December 2010

Facebook Seeks Friends in Washington as Privacy Concerns Mount

Facebook Inc. is expanding its Washington office and consulting with privacy advocates as lawmakers question how well the world’s largest social- networking site protects the personal information of users.

The company is looking for a public-policy expert and a deputy press spokesman, following the June hiring of Marne Levine to head its Washington office. Levine is a former top aide to Larry Summers, director of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council. The new hires would bring Facebook’s Washington team to eight, up from zero three years ago. “Facebook is a ticking privacy time bomb, no matter how much they spend in lobbying,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy.

Facebook executives say they have learned from the experiences of companies like Google, Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc., which have been caught up in regulatory and legislative issues. “We were in Washington comparatively earlier in our growth cycle,” said Tim Sparapani, a former privacy expert for the American Civil Liberties Union who became Facebook’s Washington lobbyist in March 2009. “We have the benefit of having seen those companies and their experiences in Washington and learning from them.”

In addition to Sparapani, Conner and Levine, Washington staffers include Noyes, a former technology reporter for the National Journal, and Cory Owens, formerly of the Constitution Project, a Washington-based privacy group. The company also has former FTC commissioner Mozelle Thompson as an adviser on a range of issues including privacy.

Senate Passes Bill Aimed At Deceptive Online Marketing Tactics

The Senate has passed legislation aimed at cracking down on deceptive online marketing practices that have led many consumers to unknowningly sign up for products and services they do not want or use.

The Senate passed the legislation, offered by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV), by voice vote, while also adopting a manager's amendment to the measure. It emerged from a Commerce Committee investigation into aggressive online marketing tactics by three firms in particular, Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty, that had partnered with some well-known online retail sites to enroll millions of consumers, many without their knowledge, in discount club memberships using tactics that netted more than $1 billion in revenues for these firms and their partners. The committee found that many consumers were deceptively lured to sign up for services offered by these third-party firms with an offer for a discount or reward during the checkout process for an unrelated product or service. As part of their partnership with the online retail sites, the credit or debit card information was passed onto the third-party firms offering the club memberships who then often billed consumers monthly for services many say they did not use or seek. Rockefeller's bill would prohibit companies from using misleading post-transaction advertisements and require them to clearly disclose the terms of their offers to consumers and obtain credit and debit card information directly from a consumer purchasing the service or product. It would bar online retailers and other websites from passing on consumers credit, debit or other billing information to third-party sellers like the three companies identified by the committee.

Proposed Law Would Prohibit Web Collection of Data on Kids

Rep Ed Markey (D-MA) plans to propose legislation that, if passed, would go well beyond current federal law that requires websites aimed at children under 13 to obtain parental permission before collecting personal information such as kids' names or email addresses.

Markey's staff is working with Common Sense Media, a non-profit that rates movies, television shows, websites and other content aimed at kids. In addition to prohibiting the tracking of kids, the group supports developing an "eraser button" that would allow children and teens to delete information they have posted online about themselves. The group also favors a ban on "behavioral marketing" to kids—ads targeted at children based on their online activities. "For many kids today, the Internet is like online oxygen," says Rep. Markey. "To ensure that kids are protected, I plan to introduce legislation next year that will include a 'Do Not Track' requirement so that kids do not have their online behavior tracked or their personal information collected or profiled. I look forward to working with my colleagues to move this legislation forward."

Free Speech is About More Than Copyright Issues

[Commentary] The press and the Internet are awash in stories and commentary about the WikiLeaks story. Everyone, it seems, has something to say about freedom of speech versus national security. Everyone, that is, except the public interest groups that are concerned about 'free speech' only as it relates to their anti-copyright agenda.

Where is the Electronic Frontier Foundation's support for Julian Assange? Why hasn't the EFF issued a press statement in his defense since they are obviously in support of WikiLeaks. Where is Public Knowledge's outrage that Pfc. Bradley Manning has been arrested since they have been such rabid advocates of the right to 'share' information over the Internet? Do they only consider that 'right' worth defending in the case of illegal down loaders of movies and music? How about a statement from Free Press? How can they remain silent on perhaps the most important freedom of the press issue in a decade and concentrate instead on an obscure corporate squabble like Level 3 versus Comcast? If there was ever a moment to engage in the discussion of freedom of speech on the Internet this should be their moment. Their silence is deafening.

Netflix Offering $100k for TV Episodes

Netflix is making an aggressive play for in-season episodes of hit TV shows to expand its Web streaming service. Apparently, the company is in talks with studios about gaining access to current episodes of primetime shows and is willing to pay between $70,000 and $100,000 per episode.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has made no secret of his desire to move beyond movie rentals and beef up TV offerings. While the company has added a number of shows, they are mostly episodes from previous seasons. Just last month, Netflix won a groundbreaking deal with NBC Universal to stream comedy show "Saturday Night Live" the day after it airs on the broadcast network. With Netflix ready to put its money where its mouth is -- and a host of rivals such as Apple and Google's YouTube also in the hunt -- a war is breaking out over who controls streaming rights to current episodes. The studios that supply the networks with shows argue they own the streaming rights to in-season shows. But the broadcast networks that make a profit from repeats -- and stand to lose audiences, ad dollars and syndication revenue if viewers can see those same episodes on Netflix -- argue they control the rights.

Transformer shows banned video, as debate over museum's censorship rages

The controversial work of video art that the National Portrait Gallery removed from its current exhibition on gender identity reappeared elsewhere on Wednesday: in the front window of the Transformer Gallery near Logan Circle. As an act of defiance, the gallery president, puzzled and angered like many in Washington's art community, presented "A Fire in My Belly" by David Wojnarowicz to any passersby on P Street NW. James Alefantis, the Transformer president, is showing a continuous loop of the banned four-minute artwork - with a few seconds in which ants crawl across a crucifix - and promised to run it for 24 hours. Late Wednesday, the gallery had secured rights from Tom Rauffenbart, executor of the artist's estate, to show the entire 30-minute original version of the artwork, which it will begin screening Thursday. "I only wish David were alive, he would tear these censors apart," Rauffenbart said.

House approves short-term spending bill

The House of Representatives voted to avert a federal government shutdown by extending temporary funding for another two weeks, giving Democrats time to craft a more lasting solution.

The Senate was expected to take up the measure by Friday, when funding for government operations otherwise would expire. Though the fiscal year began on October 1, the government has been operating on last year's budget as Congress has failed to pass the 12 bills needed to fund government operations. The temporary funding has kept national parks open and aircraft carriers afloat, but a wide range of research grants and other new initiatives have been placed on hold. The House voted 239 to 178 to extend the temporary funding arrangement until December 18. Only two Republicans voted for the measure.

White House memo outlines new anti-leak measures

The White House has set up a special anti-WikiLeaks panel after the embarrassing flood of State Department cables leaked by the website, and its proposals include teams of inspectors who would prowl government agencies looking for ways to tighten security.

A four-page draft memo circulated by the White House says President Barack Obama's national security staff has created an "Interagency Policy Committee for WikiLeaks." The panel is charged with assessing the damage caused by the WikiLeaks dump of State Department cables, coordinating various agencies' response to the leaks, and coming up with measures to improve security for classified documents. The National Counterintelligence Executive, which is part of the Office of Director of National Intelligence, will take a lead role in coming up with measures to prevent future WikiLeaks-scale leaking of government secrets.

No One Happy With FCC Chairman’s Speech, Except Broadband Investors

After Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski offer the latest network neutrality proposal on Dec 1, the stocks of major Internet service providers -- Verizon, Time Warner, Cablevision -- are up. Usage-based broadband plans are probably on their way which will probably be good for business because consumers are likely to embrace them. One question for all the critics: Would that be so bad?

FCC Chair Genachowski's "Fake Net Neutrality" Scheme Threatens Internet Freedom, Digital Democracy

[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski's latest proposal does not restore Net Neutrality as it existed before a Republican-dominated FCC took steps to undermine the principle, nor does it guarantee Internet freedom and flexibility.

An analysis being circulated by the Save the Internet Coalition asserts that Genachowski's "proposed rule is riddled with loopholes, and falls far short of what's necessary to prevent phone and cable companies from turning the Internet into cable TV: where they decide what moves fast, what moves slow, and whether they can price gouge you or not: a shiny jewel for companies like AT&T and Comcast." But if Chairman Genachowski wants to advance network neutrality rules, he will have to have fellow FCC Commissioner Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn on board. That leaves room for serious negotiation, and for serious improvement of the proposal put forward by the chairman.

The power rests to some extent with Commissioners Copps and Clyburn, but it rests to an even greater extent with the millions of Americans who want the free and open Internet that candidate Obama promised. That's going to require a lot of digital activism. This is where the Save the Internet Coalition comes in. It's a big-tent group that includes Free Press, the American Library Association, Common Cause, Consumers Union, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Media Access Project, the Consumer Project on Technology and Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, among dozens of other professional, labor, community and consumer groups. If this coalition -- and all the Americans who want an Internet that serves not just the big telecommunications companies but the civic and democratic aspirations of citizens -- response to the Save the Internet call, America won't have to settle for fake net neutrality. We can have the real thing, and we can realize the full promise of the Internet.

Benton

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