A California do-not-track bill squeaked through its first test after what supporters called the country’s first legislative hearing on the subject. The state Senate Judiciary Committee late Tuesday approved SB-761 by Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, in a 3-2 vote on party lines. “Partisanship applies” when consumer protection and industry interest conflict, Director Beth Givens of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse told us Wednesday.
A California do-not-track bill squeaked through its first test after what supporters called the country’s first legislative hearing on the subject. The state Senate Judiciary Committee late Tuesday approved SB-761 by Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, in a 3-2 vote on party lines. “Partisanship applies” when consumer protection and industry interest conflict, Director Beth Givens of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse told us Wednesday.
Congress must update the Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978 to account for the use of personal communication devices and social networking sites by White House staffers, said members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Tuesday. Lawmakers are considering revisions to the law which dictates the preservation of any record created in the course of official White House business. At the hearing, lawmakers discussed provisions to ban the White House’s use of personal email accounts and enhanced archiving of Web communications.
Congress must update the Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978 to account for the use of personal e-mail accounts and social networking sites by White House staffers, said members of the House Oversight Committee Tuesday. Lawmakers are considering revisions to the law which dictates the preservation of any record created in the course of official White House business. At the hearing, lawmakers discussed provisions to ban the White House’s use of personal e-mail accounts and enhanced archiving of Web communications.
Unanswered questions about the PlayStation Network hack lingered even after Sony executives concluded an 80-minute Q-and-A with reporters during an extraordinary Sunday news conference in Tokyo. Nearly a week after finally coming clean with PSN users to say they had shut the network down a week earlier upon discovering that subscribers’ personal data had been stolen, executives at the news conference said they still couldn’t rule out the possibility that credit card information also had been taken.
Unanswered questions about the PlayStation Network hack lingered even after Sony executives concluded an 80-minute Q-and-A with reporters during an extraordinary Sunday news conference in Tokyo. Nearly a week after finally coming clean with PSN users to say they had shut the network down a week earlier upon discovering that subscribers’ personal data had been stolen, executives at the news conference said they still couldn’t rule out the possibility that credit card information also had been taken.
Wireless carriers can’t completely control how third parties use location and other personal data of consumers, top carriers said. Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, on Thursday released the carriers’ responses to the lawmakers’ inquiry on customer location tracking (CD March 31 p15). Also Thursday, the Senate Commerce Committee announced a hearing next month on mobile privacy and consumer protection, becoming the second Senate panel to do so. The developments on Capitol Hill came one day after Apple said it would fix an iPhone “bug” that stores users’ location logs (CD April 28 p5).
The risks faced by 700 MHz lower A-block licensees unless the FCC acts to clear TV Channel 51 were stressed by CTIA, the Rural Cellular Association and wireless carriers large and small, in filings at the commission. In a March petition, CTIA and RCA jointly asked the FCC to prohibit the future licensing of TV stations on Channel 51, freeze all applications for new or modified broadcast facilities on the channel and accelerate channel clearing. Comments were due Wednesday.
Wireless carriers can’t completely control how third parties use location and other personal data of consumers, top carriers said. Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, on Thursday released the carriers’ responses to the lawmakers’ inquiry on customer location tracking (WID March 31 p6). Also Thursday, the Senate Commerce Committee announced a hearing next month on mobile privacy and consumer protection, becoming the second Senate panel to do so. The developments on Capitol Hill came one day after Apple said it would fix an iPhone “bug” that stores users’ location logs (WID April 28 p1).
Apple’s iPhone devices don’t track their users and a software bug is responsible for storing location logs even after users turn off their iPhone’s location services, the company said in a “Q&A” statement posted on its website Wednesday. Apple said it plans to issue a free iOS software update in the next few weeks that will fix the bugs and “reduce the size of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database cached on the iPhone.” Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., added his voice to growing congressional outcry over mobile privacy concerns.