy." Most comments encouraged the FTC to regulate the sharing economy lightly and to end any practices that favor established companies. CEA, the Internet Association and other tech firms backed the sharing economy, which is often said to involve companies including Uber that have run into regulatory issues as they expand.
AT&T urged the FCC to reject Windstream’s attempt to re-regulate ethernet rates of ILECs, including as part of an IP technology transition order that is expected to be placed on the preliminary agenda Thursday for the Aug. 6 commission open meeting. FCC ethernet rate regulation would be legally defective and bad policy, given how competitive the business market for ethernet services is, AT&T said in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in the tech transition docket 13-5 and others.
A GOP presidential contender on Tuesday declared spectrum, cybersecurity and Internet freedom key priorities in his platform. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., addressed the tech and telecom issues in a speech at Chicago’s 1871, a hub for startups. Rubio, a member of the Commerce Committee, repeatedly has sought to frame himself as a lawmaker engaged with technology issues, giving speeches last year at the Washington headquarters of Uber and Google and startup incubator 1776.
AT&T agreed to pay a civil penalty of $25 million under a consent decree with the FCC after data breaches by the company’s vendors in an apparent cellphone unlocking scheme exposed the personal information of more than 280,000 company customers in the U.S., the Enforcement Bureau said Wednesday. It was the largest penalty the FCC has handed out for privacy and data protection, a senior agency official said during a call with reporters.
Antitrust laws need clarification and U.S. patent laws need to be reformed, especially because there's more economic evidence available worldwide, economists and antitrust lawyers said at a George Mason Law Review antitrust event Thursday. Some also sought more transparency and privacy protections, and a boost in the number of people working on antitrust cases. Panelists touted the superiority of U.S. antitrust laws.
Protecting U.S. national security at the cost of privacy and civil liberties through signals intelligence (SIGINT) is being examined, and in some cases reformed, said a signals intelligence reform 2015 anniversary report released by the Director of National Intelligence Tuesday. “While the collection of SIGINT is necessary to protect national security ... it carries multiple risks to our relationships with other nations; our commercial, economic, and financial interests; the credibility of our commitment to an open, interoperable, and secure global internet; and the protection of intelligence sources and methods,” the DNI report said. Last week, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board said (see 1501300049) the U.S. "intelligence community" (IC) hadn't implemented all 22 recommendations PCLOB issued in 2014 that addressed concerns related to U.S. Patriot Act Section 215 and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702.
GOP lawmakers unveiled their net neutrality discussion draft Friday, codifying several net neutrality protections, as expected. The seven-page bill is intended to pre-empt the FCC’s Feb. 26 net neutrality vote, creating net neutrality protections without relying on the Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband the agency is expected to rely on. Prominent Democrats pushed back against the GOP proposal, urging FCC action instead.