August 2012

A new Government Accountability Office report finds that existing laws and regulations don't adequately reflect privacy needs in the changing technology landscape. The report highlights specifically that agencies using Web 2.0 and data mining tools need to find ways to protect private information.

The key findings address:

• Applying privacy protections consistently to all federal collection and use of personal information. The Privacy Act’s protections only apply to personal information when it is considered part of a “system of records” as defined by the act. However, agencies routinely access such information in ways that may not fall under this definition.
• Ensuring that use of personally identifiable information is limited to a stated purpose. Current law and guidance impose only modest requirements for describing the purposes for collecting personal information and how it will be used. This could allow for unnecessarily broad ranges of uses of the information.
• Establishing effective mechanisms for informing the public about privacy protections. Agencies are required to provide notices in the Federal Register of information collected, categories of individuals about whom information is collected, and the intended use of the information, among other things. However, concerns have been raised whether this is an effective mechanism for informing the public.

Agencies using Web 2.0 and data mining tools are instructed to take the following steps:

• Assess the privacy implications of a planned information system or data collection prior to implementation;
• Ensure the implementation of a robust information security program; and
• Limit the collection of personal information, the time it is retained, and who has access to it, as well as implementing encryption.

Public Knowledge asked the Federal Communications Commission to address Comcast’s decision to exempt its own online video service from the data caps that it imposes on its subscribers.

Specifically, Public Knowledge filed a petition calling on the FCC to enforce the conditions that it imposed on the Comcast/NBC-Universal merger. In evaluating the merger, both the FCC and the Department of Justice recognized that a combined Comcast/NBC-Universal would have an enhanced motive to discriminate against unaffiliated online video services that might compete with Comcast’s pay-TV cable service. Because Comcast controls their subscribers’ connection to the internet, and subscribers could use that very connection to access video services not controlled by Comcast, Comcast has the ability to manipulate those internet connections in a way that would disadvantage video competitors. Earlier this year, Comcast announced that it was doing just that. While every other internet video service available on Xbox 360 and TiVo count against Comcast’s data cap, Comcast’s own Xfinity video app would be exempted. With that decision, Comcast leveraged its control over consumers’ internet connections to benefit its own online video offering and violated the conditions imposed upon the merger.

It is critical that the FCC enforce the conditions it imposed upon the combined Comcast/NBC-Universal. As both the FCC and the Department of Justice understood after reviewing confidential internal documents related to the merger, the combination of the nation’s largest ISP with one of the nation’s largest content owners increased the likelihood of manipulation. The FCC recognized that when it imposed the conditions, and it is time for the FCC to prevent more damage by enforcing those conditions.

Thinking about signing up for Google Fiber? Curious about those sleek black boxes Google is showing off? Here’s what each box does and what it looks like — the Network Box, a Storage box and optionally a TV Box if someone gets the TV service.

What if Facebook's biggest challenge isn't financial at all? What if is actually its users?

At last official count, Facebook had 901 million active users, and was slowly but surely marching towards 1 billion. Although the company will undoubtedly tout that important milestone, lurking in the shadows will be one major issue all social networks have had to contend with: fickle users. Facebook is so aware of the issue that it made it a top risk factor in its S-1 Registration Statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year. "A number of other social networking companies that achieved early popularity have since seen their active user bases or levels of engagement decline, in some cases precipitously," the company wrote. "There is no guarantee that we will not experience a similar erosion of our active user base or engagement levels."