TCPA Watch – Page 20 – Business, legal and policy developments under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

FTC Continues to Flex Its Enforcement Muscle With Regard to Social Media Promotional Activity

Apr 07 2011

by Ann M. Begley, Lawrence C. Lanpher and Carolina M. Heavner

The Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) recent action against a company and its owner in connection with the allegedly deceptive promotion of music teaching tools signals FTC’s continued intention to keep social media promotional activity as an enforcement priority. In its third public investigation and second enforcement action since issuing its revised Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising[1] (hereafter, FTC Endorsement/Testimonial Guides) in December 2009, FTC continues to expand advertisers’ responsibility to monitor third party interactive media communications containing endorsements of advertisers’ products.

In finding the advertiser and its owner, an individual, responsible for assuring that endorsers adequately disclose any material connections with the advertiser, FTC states that an advertiser agreement that requires endorsers to comply with FTC guidelines and disclosures is insufficient in the absence of an advertiser monitoring program that ensures clear and prominent disclosure of the relationship with the advertiser.[2]

Thus, in addition to a $250,000 penalty against the company and its owner, FTC has required a far-reaching monitoring program – a potentially expensive and burdensome commitment for the future.

Broadcaster, Cable, Programming, and Consumer interests to debate retransmission consent in live webcast, Thursday, April 7 at 1pm EDT

Apr 05 2011

Broadband US TV will feature a live webcast debate on retransmission consent this Thursday, April 7 at 1pm EDT.

Every season, viewers and sports fans seem to get caught in the middle of disputes between broadcasters and cable and DBS providers over the terms of carriage of broadcast stations and affiliated programming. This program will examine the real issues underlying retransmission consent disputes and the economics and politics driving these issues.

This is an especially important question now, because thousands of carriage agreements will be up for renewal this year, as the FCC continues to examine these issues in an ongoing rulemaking proceeding.

Court Dismisses Appeal Against FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules

Apr 04 2011

Today the FCC prevailed in the continuing skirmish over Net Neutrality in Washington. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia dismissed the lawsuits filed last January by Verizon and Metro PCS seeking to overturn the FCC’s Net Neutrality order adopted in December. The court found that the two wireless carriers filed their challenges too early and should have waited until the Net Neutrality order was published in the Federal Register. Both wireless carriers have indicated they will re-file their appeals.

Comcast/NBCU Joint Venture Telebriefing (3/29/11)

Mar 25 2011

K&L Gates partner Marty Stern will be moderating a Law Seminars International telebriefing on the Comcast/NBCU joint venture Tuesday, March 29 at 3 p.m. ET. Further information and registration details for the event are available by clicking here. Also participating in the telebriefing will be Jordan Goldstein of Comcast Corporation, Parul Desai of the Consumers Union, and Ross Lieberman of the American Cable Association. The panel will cover the implications of the merger, including its likely impacts on industry, the conditions imposed by the Government, competitive concerns raised by the transaction, and the benefits offered by the parties. Click here for our recent blog post discussing our analysis of the FCC order approving the transaction, with conditions.

Doing Business in Mexico? It’s Time to Revise Your Privacy Practices

Mar 22 2011

By Holly K. Towle, Henry L. Judy, Samuel R. Castic

On July 6, 2010, Mexico’s “Law on the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties” took effect, and some of the most stringent requirements are currently scheduled to take effect in July 2011. Accordingly, the time for companies that are covered by the law to adjust their privacy policies and business practices is today, not mañana.[1] In many ways, this law is more robust than approaches taken to data protection in the United States. It brings Mexican privacy law far closer to, or goes beyond, the concepts and structure of the European Data Protection Directive (“EU Directive”)[2] or other approaches such as the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.[3] The law also seems to approximate the European Union approach of treating data protection as a basic right.[4] This Alert discusses some of the key provisions of Mexico’s new law.

Tower Technology Panel to Address Tough Issues on Getting Broadband Wireless Sites Built

Mar 21 2011

The Tower Technology Summit at CTIA Wireless 2011 will feature a panel on on Wednesday, March 23 in Orlando entitled "Zoning/Permitting: Shifting the Paradigm to Cooperation." The panel will grapple with the tough issues behind 4G and wireless broadband deployment — the pressure of building out networks using pole attachments in rights of way and macro sites in the face of sophisticated and increasingly successful community resistance, including vocal opposition often based on fear of radio emissions.

K&L Gates partner Marty Stern will be one of the speakers on the panel and will discuss specific approaches from earlier deployment-related battles at the federal level. Marty will be focusing on strategic approaches to advocacy and coalition building, starting with the premise "If you want broadband, you gotta get it built." The panel will get to the heart of the challenge of this necessary paradigm change: moving municipalities, non-wireless industry advocates, citizens, carriers and DAS providers onto the same page.

House E&C Committee Schedules Markup of Resolution to Reject FCC’s Net Neutrality

Mar 10 2011

Yesterday the Communications and Technology Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce adopted a disapproval resolution (H.J. Res. 37) of the FCC’s 2010 Net Neutrality Order by a party-line vote. Today, the Energy and Commerce Committee issued a markup notice for the disapproval resolution of Monday, March 14 at 3:00 p.m. Assuming it is approved that same day (a likely outcome), it could be ready for House floor action fairly quickly (depending on the legislative priorities of the House majority leadership).

Net Neutrality Supporters Delay House Subcommittee Vote to Reverse FCC Rules [UPDATED: 3/7/11]

Mar 07 2011

In response to a request by House Democratic supporters of the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet (or Net Neutrality) order, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommitee on Communications and Technology has postponed its vote, scheduled for this morning, on the resolution to reverse the FCC order. Although no new date has been announced, we understand that a hearing will likely be scheduled for next week.

Yesterday, Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the ranking member on the Communications and Technology Subcommittee, wrote to Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) urging him to first hold hearings on the proposed resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act in which supporters of the FCC’s order could be heard before having the vote. Note that even if the House approves the resolution of disapproval, it must still pass the Senate and survive a presidential veto to successfully reverse the FCC’s order.

UPDATE: A hearing has been scheduled for March 9, at 10:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building.

SECOND UPDATE (3/7/11): Representatives Waxman and Eshoo sent a letter on behalf of a group of net neutrality supporters in the House asking Chairman Walden and Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, to allow lawmakers to offer amendments to the resolution of disapproval. The Democrats requested the Chairmen bring the disapproval measure as a regular House Resolution instead of under the Congressional Review Act.

High Court to AT&T: Don’t Take It Personally, But You Have No “Personal Privacy”

Mar 04 2011

By Bruce Nielson.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently held that AT&T and other corporations do not have “personal privacy” for purposes of an exemption from the information disclosure requirements of the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). In its unanimous opinion in FCC v. AT&T Inc., the court rejected “the argument that because ‘person’ is defined for purposes of FOIA to include a corporation, the phrase ‘personal privacy’ in [FOIA] Exemption 7(C) reaches corporations.” The court held: “The protection in FOIA against disclosure of law enforcement information on the ground that it would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy does not extend to corporations.”

The AT&T case arose in connection with an FCC investigation into whether AT&T overcharged the government for services rendered in connection with an FCC-administered program designed to enhance access to information and telecommunications services by schools and libraries. During the investigation, AT&T provided documents to the FCC that included information about employees involved in the program and invoices and emails with pricing and billing information. The FCC and AT&T resolved the matter in 2004.

States Support Additional Federal Consumer Information Privacy Protections

Feb 28 2011

By Bruce Nielson and Samuel Castic

Fifteen state attorneys general recently sent a letter to the FTC supporting its recent proposal for a federal regulatory framework to protect the privacy and security of consumer information. The letter also recommends additional consumer information privacy and security protections that go beyond the FTC’s proposal. The FTC’s proposal, in the form of a preliminary FTC Staff Report entitled “Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers” (the “Report”) was released on December 1, 2010 and is described in more detail in a prior blog entry.

The 15 state attorneys general – from Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and Washington (the “States”) – make the following points in their February 18, 2011 letter to the FTC: