The Indian government on Wednesday signaled Dell Inc. could relocate its product production out of China to a "safer environment" -- but the U.S.-based computer company explicitly denied those reports on Thursday.

“There was no discussion concerning any change in how or from where Dell will source component parts for the computers it manufactures in Asia,” a Dell spokesperson told Business Week.

The conflicting comments stem from a release posted on an official Indian website following a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Dell executives.

Singh allegedly said in a March 23 speech that Dell would prefer to relocate its $25 billion equipment procurement business from China to an "environment with climate conducive to enterprise with security of legal system."

But Dell disputed the prime minister's remarks in an e-mail to Business Week on Thursday. Indian officials later declined to comment on the exchange, and a copy of the prime minister's speech once posted on India's Press Information Bureau website was promptly taken down.

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Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) unveiled their bipartisan Transparency Caucus on Thursday, promising to "promote legislation that requires federal information to be freely accessible."

The new House bloc, which the House Administration approved in early March, will focus on monitoring and enforcing open government practices and policies, the congressmen explained. The primary goal is to ensure "taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly and lawmakers are operating honestly and effectively," Quigley said in a statement.

Issa added the new caucus plans to sponsor a number of bills and efforts in the coming months to produce "real changes to the way our government does business.”

"Sunlight is indeed the best disinfectant," Issa said.

Issa and Quigley on Thursday also dispatched a "Dear Colleague" letter to other House members, asking for their partnership on a cause they described as one that "transcends partisanship."

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The FTC is seeking comment on whether a decade-old online privacy protection law should be updated to include new forms of digital marketing, such as wireless communications, social networks and interactive TV or gaming.

The FTC’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) went into effect in 2000 and requires Web site operators or online service providers aimed at children under 13 years of age to get parental permission before collecting or using personal information from children.

The rule is reviewed every five years; it went unchanged in 2005. But the FTC now believes that changes to the online environment since then, including children’s increasing use of mobile technology to access to the Internet, warrant reexamination of the law.

A few of the questions posed by the FTC: Should online operators be able to contact specific individuals using information collected from children online? Should parents have the right to review or delete personal information collected from their children? Can mobile geo-location data be collected from children?

“The law hasn’t looked at social media marketing or mobile and it hasn’t really addressed the role of cookies or IP addresses in marketing to kids,” said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy advocate. “This really sets the state for a new online battle for marketers and privacy advocates for what the rules should be for protecting kids online.”

Also on the privacy front, consumer groups, including CDD, are getting their first briefing Thursday from Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) about a discussion draft of his long-awaited online privacy bill. Chester says privacy advocates are concerned Boucher’s bill, written with Reps. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), does not go far enough to protect consumers online.

TECHNOLOGY BLOG ROUND-UP:
Microsoft sees billion users for phone, web programs--Dina Bass, Bloomberg
Sprint, Clearwire CEOs ponder LTE for future--Marguerite Reardon, CNET
Google official calls for action on web restrictions--Javier Hernandez, New York Times
Feds to rely on technology to make health reform law a reality--Bob Brewin, Nextgov.com
Frenchman hacks Obama's Twitter account--Reuters
Complete ACTA text finally leaked--Nate Anderson, Ars Technica
Revised cybersecurity act reshapes compliance, education--Alexander Howard, SearchCompliance.com

OTHER NEWS FROM THE HILL:
House panel approves smart-grid security bill-- The Hill
Rep. Smith on Microsoft: Search censorship 'enabling tyranny' in China --The Hill
Top Verizon lobbyist tells Congress to assert its authority over FCC --The Hill
World's top domain name service to stop offering Web addresses in China --The Hill

Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) is urging her congressional colleagues to establish a new "Office for Cyberspace" to address the federal government's information security lapses.

The proposed office would serve as the principal hub for "coordinating issues relating to achieving an assured, reliable, secure, and survivable information infrastructure and related capabilities for the Federal Government," according to the bill Watson introduced on Monday.

A Senate-confirmed director would lead that office, which itself would be supported by a Federal Cybersecurity Practice Board, the bill specifies.

Comprising that panel would be members of the Office of Management and Budget, Defense Department and other civilian and law enforcement agencies, according to Watson's legislation, which has since been referred to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for further consideration.

However, Watson's bill is one of many recent congressional efforts to bolster federal IT security in the wake of a series of high-profile cyberattacks earlier this year.

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A bill aiming to protect the nation’s electricity grid from cyber attacks easily passed a House subcommittee today and now heads to the full Energy and Commerce Committee.

The Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense (GRID) Act, co-authored by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) to take measures to protect the electricity grid from telecommunications intrusions. The threat of cyber attacks is getting more attention now that the grid is becoming Internet-enabled.

“Right now, our electrical grid is vulnerable to threats from terrorists and hostile countries,” Markey said. “Our adversaries have motive, intent and the capacity to exploit these weaknesses.”

An attack on the grid could affect every other critical infrastructure systems, he said, such as water, healthcare, transportation, law enforcement and financial services.

The FCC envisions a Web-enabled power grid that lets consumers control their energy consumption remotely and promotes new clean energy tools. And the stimulus law of February 2009 included $4.5 billion to modernize the electric grid, including smart meter projects.

But privacy and security groups are already raising concerns that such systems could pose risks for consumers.

Last week the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San-Francisco based privacy advocate, and DC-based Center for Democracy & Technology, petitioned the California Public Utilities Commission to adopt rules to protect the privacy and security of consumers’ energy-usage information.

Smart meters being installed in California will collect 750 to 3,000 data points a month per household. Such detailed energy usage data could indicate whether someone is at home or out of town, entertaining guests or using particular appliances. Tracking particular patterns in energy consumption could leave consumers vulnerable to burglary or scams.

“The Smart Grid offers great promise for fighting climate change and improving energy policy, but it can also amass vast amounts of data that reveals intimate details of consumers’ lives,” said Jennifer Lynch, an attorney with the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley.

Congress needs to take the lead in modernizing broadband laws, Verizon’s top lobbyist said today in a speech.

Tom Tauke, Verizon’s Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, Policy and Communications, said it’s Congress’s job to clear up the controversy over whether the Federal Communications Commission has the authority to impose new regulations on the Internet.  (Find his full remarks here.)

“We ought to have a rule of law for the Internet space,” he said. “Now our question is, what is that rule of law, who has the authority to enforce that rule of law, and what is the process to be used to come up with it.”

He continued, “What I do think is needed is for Congress to address the issue. Now is the time— they can’t keep putting it off.  It’s important for consumers and for companies to believe they can get a quick answer if a question arises.”

The FCC is waiting on a court decision that will determine whether or not it had the authority to order Comcast to stop throttling Internet traffic to a file-sharing Web site in 2008.

If the court rules that the FCC does not have jurisdiction to impose so-called net neutrality regulations under the current classification of broadband, the FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has indicated he will consider reclassifying broadband as a communications service, allowing the agency to assert more authority over it.

Tauke rejected that move. “If they did that, I will assure you it will end up back in court,” he said. “There is an entity that is supposed to address these questions. It’s the Congress. It should change the statute in order to reflect a changing world.” Read more...

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) is calling on Microsoft to follow Google's lead and cease "enabling tyranny" in China by censoring content on its Bing search engine.

"They need to get with the program and join the side of human rights," Smith, the ranking member on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said of Microsoft during a hearing Wednesday.

The congressman later praised Google for its decision this week to stop censoring content on Google.cn, even though that significant policy shift has forced the search company to begin phasing out its Chinese search business altogether.

Nevertheless, Microsoft is hardly the only company that censors content in China, pursuant to the state's strict Web restriction rules: Any Internet firm that does business in the state -- from the local-grown Baidu search engine to Google, until just this week -- must adhere to Beijing's guidelines, or risk losing access to the state's vast Internet economy.

Google too adhered to those rules until earlier this year, when company executives discovered a vast cyberattack targeting their Gmail server in January actually orginated in China. The two sides initilly tried to negotiate an amicable resolution to that standoff, but Google nonetheless followed through with its threat to cease censoring search results.

So far, only one Web company has followed suit: GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain-name provider, which announced Wednesday it would no longer service new domain names in China.

Still, it remains whether other tech giants -- including Google's search rival, Microsoft -- will respond similarly.

Media Access Project announced that former FCC Commissioner Tyrone Brown will become its new president starting April 1.

Brown will succeed Andrew Jay Schwartzman, who has served as the public interest group's president for three decades. Schwartzman will continue to serve as Senior Vice President and Policy Director for MAP.

Schwartzman has been a well-known member of the public interest community in Washington, most recently testifying before several congressional committees in opposition of the proposed mega-merger of Comcast and NBC Universal.

Brown served on the FCC during the Carter Administration and has also worked at prominent DC law firms including Wiley Rein and Steptoe & Johnson. He also participated in several telecom and media start-ups, including co-founding DC's first cable TV system.

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