H.R. 624 the Cyber Intelligence and Sharing Protection Act
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February 13, 2013
A bipartisan group of senators will renew their push for online sales tax legislation. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) plans to re-introduce the Marketplace Fairness Act, along with Sens. Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), according to Christina Mulka, a spokeswoman for Sen Durbin.
Reps. Steve Womack (R-AR), Jackie Speier (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI) and Peter Welch (D-VT) will introduce identical companion legislation in the House, Mulka said. She explained that the new bill will combine various proposals from last Congress and includes revisions aimed at winning over skeptics. The legislation would empower states to tax their residents' online purchases. The bill from last Congress would have exempted small businesses that earned less than $500,000 annually from out-of-state sales.
Lawmakers to renew push for online sales tax
February 13, 2013
A Q&A with Lisa Feigen Dugal, PricewaterhouseCoopers’ retail & consumer sector advisory leader.
Despite the continued strength of e-commerce and the constant lamentations about retailers about showrooming and online cannibalization, new data from consultants PwC shows that shoppers are actually spending more with their favorite multichannel retailers. The report, which included more than 11,000 shoppers in 11 different countries, also debunks the threat of showrooming, and finds that while 23% of its respondents research consumer electronics online and then go to a store to buy the product, only 2% do it the other way around.
Online Sales Cannibalizing Retail? Nope, Says PwC
February 13, 2013
The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Wednesday, February 20, 2013. The FCC will consider:
- A Report and Order to significantly enhance wireless coverage for consumers, while protecting wireless networks from interference, by adopting new technical and operational requirements for signal boosters.
- A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to substantially increase the amount of unlicensed spectrum available to accelerate the growth and expansion of new Wi-Fi technology offering consumers faster speeds and less network congestion at Wi-Fi hot spots.
FCC Confirms Agenda for Open Meeting Wednesday, February 20, 2013
February 13, 2013
Paying for "free TV" has never been more confusing. Ninety percent of the country has had its behavior changed forever in this regard. You want TV? You really have to pay for it -- any of it.
Aereo believes that $12 a month for essentially over-the-air TV channels doesn't amount to much for consumers, and is thus a decent business. It's about as free as you can get, especially when looking at average monthly cable, satellite or telco bills of $100 to $125 a month. The U.K. and other countries have a tax or license that everyone pays when buying a TV set. In many countries, this existed before the digital age, even before the cable TV age. In this country, there's no such thing in theory. For a long time, we were told free TV just meant we had to watch some commercials. How can Aereo sell its service in the future? Maybe with this line: "Get TV nearly free." Maybe these executives could work with Dish Network's Hopper unit marketing guys and their revolutionary thinking: "Watch TV with no commercials!" Still, not everyone is conditioned to spend more money on TV. Though 90% of U.S. TV viewers pay for cable, satellite or telco on a monthly basis, Aereo believes only 70% of the U.S. population is actually happy about it. That means 20% is available for picking, and thus makes a nice business. Mind you, Comcast, Time Warner and others have started low-cost TV packages of their own on the order of $15 or $20 a month.
Does Anyone Really Get 'Free TV' Anymore?
February 13, 2013
Google is expected to pay an estimated $1 billion to Apple in 2014 to keep its search engine as the default on iOS devices because, well, Google makes a huge portion of its mobile revenue from iPhones and iPads — enough to make rivalries disappear.
Last year, Google paid $417 million for the exclusive search rights, up from just $82 million in 2009. Given the monster growth track of Apple devices, as well as the per-device rate Apple charges Google for prime search real estate, the exclusivity cost is expected to double over the next two years. And even though it seems a strange partnership for the sometimes rivals — they're competing over phone software, and Google's results show up in Apple's competing browser — the iPhone and iPad business is lucrative enough for Google's search advertising business that it might even be considered a steal.
Why Google Pays Apple $1 Billion a Year
February 13, 2013
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) was reintroduced in the House; it would allow private companies to share information on "cyber threats" with the government and each other.
The bill, which is said to be "identical" to the version debated in the last Congress, goes a step further than President Barack Obama's cybersecurity order. While the President's order gives only government agencies permission to share their threat information with companies (not the other way around, according to Forbes), CISPA would give companies the ability to share information about suspicious activity on their networks and security breaches back with the government. House Intelligence Committee ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) said that he's been working with the White House to avoid another veto threat.
Controversial cyber bill CISPA returns to Congress for debate, same as before
February 13, 2013
With the reintroduction of the much-maligned Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act scheduled for the day after the State of the Union, the House of Representatives may have hoped the President’s own cybersecurity initiative would divert some of the attention away from the controversial legislation known as CISPA. Instead, the White House’s long-awaited executive order on cybersecurity is actually scoring points with privacy advocates -- and putting CISPA in a worse light than ever.
“The president’s executive order rightly focuses on cybersecurity solutions that don’t negatively impact civil liberties,” reads a statement on the executive order from the American Civil Liberties Union, which has opposed CISPA. CISPA, which passed the House last year but never reached a vote in the Senate, has drawn fire for a provision that would allow companies to hand over cybersecurity threat information to government agencies that include the National Security Agency and Department of Defense, even granting them immunity from existing laws and regulations that would prevent the sharing of some sensitive information.
President Obama's Cybersecurity Executive Order Scores Much Better Than CISPA On Privacy
February 13, 2013
The President and Congress have highlighted the importance of cybersecurity. In the coming weeks and months, we expect to see legislative and regulatory activity in this area, including President Obama’s executive order and the reintroduction of CISPA. While the i2Coalition shares this concern for security of America’s vital infrastructure, there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about achieving it. We strongly believe in a multi-stakeholder approach to all Internet governance issues that embraces differing views in an effort to achieve a reasonable consensus. Any discussion of Internet security must take into account the innovative businesses that continue to provide a safe, secure and reliable place to do business. Regulations and other government policies need, at their base, to preserve the ability of companies to innovate and compete. We must operate on a level playing field with the rest of the global economic players while continuing to foster freedom, innovation, opportunity, and the rights to free expression that have enabled the Internet to flourish.
Cybersecurity Must Respect Internet Freedom and Innovation
February 13, 2013
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced the first step in the development of a Cybersecurity Framework, which will be a set of voluntary standards and best practices to guide industry in reducing cyber risks to the networks and computers that are vital to the nation’s economy, security and daily life.
President Barack Obama called for the Cybersecurity Framework in his Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Executive Order. In accordance with the Executive Order, the Secretary of Commerce has directed the Director of NIST to lead the development of a framework to reduce cyber risks to critical infrastructure, such as power plants and financial, transportation and communications systems. NIST will issue a Request for Information from critical infrastructure owners and operators, federal agencies, state, local, territorial and tribal governments, standards-setting organizations, other members of industry, consumers, solution providers and other stakeholders. NIST will use the input gathered to identify existing consensus standards, practices and procedures that have been effective and that can be adopted by industry to protect its digital information and infrastructure from the full range of cybersecurity threats. The framework will not dictate “one-size-fits-all” solutions, but will instead enable innovation by providing guidance that is technology neutral and recognizes the different needs and challenges within and among critical infrastructure sectors.
National Institute of Standards and Technology Initiates Development of New Cybersecurity Framework