The 463: Inside Tech

We’re Gonna Party Like It’s 1999

(Kelsey Kirchmann) In 1999, I was nine-years-old. I had never been out of the country, I had never operated a motor vehicle and I was five years away from holding my first real job as a line cook in a pizza joint. I had barely discovered the Internet past AOL Instant Messaging in the elementary school computer lab.

 

1999 was an exciting year. This new currency called the Euro was established as the official currency of the eurozone (which did not yet include Greece). The world population reached 6 billion people, ExxonMobile became the world’s largest company and this guy named Hugo Chavez became the President of Venezuela.

 

Bill Gates’ fortune exceeded 100 billion dollars with the release of Windows 98.  This amazing new music-sharing site called Napster was launched and the music was totally free (until they were prosecuted for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement). Apple released the Power Macintosh G4. China started restricting the use of the Internet in these things called Internet cafes. We were all afraid Y2K was going to be the beginning of Armageddon, starting with our bank accounts because you just can’t trust those computers.

 

At that time we had no idea about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, Hulu or Groupon. Google was a brand new search engine, a few years away from its IPO. We didn’t use the word netizen and we spent significantly less time on the Internet. Oh, and did I mention there were no smartphones (collectve gasp).

 

Last Thursday, the FCC released a report called “Information Needs of Communities”. This report is the product of the FCC’s examination of the future of media and information launched in 2010.

 

This project was launched after the FTC published a staff discussion draft in 2010 of policy recommendations to “support the reinvention of journalism”. These policy suggestions include massive federal subsidies for the press, a journalism division of AmeriCorps, expanded postal subsidies and taxes on cell phones and consumer electronics to pay for it all.

 

Now please pause for a moment to take all of that in. How different would our world be if those policy suggestions were taken in 1999? I am almost positive I would not be using my iPhone to tweet about Facebook in China after a quick Google News search.

 

The FCC’s report is broad where the FTC’s staff discussion draft was controversially specific. The FCC report focused on an objective overview of modern media. Instead of trying to suggest policy that will most likely inhibit the rapidly-evolving, organic nature of modern media, the FCC suggests streamlining policy and promoting transparency in media online. Instead of a strident regulatory framework, the FCC’s policy suggestions favor a light regulatory touch.

 

The FCC’s approach seems both rational and highly intelligent considering the amazing information revolution that has taken place over the past few decades. It remains hard to say what will become the next Facebook, Google or Twitter and it is even harder to say why Prince wore this sparkling trench coat, but it easy to see we will continue to experience the lightening-fast progress of innovation in the digital age.

 

 

Google: The Travel Industry's New 800-Pound Gorilla

Katie Hallen - Has Google just placed Kayak's IPO in jeopardy?  Late last week as we headed into the holiday weekend, news broke that Google has signed an agreement to acquire venture-backed ITA Software, a Boston-based company that specializes in organizing airline data including flight times.  ITA's technology is known to process large amounts of data really, really fast. It's used by Kayak, TripAdvisor, Orbitz, Expedia, and Microsoft's Bing Travel (previously Farecast).

Google will spend $700 million to acquire ITA, according to news sources.  The Wall Street Journal reports that ITA had previously asked for a cool billion.

Kayak, which generated $150 million in revenue last year, has long been rumored to be pursuing an IPO, an exciting development in a day where so few companies have the resources to float their stock.  But now as Google appears to move into the travel business, Kayak's future looks uncertain. 

It's always interesting to note how Internet companies take shape and change their mission over time.  Google is no longer just a place for search but a significant portal - the first destination for many on the Web. 

As consolidation in data processing and search continues, we should except Washington and its antitrust lobbyists to take note.  What's unclear with this latest move from Google is whether the company is expanding its own in-house capability or simply taking out would-be competitors.

Spokeo Complaint Before FTC

Katie Hallen -- Readers of this blog will know that this writer is no fan of Spokeo, the website that aggregates the personal information of millions of Americans and makes it searchable through a simple interface. It's worth mentioning that by far and away most of this data is highly inaccurate.

Spokeo claims to be a modern-day phone book for the social-networking age, but anyone who visits the site can see it for what it is: a start-up desperately trying to make money by brokering what many would consider to be private data.  Are Spokeo's actions illegal?  That is up for debate.  Are they unethical?  Absolutely.

Religion, ethnicity, age and shopping preferences are among the items that Spokeo publishes on nearly everyone with an address. Mortgage value, investments and income are available by subscription. If all of this makes you a little bit uncomfortable, Spokeo directs you to so-called "privacy company" ReputationDefender so that you can enlist their services for a charge to remove your personal information from web databases.  I'm not a lawyer, but that sounds like racketeering. 

Last month, I predicted a Federal Trade Commission investigation into Spokeo. It was refreshing to learn today that the Center for Democracy and Technology has filed a complaint and request for investigation against Spokeo with the FTC.  CDT's complaint (found here) argues that Spokeo's business practices violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act. 

We'll continue to monitor this issue to see what happens next. 

Spokeo or Creep-eo: Hello, FTC?

Katie Hallen -- Imagine a website that pulls from various sources to create a profile of your household – intimate details that you keep private, some under lock in a file cabinet, suddenly aggregated and available by simple search online.  Search for your name and you find next to your address a catalog of the following: your age, salary estimate, credit rating, employer, the names of those living in your household, and even your hobbies. 

The fact that this information is displayed on a public website available to anyone would send many privacy-cautious people into a panic attack.  So, here’s the bad news: this website is for real.  Called Spokeo (pronounced Spoke-eo), I prefer to think of it as Creep-eo.

Spokeo.com claims to be a modern-day phonebook for the social-networking age, but it’s approach is something closer to that hideous late-night reality show Cheaters, where suspicious girlfriends hire a camera crew to dig up dirt on their significant others.  In the same vein, Spokeo lets you pay money to see photos of the people in its search database, and you get the idea that its creators would love to tap into cell-phone mapping records so it could show you someone’s exact location at the moment of your search.

A lot of the data seems inaccurate but some of it is close enough to send chills down the spine.  At a recent dinner party, a group of us tested it out and got very mixed results, which accurate or not, made us universally unhappy.  Some were concerned for their personal safety.

While Spokeo claims that it is pulling data across various public sources, one must wonder if the result is disturbing enough to rally supporters for a federal privacy law.  If not to that end, it’s only a matter of time before someone files a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

 

Privacy Done Well

David Mack -- Online privacy could well be the buzzwords of 2010.  With ongoing FTC roundtables, impending legislation and a flurry of questions about what all this openness is doing to our society we’re guaranteed to see changes in the way we share online information this year.

But who is best equipped to provide meaningful solutions?  Can industry do it alone (and fast enough) or will the government deliver a one size fits all answer? 

Kim Hart posted a story in today’s Hillicon Valley that explores the European Commissions’ call for social networks to add privacy protections for teens.  U.S. based companies are undoubtedly watching the EC’s comments closely to see if they are followed up with teeth.   Juliana Gruenwald reported additional details on the Tech Daily Dose blog. 

Not surprisingly, the call to action is being framed as a way to protect children online.

For now, the EC is working proactively with major social networking sites to establish a series of best practices that will enable communities to grow safely.  This partnership is a good example of government and industry growing together, but it is not always the case.

In the final days of the 2009 session, under the guise of protecting children, the Maine legislature passed a bill that would have made it illegal for minors to share personal information with a company without first providing verifiable parental consent. 

While the law was created with the best of intentions, a broad variety of organizations, including NetChoice, the Maine Press Association and the Maine Independent Colleges Association immediately recognized the unintended harm such a broad law would have on free speech and services we take for granted – including notification of volunteer opportunities or college prep services.

The U.S. District Court of Maine ultimately found the law to be an unacceptable violation of first amendment rights, but the episode was a good reminder of what can go wrong when industry and policy makers fail to collaborate.  

The year ahead will present many opportunities for collaboration.  We’ll all benefit from a focus on industry and policy maker partnership and vigilance against knee jerk legislative solutions. 

The FCC is Getting Headlines; but Don't Forget About the FTC

(Sean Garrett) FCC chair Julius Genachowski and his commission comrades are the It tech policy policy body in DC these days. Check out Julius at CES here. Or watch him give an interview in front of a handful of tech execs at the high cred San Francisco blog network GigaOm HQ last week...

All the attention toward the FCC is for good reason. From net neutrality to mobile spectrum to nettlesome questions of content restriction in a converged world, the commission is front and center on issues that impact a broad swath of Internet companies, telecom firms, cable entities, mobile operators and device manufacturers and, oh, consumers. Indeed, I think one of the smartest things Google did in the last few years was invest so relatively heavily in their FCC activities and relationships, The launch of the Nexus One now makes it so much clearer why I saw both founders and Eric Schmidt at a very small and casual Palo Alto industry reception of FCC commissioners two summers ago.
Yet in reading today a NYT blog post about their interview with FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz and Bureau of Consumer Protection chief David Vladeck, I was reminded that much of the Internet market also needs to keep their eyes on the FTC ball. In the piece, some serious hints are dropped that the times are a changing when it comes to consumer privacy on the Web. There have been plenty of hints before from Leibowitz, but these are some of the strongest. Excerpts:

Previous commissions had looked at privacy under the framework of whether consumers were harmed, and with the basis that companies must advise consumers about what they’re doing and obtain their consent, Mr. Leibowitz said. But companies “haven’t given consumers effective notice, so they can make effective choices,” he said.

Advise-and-consent “depended on the fiction that people were meaningfully giving consent,” Mr. Vladeck said. “The literature is clear” that few people read privacy policies, he said.

While first-party uses of data were generally within consumers’ reasonable expectations, he said, more questions arose around data brokers, data aggregators, social network, cloud computing and mobile marketing.

And...

“Philosophically, we wonder if we’re moving to a post-disclosure era and what that would look like,” Mr. Vladeck said. “What’s the substitute for it?”

He said the commission was still looking into the issue, but it hoped to have an answer by June or July, when it plans to publish a report on the subject. Mr. Leibowitz gave a hint as to what might be included: “I have a sense, and it’s still amorphous, that we might head toward opt-in,” Mr. Leibowitz said.

Oh, and by the way, as the piece notes, the FTC is holding one of their series of roundtable that "explores privacy" in Berkeley on January 28. It's description...

The Federal Trade Commission will host a series of day-long public roundtable discussions to explore the privacy challenges posed by the vast array of 21st century technology and business practices that collect and use consumer data. Such practices include social networking, cloud computing, online behavioral advertising, mobile marketing, and the collection and use of information by retailers, data brokers, third-party applications, and other diverse businesses. The goal of the roundtables is to determine how best to protect consumer privacy while supporting beneficial uses of the information and technological innovation.

Pay attention folks.

Presenting the DC Facebook Dudes

Kara Swisher from All Things D brings her omnipresent Flip Camera into Facebook’s DC offices to talk steak dinner, privacy, helping politicians make the most out of Facebook and how to communicate tech policy to folks who can’t plug in their computers...

Score One for the Good Guys

“I love it when a plan comes together” – Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith

The classic line by the Colonel was at the top of our minds when we saw the Maine Joint Judiciary Committee vote unanimously to repeal the Maine Predatory Marketing Act last week. 

The law was the number one offender on NetChoice’s iAwful list and widely seen as a threat to free speech and online information.  The iAwful list ranks the top state and federal laws that are a threat to online speech and Internet commerce.

While the Act had the best of intentions (helping to keep minors safe online) it was written in such a way that both the state’s Attorney General and the U.S. District Court of Maine publically warned of its first amendment crushing potential.

Steve DelBianco of NetChoice travelled to Maine to testify before an emergency hearing called by House and Senate leadership following the District Court’s warning on the law’s constitutionality.  In his testimony, DelBianco provided legislators with concrete, real world examples of how the act would unleash a torrent of litigation and block teen’s access to important online health and educational information.

The committee’s decision to repeal the act is a great example of citizen advocacy in action.  Congratulations to our partners at NetChoice and the people of Maine for proactively defending their rights.  

Now, on to our next iAwful targets!

By:  David Mack

What Happens if You Opt-Out of Google

New Google Service Lets Privacy Critics Opt-Out, Relocate To Remote Village

Mr. Chopra Goes to Silicon Valley

Katie Hallen -- Aneesh Chopra received a rock star’s welcome Tuesday night at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., in an event hosted by TechNet, the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Churchill Club.  For America’s first federal CTO, it was his first visit – and public appearance – in Silicon Valley since President Obama appointed him to office in April.

Chopra, who previously was Virginia’s secretary of technology, had initially been perceived by some in the room as a Silicon Valley outsider, but last night they embraced him as a visionary with big ideas and specific objectives to help the government translate technology to boost U.S. global competitiveness and better engage the citizenry.

Among those in the packed room of 350 attendees was Tim O’Reilly, an early Chopra supporter.  O’Reilly wrote back in April when news of the CTO appointment hit that: “Chopra has been one of those who have taught me the most about how we can build a better government with the help of technology.” 

Chopra revealed his near-term (next 90 days, by September 22) versus long-term priorities, looking at how government can invest in the building blocks of innovation, promote innovation to achieve national policy goals, and instill a culture of openness and transparency.  In particular, he cited his huge support for health care IT, education technology and government R&D investment.

 “We need to embrace this spirit of commonwealth – the idea that we can bring the power of entrepreneurship to deliver game-changing innovation in our public services,” said Chopra who peppered his remarks with stories of social entrepreneurs who have inspired him to help technology and the government work better for the American people.

Watch the YouTube video from the talk and Q&A on the Churchill Club’s YouTube Channel.

Read the Twitter chatter here.

See more coverage from TechCrunch, PC Magazine and the New York Times.

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