AT&T's senior vice president for public policy and chief privacy
officer Dorothy Attwood is planning to leave her position, the company
announced Tuesday. She is heading to the Walt Disney Company.
Robert
Quinn and Len Cali will take on new responsibilities after her
departure. Privacy issues go to Quinn, senior vice president for federal
regulatory, who will add the title of chief privacy officer. Cali,
senior vice president for wireless and international external affairs,
will add global public policy responsibilities.
Hewlett-Packard is suing former chief executive Mark Hurd for taking a job as co-president and board member of HP rival and software giant Oracle.
HP announced the lawsuit Tuesday, one day after Oracle chief executive and co-founder Larry Ellison announced Hurd's hiring as co-president. Hurd resigned from HP earlier this month after an internal sexual harassment probe found he had violated the firm's standards of business conduct in relation to former actress and HP contractor Jodie Fisher.
“Mark Hurd agreed to and signed agreements designed to protect HP's trade secrets and confidential information. HP intends to enforce those agreements,” the company said in a statement.
Media Access Project (MAP) Vice President Parul Desai is leaving to join
Consumers Union as policy counsel for media, telecom and technology
policy.
The nonprofit consumer advocate publishes Consumer
Reports and has advocated for decades for increased competition in the telecom
industry on behalf of consumers. It also advocates on a host
of other consumer issues, including product safety and financial reform.
Desai
will serve as Consumers Union's lead advocate for issues such as
broadband Internet access, net neutrality and media ownership. She will
also work on behalf of consumers on "pocketbook issues" such as
opposing the early-termination fees imposed by wireless companies.
Mark Papermaster, Apple's senior vice president of iPhone and iPod hardware engineering, is leaving the company, Apple spokesman Steve Dowling told reporters Saturday evening.
Papermaster's responsibilities include overseeing hardware for the iPhone. Apple made headlines when problems emerged with the antenna surrounding the iPhone 4 that caused dropped calls. CEO Steve Jobs announced last month that Apple will gives users free cases to address the problem.
Dowling would not elaborate on whether Papermaster left the company voluntarily or was fired.
Bob Mansfield, Apple's senior vice president of Macintosh hardware engineering, will take over Papermaster's duties.
Mansfield oversees components for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd is resigning after a probe of a sexual harassment claim filed against him by an HP contractor. Chief financial officer Cathie Lesjak will serve as interim CEO until a permanent successor is found.
A legal investigation of the contractor's claim concluded Hurd hadn't violated the company's sexual harassment policy, but did breach the its standards of business conduct. HP shares fell almost 10 percent after the announcement.
“As the investigation progressed, I realized there were instances in which I did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP and which have guided me throughout my career," Hurd said in a statement. "After a number of discussions with members of the board, I will move aside and the board will search for new leadership."
Zac Katz has been appointed legal adviser to Federal Communications
Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, the agency announced on Friday. The
previous legal adviser, Priya Aiyar, is moving on to become deputy chief counsel
to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore
Oil Drilling.
Katz previously served as deputy chief of the FCC’s Office
of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis. He has been one of the FCC officials
in the room as it negotiates with industry stakeholders on a possible net
neutrality deal. Katz joined the FCC from the White House Counsel’s Office.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has tapped John Flynn, executive vice president of ICO Global Communications, to lead the agency's review of the proposed NBC-Comcast mega-merger.
Flynn's current work in the private sphere primarily concerns wireless networks, which may give cable and broadcast experts initial pause. But he is also credited with bringing his company public, securing it a series of spectrum licenses and winning a major court battle in 2008 — "broad experience," described Chairman Julius Genachowski on Wednesday, "that will help ensure that the commission's review is thorough, fair and efficient."
The FCC sent signals as early as last month that it would hire an outsider to coordinate the Philadelphia-based cable company's bid for NBC Universal, in part because the deal spans a wide range of areas — from cable Internet to broadcasting — that touch many of the agency's bureaus.
While details at the time were scant, an industry source close to the the process told Hillicon Valley that the new hire would ultimately free agency resources to work closely on Genachowski's broadband goals.
Outside help was thought of as one way to keep the commission on track to meet the targets outlined in the National Broadband Plan, the source added. That shift would at the same time ensure the Comcast-NBC review could stay on its 180-day time track, perhaps in time for completion in the fall.
Rep. Rick Boucher's recent draft legislation aimed at protecting the public's privacy online may have landed with a thud but at least one influential group thinks Boucher's efforts must be taken seriously: the Online Publishers Association, which boasts over 60 online content companies including Bloomberg, BBC.com and The Huffington Post. OPA President Pam Horan said Tuesday her organization has spent the last three years closely tracking online privacy issues and is extremely interested in Boucher's efforts to limit web companies' use of the personal information and online behavior of their users.
Horan's team is still analyzing Boucher's draft legislation in order to provide feedback on potential consequences, intentional or not. While OPA would ideally prefer that online content providers be allowed to self-regulate, she was confident that the established relationships between the public and member companies like National Public Radio and ESPN.com would enable them to be treated differently than third-party content providers like search engines or social networks.
"Everyone is recognizing they need to be responsive," Horan said, adding that the Federal Trade Commission began a dialogue online privacy last year, making the Boucher bill a natural outgrowth of that effort. "Everyone needs to take this seriously."
Horan said as the original creators of content, online publishers believe they should be allowed to use data on visitors to tailor their user experiences. However, she said her organization believes that authority should only extend to information collected on the publisher's site and should not be shared with other web sites or advertising networks.
"Third parties like advertisers and search engines have a different relationship with consumers," Horan said. "Publishers are in the best position [to navigate the change]. We have
an ongoing dialogue with the public, we can tell them how we use their
information."
For its part the OPA has stepped up its lobbying presence inside the Beltway in recent years, opening a D.C. office two years ago and staffing it with Vice President for Government Affairs Michael Drobac. Drobac said he spends the majority of his time helping member companies understand and stay abreast of the latest issues, but he also spends a good amount of time educating Hill staff and lawmakers on the nuances of technology policy. Overall the organization has a staff of eight and now boasts almost 100 members, all of which have a vested interest in the publishing of original content online.
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Senior Counselor Colin Crowell will depart the FCC next month to "to explore other professional opportunities," the commission announced Monday.
It is not immediately clear who will replace Crowell, who served as a liaison between the FCC, other federal agencies and congressional lawmakers.
“It has been a true privilege to work with such a talented FCC team, committed to advancing Chairman [Julius] Genachowski’s pro-innovation agenda,” Crowell said. “Chairman Genachowski has been a great friend and the decision to leave was not an easy one. Yet after twenty two years in public service, it’s time for me to explore other professional opportunities.”
Crowell joined the FCC in 2009, after twenty years of telecommunications and broadband work on Capitol Hill. As a top staffer for Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House telecommunications subcommittee, he helped draft legislation spanning from the 1996 Telecommunications Act to the broadband provisions of the 2009 federal stimulus.
His work has made him "indispensable to every key decision we've made," Genachowski said on Tuesday, adding his help on the National Broadband Plan has been "invaluable."
“He will be missed but I am sure he will continue to contribute his insights into the intersection of innovation and public policy in the next stage of his career,” the chairman said.
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