Posted on January 15, 2010 by Christopher Wolf

Media & Communications Briefing Highlights Privacy Issues

The fifth edition of Hogan & Hartson’s Media & Communications Briefing, whose editor-in-chief is Hogan Partner Winston Maxwell, has arrived!  (Winston also is a member of the privacy and data security practice group.) This quarterly briefing updates our clients on legal and regulatory developments from around in the world in the Telecommunications, Media and Entertainment and High Technology sectors.  This edition features stories (bolded below) of particular privacy interest. 

 

 

The briefing includes articles on the following topics:

  

  • New Commission, New Framework
  • The Digital Dividend Auction in Germany
  • Bloggers Beware: The FTC is Watching
  • EU Reform Brings New Cookie Rules
  • U.S. Universal Service Reform: Is 2010 the Year?
  • Online Music Retailing: Towards Borderless Business
  • French Government Releases Decree on Motion Picture Tax Credit
  • Smart Grids
  • Interview: French Copyright Law
  • Digital Switchover
  • Middle East International Film Festival and the Circle Conference

For a copy of the briefing, click here

 

 

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Posted on January 14, 2010 by Mark Brennan

FCC Seeks Comment on Numerous Broadband Privacy Issues

The Federal Communications Commission released a Public Notice this week seeking further comment on numerous privacy issues as part of its National Broadband Plan proceeding.  Based on questions raised in a recent Center for Democracy & Technology filing, some of the broad issues that the Notice seeks comment on include:

  • Consumer expectations of privacy, and how to meet those expectations as new technologies are deployed;
  • Building Privacy by Design;
  • Concerns surrounding the collection, use, and storage of transactional data; and
  • The regulation of third-party applications.

The FCC, which is working to complete the Plan and submit it to Congress by March 17, has thus far not focused extensively on how to protect consumer privacy and personal information in the broadband ecosystem.  This Notice, however, indicates that the FCC may be planning to highlight a number of privacy-related consumer protection issues in the Plan.  Moreover, depending in part on the comments received in response to the Notice, it could also open the door to future privacy and data protection proceedings at the FCC.

Comments are due on January 22, 2010, just over a week after the Commission issued the Notice.

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