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Senate delays Netflix, e-mail privacy fix after cops protest

A Netflix-backed bill to update an antique 1988 privacy law, crafted a generation before social networks and cloud computing became popular, was derailed today because of last-minute opposition from law enforcement officials.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who heads the Judiciary committee, postponed discussion on the proposal to update the dialup-era privacy law, likely pushing a final vote into the new Congress that will convene in 2013.

The delay comes two days after a phalanx of law enforcement organizations objected to the legislation, asking Leahy to "reconsider acting" on it "until a more comprehensive review of … Read more

Senators prepare to vote on Netflix and e-mail privacy

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

Netflix to offer Facebook integration (outside U.S.)

Those who are both Facebook members and Netflix subscribers will soon be able to tie their two identities together in certain ways, but only if they live in Canada or Latin America.

In announcing its second-quarter earnings yesterday (PDF), Netflix touched on the topic of its integration with the popular social network.

The video service explained that it has made progress with Facebook integration and is looking to launch an in-network feature sometime in the third quarter. But users in the United States will apparently be out of luck.

"At this point, we plan to launch this initiative only … Read more