October 2014

Dozens of civil liberties groups are calling on Congress not to stop short in reforming the National Security Agency. The Bill of Rights Defense Committee led other organizations in a letter warning Congress against stopping with the USA Freedom Act, a bill currently in the Senate that would end the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records. Lawmakers should pass that bill “and then immediately turn your attention to more meaningful and comprehensive reform of the [NSA’s] overreaching and unconstitutional surveillance practices,” the groups wrote. The USA Freedom Act is “an important first step in curtailing the NSA’s abuses of fundamental constitutional rights, but it would not be enough,” they added.

Twitter sued the US government, alleging that the Justice Department’s restrictions on what the company can say publicly about the government’s national security requests for user data violate the firm’s First Amendment rights.

With its lawsuit, Twitter is seeking to go further than five other technology companies that earlier this year reached a settlement with the government on the permissible scope of disclosure at a time of heightened concern about the scale of government surveillance. “It’s our belief that we are entitled under the First Amendment to respond to our users’ concerns and to the statements of US government officials by providing information about the scope of US government surveillance -- including what types of legal process have not been received,” said Ben Lee, a Twitter vice president. “We should be free to do this in a meaningful way, rather than in broad, inexact ranges.”

When does “big” become “too big”?

Regulators in Washington (DC) will have to decide. In February Comcast announced a $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable, America’s second-largest cable company. The deal would give more might to a firm that, besides the largest pay-TV and internet business in America has, thanks to its 2011 takeover of NBCUniversal, broadcast networks, cable channels, a film studio and other media assets. Most crucially, it would cede to Comcast more control over America’s high-speed internet, a buoyant business that is set to be the future conduit of content delivery, but one in which Comcast already faces less competition than in pay-TV. Comcast says it will invest more in broadband infrastructure and provide more low-cost internet access to the poor, but it is far from clear that the public will benefit from Kabletown (as Comcast was called in “30 Rock”, an NBC comedy about life inside NBC) turning into Kablecountry. The way this giant deal is progressing reveals a lot about corporate America.

Amazon is doubling down in an unusual lawsuit with the federal government, which is suing the retail giant for allowing kids to make one-touch purchases from apps on the Kindle Fire device.

The lawsuit is unusual because Apple and Google have already settled with the Federal Trade Commissions over similar allegations, and agreed to pay $32 million and $19 million in refunds to parents, respectively. The FTC says all three companies conducted unfair trade practices by selling so-called “bait app” game that are typically free, but invite the player to purchase “acorns” or some other type of digital good. In its complaints against Amazon, the FTC says “thousands” of parents complained after their kids ran up bills, sometimes worth hundreds of dollars, in app expenses on their Kindles. Amazon filed a renewed dismissal request that suggests the government’s complaint is misguided and over-zealous.