As someone who follows the federal regulatory process, I was amazed to see this in a recent American Spectator post about White House technology advisor Susan Crawford’s return to the University of Michigan Law School:
But White House sources say that she ran afoul of senior White House economics adviser Larry Summers, who claimed he and other senior Obama officials were unaware of how radical the draft Net Neutrality regulations were when they were initially internally circulated to Obama administration officials several weeks ago … In the end, the proposed regulations were slightly moderated from the original language FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, a Crawford ally, circulated.
Unlike regulatory agencies that are considered part of the executive branch, the Federal Communications Commission is an “independent” regulatory agency — which means the president cannot fire its five commissioners. Before executive branch agencies can propose a regulation, it must be reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). No administration has yet tried to bring independent agencies like the FCC under OIRA review.
Typically, congressional and private watchdogs scream bloody murder when they see the White House trying to influence independent agencies. But I haven’t heard any barking about this one.
Personally, I think independent agencies’ regulations should be subject to OIRA review. I don’t mind letting the president and his advisors have their say on regulations proposed by people he appointed. But I’d like to see it happen through the formal OIRA review process, where the public knows it’s happening and knows what the rules are.
For example: If you want to know which proposed regulations OIRA has reviewed, go here. If you want to know the standards OIRA uses to review regulations, go here. If you want to know what outside parties have met with OIRA to discuss regulations, go here.
My colleague Jerry Brito and I are attending the annual meeting of the State Policy Network in Asheville, NC. In the process, we’ve heard a lot of things said about open-source software that we don’t agree with, and some things that are just plain wrong.
The reasons for this are obvious. There are a lot of folks who have an interest in talking down open-source CMS solutions—namely because they sell proprietary, closed-source systems. But, there are non-interested parties out there who have given rave reviews to open-source solutions. For example, Drupal and WordPress have consistently won CNET’s Webware Awards. The White House now runs on Drupal, the New York Times runs its blogs on WordPress, and sites that we have built, including those for CEI, the Mercatus Center, America’s Future Foundation, Stimulus Watch, and OpenRegs.com, are built using open source tools, and they have been very successful. Bottom line, one can’t say that using open-source software is never the answer.
So how do you decide what to use? What you have to consider are the relative merits of each approach. Some web projects may be so unique that you’ll want to have a developer build a custom solution for you. You might also find a proprietary solutions that fits your needs perfectly. However, most public policy groups have very similar needs—publishing and promoting papers and press releases, creating profiles of their experts, highlighting past and future events, etc. For these cases, it’s very likely that there is an open-source solution available at a no cost, and with a large pool of independent developers who can implement it for you. And it’s certainly the case that open-source solutions can be infinitely customized to meet unique needs.
The main difference we want to point out, however, is that when you choose a proprietary solution, you’re not just tied to that solution, but to a vendor as well. Look carefully at their contracts, it will be quite clear that they own the software that runs your website. If you need to change or add functionality to your site, you need to go to that particular vendor. With an open-source solution, there are hundreds of developers you can turn to. You can keep your site exactly as it is, and simply change your contractor. Your platform is not tied to any vendor.
What to do about the influences of media and advertising on children? Generally, the saying goes that where you stand depends on where you sit–but that was not apparent at today’s event on children and media.
There were 4 seats (plus moderator) at the panel on “Media, Kids, and the First Amendment” that was co-hosted by Georgetown Law School and Common Sense Media–a professor, lobbyist, FCC regulator, and attorney general. Surprisingly, while there was common ground to be shared, only the lobbyist was truly advocating on behalf of a strong First Amendment.
The Professor: Angela Campbell. She doesn’t see a need for differing legal analysis for broadcast TV or the Internet. Media is media. But she also would like to see all laws meant to protect children be subject to intermediate scrutiny by a court, not strict scrutiny (so that more regulations could be passed). She also thinks the fleeting expletives case (the Fox case) is a joke. Where does she sit?Mostly on the side of Free Speech. Some laws are necessary to protect children, but we need to focus on the harm and weigh the costs of passing law versus not passing law. But the intermediate scrutiny is troubling for free speech advocates.
The Lobbyist: Dan Brenner. He worries about laws regulation communications as being vague (what does “indecent” mean?) and overbroad (makes legitimate speech unlawful). The Maine predatory marketing law that NetChoice has engaged in is an example of being both vague and overbroad. Where does he sit? Firmly on the side of Free Speech. Dan made a powerful case that regulators have better things to do than worry about the occasional F-word or wordrobe malfunction on TV. Continue reading →
PFF summer fellow Eric Beach and I have been working on what we hope is a comprehensive taxonomy of all the threats to online security and privacy. In our continuing Privacy Solutions Series, we have discussed and will continue to discuss specific threats in more detail and offer tools and methods you can use to protect yourself.
The taxonomy of 21 different threats is organized as a table that indicates the “threat vector” and goal(s) of attackers using each threat. Following the table is a glossary defining each threat and providing links to more information.Threats can come from websites, intermediaries such as an ISP, or from users themselves (e.g. using an easy-to-guess password). The goals range from simply monitoring which (or what type of) websites you access to executing malicious code on your computer.
Please share any comments, criticisms, or suggestions as to other threats or self-help privacy/security management tools that should be added by posting a comment below.
OnGuardOnline.gov is a project of a dozen federal agencies and several private child safety organizations who have collaborated to create a website which “provides practical tips from the federal government and the technology industry to help you be on guard against Internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information.” The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is particularly instrumental in maintaining and promoting the site but it works closely with those other agencies and organizations to craft messages and programs.
OnGuardOnline has just released a terrific new online safety resource called Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids about Being Online. This 54-page document is an outstanding resource for parents. The report’s advice and recommendations are spot on across the board and I particularly want to highlight the important section right at the front of the document entitled, “Talk to Your Kids.” It begins: “The best way to protect your kids online? Talk to them. Research suggests that when children want important information, most rely on their parents.” Quite right. And the NetCetra report goes on to offer the following excellent advice:
Start early. After all, even toddlers see their parents use all kinds of devices. As soon as your child is using a computer, a cell phone or any mobile device, it’s time to talk to them about online behavior, safety, and security. As a parent, you have the opportunity to talk to your kid about what’s important before anyone else does.
Create an honest, open environment. Kids look to their parents to help guide them. Be supportive and positive. Listening and taking their feelings into account helps keep conversation afloat. You may not have all the answers, and being honest about that can go a long way.
The Parents Television Council (PTC) released a new report today entitled Women in Peril: A Look at TV’s Disturbing New Storyline Trend. The report argues that “by depicting violence against women with increasing frequency, or as a trivial, even humorous matter, the broadcast networks may ultimately be contributing to a desensitized atmosphere in which people view aggression and violence directed at women as normative, even acceptable,” said PTC President Tim Winter. As evidence the report cites… Nicole Kidman. OK, it cites more than Nicole Kidman, but the 7-page report and accompanying press release does seem to place a lot of stock in the fact that, while being questioning by a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing about violence against women overseas, “Ms. Kidman conceded that Hollywood has probably contributed to violence against women by portraying them as weak sex objects, according to the Associated Press.” I’m not sure what Ms. Kidman was doing testifying before Congress on the matter of violence against women overseas — dare I suggest some congressmen were out for another photo-op with a Hollywood celeb? — but the better question is whether Ms. Kidman’s opinion has any bearing on the question of what relationship, if any, there is between televised violence and real-world violence against women. (Incidentally, if she really feels passionately about all this, is she prepared to go back and recut some of her old scenes in “Dead Calm,” “To Die For,” and “Eyes Wide Shut“?)
But let’s not nitpick about the credentials Ms. Kidman brings to the table or whether it makes any sense for PTC to elevate her opinions to proof of theory when it comes to a supposed connection between depictions of violence against women in film or television and real world acts of violence against women. PTC, however, suggests that’s exactly what is going on today. They allude to a few lab studies which are of the “monkey see, monkey do” variety — where the results of artificial lab experiments are used to claim that watching depictions of violence will turn us all into killing machines, rapists, robbers, or just plain ol’ desensitized thugs.
There’s just one problem with such studies, and the PTC report: Reality. Continue reading →
I have always regarded standard-setting organizations as serious players who take care to keep slightly boring the work of establishing uniformity in products and protocols. But a press release from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) may cause me to reassess.
[T]he Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA) and the REAL ID Act of 2005 require verification of identity prior to the issuance of birth certificates and driver’s licenses / ID cards, respectively. However, the IRTPA regulations have not yet been released even in draft form and the REAL ID regulations do not provide practical guidance on how to corroborate a claim of identity under different circumstances.
Folks, REAL ID repealed the identity security provisions in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. (It’s a good bet that regulations for a repealed law aren’t going to move out of draft form for a very long time, eh?) And REAL ID does not require verification of identity prior to issuance of birth certificates. What could that even mean?! “Hey you—little baby—let me see some ID before I issue you your birth certificate.”
The release repeats the tired mantra that 9/11 terrorists got U.S. identity documents—“some by fraud.” The 9/11 Commission dedicated three-quarters of a page to its identity recommendations—out of 400 substantive pages—and neither the commission nor anyone since has shown how denying people U.S. identity documents would prevent terrorism.
Are there needs for identity standards? Of course. And there are a lot of projects in a lot of places working on that. If an organization doesn’t know the law, and doesn’t know how the subject matter it’s dealing with functions in society, I don’t know how it could possibly be relied on to set appropriate standards.
ANSI should take a look at this subgroup and see if its work is actually competent. Judging by this press release, it’s not.
I was stunned last week when I saw many prominent tech VCs and CEOs from Silicon Valley sign letters endorsing the FCC’s move towards Net Neutrality, since, if the rule making goes ahead, it will mean regulating the Internet. I happen to know a bunch of these folks, so I decided to call them to see if they really were endorsing regulations for the Net or if something else was going on. Something else was going on. Because the term “Net neutrality” is notoriously difficult to define, and is often put in terms of “free and open,” some people signed the letters without realizing it could lead to new regulations for the Information superhighway (these are busy people who spend more time running their companies than following the ins and outs of the FCC). That said, unsurprisingly, there was a lot of suspicion regarding the phone and cable companies. After many conversations, here is a potential solution that could put an end to Net neutrality games and ensure a bright future for the Net.
The upshot for those of you who don’t want to follow the link:
“If the tech industry and the major ISPs want to avoid government regulation and keep the Internet thriving, they need to come up with a way to solve the disclosure problem on their own in the marketplace.
Verizon has already started taking steps toward a more constructive stance by co-signing a letter with Google supporting an open Internet. Now it is time for all companies involved to take it to the next level. If that happens, U.S. innovators will be much safer from the claims of militant rent-seeking activists and regulators who want to get their hands on the Net.
The creation of TRUSTe helped the tech industry mobilize and avoid heavy-handed privacy regulations like those that befell Europe. Now it is time for ISPs to support an independent, private body to monitor neutrality issues. Such a move would deflate the pro-regulation lobby and allay the concerns of the industry that is driving U.S. growth.”
It’s a quiet, rainy evening at home for me tonight, and I chanced to watch a segment from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart dealing with ‘net neutrality regulation.
The segment’s title, typical of the show’s tenor these days, was, Duh, It’s So Obvious That the Administration is Right Again. Anyone Who Doesn’t Think So Is Just So Dumb. I Can’t Even Believe It.
Watching it, I noticed that a clip they used to show “krazy konservative TV people being obviously stupid” was the beginning of a segment I appeared in on Fox! See it, the first of the two clips, here. (“Well, Senator John McCain wants the government to keep its hands off the Innnterrnet.”)
But did they find some blundering overreach in my commentary? Somewhere in which I went a step too far, opening a flank to comedic ruin? No. The Daily Show people, having reviewed my segment, turned to mocking Phil Kerpen from Americans for Prosperity instead.
The obvious conclusion? What I said was too sensible to be lampooned—a tacit admission by Daily Show producers that I was right. Net neutrality regulation really is a transfer of power from consumers to Washington bureaucrats. Jon Stewart practically says so. Watch me again, getting it right, as confirmed by Jon Stewart.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology. Learn more about TLF →
My colleague 
What to do about the influences of media and advertising on children? Generally, the saying goes that where you stand depends on where you sit–but that was not apparent at today’s event on children and media.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.