June 2010

The Center for Democracy and Technology says a privacy bill floated by Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA) should be revised to include a broadband set of "fair information practices." "While CDT generally agrees with the draft's basic framework for notice and choice, including its opt-in and opt-out structure, we are concerned that the strong reliance on consent places the entire burden for privacy protection on consumers," the group says in written comments.

Among other fair information practices, CDT recommends that privacy legislation should involve a requirement that collectors glean only what they need for particular purposes. CDT appears to be offering politicians a middle ground -- one that they might find more appealing than either scrapping the bill or requiring all companies to obtain users' explicit consent to online tracking. In addition to the recommendation that the bill incorporate fair information principles, CDT is urging the lawmakers to delegate more decisions about online privacy to the Federal Trade Commission. For instance, the group recommends that the bill include a provision granting the FTC the power to formulate the wording of notices that companies should give consumers about online tracking and targeting.

CDT also is urging a "safe harbor" for companies who comply with industry-approved standards. "We believe that a carefully crafted safe harbor framework, giving industries or industry segments flexibility to develop tailored privacy solutions with FTC oversight, is the best way to accommodate differences between industries," the organization writes.

While some rural telcos protest proposed modifications to the Universal Service fund that would support only 4 Mb/s service to the home, one rural telco is moving ahead with plans to deploy a fiber to the home network supporting speeds up to 100 Mb/s service to sparsely populated areas of western Kansas.

The deployment is made possible by $101 million in funding through the Broadband Stimulus Program, which was awarded on a 50/50 grant/loan basis to Rural Telephone, a rural ILEC that also has CLEC operations. Like some other carriers that won broadband stimulus funding, Rural Telephone has opted to use equipment with which it is already familiar. The company plans to deploy the same fiber to the home equipment from Occam Networks that underlies the company's existing FTTH infrastructure. The cost of the access equipment represents about 15% of the cost of an FTTH deployment, Occam Networks' vice president of marketing Russ Sharer told Connected Planet. A large portion of the money will go toward labor—and as Sevier explained, a significant amount of construction dollars will be spent in western Kansas. Rural Telephone plans to do some of the installation itself and was also able to identify two local construction companies that were qualified to do this type of work. In addition the company has selected three companies from outside the area to work on the project.

A Federal Communications Commission proposal to boost enforcement of its lobbying rules and decide on a social media policy may not go far enough to keep industry influence in check, the activist group Free Press charged in a filing June 8. The group argues that "fines may not serve as a deterrent for deep-pocketed industry, and that rules limiting future participation in proceedings may be more effective."

As businesses increasingly try to figure out how to use social networking tools in the enterprise, an IT governance group has released a ranking of the top five risks social media poses to companies.

The study, which lists the biggest risks businesses need to prepare for when they are using social media, was released on Monday by ISACA, previously known as the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, a 43-year-old international organization that researches IT governance and control. John Pironti, an ISACA Certification Committee member, noted that many business executives have considered some of the risks, but few have considered all of them.