NAIROBI -- The U.S. data protection situation took some hits during several sessions on security, privacy and openness at the U.N. Internet Governance Forum. Customers with privacy-sensitive data should think twice about using the services of U.S. companies, said U.S. security and privacy researcher Christopher Soghoian, a former technical consultant to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, on a panel that included Google evangelist Vint Cerf.
Comcast is getting into the wireless tower business through a company just set up by its venture capital arm, Comcast Ventures. CTI Towers said it will take the 800 towers Comcast already owns and try to lease them to wireless companies. For now, CTI Towers’ holdings overlap entirely with Comcast’s service area, but the company is looking to expand its footprint either through acquisitions or developing new tower sites, said CEO Anthony Peduto.
Religion and news media have more in common than it may appear at first glance, the author of the FCC’s report on the future of the industry said as he prepares to leave the agency next week (CD Sept 27 p4). Steve Waldman said the news industry and religious leadership have both grappled with how to stay abreast of technological trends and make sure those trends don’t undermine some of their reason for existence. Both have at times wondered “how they won’t be overrun by technology,” he said in a Wednesday lecture on ethics in telecom.
Free Press sought judicial review of the FCC’s December 2010 net neutrality order in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston. Free Press is based in Boston. Meanwhile, the Mountain Area Information Network, based in Asheville, N.C., also challenged the order in 4th Circuit in Richmond, and the Media Mobilizing Project filed a challenge in the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia. Both are represented by the Media Access Project.
CTIA’s top priority is getting Congress to pass spectrum legislation, and the association thinks it’s not a question of if, but when a bill will be approved, CTIA President Steve Largent said during a press conference Wednesday. CTIA officials also said Universal Service Fund reform remains a significant issue for wireless carriers, with the FCC poised to take up an order at its Oct. 27 meeting. Largent said he’s confident the 1755-1780 MHz band will be reallocated for wireless broadband.
Due to a decrease in landline customers, Verizon is telling 68 municipalities in New Jersey that it’s no longer required to file tangible telephone property tax returns. Municipalities like Hopewell Borough in Mercer County disagreed, bringing the telco to state tax court.
Rural telcos and state regulators worry the pending universal service and intercarrier compensation regime reforms will result in consolidation in their sector. Earlier this week, ex-FCC commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth accused the agency of pushing rural telcos toward consolidation in the Universal Service Fund rulemaking notice (CD Sept 26 p13).
The FTC needs to commit more resources to understand rapidly evolving technologies, despite the trend of heightened fiscal scrutiny, said former Commissioner Bill Kovacic in an exit interview Wednesday. His term, a Republican slot, ended Sept. 25 after five years on the commission, including a year as chairman from March 2008 to March 2009. Kovacic returns to his former job as a law professor at the George Washington University Law School in Washington.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The government’s handling of personal information will be the subject of a House Commerce Committee privacy bill, which also will have provisions on business practices, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told us Wednesday. She didn’t elaborate, including about when the measure will be introduced, and a committee spokeswoman didn’t get back to us right away. Blackburn is a member of the Communications Subcommittee.
NAIROBI -- NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling sent a strong warning at the Internet Governance Forum Tuesday: “The future of the Internet is at risk. The multi-stakeholder model is being challenged.” Strickling pointed to “more and more instances of restrictions on the free flow of information, disputes between standards bodies and even appeals from incumbent carriers for government intervention on the terms and conditions for exchanging Internet traffic."