May 2011

FTC Seeks Input for Revising Its Guidance to Businesses About Disclosures in Online Advertising

The staff of the Federal Trade Commission is updating “Dot Com Disclosures: Information About Online Advertising,” the guidance document that advises businesses how federal advertising law applies to advertising and sales on the Internet. The online world has changed dramatically since the original guidance was published in 2000, and the FTC is seeking public comment about how it should be modified to reflect these changes.

Since the FTC staff published Dot Com Disclosures, mobile marketing has become a reality, the “App” economy has emerged, the use of “pop-up blockers” has become widespread, and online social networking has emerged and grown popular. In seeking public comment on possible revisions to the guidance document, the staff is interested in the technical and legal issues that marketers, consumer advocates, and others believe should be addressed. The 2000 guidance emphasizes that the same consumer protection laws apply to marketers whether they operate online or not. It illustrates how online marketers should provide clear and conspicuous disclosures of information that consumers need to make informed online purchasing decisions. It also discusses how the traditional factors used to evaluate whether disclosures are likely to be clear and conspicuous apply in the context of online advertising.

The FTC will seek public comment for 45 days, beginning today and continuing through July 11, 2011. Interested parties can submit written comments electronically or in paper form. [Submit comment electronically by clicking here.] Hard-copy comments should be mailed or delivered to: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex I), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. The FTC requests that any comment filed in paper form near the end of the public comment period be sent by courier or overnight service, if possible, because U.S. postal mail in the Washington area and at the Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions.

Chairman Rockefeller Says Children's Online Safety Should Be Top Priority

I was deeply troubled to read news reports suggesting Mark Zuckerberg may seek to open up Facebook to young children. His remarks raised questions about whether the company is serious about taking action not only to prevent children from signing up but also to ensure Facebook is not profiting from the personal information of children who do. After conversations with Facebook today, I am glad to learn that they will clarify their position in support of current online child protection laws. Child online protection laws do not stop children from accessing the Internet for educational or even social purposes—what the laws do is prohibit companies like Facebook from collecting and making money off of children's information without their parents' consent. Separately, I continue to worry about a Consumer Reports survey which shows that 7.5 million elementary-aged children are on Facebook and vulnerable to use of their personal information. I urge Facebook to step up their protection of children.

Pirate Radio Station Equipment Seized

On May 13, 2011, federal officials executed a warrant, which was unsealed May 24, for the seizure of the radio transmission equipment of a pirate radio station broadcasting in Boston without a license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The radio equipment, used to broadcast for “Datz Hits Radio 99.7 FM,” was located at a residential building at 25 Outlook Road, in the Mattapan area of Boston. A civil action has been brought seeking forfeiture of the equipment. According to an affidavit filed with the civil complaint, the radio broadcasting equipment was first discovered by FCC officials at another address in Boston. After FCC officials warned the operators they were broadcasting illegally and asked them to shut down the station, the equipment was moved to 25 Outlook Road where the illegal broadcasting resumed. Proceedings were then brought to seize and forfeit the radio broadcasting equipment.

The Rights of Students With Disabilities When Educational Institutions Use Technology

The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance through Dear Colleague Letters to elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education along with a Frequently Asked Questions document on the legal obligation to provide students with disabilities an equal opportunity to enjoy the benefits of technology. This guidance is a critical step in the Department's ongoing efforts to ensure that students with disabilities receive equal access to the educational benefits and services provided by their schools, colleges and universities. All students, including those with disabilities, must have the tools needed to obtain a world-class education that prepares them for success in college and careers.

The guidance provides information to schools about their responsibilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The guidance supplements a June 2010 letter issued jointly by OCR and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The June letter explains that technological devices must be accessible to students with disabilities, including students who are blind or have low vision, unless the benefits of the technology are provided equally through other means. Today's guidance highlights what educational institutions need to know and take into consideration in order to ensure that students with disabilities enjoy equal access when information and resources are provided through technology.

PTC Pushes High Court to Take Indecency Case

The Parents Television Council has filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court, urging it to agree to review the Federal Communications Commission's indecency enforcement policy.

The FCC and Obama Administration have asked the High Court to review lower court rulings finding that regime is arbitrary and capricious and an unconstitutional chilling of speech. PTC, whose complaints were partly responsible for the FCC's decision to pursue "fleeting" nudity and language, argues that broadcasting is still uniquely pervasive and uniquely accessible to children, which is the rationale the High Court used to uphold the FCC's indecency enforcement powers in the Pacifica case. "A public broadcaster's fiduciary duty to use the public airwaves for the public good is not a relic of a gentler time," said PTC in its filing, in this case using "public" to apply to all broadcasters you use the airwaves.

Congressional Group Calls On Online Ad Providers To Do More To Stop Piracy

The Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus released its watch list of countries it says are not doing enough to protect U.S. intellectual property and took particular aim at firms that allow ads to be placed on sites offering pirated content or counterfeit goods.

The caucus called on five countries -- Canada, China, Russia, Spain and Ukraine -- to do more crack down on piracy and counterfeiting. "We are calling on responsible advertisers, search engines, Internet service providers, and other parts of the Internet ecosystem to work with us to protect the hard work of American creators from piracy," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), one of the House co-chairmen of the group. Companies that provide online advertisements on websites were criticized at a House hearing earlier this year for not doing enough to ensure their ads are not placed on sites that offer illegal content or goods.

Asia Will Become the New Center of the Internet

Internet traffic will grow seven-fold between 2010 and 2015 to reach roughly 1.2 zettabytes globally, and by 2015, video will comprise half of the traffic on the web according to a new report from analyst firm Informa Telecoms & Media.

This prediction expects more traffic in general and less video traffic than the other big forecast for web traffic offered by Cisco. Perhaps that’s because Informa isn't trying to sell gear to service providers. But it may just be the first of several reductions for video traffic coming down the pike, as Cisco’s own data on this is expected out within a few weeks. Asia will soon become the dominant source of web traffic with a 42-percent share by 2015, surpassing North America. China is driving some of that growth, but won’t be the dominant contributor of traffic in the region by 2015. However, China is expected to have 670 million Internet uses by that time, according to the report. Total global traffic will reach 1.2 million petabytes — or roughly 1.2 zettabytes — and while video will be half of that traffic, other services such as cloud backup applications will also grow. This is good for services such as Dropbox and other consumer cloud storage providers.

Good News for Netflix: Shaw Raises Bandwidth Caps

The Canadian cable operator Shaw is introducing significantly higher caps for its broadband customers, and in some cases, is even offering unlimited plans. hat’s good news for Shaw’s consumers, but it’s also an important win for Netflix, which in the past has complained about low caps in Canada.

Starting in June, Shaw’s standard 7.5 Mbps plan will come with a 125 GB cap (up from 60 GB). Meanwhile, its low-speed 1Mbps “lite” offering will have a 30 GB cap (up from 15 GB), and premium customers with a 25Mbps plan will now have a 250GB cap (up from 100GB). Customers that exceed the cap will automatically be bumped into the next tier, but revert to their previous subscription package once the month is over.

Agencies identify 78 services for cloud transition

Federal agencies have identified 78 computer systems they plan to migrate to the cloud within a year, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

The listing follows a directive in OMB's 25-point plan to reform federal IT, published in December 2010, that ordered federal agencies to identify three services they could move to the cloud by May 2012. The transition to cloud computing should save the federal government at least $5 billion annually, federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra told members of a Senate panel. A firmer estimate of those savings will have to wait on individual contracts for the moves to be negotiated and other factors, Kundra said. Computer clouds essentially are large banks of computer servers that can operate much closer to full capacity than standard servers by rapidly repacking data as one customer surges in usage and another one dips. Data storage in the cloud is operated like electricity grids or other utilities, with customers paying only for what they use. A handful of low-risk government services, such as websites that don't take in sensitive public information, are already in privately owned cloud space. But some government officials have expressed skepticism about moving some very sensitive or complex operations to either private clouds or to government-only clouds, worrying that the move could jeopardize security.

E-Reader Usage Growing Much Faster Than Previously Predicted

The number of people in the U.S. who own an dedicated e-reader (not an iPad or other multi-function tablet) has quadrupled since 2009, to 8.7 percent of the population (20.6 million people), new research from eMarketer shows. By 2012, the company predicts that 12 percent of U.S adults, or 28.9 million people, will own an e-reader, up from 1.9 percent in 2009. The estimate is quite a bit higher than previous predictions: Last year Forrester predicted that 15.5 million people would own e-readers by the end of 2011, and that the 12 percent benchmark would not be reached until 2015.

Benton

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