techpolicydaily.com

Is Google finally running out of goodwill with federal regulators and others?

First, the search giant ran afoul of the Department of Justice in its proposed settlement with the Authors Guild over its book scanning plans.

Now comes word that the FCC is investigating AT&T complaint’s that Google Voice may be improperly blocking calls in some rural areas. The Washington Post has it here.

On a company blog, Google’s Washington lawyer Richard Whitt posted a response, in which he basically says Google is blocking some callers from its free network application because they’re abusing it – using it for sex chat lines and free conference call centers and taking up bandwith that could be used by more needy users, like soldiers or homeless people.

But some say Google’s play-by-its-own-rules and “trust us” philosophy may be running out of steam. It’s one thing for two guys with a funny-sounding start-up to operate that way, of course; it’s entirely different when you’re the biggest and most powerful company in the digital world.

Here’s how John M. Simpson of Consumer Watchdog put it after the advocacy group announced its recent support of the Justice Department in the book scanning case:

“A single entity cannot be allowed to build a digital library based on a monopolistic advantage when its answer to serious questions from responsible critics boils down to: “Trust us. Our motto is ‘Don’t be evil.’”

WASHINGTON – In a case with implications to state and federal Internet privacy rules – and perhaps, what people post on their social networking sites – Virginia has backed off from trying to force Facebook to give up  information about a user’s account in a workers’ compensation claim case.

On Aug. 28, the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission began levying a $200 a day fine on Facebook for failing to comply with a subpoena to provide information on a Virginia flight attendant who filed a worker’s comp claim after tripping, falling and injuring her back getting off a Colgan Air regional jet at Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport back in January.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch has the story here.  CNET’s Declan McCullah goes into more detail here about how private and public insurers are increasingly eyeing Facebook and other social networking sites when reviewing  insurance claims.

The gist of it comes down to the basic rule of social networking: Whatever you post on line may come back to haunt you later.

If you file a worker’s comp claim saying your hurt your back on the job, and then post on your Facebook page or Twitter about your big win on the basketball court or the ski trip to Aspen, insurers want to know about it.

While the Virginia case indicates states are willing to go only so far in getting back records from social networking sites, there’s little to keep government agencies, insurers – and everybody else – from seeing more recent records on what you’re doing and how you’re doing it.

WASHINGTON – As the Federal Communications Commission works on developing a national broadband plan, it invited a group of Internet heavy-hitters to its headquarters here today to hear to discuss what they think is the “next big idea” on the Internet’s horizon.

David Clark

The skinny is this: It doesn’t matter, unless the government, industry and academia does more to help develop the next-generation Internet.

David Clark, a super-smart professor and senior research scientist at MIT, pointed out how recent innovations – first music, then video – constantly put new increasing stresses on the availability and stability of the Internet.

What’s next? Who knows, Clark and others said. But it will probably put even more stresses on an Internet that at 40 years old is starting to show its signs of age.

“We could argue if video is the end of the world,” Clark said. “I don’t think so. Because never before has the road ended.”

The biggest constraint making the Internet better and ready to meet the needs of the next new thing is that the resources and infrastructure that brought about the Internet initially just simply aren’t around anymore, some say. Read more »

WASHINGTON – Ok, maybe it’s not exactly news that the federal government is wasting taxpayer money. But an interesting story from InformationWeek shows just how much money can be wasted when it takes too long to transition to a new technology.

In an interview with InformationWeek, the government’s top IT procurement official says about $20 million in taxpayer money will be wasted this month alone because of the delay in transitioning to a new Networx bandwith administration program. All told, the government is wasting millions in dragging its feet in the Networx switch-over, according to Ed O’Hare, assistant commissioner for the Federal Acquisition Service’s Integrated Technology Services division.

There’s definitely some real money going out in the switch-over from the government’s transition off of its legacy FTS2001 network system.

InformationWeek reports that NASA recently awarded a $14.2 million contract to Qwest. The State Department picked AT&T for a $45 million.

Yet it’s not going out fast enough, according to O’Hare. The government first announced the switch from the FTS 2001 network system to the cheaper, more flexible Networx system in 2007. The transition is supposed to be complete by 2010, but that’s likely to be significantly delayed.

WASHINGTON – Telemarketers beware: Beginning Sept. 1,  “robocalls” are illegal.

A year after the Federal Trade Commission announced rules prohibiting prerecorded commercial telemarketing calls to consumers, it’s about to get serious and start fining violators up to $16,000 per call.

There are plenty exemptions. If the robocaller is delivering purely informational recordings – such as a notification of flight being canceled, for instance, that’s OK. So are calls from companies that consumers have agreed to take calls from (on opt-in agreements and elsewhere) as well as – of course – political campaign calls. See more on the new rule here.

WASHINGTON – Want to know where the government will spend its money when it comes to technology?

A recent memo from Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (aka the keeper of President Obama’s purse strings) to all federal agencies gives some general clues where the White House is wanting and willing to invest in technology in the next fiscal year.

The bottom line: Wherever it can create jobs, better the economy or make people healthier. Click on the memo below to read it yourself.