It’s fair to say FTC Commissioner Thomas Rosch will continue objecting to the agency’s settlements that include prominent “unfairness” prongs, he told us Wednesday. Rosch abstained from a vote on a deal with such a provision Tuesday, with seven computer rental providers and a software firm alleged to have spied on customers in their homes through keylogging, screen captures and webcams (CD Sept 26 p16). Congressional Privacy Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, Wednesday said he was “dumbfounded” by the spying allegations. (See separate report below.) Rosch also dissented from a summer settlement with the Wyndham Hotels chain over an unfairness provision. The commissioner Wednesday pointed us to his speech to the Forum for EU-US Legal Eco Affairs in Paris Sept. 14, on “The Evolution of ‘Privacy Policy’ at the Federal Trade Commission: Is It Really Necessary?” In the speech (http://xrl.us/bnrijc) Rosch said he “bridled” at the FTC’s preliminary staff privacy report in 2010 (http://xrl.us/bnrije) that, among other things, “suggested that ‘notice’ might be replaced by a new and untested paradigm based on ‘unfairness.'” The final staff report’s insistence that the “unfair” prong of the commission’s Section 5 authority should govern information collection practices, rather than the “deceptive” prong, was Rosch’s “primary” disagreement with the report, he wrote. “What is ‘unfair’ is in the eye of the beholder,” with “most consumer advocacy groups” judging behavioral tracking to be unfair regardless of whether such tracked information is personally identifiable or what the circumstances are for the tracking. Yet consumers “by and large do not ‘opt out’ from tracking when given the chance to do so,” he said. The FTC largely sided with consumer advocacy organizations, contrary to its statements to Congress in 1980 and 1982 (http://xrl.us/bnrikq) that “absent deception,” the commission “will not generally enforce Section 5 against alleged intangible harm,” Rosch said. The FTC historically has also not “tethered itself to the policy judgments of other regimes about consumer privacy,” he said, referring to the final privacy report’s recommendation that the U.S. align itself with Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development principles. The guiding principle of FTC privacy policy thus far has been that it consider “innovation” and that other regimes should do the same, he said. By applying Section 5 authority beyond prescribed limits -- “on a standalone basis only to a firm with monopoly or near-monopoly power” -- the FTC could enable the abuse of privacy “as a weapon by firms having monopoly or near-monopoly power to disadvantage rivals,” Rosch said in the speech.
A 3D microchip being designed by an EU-funded project could slash the electricity and installation costs of servers in cloud computing centers, the European Commission said Wednesday. Cloud data centers can consume the same amount of electricity as 40,000 homes, but they're essential because they enable cloud services such as Facebook, mobile apps and business customer databases, it said. The Eurocloud project has adapted low-power microprocessor technologies generally used in mobile phones to work on a larger scale, it said. Preliminary measurements show these technologies reduce power needs by 90 percent compared to conventional servers, it said. That could make data center investment affordable for more European companies, grow a new industry, and save customers of data centers billions of euros, it said. The EC will unveil an overall cloud computing strategy Thursday.
It’s fair to say FTC Commissioner Thomas Rosch will continue objecting to FTC settlements that include prominent “unfairness” prongs, he told us Wednesday. Rosch abstained from a vote on a deal with such a provision Tuesday, with seven computer rental providers and a software firm alleged to have spied on customers in their homes through keylogging, screen captures and webcams (WID Sept 26 p5). Congressional Privacy Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, Wednesday said he was “dumbfounded” by the spying allegations (see separate report in this issue). Rosch also dissented from a summer settlement with the Wyndham Hotels chain over an unfairness provision. The commissioner Wednesday pointed us to his speech to the Forum for EU-US Legal Eco Affairs in Paris Sept. 14, on “The Evolution of ‘Privacy Policy’ at the Federal Trade Commission: Is It Really Necessary?” In the speech (http://xrl.us/bnrijc) Rosch said he “bridled” at the FTC’s preliminary staff privacy report in 2010 (http://xrl.us/bnrije) that, among other things, “suggested that ‘notice’ might be replaced by a new and untested paradigm based on ‘unfairness.'” The final staff report’s insistence that the “unfair” prong of the commission’s Section 5 authority should govern information collection practices, rather than the “deceptive” prong, was Rosch’s “primary” disagreement with the report, he wrote. “What is ‘unfair’ is in the eye of the beholder,” with “most consumer advocacy groups” judging behavioral tracking to be unfair regardless of whether such tracked information is personally identifiable or what the circumstances are for the tracking. Yet consumers “by and large do not ‘opt out’ from tracking when given the chance to do so,” he said. The FTC largely sided with consumer advocacy organizations, contrary to its statements to Congress in 1980 and 1982 (http://xrl.us/bnrikq) that “absent deception,” the commission “will not generally enforce Section 5 against alleged intangible harm,” Rosch said. The FTC historically has also not “tethered itself to the policy judgments of other regimes about consumer privacy,” he said, referring to the final privacy report’s recommendation that the U.S. align itself with Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development principles. The guiding principle of FTC privacy policy thus far has been that it consider “innovation” and that other regimes should do the same, he said. By applying Section 5 authority beyond prescribed limits -- “on a standalone basis only to a firm with monopoly or near-monopoly power” -- the FTC could enable the abuse of privacy “as a weapon by firms having monopoly or near-monopoly power to disadvantage rivals,” Rosch said in the speech.
A 3D microchip being designed by an EU-funded project could slash the electricity and installation costs of servers in cloud computing centers, the European Commission said Wednesday. Cloud data centers can consume the same amount of electricity as 40,000 homes, but they're essential because they enable cloud services such as Facebook, mobile apps and business customer databases, it said. The Eurocloud project has adapted low-power microprocessor technologies generally used in mobile phones to work on a larger scale, it said. Preliminary measurements show these technologies reduce power needs by 90 percent compared to conventional servers, it said. That could make data center investment affordable for more European companies, grow a new industry, and save customers of data centers billions of euros, it said. The EC will unveil an overall cloud computing strategy Thursday.
A 3D microchip being designed by an EU-funded project could slash the electricity and installation costs of servers in cloud computing centers, the European Commission said Wednesday. Cloud data centers can consume the same amount of electricity as 40,000 homes, but they're essential because they enable cloud services such as Facebook, mobile apps and business customer databases, it said. The Eurocloud project has adapted low-power microprocessor technologies generally used in mobile phones to work on a larger scale, it said. Preliminary measurements show these technologies reduce power needs by 90 percent compared to conventional servers, it said. That could make data center investment affordable for more European companies, grow a new industry, and save customers of data centers billions of euros, it said. The EC will unveil an overall cloud computing strategy Thursday.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website Sept. 26, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)
Telcos and associations challenging the FCC’s USF/intercarrier compensation order filed a joint preliminary brief Monday presenting 18 issues for the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to decide (http://xrl.us/bnrd3e). Questions include whether the FCC overstepped its authority by preempting the states’ authority to set intrastate rates, designate eligible telecom carriers and set service areas; requiring recipients of USF support to provide unregulated “information services”; and modifying or eliminating high-cost support mechanisms. Petitioners are also challenging the commission’s move to a “bill-and-keep” system of intercarrier compensation; a new obligation barring call blocking on VoIP providers; and the infringement of tribal sovereignty. Petitioners include CenturyLink, tw telecom, U.S. Cellular, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, and several state public utilities commissions and rural telephone cooperatives.
The International Trade Administration issued the final results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on sodium hexametaphosphate from China (A-570-908). In these final results, the ITA calculated an AD rate of 91.23 percent for sole respondent Hubei Xingfa Chemical Group Co., Ltd. This rate, which is effective Sept. 27, is expected to be implemented by CBP soon.
The International Trade Administration issued the final results of an antidumping duty new shipper review of seamless refined copper pipe and tube from Mexico (A-201-838), which sets an AD cash deposit rate of 5.53 percent for GD Affiliates S. de R.L. de C.V. (Golden Dragon). The rate, which is effective Sept. 26, is expected to be implemented by CBP soon.
LAS VEGAS -- T-Mobile is taking a long, hard look at how it could make sharing work in the 1755-1850 MHz band, T-Mobile Senior Vice President Tom Sugrue said on a Competitive Carrier Association convention panel Monday. Carriers as a whole have pressed the government to make the band available on a licensed basis. T-Mobile received special temporary authority from the FCC to test sharing with federal users and Sugrue said the carrier believes sharing could work, at least in the short term.