The Senate Judiciary Committee approved five members for the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board on Thursday despite the concerns of Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. The nominees are: David Medine, partner with WilmerHale, as chairman; James Dempsey, vice president at the Center for Democracy and Technology; Elisebeth Cook, partner with Freeborn & Peters; Rachel Brand, chief counsel for regulatory litigation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; and Patricia Wald, former judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The committee approved Medine by a 10-8 vote along partisan lines, while the other four members were approved by a voice vote and their names sent to the floor for a full vote. Grassley opposed the confirmation of Medine due to “serious concerns” about the nominee’s views on profiling foreign nationals from high risk countries. “Specifically Mr. Medine noted that it would be inappropriate for the federal government to profile foreign nationals from high risk countries based solely on the country of origin,” said Grassley. “This is troubling.” Grassley had previously expressed his concern over the “broad mandate” of the board and its mission (CD April 19 p14). The board was established in 2004, following a recommendation by the 9/11 commission, but the Senate failed to approve its members. TechFreedom, in a statement following the vote, called the committee’s vote “a long-overdue victory for privacy and the rule of law.” The board is “more necessary than ever as Congress careens towards passing cybersecurity legislation that, while well-intentioned, could allow radical new intrusions by government into our private communications without traditional safeguards,” the group said.
AT&T wants to bring smartphones with low subsidies to market, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega said during the J.P. Morgan conference Thursday. Analysts had said smartphone subsidies have been the biggest source of pressure on carriers. Like Verizon (CD May 17 p5), the carrier also plans to allow data sharing among different devices on AT&T’s network, according to de la Vega. The carrier could grow its tablet sales by allowing customers to connect a tablet to the network using an existing data plan and share that plan across different devices, he said.
The departure of White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt, announced Thursday, isn’t expected by industry officials to diminish the Obama administration’s pressure on Congress to pass a cybersecurity measure with standards for operators of critical infrastructure. The White House said Schmidt is retiring and “returning to private life.” He'll be succeeded by Michael Daniel, chief of the intelligence branch of the Office of Management and Budget. Daniel has worked on cybersecurity issues for the last 10 years, the White House said. Schmidt played a “vital role in shaping our country’s approach to cybersecurity at a critical time, not only in the public proposals he has helped to craft, but also in his tireless work behind the scenes to ensure that our leaders better understand the threats we face and to implement vast improvements to the security of our government networks,” said Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., co-founder of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus. While Schmidt was a force, there was “involvement of many other high-level officials,” including from the intelligence community in the White House push for cybersecurity legislation, said an industry executive. “I think there still is continuing pressure from the higher levels of the executive to push for this.” Industry groups were profuse in their praise for Schmidt. His successor Daniel has been an “influential voice” on cybersecurity in the executive branch, and his work has helped shape and guide the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, said Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command.
Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., complained to Verizon about its decision to end standalone DSL services for retail customers, which was effective May 6. Kohl is concerned that poses potential harm to competition and consumers, and speculated that the decision stems from Verizon’s deal to purchase AWS spectrum licenses, he wrote General Counsel Randal Milch. Kohl noted that the company’s decision to discontinue standalone retail DSL service “appears to contradict” Milch’s testimony during a recent Senate Antitrust Subcommittee hearing (CD March 22 p1). At the hearing, Milch told Kohl that “no one is constrained to buy it in these bundles” and “there’s nothing to get from this bundle other than a convenience or a discount of some sort that the consumer can choose or not choose.” It now “appears inconsistent for Verizon to argue, on the one hand, that the joint marketing arrangements and bundling wireless services with cable offerings increases customer choice, while on the other hand the company is tying voice and DSL services, compelling consumers to purchase bundled offerings,” Kohl said Thursday. He asked Milch 12 questions related to the matter that specifically questioned the rationale behind the company’s decision to discontinue its DSL service and whether it was indeed connected to the company’s AWS joint marketing agreement with the SpectrumCo joint venture of three cable operators, and with Cox Communications. Verizon “is reviewing the letter and will respond to Senator Kohl’s questions appropriately,” a spokesman said. The telco made its DSL decision to meet “the needs of our customers” and “control our cost structure more effectively,” he said. “The vast majority of our DSL customers enjoy it as part of a bundle with reliable home voice and TV service. By bundling, customers receive a better overall experience and value by having multiple services as part of a package.” There will be no changes in service for all existing DSL customers, the spokesman said.
AT&T Southeast wants to discontinue offering Managed Shared Network Service, a special access service that requires AT&T to “manage, design and route the customer’s point-to-point DS-0, DS-1 and DS-3 special access transport services from AT&T wire centers to customer designated aggregation locations,” the telco told the FCC last week. According to AT&T, there is low market demand for the service in its southeast service territory, and it plans to discontinue offering it to new customers on July 15, and completely discontinue existing service arrangements by April 1, 2014. Comments on the proposed discontinuance are due June 15 in WC docket 12-126 (http://xrl.us/bm8eyn).
USTelecom withdrew New York from its petition for waiver of various sections of the FCC’s rules regarding eligible telecom carrier compliance obligations for new Lifeline subscribers (http://xrl.us/bm8exq). The association had asked for a waiver where ETCs are dependent on the state for subscriber certifications. USTelecom withdrew New York from its request “based on new information about the status of changes to the customer eligibility determination process” there, it said. Earlier this week it withdrew Kansas, Tennessee and New Jersey for similar reasons (CD May 16 p12).
Tw telecom will only be able to make its new “Intelligent Network” ubiquitously available to business customers if it gets access to ILEC special access services at “reasonable rates, terms and conditions,” tw telecom CEO Larissa Herda told FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Monday, according to an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bm8ew7). Its “Intelligent Network” is a fiber-based network aimed at giving enterprise customers access to cloud services. Tw telecom gave Genachowski a document showing the increases in monthly special access costs it would incur if it were to “forgo entering into a discount arrangement with Verizon” in legacy GTE ILEC territories in California, Florida and Texas. Tw telecom did not provide these details in its ex parte filing because “competitors would be able to use this information to determine tw telecom’s special access purchase volumes,” and the rates it pays in those territories, leading to “competitive strategies that unfairly disadvantage tw telecom,” the telco said.
Accelerating wireless revenue and average revenue per user growth are driving profit in the U.S. wireless industry, UBS analysts said. That could lead to the best industry earnings growth in four years, despite the weakness at Sprint Nextel, they said. However, the prepaid market is in “an increasingly difficult position,” they said, noting prepaid net additions declined in Q1. Prepaid subscriber growth could fall below 10 percent in 2012 over the last year, they said. The prepaid market is getting squeezed by the national carriers on the high end and Lifeline carriers on the low end, they said.
Inmarsat launched a new capability that allows up to nine simultaneous phone calls through a single terminal. FleetBroadband Multi-voice will enable vessel owners and managers to separate crew communications from operational use, Inmarsat said. It’s targeted at any vessel “with the need to manage separate voice calls.”
Time Warner Cable and Viacom settled their dispute over TWC’s use of Viacom programming for its in-home Internet Protocol video streaming to tablets, Viacom said on its blog (http://xrl.us/bm8bzx). “All of Viacom’s programming will now be available to Time Warner Cable Subscribers for in-home viewing via Internet protocol-enabled devices such as iPads and Time Warner Cable will continue to carry Viacom’s Country Music Television programming,” they said in a joint statement. “In reaching this settlement agreement, Time Warner Cable and Viacom were also able to resolve other unrelated business matters to their mutual satisfaction. Neither side is conceding its original legal position or will have further comment."