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Epic Games is behind North Dakota’s anti-App Store bill
Lobbyists working for Epic Games are behind North Dakota's anti-App Store bill.
North Dakota cops will be first in nation to use weaponized drones
North Dakota's Bill 1328 was supposed to be cut and dry. "In my opinion there should be a nice, red line: drones should not be weaponized. Period," Rep. Rick Becker (R-Bismarck), the bill's original sponsor, told a committee hearing back in March, per The Daily Beast. That was going to happen too, at least until an industry lobbying firm got involved. Now, law enforcement agencies in North Dakota are legally allowed to arm their UAVs with any manner of weapons, so long as they aren't "lethal".
Apple and Microsoft help form lobby group opposing attempts to kill software patents (update: not lobbying)
Few would object to legislative attempts to stop patent trolls in their tracks. However, several companies are worried these efforts might go too far -- enough so that they've formed their own US political lobby organization, the Partnership for American Innovation. The group, which includes tech giants Apple, GE, IBM and Microsoft, wants a "balanced" approach that reduces the volume of junk patents (and the resulting abuse) while letting companies file for software and biotech patents. The policy isn't surprising when these firms are trying to protect their cash cows. However, it also pits the Partnership's members squarely against firms like Netflix and Twitter, which argue that patents only get in the way. No matter what lawmakers do, it's now clear that they're going to get an earful from both sides. Update: Despite what it looks like at first glance, the Partnership is strictly a public advocacy group, not a lobby.
Snapchat hires Washington lobbyist after user database leak
For months, Snapchat ignored a security team's request to address a couple of security holes. That changed when SnapchatDB! posted users' partially obscured phone numbers, reportedly to raise awareness. That database leak prompted the startup to acknowledge the privacy breach, and, apparently, to get into the lobbyist game. According to The Hill, the company just hired Washington firm Heather Podesta + Partners to familiarize policymakers with how the app works, as the database leak led to calls for an FTC investigation. If nothing else, Snapchat seems to have landed a powerful ally in the political arena -- after all, Podesta was once described as "the number one person you need to know in Obama's Washington."
Activision hires lobbyists to advocate on Senate bill researching violence
Activision has hired a prominent lobbying group, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, to advocate on a Senate bill aimed at researching the impact of "violent" video games and programming on children. The lobbying registration form doesn't indicate Activision's position on the bill. The bill, S. 134: Violent Content Research Act, aims to have the National Academy of Sciences "study the impact of violent video games and violent video programming on children." The study would investigate whether there is a link between violent video games or programming and aggressive behavior. Singular to video games, it would study "whether current or emerging characteristics of video games have a unique impact on children, considering in particular video games' interactive nature and the extraordinarily personal and vivid way violence might be portrayed in such video games." This is a separate effort from President Barack Obama's executive order that the CDC research the causes of gun violence, with a specific mandate to study video games. The Violent Content Research Act was sent to the full Senate on July 30 and has yet to be raised for vote.
Google, Amazon, Facebook and more confirmed as members of the Internet Association
Pitching itself as the first trade alliance to represent the concerns of the online economy, the Internet Association lobbying group has just confirmed its member companies and policy platform. As suspected Amazon, Facebook, eBay, and Google are joined by other large tech firms, under the leadership of Capitol Hill advisor Michael Beckerman, to form the umbrella public policy organization. Citing its three main areas of focus as protecting internet freedom, fostering innovation and economic growth, and empowering users, the Internet Association will represent regulatory and political interests of its member companies, and their employees. There is no word on what the first freedom or innovation to benefit from the associations collaborative-clout will be, but while we wait to find out, you can lobby on the source link for the Mission- and Purpose-statement containing press release.
Internet Association to lobby Washington, may tout Amazon, Facebook, Google among its ranks
Political lobbying is often a mixed bag at best. Still, there's a cautious amount of optimism surrounding the Internet Association, a soon-to-start lobbying group that plans to advocate for an "open, innovative and free" internet among US politicians. The unsurprising (if well-intentioned) aim is to prevent another SOPA or PIPA with more formal opposition than even the Internet Defense League can manage. Who'll be pulling the strings is nebulous -- officially, the Association will only say that former Congressional staff director Michael Beckerman is at the helm until a formal September 19th launch. That internet openness must extend to some very leaky representatives, however, as the National Journal, AFP and Reuters all claim that Amazon, eBay, Facebook and Google are charter members. None of them are talking on the record; we certainly wouldn't be shocked if the roster is real, knowing how much Google and other partners have fought takedown laws that would bypass much of the normal legal system. We're hoping that whatever manifests a genuinely rational counterbalance to media and telecom influences that often aren't very interested in protecting internet-only business models or due process.
FBI reportedly pressing for backdoor access to Facebook, Google
Investigators at the FBI supposedly aren't happy that social networks like Facebook or Google+ don't have the same kind of facility for wiretaps that phones have had for decades. If claimed industry contacts for CNET are right, senior staff at the bureau have floated a proposed amendment to the 1994-era Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) that would require that communication-based websites with large user bases include a backdoor for federal agents to snoop on suspects. It would still include the same requirement for a court order as for phone calls, even if US carriers currently enjoy immunity for cooperating with any warrantless wiretapping. As might be expected, technology firms and civil liberties advocates like the Electronic Frontier Foundation object to deepening CALEA's reach any further, and Apple is thought to be preemptively lobbying against another definition of the law that might require a government back channel for audiovisual chat services like FaceTime or Skype. The FBI didn't explicitly confirm the proposal when asked, but it did say it was worried it might be "going dark" and couldn't enforce wiretaps. [Image credit: David Drexler, Flickr]
EVE Online CSM explains its power and the limits thereof
EVE Online boasts a wide variety of players, many of whom happily go their own way in the vastness of New Eden with nary a thought as to the power struggles, machinations, and celebrated conflicts that garner headlines for CCP's space-based MMORPG on a regular basis. So when hardcore EVE players debate the pros and cons of the newly elected Council of Stellar Management (CSM), newer or more casual denizens of EVE could be forgiven if they were to say, in effect, the pros and cons of whom? A new letter from the CSM aims to demystify its purpose (and the limits of its power). CCP Diagoras recently posted the letter on the official EVE website, and the piece shares the collective opinion of all nine council members on everything from time dilation and lag issues to developer communication and two "ugly truths" about the council. First up is the fact that "CCP is under no obligation to interact with the CSM outside of the strict confines of the CCP/CSM summits." Also noteworthy is the council's take on its power relative to actual game implementations. "There is no explicit power behind any player-initiated legislation approved by the CSM." Why assemble the group at all, then? Read the rest of the dev blog to find out.
Apple hired lobbying firm in February
The LA Times says Apple has slowly begun hiring more lobbyists in Washington, D.C. to protect its interests as it has grown from a niche player to one of the tech sector's biggest powerhouses. Apple has traditionally placed little reliance on lobbyists, but in February of this year, Apple contracted the services of the high-powered Washington lobbying firm of Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock. The move comes as Apple has grown from a company worth $2.5 billion in 2003 to a behemoth with $300 billion in market capitalization, and from $37.5 billion in sales in FY2008 to $65.2 billion in FY2010. Accordingly, the company has tripled its lobbying expenses in that time to $1.6 million. The move for more pull in Washington comes as Apple is increasingly coming under the microscope of antitrust issues, primarily regarding the iTunes Music Store, the App Store and the iBooks Store. [Apple's lobbying expenditures are quite small in comparison to US cell carrier partners AT&T and Verizon; each telco spent more than $15 million on lobbying in 2010. The highest lobbying bill for an individual corporation belonged to Pacific Gas & Electric last year, which spent more than $45 million. -Ed.] Last year a clause in Apple's iOS SDK spurred an an antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over anticompetitive measures regarding the banning of the porting of software originally written for Adobe's Flash, Sun's Java or Microsoft's Silverlight/Mono to the iPhone OS. Also, just last month Steve Jobs was ordered to give a deposition relating to monopolistic behavior over the iPod and the iTunes Store back in 2004. Besides Apple, Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock represents other powerful companies, including the NFL Players Association, BP America, UnitedHealth Group and the Recording Industry Association of America.
Apple, others lobby for tax holiday
Fortune is reporting that Apple is one of many major multinational corporations that are banding together to lobby the US government for a one-year "tax holiday" on foreign cash that is repatriated back to the country. At the present time, repatriated cash is taxed at a 35 percent rate. The companies, which include Cisco, Duke Energy, Pfizer and many others in addition to Apple, are looking for a one-year window in which the rate would drop to 5 percent. Cisco CEO John Chambers has advocated the idea for years, saying that allowing the cash to be repatriated at a lower rate would stimulate investment in the US and allow shareholders to reap the rewards of their investments in the form of higher dividends (note: Apple does not pay shareholder dividends). These companies currently have about US$1 trillion in cash parked overseas, and bringing that money home at a lower tax rate would be expected to have a positive effect on the US economy. A previous tax holiday in 2004 didn't necessarily result in new investment, but it did create an increase in shareholder payouts of between 60 and 92 cents for every dollar repatriated. Lobbyists for the group are expected to try to attempt to have the repatriation tax become part of any corporate tax reform bill that Congress tries to pass this year. [via Barrons]
ESA partners with Microsoft & Sony for STEM initiative, launches game creation competitions
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the game industry lobby group, today announced two new game creation contests meant to support President Obama's STEM initiative (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math studies). A partnership between the ESA, Microsoft, Sony, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC), and the MacArthur Foundation will help to fund and run a series of STEM-related game design competitions. Details of the first two competitions – "Game Changers" and the less creatively titled "STEM National Video Game Competition" – are scant at the moment, though the former will involve Sony donating 1,000 PS3s and copies of LittleBigPlanet to libraries and community-based organizations in low-income districts, with plans to share the winning levels free to the gaming public. When asked, an ESA representative told Joystiq that more information would be revealed in "the coming weeks."
