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In 1988, when President Reagan signed a video privacy bill into law, computer users were sipping bandwidth through the tiny straws of 2400 bps modems, IBM was selling mainframe databases for over $200,000, and musician Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" was topping the charts.

Well, it turns out that politicians are no better at prognostication than the rest of us are. The clutch of lawyers and their aides on Capitol Hill failed to anticipate the rise of Netflix and Facebook, and their well-intentioned but brittle video privacy law is now at odds with modern … Read more

The House Intelligence Committee brought executives from two Chinese telecommunications gear makers to Capitol Hill today to press them on potential threats they pose to national security, but came away with little satisfaction.

"I can say that I am a little disappointed today," committee chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said at the end of the hearing investigating Huawei and ZTE. (CNET viewed the hearing via Webcast.) "I was hoping for a little more transparency... Other inconsistencies worry me greatly."

Rogers and his fellow committee members pressed executives from the two Chinese companies repeatedly, raising allegations that the … Read more

Netflix users may be getting closer to being allowed to disclose to friends what videos they're watching.

The Senate could vote on an amendment next week to the Senate Cybersecurity bill that would allow this kind of sharing, according to a report in the TheHill.com. Right now, because of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), Netflix users can disclose what other kinds of media they're enjoying but not videos.

The VPAA was implemented after reporters from the Washington City Paper obtained a list in 1988 of the videos rented by then Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork. His … Read more

The bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus has sent inquiry letters to several companies regarding their practices in so-called data brokering.

Caucus co-chairmen Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joe Bartin (R-Texas), as well as six other lawmakers, yesterday contacted credit reporting agencies Experian and Equifax; marketing services firms Acxiom and Epsilon; and background check provider Intelius, on how they collect, analyze, and then sell consumer information. The lawmakers are particularly interested in the information the companies collect and how they go about it.

The New York Times was first to report on the letter.

Consumer information is floating around both online … Read more

In a move to get cybersecurity legislation approved before the Senate recess, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and four colleagues introduced a modified version of their proposed cybersecurity legislation that adds privacy protections for consumers and removes government mandated security standards.

Republicans had opposed the initial version of the Democrat-backed bill, introduced in February, because it called for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assess power companies, utilities, and other firms that operate critical infrastructure for security problems and create performance standards -- provisions that were considered too regulatory and restrictive on businesses by Republicans in the Senate.

The new … Read more

If you're in Washington, D.C., this week, you should stop by the National Press Club for The Great Privacy Debate tomorrow over lunch starting at noon ET. I'll be moderating the event.

The debate topic couldn't be more timely: "Consumer privacy can be adequately protected without new legislation." It comes as Congress and other state and national legislatures are considering new laws in this area (we'll be starting promptly at noon so we can end in time for folks to attend a Senate hearing on facial recognition technology at 2:30 p.m. … Read more

The Recording Industry Association of America's CEO, Cary Sherman, testified before Congress today on "The Future of Audio." Although the minutes of the hearing aren't yet available, Sherman did publish a statement of his speech, according to TorrentFreak, which first reported this news.

In Sherman's statement, he stresses that online piracy must be stopped and one of the ways to do this is by having search engines, like Google and Bing, censor any results that could lead users to sites with illegally obtained copyrighted material.

"Major advertisers and ad agencies announced a series of … Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook's visit to Washington, D.C. earlier this month was a chance to have a meet-and-greets with various political leaders on the hill, according to Fortune.

Besides a sit-down with Speaker of the House John Boehner, Cook also met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He was unable to meet with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi because she was out of town on an official trip in Afghanistan at the time.

"It was an act of opening up a line of communication," one aide told Fortune, "but … Read more

FBI Director Robert Mueller confirmed that the bureau has renewed its push for a new Internet wiretapping law, which CNET reported two weeks ago.

In an appearance this week on Capitol Hill, Mueller downplayed privacy concerns, saying the FBI's wiretap proposals -- social-networking Web sites and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and Web e-mail are the primary targets -- would still require a court to be involved.

We want to "be able to obtain those communications," Mueller said on Wednesday. "What we're looking at is some form of legislation that will assure that when we … Read more