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FTC 'Toys' Around With Privacy Protections
Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Jane Swift, R, this week applauded the Federal Trade Commission's decision to prevent online toy company Toysmart.com from selling its customer database in violation of the company's own guarantee to "never" distribute information to third parties.
"Consumers deserve their privacy and deserve peace of mind that their personal information will not be sold or shared without their consent," Swift said in a statement. "Consumer privacy is in the best interest of our citizens, and frankly, in the best interest of our citizens.
The FTC filed suit Monday against the company after TRUSTe, which issued its privacy seal to Toysmart.com, filed a briefing in bankruptcy court against the sale of Toysmart's customer lists after the company announced in May it was going bankrupt. TRUSTe also referred the case to the commonwealth of Massachusetts, where the company filed for bankruptcy. Swift has jurisdiction over the state consumer affairs division, which confirmed it was investigating Toysmart.
"While we continue to press for privacy protection measures in Massachusetts, we also urge Congress to take action on federal legislation to guard the personal information of consumers across our nation" she said.
Walt Disney, the majority owner of Toysmart.com, on Tuesday offered to purchase the company's database to ensure consumers' privacy in an effort to quell the sea of complaints.
Colorado Company Deal's Open Access Card
Cable upstart WideOpenWest, LLC announced Friday that it reached the first of multiple agreements with Internet service providers (ISPs) to give consumers a choice of providers for high-speed Internet service in Denver beginning in November.
WideOpenWest signed the deal with Front Range Internet, Inc., granting the regional ISP access to the company's broadband fiber-optic network. Front Range Internet, headquartered in Fort Collins, CO, currently serves more than 10,000 customers in the greater Denver metropolitan area.
The OpenNet Coalition, which has lobbied at the federal state and local level to force AT&T to open its growing high-speed cable network to competing ISPs views the WideOpenWest deal as a victory for its movement. A federal appeals court recently ruled that local governments do not have the authority to require cable companies to open their networks to alternative ISPs as part of cable franchise transfers.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard recently announced that the agency would look into ISP access to cable networks, but the WideOpenNet move could reinforce the FCC's current position that the marketplace will ultimately address the issue.
"The time has come for the open access debate to recess, and for the forward-thinking pro-competition companies to move ahead with real deployment in the marketplace," said WideOpenNet founder and CEO Mark Haverkate, in a statement. "We believe this agreement with Front Range will be the first of many, and we are proud that two Colorado-based companies have begun to make it happen."
AT&T is also scheduled to begin testing open access on its cable system in Boulder in November. The test, which will involve 500 customers and several ISPs, is the largest open access test to date.
In related news, Montgomery County, MD, officials voted Tuesday to require Comcast Communications, the county's fourth largest cable system, to upgrade its cable network to accomodate multiple ISPs, and affirmed the policy of open access to high-speed cable lines.
County Officials To Talk High-Tech
More than 4,000 county officials from across the country will put technology issues at the top of their agenda when the National Association of Counties meets for its annual conference Mecklenberg County, N.C., Friday until Tuesday.
NACo's Rural Action Caucus Chairman Colleen Landkamer, of Blue Earth Minnesota, and Large Urban County Caucus Chairman Wayne Curry, of Montgomery County Maryland, will release a county-by-county assessment of high-tech growth, which, in part, shows that rural areas are starting to catch up with their more wired urban and suburban neighbors.
Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, D, the new chairman of the National Governors' Association, will address Smart Growth issues - his first public address bearing his new title.
Fairfax County's Web Site Taking Off
Fairfax County Government Chief Information Officer David Molchany unveiled the county's improved "government without walls, doors, or clocks" Web site Tuesday at the E-Gov2000 conference, an example of how local governments are moving its services online.
The county's Department of Information Technology, with a staff of 264 and a $57 million budget, maintains www.co.fairfax.va.us, where residents can pay taxes, access human resources guides and real estate assessment data, apply for county jobs, and more. The county also has 18 kiosks located throughout the state where similar transactions can take place, as well as a 24-hour integrated voice response hotline.
"E-government in Fairfax County, as well as the state of Virginia, is alive and well," Molchany said.
The site was created in June 1996 and has grown from approximately 600 HTML documents and an average of 8,000 visits per month to more than 15,000 HTML and PDF documents with more than one million visitors each month. More than 50 county agencies provide information on the Web site, which averages about 500,000 to one million hits per month. This past fiscal year, about 14,000 residents made $4.3 million in tax payments via the Web, and Mulchany said he expects even more will do so next year.
In the future, site users can expect schedules of county council meeting, inspection requests, access to status of permits and inspections, register and pay for classes and submit building permits. Mulchany said the state Department of Motor Vehicles has also expressed interest in having an interoperable system with the county site.
NGA Launches 'Education Clearinghouse'
Delaware Gov. Thomas Carper, D, chairman of the National Governors' Association Center for Best Practices, launched the group's first nationwide online education clearinghouse Monday where states can learn about other states' emerging practices and ideas which can help raise student achievement.
"The idea here is to encourage broad access," Carper said during a teleconference from the NGA annual summer conference in State College, PA, Monday. "Information will be for everyone who wants it."
The web-based initiative will enable governors, state governments and schools across the country to identify common best practices.
"I think the difference we have here is this is Web-based," Carper said. "It's more likely to be helpful to people on a daily basis that are dealing with real daily problems in our schools."
The NGA is looking to raise $1.5 million over the next five years to fund the project. It has raised $300,000 so far. The Educational Testing Service, General Motors, McGraw Hill and Prudential Insurance are some of the initial supporters.
NGA Targets 10
Ten states were chosen to participate in the NGA's Center for Best Practices State Entrepreneurial Initiative at the National Governors's Association's annual summer meeting in State College, PA, this week. Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Utah, Washington and Wyoming were selected by the NGA. The governors of those states will examine state policies, strategies and initatives over an 18-month period to foster rapid growth of new and innovative businesses. Many of the states' involvement will be coordinated with their respective state technology advisory council activities.
Governors Tout Telecommuting
The carless world of telecommuting was hailed by the nation's governors as a more efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way of doing business at the NGA conference this weekend.
Founder and CEO of Tmanage, Inc. Glenn Lovelace said the answer to keeping growth in check is not building more metros or highways, but "dollar for dollar, the best solution for smart growth, by far, is telecommuting."
In 1992, the Department of Transportation estimated that about $23 billion could be saved annually with a 25 percent increase in telecommuting. Although some companies are already encouraging telecommuting and boast higher productivity rates, greater employee job satisfaction and lower output costs, state governments should work with business to further encourage the practice, Lovelace said. "Cities and states can accelerate that growth by continuing what industry is already doing," he said.
Lovelace cited a recent Washington Post article which reported the number one requested benefit from information technology workers was telecommuting. Governors from Arizona, Kentucky, Wyoming and Massachusettes said they all had either informal or formal systems of telecommuting in place, but agreed that states need to further encourage it.
- by Liza Porteus
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