July 2012                                                                            Find us on Facebook View our profile on LinkedIn Follow us on Twitter Visit our blog

Senate Commerce Committee Eyes Privacy,
Cyber Security Legislation Gaining Traction

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The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has held two hearings in the last three months regarding privacy legislation. The first, in May, examined perspectives from the Administration and the FTC around the need for baseline privacy legislation. The second hearing, less than two weeks ago, investigated whether industry self-regulatory programs could do enough to protect consumer privacy.

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Supreme Court to Review Copyright First Sale Case
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The United States Supreme Court recently accepted review of a case concerning the scope of the "first sale" doctrine of copyright law, which generally allows resale of lawfully purchased copyrighted works. The specific issue raised by the case is whether works manufactured abroad are subject to the first sale doctrine.

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USPS Loses $2 Billion in May, While Research Shows Improved Delivery
House to vote on legislation in late July
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While the U.S. Postal Service has lost $10.1 billion year-to-date, total mail volume was up 1.1% from last year, and total revenue was up 3% over the year-earlier period. Meanwhile, The House of Representatives is scheduled to take up postal reform legislation at the end of July.

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Behavioral Advertising Industry Self-Regulation
ABM logo smallStill Under Attack at Three-Year Mark


The advertising industry's self-regulatory plan for online behavioral advertising, announced with great fanfare on July 2, 2009, continues to draw attacks from several sides, even as its proponents claim great success in the program's launch and acceptance. Proponents and opponents of the plan testified at a recent congressional hearing.

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White House Seeks Public Input on IP Enforcement

On June 25 Victoria Espinel, the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, posted a blog requesting public input on the Administration's new strategy aimed at improving the effectiveness of its efforts to protect U.S. intellectual property both domestically and overseas.

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PostalVision Offers Six Growth Strategies for USPS

Last month's PostalVision conference, held in Washington, D.C. by consultancy Ursa Major Associates, looked at the role of the Postal Service in the digital arena. Attendees included digital companies, USPS representatives, Postal labor unions, customers and service providers across all classes of mail.

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ABM logo smallFTC Action Against 'Data Broker' Based on Credit Reporting Act Violations

Regulation of "data brokers" was one of the FTC's recommendations in its major report on privacy in March. But what does the FTC mean by "data brokers?" And, most importantly to ABM members, does that concern extend to business-to-business data collections?

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Web Privacy Census May, or May Not, Reveal Concerns

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, who also campaign for legislation protecting consumer privacy rights, released a study recently that purports to show more intrusions into the privacy of Internet users. But the study results may not really support the authors' claim of increasing privacy intrusions.

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