Digital Discourse / Policy

SIIA Urges US Postal Service Board of Governors to Refrain from Exigent Rate Increase

September 19, 2013 By

In a letter yesterday, SIIA urged the US Postal Service’s Board of Governors to refrain from moving forward with an exigent rate increase on periodicals. SIIA sent the letter in response to signs that the board may increase the postal rate by 7-10% when it meets next on Sept. 24-25.

SIIA believes simply that there will not be any positive return from the filing of an exigent rate case. While there may be a short term increase in revenues, this action will force mailers in all classes of mail to take action to reduce their postage expenses.

Recently SIIA surveyed its members, to better understand how their mailing habits would be affected by postal rate increases. SIIA’s members publish more than 600 print periodical titles and mail about 800 million magazines and newsletters each year. SIIA and it’s newest division, ABM, represent about 15% of the Postal Service’s periodicals class.

The survey results support our overall position in opposition to an exigent increase. Two thirds of respondents said they would reduce mailed periodicals by an average of 11% if postal rates increased by 7.5%. If rates increased by 10%, nine out of 10 of our members say they would reduce mailed periodicals by about 13%. Even if rates increased by less than 7.5%, our members would still reduce their mailings. Since we mail in all classes of mail to support our periodicals, mail volume in other classes of mail would be reduced as well.

SIIA has found that in the long run, an exigent rate increase will reduce, if not eliminate, any increase in revenues. It is very likely that the lost mail volume will never return.

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG. Sign up for the Public Sector Innovation Roundup email newsletter for weekly updates.

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Filed Under: Policy

Intellectual Property Roundup: The Latest IP Policy & Enforcement News

September 18, 2013 By

Enforcement News

Kim Dotcom’s Mega-Lawsuit Could Make Him a Multi-Millionaire Again (Wired)
MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom filed a seven-figure lawsuit against the New Zealand government over the 2012 raid on his mansion, and the electronic spying that preceded it.

Aereo Claims DC Injunction Doesn’t Affect It (GigaOM)
Broadcasters and upstart streaming TV service Aereo are skirmishing in Boston over whether an injunction issued in DC against another streaming service should affect Aereo. Aereo claims the two companies’ technology are not the same, and that the DC ruling misunderstands copyright law.

Fashion Designers Look to Patents to Fight Knockoffs (Reuters)
Because U.S. copyright and trademark laws often do not apply to new, logo-free designs, fashion designers are applying for design patents — patents that protect the way something looks — to protect clothing and other accessories from being targets for knock-offs.

MPAA Report Says Google, Other Search Engines a Major Gateway to Piracy (Los Angeles Times)
A study released by the Motion Picture Association of America alleges that search engines are making it too easy for consumers to find pirated content online, even when they’re not looking for it. The MPAA says it found no evidence that the change Google made to its algorithm last year to take into account the number of copyright takedown notices a site has received affected search-referred traffic to illegal sites.

IP Policy News

Senate Judiciary Chairman Crafting Bill to Combat ‘Patent Trolls’ (The Hill)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy plans to introduce legislation in the coming weeks to limit frivolous patent lawsuits.

Expanded Anti-Piracy Bill Hits Russian Parliament (RIA Novosti)
A new bill allowing for websites to be blocked if they contain any copyright-infringing content was introduced in the Russian parliament, expanding an earlier law against film piracy that was met with considerable public outcry.

Keith Kupferschmid is General Counsel and SVP, Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement at SIIA. Follow Keith on Twitter at @keithkup and sign up for the Intellectual Property Roundup weekly newsletter here.

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Policy, Policy - Intellectual Property Tagged With: , ,

Do Not Track is on Track at W3C

September 18, 2013 By

The W3C Tracking Protection Working Group announced today that it would appoint Carl Cargill, from Adobe, and Justin Brookman, from the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), to join Intel’s Matthias Schunter as co-chairs of the group’s effort to forge a multi-stakeholder consensus on creating a standard to address Tracking Protection.  The group’s standard setting activity will continue, despite the withdrawal of the Digital Advertising Alliance earlier this week, under the leadership of these three well-qualified experts.

SIIA welcomes this development.  Internet users, the industry, and policymakers here and around the world are looking for a workable standard to address Tracking Protection that can be easily and effectively implemented.  All parties share the goal of creating an effective framework to enable users to express their tracking preferences in a transparent and meaningful fashion with the understanding that these preferences will be respected by the relevant Internet participants. The continuation of this W3C process and the momentum created by the naming of additional co-chairs provide the opportunity to adopt a workable standard that is broadly acceptable to all stakeholders.

Mark MacCarthy, Vice President, Public Policy at SIIA, directs SIIA’s public policy initiatives in the areas of intellectual property enforcement, information privacy, cybersecurity, cloud computing and the promotion of educational technology. Follow Mark on Twitter at @Mark_MacCarthy

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Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Privacy Tagged With: ,

SIIA Digital Policy Roundup: “Do Not Track” discussions stalled, FTC announces workshop on native advertising, SIIA Comments to FTC on E-Rate, Postal Exigency Rate Still Possible

September 18, 2013 By

“Do Not Track” Discussions Stalled, Ability to Reach Consensus Questioned
As the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and other stakeholders assess the status of discussions surrounding a browser-based “do not track” solution, the process suffered a significant setback on Tuesday when the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) announced that it is withdrawing from future participation in the W3C Tracking Protection Working Group (TPWG). In a letter to W3C CEO Jeff Jaffe, the DAA announced it will convene its own process and forum for evaluating how browser-based signals can be used meaningfully to address consumer privacy. The process reportedly will include browsers manufacturers, consumer groups, advertisers, marketers, agencies and technologists and will be a more practical use of our resources than to continue to participate at the W3C.”In response, past TPWG Chair Peter Swire expressed his agreement that the Working Group does not have a path to consensus that includes large blocs of stakeholders with views as divergent as this group. Regardless of these developments, the W3C is poised to continue the discussions, expected to make an announcement about next steps today. If broad consensus is not reached soon between the divergent stakeholders, it’s likely that members of Congress and the FTC will resume the push for a regulatory approach.

FTC Announces Workshop on Native Advertising
On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it will host a workshop on December 4, 2013, to examine the practice of blending advertisements with news, entertainment, and other content in digital media, referred to as “native advertising” or “sponsored content.” In the announcement, the FTC noted that “increasingly, advertisements that more closely resemble the content in which they are embedded are replacing banner advertisements – graphical images that typically are rectangular in shape – on publishers’ websites and mobile applications. The workshop will bring together publishing and advertising industry representatives, consumer advocates, academics, and government regulators to explore changes in how paid messages are presented to consumers and consumers’ recognition and understanding of these messages.

SIIA’s Comments to FCC Identify 10 Steps for Enhancing the E-Rate Program
In comments submitted Monday to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposal to modernize the E-rate Program for schools and libraries, SIIA strongly supported the Commission’s effort to review, modernize and enhance the program and made 10 recommendations. The E-rate program provides schools and libraries with discounts off advanced telecommunications and information services in order to ensure their affordable access. At the core of SIIA’s objectives, robust Internet access through high-speed broadband connectivity is critical to a 21st century education system, and to providing educators and students with access to technology-based tools and resources that are mission critical for teaching and learning in today’s digital age. For more information or to access the comments, visit our Digital Discourse Blog.

Postal Board Defers, but Rate Increases Still Possibly on Horizon
On September 5th the Postal Board of Governors met to consider rate increases, including a possible exigent rate increase on periodicals. The Board deferred a decision on the exigent rate increase until at least its next meeting which is scheduled for next week, September 24th and 25th. Meanwhile, SIIA recently met with members of the Postal Regulatory Commission and congressional leaders on this issue to discuss our concerns with the possible exigent rate increase, as well as other matters potentially impacting our members. While there are a number of moving parts to this discussion, SIIA is continuing to monitor developments related to a possible exigent rate increase and remains engaged with policymakers.As of right now, we continue to believe a potential rate increase of 7-10% is a possibility with a likely exigent filing by USPS and negative rate provisions in the Senate version of postal reform legislation. At this point we expect a CPI increase of approximately 1.8% will go into effect in January.

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

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Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup, Policy Tagged With: , ,

Saving the Safe Harbor: Commissioner Julie Brill to the Rescue!

September 17, 2013 By

At the EU Data Protection and Privacy Conference today in Brussels, FTC Commissioner Julie Brill delivered a powerful speech about the way the U.S. protects consumer privacy. Along the way she offered a strong defense of the U.S. Safe Harbor Framework for European privacy:

“In the commercial space, the Safe Harbor Framework facilitates the FTC’s ability to protect the privacy of EU consumers. Without the Safe Harbor, my job to protect EU consumers’ privacy, where appropriate, would be much harder. In an era where we face many threats to privacy, Safe Harbor has been an effective solution, not the problem.”

In the face of so many challenges to the Safe Harbor Framework coming from European public officials, this speech from a prominent U.S. consumer protection official is a crucial reminder of the importance of this cross-border framework for international privacy protection.

Her remarks are also notable for the clear distinction she makes between government surveillance and commercial privacy:

“The issue of the proper scope of government surveillance is a conversation that should happen – and will happen – on both sides of the Atlantic. But it is a conversation that should proceed outside out of the commercial privacy context.”

As I’ve noted in previous blogs, the conflation of the two is damaging to both the need to protect citizens from intrusive government surveillance and in finding the right sort of fair information practices that provides for commercial enterprise, innovation and the preservation of consumer privacy.  Commissioner Brill is exactly right when she insists on keeping these issues separate.

Mark MacCarthy, Vice President, Public Policy at SIIA, directs SIIA’s public policy initiatives in the areas of intellectual property enforcement, information privacy, cybersecurity, cloud computing and the promotion of educational technology. Follow Mark on Twitter at @Mark_MacCarthy

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Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Privacy Tagged With: , ,

Postal Service Delays Decision on Exigent Rate Filing

September 6, 2013 By

Yesterday, the Postal Service Board of Governors postponed any action with respect to an exigent rate filing until at least their next scheduled meeting, which occurs at the end of September.  In an official statement released yesterday afternoon, the Postal Service said:

“The Postal Service Governors met today at a regularly scheduled Board meeting. As part of the agenda, the Governors considered pricing issues, including the possibility of filing for price adjustments. The Governors continue to listen to stakeholders and have postponed final pricing decisions until the next scheduled Board of Governors meeting, Sept. 24 – 25, 2013.”

One definite final pricing decision described in the statement will be approving the annual CPI increase, expected to be about 1.8%, to take effect January 26.

As we highlighted in our postal and legislative update on Aug. 22, the industry believed that there was a very good chance the Board of Governors would approve the exigent filing at the meeting  yesterday.  While we do not know that exact reasons for the delay, it appears from their statement that the Board of Governors was reacting to customer concerns about the impact of an exigent rate increase in delaying action. We also understand the Postmaster General recently has been working diligently to bring together both postal customers and postal labor union presidents to discuss working together on legislation.  Time will tell whether or not this activity will bring about new options for legislation, which would benefit both the USPS and customers, instead of the negative impact of an exigent rate filing. We will continue to work on this issue on behalf of our members.

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG.

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Filed Under: Policy

SIIA Digital Policy Roundup: Draft Cyber Framework Released, GAO Issues Patent Litigation Report, SIIA Promotes Mobile Privacy Code, Highlights Serious Business Challenges Posed by NSA Surveillance

September 5, 2013 By

The DPR has been on recess for most of August, we hope you missed us! Here’s a recap of highlights from August, and we will return to our regular weekly schedule next week.

Draft Cyber Framework Released
Heading into Labor Day weekend, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released with little fanfare last Thursday a preliminary cybersecurity draft framework outlining standards, best practices and guidance expected to be codified in October as directed by President Barack Obama’s February executive order. The report is a discussion draft intended to generate feedback and discussion NIST’s 4th Cybersecurity Framework Workshop in Dallas on Sept. 11-13.

SIIA Promotes Mobile Privacy Code of Conduct over Regulation
As a follow-up to the mobile privacy code of conduct developed through the Department of Commerce multistakeholder discussions, The Hill published an op-ed from SIIA President Ken Wasch touting the promise of industry self-regulation to provide a trusted environment for mobile device users. Wasch notes that in a time of rapidly evolving technology, this approach is the only way to effectively maintain the right balance between consumer confidence and continued innovation — a balance that government regulation or legislation would most certainly fail to accomplish.

SIIA highlights Serious Business Challenges Posed by NSA Surveillance Revelations
Recent revelations about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance efforts have clearly changed the privacy landscape for the remainder of 2013, if not much longer. This is a complex policy issue with very broad implications. Importantly for SIIA members, it is one that poses the following serious business challenges: (1) enhanced privacy concerns among customers around the world, (2) policymakers around the world seeking to restrict the cross-border flow of data and enact technology localization requirements, and (3) conflation of private sector data collection with government surveillance as an inseparable public-private partnership that necessitates strict new commercial privacy legislation or regulations.

SIIA has been very engaged in policy debates surrounding this issue for several months, and we expect to remain highly engaged to combat these challenges for months to come. SIIA President Ken Wash attended a meeting at the White House in early August, which was one of several consultations leading up to the President’s call for reforms to NSA programs

GAO Issues Long-Awaited Patent Litigation Report
In late August, The GAO issued its long awaited report on patent abuse litigation. The report examines (1) the volume and characteristics of recent patent litigation activity; (2) views of stakeholders knowledgeable in patent litigation on key factors that have contributed to recent patent litigation; (3) what developments in the judicial system may affect patent litigation; and (4) what actions, if any, PTO has recently taken that may affect patent litigation in the future.

The GAO report documents the existence of a large and growing problem and looks favorably on a number of possible improvements to the patent system such as improved patent quality and limitations on patent litigation discovery. The report identifies numerous concerns with the patent litigation system including but not limited to, the high-cost of patent litigation, the potential for large patent damage awards, poor quality of certain types of patents and recent increases in the amount of patent litigation. While the report notes that various efforts by the courts and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have been implemented to try and address these issues it also notes that these concerns still exist. In the report, the GAO also recommended that the PTO consider examining trends in patent infringement litigation and consider linking this information to internal patent examination data to improve patent quality and examination.

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

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Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup, Policy Tagged With: , ,
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