lawmakers

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Facebook Seeking Friends in Beltway

Elizabeth Williamson, Amy Schatz and Geoffrey A. Fowler, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on April 20, 2011 at 5:00 am PT

President Barack Obama will travel to Facebook Inc.’s Silicon Valley headquarters Wednesday to hold a “town hall” meeting on the economy with users of the social-networking site.

France to Google: Your CEO Is a Hamster and Your "Rogue Street View Engineer" Smells of Elderberries

John Paczkowski in News on March 21, 2011 at 11:21 am PT

It’s a pittance to Google, but the $142,000 fine France’s data privacy regulator slapped the company with today for inadvertently harvesting consumer data with its Street View cars does set something of a precedent. Meted out by France’s Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés, or CNIL, the sanction is the agency’s highest ever and the first penalty levied against Google for data collection practices that have drawn complaints from dozens of countries.

Lawmakers Would Like a Word With Google's "Rogue" WiSpy Engineer

John Paczkowski in News on February 16, 2011 at 12:26 pm PT

Add two more names to the growing list of lawmakers crying foul over the Google WiSpy debacle. In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Reps. John Barrow (D-Ga.) and Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) urge the agency to conduct a full investigation into the inadvertent collection of user data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks by Google’s Street View cars.

Night-Table Reading: The FCC's Net Neutrality Rules In Full

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on December 23, 2010 at 3:02 pm PT

It’s now been two days since the Federal Communications Commission voted to pass its controversial network neutrality rules, and the consensus is clear–no one is terribly happy. Now we have a full text of the actual rules–the 194-page document that lawyers, lawmakers and lobbyists will be combing through in the coming weeks and months.

Voices

Lawmakers Draft Web-Ad Privacy Safeguards

Emily Steel, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on May 3, 2010 at 4:04 pm PT

Advertisers and Internet companies have been scrambling to head off regulation they say will hamper growth of online advertising. The pressure is expected to build Tuesday as lawmakers prepare to announce proposed privacy legislation.

Buzz Kill: FTC Urged to Investigate Google Privacy Flap

John Paczkowski in Social on March 30, 2010 at 4:39 am PT

This is obviously not to the sort of buzz Google was hoping for when it launched its new social networking service. A group of eleven U.S. lawmakers from the House Energy and Commerce Committee is calling upon the FTC to investigate Buzz for breaches in consumer privacy.

Voices

Senators Take Aim at Cellphone-Termination Fees

Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on December 4, 2009 at 8:18 am PT

Four senators introduced legislation Thursday aimed at the fees wireless carriers charge when subscribers change providers before their contracts are up. The bill, dubbed the Cell Phone Early Termination Fee, Transparency and Fairness Act, would cap those early-termination fees based on the price of the phone, and would pro-rate fees based on the time left on the contract.

Lawmakers Ask FCC to Probe Google Voice

John Paczkowski in News on October 8, 2009 at 2:59 pm PT

Should Google be able to offer voice services unfettered by regulations that apply to broadband carriers simply because Google Voice is a free Internet application? AT&T certainly doesn’t think so, and it seems at least a few Congressional representatives agree.

Newspapers to Congress: Please Don’t Give Us a Bailout

Peter Kafka in Media on September 24, 2009 at 7:59 am PT

The newspaper bailout proposal you may have heard about over the last few months? The newspapers want no part of it, says an industry spokesman. That said, the industry wouldn’t turn down some help from Congress, says John Sturm, CEO of the Newspaper Association of America. He is testifying before a joint committee this morning.