"The report ... is a bit of an odd read,” said Direct Marketing Association Vice President-Government Affairs Rachel Thomas in a Wednesday night blog post response to an online advertising security report released Thursday by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (http://bit.ly/1lHA1b9). The report -- spurred by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and the subject of a subcommittee hearing Thursday -- “warns against ‘dangerous third parties,’ and ‘invasive cookies,’ and calls for ‘circuit breakers’ to protect consumers,” Thomas said. “It goes on to say that the online advertising industry is complex and hard to understand.” It’s a misleading portrayal, Thomas said. “Yikes. It’s as though the entire Internet -- that complicated series of tubes -- is devoid of self-regulation,” she said. “Good thing that reality is a much prettier picture.” Thomas highlighted the benefits of Digital Advertising Alliance’s self-regulatory program, about which Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., was skeptical in Thursday’s hearing. “The DAA program has expanded to cover the collection and use of Multi-Site Data across non-Affiliate sites over time, as well as to provide guidance for data collection in mobile environments,” she said. “Unlike legislation, which is static and runs the risk of codifying practices that may become out-of-date even before a bill turns into law, industry self-regulation is nimble by its very nature and thus better suited to provide protections in cutting-edge, fast-evolving areas like online advertising.” DAA Executive Director Lou Mastria testified at the hearing about the program. Thomas said other senators, including Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., expressed support during the hearing for this industry-led approach to combating malicious online advertising.
Roughly 86 percent of Google shareholders voted down a resolution to disclose more information about the company’s lobbying efforts, at its annual shareholder meeting Wednesday night. Tim Smith, senior vice president of Walden Asset Management’s Environment, Social and Governance Group, presented the resolution, which was backed by Public Citizen and other public interest groups (http://1.usa.gov/1mS7NcY). Google ranks among the top-five companies in U.S. lobbying efforts, Smith said. It also led all technology companies in Q1 lobbying spending, at $3.82 million. Yet “we don’t hear any detailed information on many of the trade groups and advocacy organizations it’s part of,” Smith said. He pointed to Google’s contributions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has a “very partisan and right-wing conservative agenda” that Smith argued countered Google’s stated mission. Despite the proposal’s demise, Steve Wilke, founder of solar and wind energy developer Delta Engineering, brought the issue up again during Q&A. “With all of the issues we deal with, we work with a lot of groups,” responded Chief Legal Officer David Drummond. Sometimes Google disagrees “vehemently” with positions of groups it helps fund, he said, citing ALEC. Drummond also said the U.S. Chamber’s stance on copyright “clashes with ours.” Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said Google has heard shareholders “loud and clear” on the issue this year and at past shareholder meetings. “Let us come back with some ideas,” he said. “The fact that he came out with that,” Wilke said in a conference call after the meeting, “is clearly a step forward."
Snapchat generated the most mobile network traffic volume of any messaging app in North America over the last six months, said a report released Wednesday by network traffic analyst Sandvine (http://bit.ly/1jHpsW5). Its preeminence was mostly “due to the fact it only allows subscribers to send picture messages, while competing services such as WhatsApp allow users to send plain text,” the report said. Snapchat now incorporates in-app text and video messaging, after a recent update. A week after its update, Snapchat agreed to settle FTC allegations it deceived consumers with privacy claims and repeatedly failed to fix basic security vulnerabilities. On the streaming audio side, Pandora continued to claim the top spot among mobile apps, said Sandvine. “This phenomenon is likely due to subscribers using the service consistently throughout the day, while some other applications may have their usage concentrated during” peak periods, said the company that helps ISPs and others monitor broadband networks.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology said in a draft of its Special Publication 800-160 Monday that security should be built into information technology systems at the earliest stages of development to build the most trustworthy and resilient systems. Systems security engineers should be in charge of reducing the susceptibility of IT architecture to cyber threats, along with resiliency and resistance to hacking, NIST said. The document is meant to build on existing Federal Information Security Management Act work and implementation of President Barack Obama’s 2013 cybersecurity executive order, NIST said. The agency said it’s seeking comment on its draft of SP 800-160 through July 11 (http://1.usa.gov/RJpYbp).
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., plans a Reddit Ask Me Anything session on net neutrality Tuesday at 5 p.m. He will answer questions from Reddit users alongside Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, said a Monday news release from Wyden. Wyden has strongly advocated for net neutrality protections and recently signed a letter urging the FCC to look to Title II authority in drafting net neutrality rules.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) filed an amicus brief in late April -- released Thursday -- supporting Google’s March petition to the Supreme Court, which asked the court to rule on whether the U.S. District Court in San Francisco was incorrect in finding Wi-Fi communications don’t fall under the Wiretap Act (CD April 3 p20). “The court of appeals erred, and absent review of its decision, information technology ('IT') professionals across the country will be left in legal limbo, uncertain whether standard practices they use every day to secure and optimize wireless infrastructure violate the Wiretap Act,” ITIF said (http://bit.ly/1mKhNVL). The petition stemmed from a number of lawsuits against Google relating to its practice of gathering data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks, known as the “Wi-Spy” case. Google paid a $7 million settlement in March 2013 with dozens of states over the issue (http://1.usa.gov/ZjOI7I), but was later cleared by the Justice Department and FCC, according to Google’s petition (http://bit.ly/1gOObX4). “The Court should grant the petition and hold that an unsecured Wi-Fi communication is readily accessible to the general public,” ITIF said. “This conclusion would harmonize the Act’s treatment of old-world, traditional radio communications with its treatment of modern electronic communications."
Netflix was on the low end of the subscription hike increase it promised last month, which it said at the time would be in the $1-$2 range. Rates for existing members will remain intact for two years, it said. The company told subscribers in an email Friday, with the subject line “Important Membership Information,” that it was raising the subscription price for new members from $7.99 to $8.99 “to continue adding more movies and TV shows.” It promised existing members “your plan and price will not change for two years."
There are 201 U.S. Internet million users, a Millennial Media report found. Mobile-only users have grown at a much higher rate than among all ‘Net users, “while PC-only users have decreased 45 percent during the same period,” from April 2013, it said in the report Cross-Screen Consumer Behavior Decoded. The study analyzed cross-screen behaviors and content consumption among 18-24 year-olds, men aged 25-49, women aged 25-49 and people over 50, it said in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1uBVCGK). Users spent 61 percent of online time for weather content and social media content on a smartphone, it said. For streaming radio content and games, users spent 79 percent of online time searching for such content on a smartphone, it said. The information for the study was gathered through measurement platforms by Millennial Media and comScore, it said.
The federal government is wasting money on information technology investments, said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government hearing (http://1.usa.gov/1mD8MC7). “These techno boondoggles are technology projects that should in theory make the government more effective and efficient in providing services, but instead turn out to be complete ‘flops.'” Mikulski pointed to GAO reports indicating $600 billion has been spent in the last decade on IT and technology. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we have gotten a good return on this investment,” she said. GAO Director-Information Technology Issues David Powner testified Wednesday, presenting a new GAO report showing government agencies have improved accuracy in recording their IT acquisitions, but have removed a number of major investments from an IT dashboard meant to bring transparency and accountability to IT purchasing, which is “troubling” (http://1.usa.gov/1isGn9r). Office of Management and Budget Chief Information Officer Steve VanRoekel presented the administration’s IT requests in its 2015 budget request during the hearing (http://1.usa.gov/1kYBCJ9). The request included a $20 million ask for the Information Technology Oversight and Reform fund, which “will use data, analytics and digital services to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and security of government operations and programs,” VanRoekel said, according to prepared statements.
The White House FY 2015 budget request is committed to improving broadband connections to schools and libraries, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told the Senate Budget Committee in an opening statement Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1kJsN4h). “A key request in this area is $200 million that would help educators transition to using technology and data to personalize learning and improve instruction, in support of the FCC’s ConnectED initiative to equip our nation’s schools and libraries with high-speed connectivity,” Duncan said. “The program would benefit educators and students by creating high-quality, open digital learning resources aligned to CCR [college and career-readiness] standards; using digital tools to personalize learning and implement new assessments; analyzing real-time data to improve student outcomes; using technology to increase student engagement; and providing remote access to effective educators.” The budget also includes $300 million for what the White House is calling its ConnectEDucators initiative.