Interviews/Profiles

The Center for Democracy and Technology, a group that has been a very vocal proponent of federal privacy standards, today launched a "Take Back Your Privacy" campaign to encourage consumers to demand better privacy tools from Internet companies and to push Congress to enact comprehensive privacy legislation.

Leslie Harris, president and CEO of CDT, announced the campaign this morning. I caught up with her to get the details.

What are you hoping to achieve with the campaign?
We want to mobilize Internet users to become more active advocates...and to try to organize more people to demand that Congress enact privacy legislation. We need better and more user-friendly privacy controls from Internet companies, application developers and device manufacturers.

We remain one of the few countries in the developed world that doesn't have some sort of baseline privacy standards...(which is troubling) when more and more personal information is being collected and shared.

What should privacy legislation entail?
It should set a baseline of good, fair information practices. And enforcement. And some private rights of action for consumers and state (attorneys general) to become involved in privacy protection. Both are necessary.

What we envision are transparent, easy-to-find, easy-to-use tools that let people make more decisions about whether information is shared, how is it is shared, under what circumstance, and how you can erase it.

It seems to me that if there is an environment that is driven by innovation, privacy should be a part of the regular product development cycle. We are looking for a much more robust set of privacy-enhancing tools.

We’re looking forward to Internet companies, cellphone companies, Web browsers, to step up. But we're also looking for an environment where independent developers are collaborating on independent tools.

We’d like to see a law that covers online and offline and applies to everybody that collects information about people.

A privacy bill has not yet been circulated on Capitol Hill. How have you been engaged in that process? Read more...

During a quick stop before traveling to Copenhagen, Energy and Climate Change Czar Carol Browner said that, while international climate agreements are important, domestic climate change legislation is the most crucial to jumpstart greater investment in clean technologies.

"We need to give the private sector rules of the road and standards so we can start to see investments," she said. "It's through comprehensive reform that we will send the right signals to investors."

Companies need to know how new regulations will dictate energy consumption and specific carbon reduction goals to manage their businesses going forward. And entrepreneurs looking to launch new innovations to help reach climate change goals need that information as well, she said.

About $80 billion in stimulus funding was set aside for different aspects of green and renewable energy technologies. All those programs, Browner said, have been oversubscribed.

"It shows the private sector is willing to make investments, but with the economic conditions and tight capital markets, we need to create an environment where there is a guaranteed return on those investments," she said. "We haven't quite gotten there yet."

When asked about the cost of climate change legislation, she pointed to the Congressional Budget Office's estimates for the Waxman-Markey bill, which estimates it would cost an average family of four $175 a year.

"They don't look at the alternative cost of inaction," she said. "Think of the cost of having salt water intrusion on water supplies, more hurricanes, changes in agriculture."

Browner, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, spoke at the Innovation Economy Conference in Washington today before heading overseas.

Meredith Attwell Baker, the newest Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, spends most of her time thinking about the Internet--debating questions about whether it should be regulated, how it should be expanded and where the FCC can find the necessary airwaves to do so.

Internet companies, public interest groups and telecom carriers have heavily lobbied Baker during her short tenure at the FCC on the network neutrality rules now under consideration by the agency. The rules would require broadband service providers to treat all Internet traffic equally.
 
Baker, along with fellow Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell, voted to move the rule-making process forward, but made clear she is worried about the unintended consequences of any regulation.
 
“I’m not convinced we have a problem we need to address,” Baker said in an interview with me during a taping of C-SPAN’s Communicators. She also said there is “still a question of jurisdiction” in whether the FCC can legally impose such rules.
 
Baker has taken a keen interest in the spectrum shortage the FCC faces. As the former acting administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, an agency within the Commerce Department that oversees the airwaves licensed to federal agencies, Baker thinks the government and companies need to use their spectrum resources more efficiently.
 
Broadcasters may be the source of some of the spectrum necessary to build wireless networks fast enough to provide broadband service, she said. The FCC is also moving forward to make empty broadcast airwaves known as “white spaces” available for unlicensed use, a proposal broadcasters have vehemently opposed.
 
“I don’t expect we’d take all the broadcasters’ spectrum, but I suspect that there might be some in there that might be more efficiently used in a commercial wireless sense,” she said. “All ideas should be on the table.”
 
She hopes the national broadband plan, due to Congress in February, will pay special attention to barriers that have prevented Americans from adopting broadband, such as high service prices and lack of relevant content.
 
“In the deployment area, we’ve actually done a good job,” she said. “Where I think we are finding we are lagging is in the adoption area. The FCC itself can do a much better education part in helping Americans realize what the value is of broadband.”

Here is a longer excerpt from our discussion on C-SPAN:

I had the opportunity to sit down with Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, ahead of today's hearing that will examine how consumer information is collected online--and offline--and how that data is used by companies.

But privacy isn't the only issue Rush has on his mind. His passion lies in protecting low-income citizens from scams and other harmful situations. He is also interested in boosting the nation's tourism and opening up new trade areas, such as green technology.

Here is an excerpt from my conversation with him:

What can we expect from today's hearing?
We're in the information gathering phase. At the end of the day, I see the end result I want and I am cautiously working my way back from that as far as I can go. When all is said and done, I want people to feel comfortable about their data, careful about their data, conscientious about their data. I want people to feel confident that their data is being well protected and that they have some control over how their data is used.

I know the problems in a broad sense. I want to find some kernels of truth to help us work out a bill... (But) we're going to hold our fire until we get some other issues behind us.

You are working with Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) on a privacy bill. Do you have any idea when a draft may be circulated?
We're not going to do anything this year. I'm hopeful that early next year will be the right time. But I doubt it will happen between now and the end of the year.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) held a hearing this week on misleading marketing practices taking place on e-commerce Web sites. Are you interested in investigating this?
It's probably something we will take a look at. We'll get an update on that and see what we can do.

What are your other priorities for the subcommittee?
In the sports arena, I'm interested in performance-enhancing drugs and how it affects college and high school athletes. I'm also looking at whether Title 9 needs to be updated for women's sports.

The Minority Business Development Agency, which is in the Commerce Department, hasn't been updated in 40 years. I want to take a look at that. There could be ways to give it more authority to create jobs.

Stimulating tourism is important. We have to make sure America has products that invite interests. People have been turned off America for too long. We've got to market America

I want to have more of an effect on consumer protection as it relates to lower-middle class and poor consumers, who are unprotected to a large extent. 

You are considering amending the Toxic Substances Control Act to evaluate the safety of chemicals. Can you explain?
We know the effects of about 50 out of 84,000 chemicals that work their way into the goods we buy. We don't know what the long-term effect is, but we know they are detrimental. TSCA has got to bring our nation up to date so consumer protection is front and center. American people have to know there are no toxic materials in the plastic containers for drinking water, in the toys children play with, in the clothes we wear. Companies know about the toxic effects. But Congress and citizens do not.

The Administration has proposed forming a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. What are your thoughts?
If we have it our way, it will be a commission. We need to expand the FTC's jurisdiction . We're not going to regulate banks, but we want to make sure the FTC isn't hamstrung in its abilities to oversee that.

....

Last month, Rush held a hearing on the green economy. In his opening remarks, Rush said:

 "It is estimated that the green technology industry in the U.S. employs 9.1 million U.S. workers. However, only six American companies are among the top 30 world leading companies. As we embark on this inevitable phenomenon which I will call the "green crusade," the future of the U.S. economy will not only depend on a vibrant domestic policy but will also be driving by the global market....If our green technology exports continue to plummet, then the U.S. will miss out on a once-in-a-generation opportunity to become a global leader in the green energy sector."

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) joked with former law school buddy Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine last night as he introduced him as the recipient of the Northern Virginia Technology Council's Chairman's Award. Warner received the award himself in 2005. (Keep reading--you'll be rewarded with pictures!)

Warner was Kaine's predecessor as governor of the Commonwealth, and Kaine served as his lieutenant governor. Kaine said he knew Warner before he knew his wife. And when they were working together in Richmond, he saw Warner more than he saw his wife.

The annual "technology celebration" was held at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner. U.S. Army Chief of Staff General George Casey gave the keynote address. It was well-attended by federal officials with ties to Virginia and technology. Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Jim Moran (D-Va.) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.) were in attendance, as well as former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

"There are more federal officials, local officials and wannabe politicians in this room than tech people," Warner joked.

Kaine was honored for his work in making Virginia business-friendly and for elevating the role technology plays in the state's economy. But he said he knew the real reason he received the award: for "finding Aneesh Chopra and Vivek Kundra" and vaulting them to the White House.

Chopra served as Virginia's Secretary of Technology under Kaine, and Kundra was Kaine's Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Technology. Chopra is now federal Chief Technology Officer and Kundra is federal Chief Information Officer in the Obama administration.

"I'm not old enough to be their dad, but I have a paternal pride in seeing how well they're doing," Kaine said.

He then recounted the first conversation he had with each of them. When Chopra came onboard, he told Kaine, "Thank you for breaking the stereotype that Indian-Americans are not good at technology." (Joking, of course.) Kundra had a more serious question for the governor: "Is marriage a good thing?" Kaine's answer was apparently satisfactory; Kundra is happily married.

Bobbie Kilberg, president of NVTC, is politically connected herself. She's worked in the White House for three presidents (Nixon, Ford and George H. Bush) and is now the technology advisor on the transition team of Virginia Governor-elect Bob McDonnell.

Cross-posted on Washington Scene

There are 7 million Democrats in California. About 5 million of them will be on Facebook by the time the state elects a new attorney general one year from now.
 
That could be helpful for Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly, who is one of six candidates vying for the job.  His campaign Web site is painted with Facebook’s characteristic blue color and displays his status messages as he travels around California.
 
He’s on full-time leave from the company to fundraise and campaign ahead of the June primary, but he still had time to swing through Washington this week to speak at a privacy workshop at the Department of Commerce (he’s still a consultant for Facebook) and attend a fundraiser last night at Wilmer Hale law firm, thrown by several of Kelly’s old friends from the Clinton administration. On Friday, he’ll attend an event with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.
 
Kelly isn’t new to campaigning or the attorney general job. Kelly joined Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign and was later a policy advisor for the White House Domestic Policy Council. He then returned to Silicon Valley to practice law and joined Facebook in 2005, just as it was starting to take off on college campuses. While there, he worked with all 50 attorneys general to create new safety features for younger social network users.
 
He acknowledges his background at such a prominent company has made him more recognizable to voters as “the Facebook guy,” but said he isn’t trying to push the social networking aspect of his campaign too much, despite the platform’s success in a certain high-profile national election last year.
 
“Facebook is what I’m known for, so I might as well embrace it,” he said over coffee. “But I haven’t wanted to run a Facebook campaign. I haven’t wanted to goose it to drive high numbers,” referring to the number of his fans, of which there are currently 2,345.
 
“You have to appreciate that the cadence of a campaign is just as important online as it is off,” he said. “This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
 
He’s built up some strong relationships in Congress, having spent a lot of time on Capitol Hill over the past four years, testifying at privacy and security hearings and, in some cases, teaching members how to use social networks to reach their constituents. (During a House hearing last summer, I saw him spend a break showing a few staffers how to adjust the privacy settings on their Facebook profiles.)
 
His Silicon Valley upbringing, he said, gives him a unique perspective. “I’ve been used to a culture of innovation and high expectations,” he said. “As I’ve grown fond of saying, we need to stop judging politicians on a curve. They need to do what they were elected to do.”
 
Bill Clinton, who was attorney general of Arkansas before becoming governor, has been generous with advice. “He told me attorney general is probably the best job in politics,” because it is less beholden to the state legislature than other offices.
 
He hasn’t taken a complete break from privacy policy—he said he’s been active in conversations about potential legislation being drafted by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.). He thinks Web users are starting to better understand how social networks interact with consumer data and advertisers.
 
“There’s beginning to be an expectation for users to be more responsible online,” he said. “You can’t create a perfectly safe world. You can’t put a cop on every street corner. It’s not financially feasible and its not the type of place people want to live.”
 
Appropriately, he lists identity theft and Internet safety as two of his top platform issues. Here's a TechCrunch story and video interview from August.
 
Kelly isn’t the only technology executive running for office in California. Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard (before she was publicly fired when the merger she engineered with Compaq was not well received), formally announced yesterday that she will try to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Fiorina, a Republican, was chief economic advisor to Rep. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign.

Scott Wallsten is the economics director for the FCC's National Broadband Task Force. He's been studying technology policy and telecommunications regulations and competition for years, most recently as vice president for research at the Technology Policy Institute.

He's taken some controversial stances in the past, and in previous papers questioned data showing the U.S. is lagging in broadband penetration. He's been at the FCC since August, working with dozens of Internet and policy experts to develop a national broadband plan, which is due to Congress in February. Below are excerpts from my recent chat with him.

Q: There’s been a lot of talk about the disparities in access between low income and high income households and rural and urban households. Which do you think is most severe and are there ways to address it?

You can see that the people who are least likely to have broadband are the poorest people. The gap between lowest income and highest income is much bigger than the rural-urban gap. You can also see that poor people who live in rural areas are much less likely to have broadband than rich people in rural areas.

The plan has to look at both components. Some things that will work for build out are also the right things for adoption, given that there’s this big income gap. There are large numbers of poor people who have access to broadband, since something like 94 percent of the population has wired access. Most low-income people who don’t subscribe already have the infrastructure available to them. So the policies to get those people to subscribe are going to be much cheaper than expanding the network in the most costly areas.

Q: How can the data collection process be improved?

Cloud computing is the trendiest movement in IT these days, and we tried to give you a few different perspectives on the government's move "to the cloud" this week with op-eds from Aneesh Chopra, Vivek Kundra, Craig Newmark, and others.

In my column yesterday, I brought up the fact that the server crash at a Microsoft subsidiary caused the loss of data for thousands of T-Mobile customers. This morning I spoke with Chris Niehaus, lead product manager for Microsoft Federal. His main job is to talk with agencies and get them to adopt Microsoft's suite of cloud services. Teresa Carlson, Microsoft vice president of federal sales, was also part of the conversation.

Here's a few excerpts from our chat:

• What's the status of getting the government to adopt cloud computing?

Teresa: It's all about getting the government to adopt a cloud standard. We all understand why they’re concerned--privacy and security is a big deal. With government data, it’s scary moving to the cloud. It’s something totally new and a culture shift for them. But with this administration and their evangelism of cloud computing, it has really picked up speed and agencies are finally thinking they can save money by going that way.

Josh Silverman says his company helps drive the adoption of high-speed Internet access. But first, companies like his need to be free to create the services people will want to use.

Silverman is chief executive of Skype, the popular service that allows free or cheap international calls over the Internet, and telecommunications policymakers are going to be seeing more of him in the months to come.

Read more...

The new FCC chairman keeps a Kindle next to the dictionary he inherited from his predecessors.

Julius Genachowski has an Amazon Kindle in his office. The new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman keeps it next to the dictionary he inherited from his predecessors — one so dated it doesn’t include the words “Internet” or “broadband.”