Good morning tech: Barton alleges Google's 'Wi-Spy' breach was intentional

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Barton: Google's 'Wi-Spy' breach was a 'conscious effort'

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee,  accused Google on Friday of making a "conscious effort" to collect private user information from Wi-Fi networks.

Google admitted last month that it had collected and stored users' private data, including passwords and entire e-mails, from Wi-Fi networks. But the company has repeatedly said the breach was an accident and that Google employees did not realize what was going on. 

In an interview Friday with the C-SPAN program "The Communicators," Barton suggested Google's privacy breach was no mistake.

"In that case, there appears to have been a conscious effort to collect information. Google said it was inadvertent, but it wasn't just kind of accidentally gathered, and so I do think that's something to look at," he said. Read more in The Hill: http://bit.ly/9wTvEi.

Europe to examine net neutrality this week

Europe will consider whether net-neutrality rules are necessary in a daylong meeting held by the European Commission and parliament this week, The New York Times reports.

The article says Europe is on track to give mobile operators a "a relatively free hand" in managing network traffic. It cites a Sept. 30 report by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, the European Union’s telecommunications advisory group, that said new rules aren't necessary.

The article notes that Google chief executive Eric Schmidt met Sept. 9 with executives from wireless companies in Europe in Paris. They wanted to know if Google would help pay for the traffic it creates on their networks.

“He was extremely complimentary to the operators who were there, but basically he ducked the question,” said one executive who attended the event. “The message seemed to be: You build the networks, and we’ll make the profit.” http://nyti.ms/8XkiCl

Monster.com working with the White House on jobs messaging

The job-search website Monster.com announced last week it will work with the White House on a new messaging effort related to unemployment. From the e-mail sent around by Monster's public relations team:

"Beginning Monday, November 8 through Sunday, November 14, questions and comments posted on Monster’s Facebook page that spark the most engaging conversation or are “liked” the most will be delivered to the White House for response. The White House will video tape responses and post them online. The White House is going to announce this on their website on Monday."

Sal Iannuzzi, the chief executive of Monster.com, participated in a jobs forum held by the White House last year.

Susan Crawford sees hints of Comcast in Olbermann suspension

Crawford, a former special assistant to President Obama for technology policy, said Comcast might have played a part in MSNBC's decision to suspend anchor Keith Olbermann last week. Comcast is in the midst of a merger with NBC Universal, the owner of MSNBC.

Crawford has previously raised concern that the merger might give Comcast the ability to tamper with MSNBC, which has a left-leaning reputation, in order to maintain a positive business relationship with Fox, which has a right-leaning reputation. Read more in The Hill: http://bit.ly/9WHk97

Locke to lead hi-tech trade mission to India

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced Saturday he will lead a high-tech trade mission to India in February in hopes of promoting exports from top U.S. technology firms.

President Obama has emphasized India as a market for U.S. exports during his trip as part of his National Export Initiative, which aims to double the nation's exports by 2015. Locke's trade mission will highlight export opportunities in India for U.S. firms in advanced industrial sectors such as defense, security, aviation, communications and civilian nuclear technology. Read more in The Hill: http://bit.ly/anfGH9

Hill notes

Eshoo endorses Pelosi as minority leader. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) has thrown her weight behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) to remain the House Democratic Leader, framing her support as an endorsement from Silicon Valley.

"Nancy Pelosi enjoys the utmost regard of all the Valley’s leaders across the high-technology, biotechnology, telecommunications, scientific and venture capital sectors," Eshoo said in a statement Friday. http://bit.ly/dkANJJ

Issa promises investigations in next Congress. The ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee promised Sunday he would launch a number of investigations as chairman in the next Congress, but that he would do so in a "less partisan way." "The most important thing my committee can do is seek the truth," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said on "Fox News Sunday." Issa has previously scrutinized Google's ties to the Obama administration. http://bit.ly/b4qHGI

Industry notes

Google limits Facebook access to Gmail contacts. "Google is launching a salvo against Facebook, saying it will no longer allow the social network to grab information about Google users' social and professional contacts in Gmail, Google's email service," The Wall Street Journal reports. http://on.wsj.com/akkODI

Google, Facebook, Free Press coalition aligns with cable industry on net neutrality. The coalition representing Google, Facebook, Skype and other Internet companies, as well as consumer groups such as Free Press and Public Knowledge, aligned itself with the cable industry in comments filed Thursday in the Federal Communications Commission's net-neutrality proceeding. The strange bedfellows have an overlapping interest in getting the FCC to apply net-neutrality rules to wireless networks. http://bit.ly/cKtOU3

Watercooler. "Queen Elizabeth II is now on Facebook — but she's not going to be your friend," the AP reports. "Britain's queen has launched a series of official pages offering the website's 500 million users daily updates on her engagements, the royal household said Sunday." http://bit.ly/bHGngE