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TechnologyDaily Mobile
Phone Fight In The Philippines
by William New
AT&T last week publicly urged Philippine telecommunications carriers to restore the company's connection into the nation's telecom network and return to the negotiating table to settle a dispute over rates charged for completing calls to the Philippines.
The Philippine carriers are preventing inbound calls from AT&T and several other foreign companies, AT&T said in a release. In order to get its calls from the United States completed in the Philippines, AT&T would have to agree to a 50 percent increase in fees as of Feb. 1. The demand runs contrary to international practices and to a Feb. 7 order by the Filipino regulator who required that services be restored during negotiations, AT&T said.
Chip Barton, president of international ventures organization for AT&T Asia Pacific, said the decision could damage the country's reputation for business when its government is trying to attract foreign investment by positioning the Philippines as a communications hub for call centers, software development and outsourcing. It also could negatively impact the ability to call there for the 8 million Filipinos living and working abroad, he said.
AT&T and WorldCom, meanwhile, asked the FCC to take action to protect U.S. telecom carriers and consumers from alleged "whipsawing," which is anti-competitive behavior involving the ability of foreign carriers to gain unduly favorable terms from U.S. service providers by setting competing U.S. carriers against one another, the FCC said in a release.
"I believe this is an urgent matter and must be resolved in the near term," Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy said. She said the FCC International Bureau has engaged in direct discussions with the Filipino regulator and has made the AT&T and WorldCom petitions public. Comments are being taken until the end of this week, after which the bureau is expected to act quickly, she said.
A Consensus On Cross-Border E-Commerce
An event last week at the FTC brought together international panels of industry and consumer representatives and government officials to explore public-private partnerships against cross-border fraud in online transactions. The event involved the credit industry and other payment-system providers, commercial mail-receiving agencies such as Mailboxes Etc., Internet service providers (ISPs), and registration authorities for Internet domain names.
"These are the industries used by people committing cross-border fraud," an FTC official said.
Panels examined potential partnerships between consumer-protection enforcement agencies, ISPs and Web-hosting companies, as well as between the agencies and domain-name firms.
The Feb. 19-20 event was intended as a "springboard for discussion," the FTC official said, but some general consensus emerged. For instance, participants agreed that fraud causes a loss of business and of reputation for businesses, and a loss of consumer confidence in e-commerce.
Participants also agreed that the private sector should do more on a systematic basis to work with the public sector, the official said. In addition, speed is seen as critical to stopping fraud, so all sides agreed to work together to streamline information sharing. For instance, a consumer bureau receiving several complaints should quickly share that information with authorities.
Officials also agreed that public-private partnerships would need to craft concrete objectives and allocate resources in a way that benefits both sectors. The FTC will work closely with the industries in the coming weeks to flesh out the discussions.
The ISP panel agreed that it would be helpful to have quick action on requests from law enforcement to preserve data on their users for potential use in investigations, and domain firms said law enforcement should have access to accurate data in the "Whois" database of Web-site owners. But they also want streamlining of the various police requests they receive.
The FTC official said participants agreed to consider mechanisms such as: creating resource lists of private-sector experts on e-commerce, using automated systems for information sharing, using companies' internal communications systems to share information on fraud with employees, and providing more training. Training might include the best ways for law enforcement to frame requests in their fraud investigations or explanations of how the FTC works.
Privacy issues also arose, and participants expressed concern about whether different national privacy laws would prohibit information sharing on fraud. Several participants raised particular concern about the constraints of the European Union's data-protection directive. Harmonization of privacy laws might be necessary, they concluded.
Top European Official Discusses Regulatory Issues
The European Union remains concerned about the uneven application of the U.S. Container Security Initiative across ports and EU member countries, Frits Bolkestein, the European Union's internal market commissioner, said on Monday. Under the initiative, containers destined for the United States are inspected before departure from the point of origin and at stops along the way.
Speaking at a European-American Business Council event, Bolkestein said the European Union is seeking membership in the World Customs Organization so it can become a negotiating partner in that arena, according to sources in attendance.
Bolkestein also addressed an EU tax directive that would mandate the automatic and unlimited exchange of information about nonresident savings between nations. He said EU officials have reached almost complete agreement about the information-sharing aspect of the directive, which is due to be adopted March 7. Negotiations with Switzerland resulted in agreement, and smaller European tax havens such as Liechtenstein and Monaco are expected to follow. Europe is working on reaching "regulatory equivalence" on the directive with the United States.
Bolkestein also was expected to meet with Treasury-Secretary John Snow to discuss a joint work program for this year and beyond. He said they would look to exchange information on legislative and regulatory developments to spot potential trouble for the private sector and look for immediate action that can be taken to build private-sector confidence.
Europe, Canada Release Tech-Related Documents
A European Union working party has issued an opinion on the storage of traffic data for billing purposes. The opinion affirms that personal data should only be stored long enough to complete the billing process and resolve disputes, if any.
The group identifies that timeframe as 3-6 months maximum, beginning when the data is no longer needed for a communication, if the bills are paid and are undisputed. The data could be stored longer if there is a dispute, but the storage should be limited to "necessary" data, the opinion said.
The working party also said that while data showing proof of payments may need to be kept for several years for tax purposes, that practice should not extend to traffic data on which telephone bills are based. And it said that any variation among EU member states' electronic communications companies that are inconsistent with the principles on storage, or that are not clearly authorized, will be incompatible with the EU data-privacy directive. The opinion encourages steps toward a harmonized interpretation of the directive.
In other news, the Canadian government has released a code of practice for consumer protection in e-commerce and information on the application of the Canadian Competition Act to the Internet.
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