Europeans’ data security concerns “have reached the United States,” said EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding in a speech Sunday (http://bit.ly/1bd62Au). While pressing EU member states to stop “stalling” on enforcing the European Commission’s data security proposals -- which were passed by the European Parliament in October (CD Oct 22 p7) -- Reding praised President Barack Obama’s surveillance reform speech Friday (CD Jan 21 p1). The speech “shows that the awareness in the U.S. that there is a serious problem to tackle seems to go from diplomatic acknowledgement to concrete implementation,” she said. Reding oversaw the EU’s review of the U.S.-EU safe harbor agreement that called on the U.S. to strengthen its privacy protections if it wanted to maintain the agreement (CD Nov 29 p7). Sunday, Reding argued data security changes are “a building block of the digital single market,” she said: “A single set of rules in a crucial sector, consistently applied.” The U.S. and Europe need to ensure they share this set of rules, she said, and “data protection in Europe and the U.S. should be bolstered.” Reding also criticized Europe’s handling of investigations into Google’s privacy policies. “Google has been sanctioned in two countries, France and Spain, and is under investigation in another four, including Germany,” she said. But the fines have been “pocket money” to Google, she said: “Is it surprising to anyone that two whole years after the case emerged, it is still unclear whether Google will amend its privacy policy or not?"
Radionomy, a service for radio producers and broadcasters, acquired Winamp, a media player, and Shoutcast, an Internet radio platform, from AOL, said a Radionomy news release (http://bit.ly/1dCUhYh) Friday. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, it said.
A group of makers of consumer electronics and technology companies sought an FCC rulemaking on “opening the market for device competition in rendering programming and services” and on an Internet Protocol-based gateway between external and home networks. The AllVid Tech Company Alliance, which has sought for some time an FCC proceeding on an “AllVid” device, said it wants the agency to “recognize the importance of effectuating the mandate of Section 629” of the Telecom Act with “consumers having true choice” in accessing multichannel video programming distributor content. “It is not enough to point to proprietary technologies that work only for limited services and only with particular systems,” said the group that has included Google and Intel (CD Nov 19 p6). A lawyer for the group met with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly and aides, who heard that consumers shouldn’t “be limited to renting MVPD devices with little control or innovation in how they view MVPD video programming and services,” read a filing posted Friday in docket 97-80 (http://bit.ly/1dYZG8F).
Roughly half of U.S. broadband households own a programmable thermostat and 11 percent have a thermostat that can connect to the Internet, said research from Parks Associates. Roughly one in five U.S. broadband households has smart lighting or electronic door locks, Parks said, in an email promoting Parks’ Smart Energy Summit to be Feb. 17-19 in Austin, Texas. Keynotes at the smart energy conference will be by executives from Nest, which Google said Monday it was buying for $3.2 billion, Comcast’s Xfinity Home security service, Austin Energy and smart thermostat manufacturer ecobee. Parks said the summit will provide a forum to discuss growing consumer demand and business products for utilities, service providers, retailers and manufacturers.
"Piecemeal commitment” to supporting U.S. research and development is harming “global competitiveness and, ultimately, costing U.S. tech companies and the country,” said a study (http://bit.ly/1dud8X9) released by TechAmerica and accounting firm Grant Thornton Wednesday, said TechAmerica in a statement. “The R&D tax credit is a catalyst for the creation and retention of higher-paying jobs and is imperative to the United States’ ability to remain front and center in technological and other advances,” said Mel Schwarz, partner in Grant Thornton’s Washington national tax office, in the release. Of the 23 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that use tax incentives to encourage research and development by businesses, the U.S. ranks 15th, said the release. “We created the R&D tax credit as a method to encourage forward thinking investment in the United States and now other countries are using our own innovation to beat us,” said Shawn Osborne, TechAmerica board chairman, in the release.
Nearly 100,000 computers are equipped with software from the National Security Agency that allows the agency to do surveillance or launch cyberattacks, said a New York Times article (http://nyti.ms/1cpHGTM) Tuesday. Instead of Internet access, the NSA relies on a “covert channel of radio waves” that can be used by “tiny circuit boards and USB cards” hidden within the computers, said the article.
Data center outsourcing and colocation in North America will increase by 15 percent in 2014, DCD Intelligence said Monday. Almost 25 percent of the data center footprint in the U.S. and Canada is now outsourced, following a 12-month period in which outsourcing and colocation increased by 13 percent. The total cost of outsourcing and colocation in the North American data center market over the past 12 months was $8.8 billion, DCD Intelligence said. Colocation has increased in North America because of increasing IT requirements, reduced budgets and demand for new technologies, the firm said (http://bit.ly/1j43JaJ).
FTC commissioners Julie Brill, a Democrat, and Maureen Ohlhausen, a Republican, will meet with the House Privacy Working Group Tuesday, an agency spokesman confirmed. The House Privacy Working Group was formed in August and is chaired by Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Peter Welch, D-Vt. (CD Oct 3 p10). Ohlhausen and Brill often focus their public speeches on various aspects of privacy. Brill has emphasized her “Reclaim Your Name” initiative, which encourages data brokers to give consumers the opportunity to view and correct data collected about them -- or opt out of data collection altogether (CD Dec 20 p6). Ohlhausen has repeatedly discussed her view of how government and the FTC should handle the privacy issues posed by the growing Internet of Things (CD Jan 9 p3). At Tuesday’s meeting, Ohlhausen will discuss the FTC’s statutory authority on privacy, as well as the commission’s enforcement history with privacy, said her aide. The aide said Ohlhausen will also discuss the data security legislation she supports. The meeting’s agenda will include the following questions, said a Blackburn spokesman: “What role does the FTC play when it comes to protecting individual’s privacy?”; “What are the main privacy issues currently being addressed by the FTC?”; “Are there any gaps in the FTC’s authority that Congress needs to review?”; and “Does the FTC foresee any issues coming down the pipeline that Congress should be aware of?”
Digital movie company NeuMovie selected content management platform CSG Content Direct for the NeuMovie online storefront and to “grow” the company’s UltraViolet offerings, CSG said in a news release Wednesday. CSG will enable the company to “leverage non-traditional retailers and e-tailers in the home entertainment arena,” said NeuMovie Vice President of Digital Strategy and Operations Raffi DiBlasio.
In-car navigation companies aren’t giving adequate information to consumers about how they are using and sharing private location data, said a GAO report released Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1a1DAkH). The rise of in-car communication systems, portable navigation devices (PND) and smartphones means drivers have ample opportunity to access location-based information, the report said, citing a study that found the market for in-car data transmission networks will nearly triple to 31.6 million subscribers by 2016. And of the 10 companies queried -- including auto manufacturers, PND companies, mobile map and navigation app developers -- nine share location data with third-party companies, said the report. “All 10 selected companies have taken steps consistent with some, but not all, industry-recommended privacy practices,” the report said. “In addition, the companies’ privacy practices were, in certain instances, unclear, which could make it difficult for consumers to understand the privacy risks that may exist.” Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Al Franken, D-Minn., requested the report after a May 2011 hearing on protecting mobile privacy, said a Monday release (http://1.usa.gov/1a1DAkH). Later that year, Franken sent a letter to in-car navigation device company OnStar, urging it to change its privacy policy on tracking former subscribers. Within a month, the company did change its policy. “Companies providing in-car location services are taking their customers’ privacy seriously -- but this report shows that Minnesotans and people across the country need much more information about how the data are being collected, what they're being used for, and how they're being shared with third parties,” Franken said. The GAO report was released the same day a group of technology and auto companies -- Audi, GM, Google, Honda, Hyundai and Nvidia -- revealed the formation of the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA), which intends to bring the Android platform to cars in 2014, said a release (http://bit.ly/19MiJHN). “Partnering with Google and the OAA on an ecosystem that spans across vehicles and handheld mobile devices furthers our mission to bring vehicles into our owners['] digital lives and their digital lives into their vehicles,” said Mary Chan, president of General Motors’ Global Connected Consumer Unit, in a statement. Franken’s release said he plans to reintroduce his Location Privacy Protection Act, which was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in December 2012, but never reached a floor vote (http://1.usa.gov/Kvw6zQ). The bill would require user consent to collect any geolocation information from an electronic device. “It’s just commonsense that all companies should get their customers’ clear permission before they collect or share their location information,” Franken said.