Benton RSS Feed

GROUPS URGE WEB TRACKING INQUIRY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher Conkey christopher.conkey@wsj.com and Robert Guth]
The Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group will today file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission urging the agency to examine technologies used by Microsoft and other online companies for possible violations of consumer privacy. "The FTC should long ago have sounded a very public alarm," the complaint reads, "concerning the data collection practices stemming from such fields as Web analytics, online advertising networks, behavioral targeting and [virtual reality media], all of which threaten the privacy of the U.S. public." While the filing highlighted Microsoft, the software giant is a recent entry in an area led by Google and Yahoo, which garner the majority of their revenue from online advertising. The vast amount of private information collected by Internet companies was spotlighted last year when the Justice Department demanded that Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Time Warner's AOL unit supply information about consumers' Web searches as part of a probe into how to protect children from online pornography. Google fought the department's action, arguing, in part, that it would jeopardize its users' private information. Ultimately a judge forced Google to hand over a portion of the information. Jeffrey Chester, the Center for Digital Democracy's executive director, said he is primarily concerned that consumers are ill-informed about how closely they are monitored when they surf the Web. Mr. Chester, whose complaints to the FTC 10 years ago helped shape the agency's view on how personally identifiable information of children can be acquired online, said he would like the FTC to push for legislation that would lead to better disclosures about data-sharing practices and force companies to ask consumers if they are willing to allow their Web activity to be shared with affiliates or marketers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116235060894009808.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)

* See the filing at http://www.democraticmedia.org/PDFs/FTCadprivacy.pdf

* Group asks FTC to probe Web ads
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20061101/2b_privacy01.art.htm

FCC TO CLARIFY RULES FOR POWERLINE BROADBAND
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Marguerite Reardon]
During its monthly meeting Friday, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to clarify any regulatory uncertainty that may surround broadband over powerline technology. At the meeting, the commission will vote on how to classify the emerging technology, which allows electric companies to provide high-speed Internet access over the power grid. The commission will likely classify BPL as an interstate information service, rather than as a telecommunications service, thus putting it on a level playing field with DSL and cable modem services. Because information services aren't regulated as heavily as telecommunications services, classifying BPL service as an information service is a positive step. Last year, the FCC changed the classification of DSL services to information services after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court's ruling that cable modem services should be classified as information services. Brett Kilbourne, counsel and director of regulatory services for the United Power Line Council, which represents the BPL industry, said getting the classification from the FCC could remove another hurdle for getting the services widely deployed. "We just wanted to remove any doubt that a utility company might have when they're preparing to roll out a BPL service," he said. "As the technology gets rolled out into the mass market, it is important to get clarification, especially for the investor-owned power companies, which control about 90 percent of the power in the U.S., but tend to be more conservative."
http://news.com.com/FCC+to+clarify+rules+for+powerline+broadband/2100-10...

GROUPS BACK TELECOM DEAL WITHOUT FCC DISCLOSURES
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
Some nonprofits that back the AT&T, BellSouth merger receive considerable funding from the companies but do not disclose the ties in their comments to the FCC. No disclosure is required, but some observers think regulators should be made fully aware of the connections. The League of Latin American Citizens, which represents 46 million Latinos in the United States and Puerto Rico, asked the FCC in an Oct. 24 letter to green-light the transaction. But President Rosa Rosales did not mention that the AT&T Foundation, the company's philanthropic arm, gave $1.5 million to LULAC in June. Meanwhile, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, which also urged the FCC this week to approve the combination, lists BellSouth and SBC Communications, now part of AT&T, among its corporate partners. But that connection is not mentioned in the Oct. 24 letter that chamber President Harry Alford sent to the agency. "The reason groups like this are highly desirable as commenters is because they give off the impression of being pro-consumer and objective and nonpartisan," said Massie Ritsch, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics. While he believes that a principled organization would not take a position it does not support, he thinks the credibility of the groups would be bolstered by revealing their affiliations.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-CNNO1162305455186.html

UN BLASTS CISCO, OTHERS ON CHINA COOPERATION
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Declan McCullagh]
Delegates to a United Nations summit on Tuesday assailed Google, Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Yahoo for cooperating too closely with China, suggesting that new global regulations of free expression might be necessary. The three-hour session on the second day of the summit returned to long-standing questions that have drawn the attention of human rights workers and the U.S. Congress: Are companies responsible for what customers do with their products? And is it wise to have some international organization adopting regulations governing Internet speech?
http://news.com.com/U.N.+blasts+Cisco%2C+others+on+China+cooperation/210...

* Google, U.S. companies say products benefit Chinese, despite restrictions
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INTERNET_GOVERNANCE?SITE=PAREA&SE...