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Useless But Compelling Facts – August 2011

The amazingly talented Barbra Joan Streisand is a singer, actress, film producer and director, and is among a very few and select group of entertainment professionals who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and a Tony Award. She has also won an award from the American Film Institute and a Peabody Award. Further, Ms. Streisand has been married twice – you’ll have to look up the names if you don’t know. But that’s not the question this time.

One motion picture stars both of the men Ms. Streisand has married, both her prior and her current husband. No, you can’t make this up. Name the motion picture and both of these men.

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The State of Cloud Computing Can Be Taxing – Want to Understand Why?

Back in June 2010 – more than a year ago – we announced the launch of a new Rimon initiative focusing on Cloud Computing (see ‘Transcending the Cloud’ – Rimon Announces White Paper Series & Legal Initiative on Cloud Computing),showcased with a series of individual and topical white papers, in time being compiled into a comprehensive work entitled, “Transcending the Cloud: A Legal Guide to the Risks and Rewards of Cloud Computing.” As most of you know, this brave new world, with new providers, new economic models, new access plans, and broadened capabilities, has grown, and over the past year we have released nine individual white papers, with more on the horizon and updates to existing papers as the legal and technology environments evolve. One of the first in our series was a paper on the state tax implications of cloud computing entitled: “Pennies From Heaven.”

Just letting you know our State Tax Practice is hosting a Rimon teleseminar on recent developments in state taxation on the subject, and you can view the invitation and sign up through the registration link on the invitation. Just head to: “Clouds, Codes and Crunching Numbers: An Update on Current State Multi-State Tax Development and Trends in the Taxation of Electronic Goods and Services” and sign up today!

Of course, make sure you subscribe via email or get the Legal Bytes RSS Feed so you are always in touch with our latest information; and if you have any questions about our Cloud Computing initiative or need help, feel free to contact me, Joe Rosenbaum, or the Rimon attorney with whom you regularly work. We are happy to help.

John Lennon

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy.’ They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”

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Let’s be Frank! Actually, Let’s Be Dodd-Frank. Can You Hear Me Now?

Financial institutions need to worry about Dodd-Frank (the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act). After all, “Wall Street,” “Reform” and “Consumer Protection” don’t exactly conjure up images of phone, gas and electric lines being inspected and regulated by auditors wearing suits and carrying briefcases.

If you have been a loyal Legal Bytes reader, you probably know the next line:

Well guess what?

A section of the Dodd-Frank Act amended a section of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the “FCRA”). The amendment, which becomes effective today, July 21, 2011, requires that anyone who issues a risk-based pricing notice to a consumer (a notice required when a credit report and credit score are used in connection with the extension of credit to a consumer) must now include the applicant’s credit score directly in or with the notice. So when a company sends you a notice under the FCRA in order to comply with the requirements of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”), it needs to tell consumers it has used a credit report, “a record of your credit history” and “information about whether you pay your bills on time and how much you owe creditors.”

Public utilities, telecommunications companies and many others use credit scoring models, and even though these may not be based on your general credit history, the FTC is now taking the position that these companies are subject to the provisions of Dodd-Frank, and credit scores must be disclosed to the consumer.

Hey, don’t take my word for it. Read the entire Rimon Client Alert [PDF] authored by our experts: Roberta G. Torian in Philadelphia, Robert M. Jaworski in Princeton and Mark F. Oesterle in Washington, D.C. Then you will see how really complicated it is and can call them for help.

Of course, you can always contact me or the Rimon attorney with whom you regularly work, if you have any questions or require legal counsel or assistance.

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Useless But Compelling Facts – July 2011

We are trying to make this a bit more difficult, so bear with me.

Now, suppose you were visiting the village of Pueblito de Allende in the State of Chihuahua in Mexico, and went out for dinner with some friends February 7, 1969. Suppose you finished up a leisurely meal after 1 a.m. and thought about going back home from the restaurant. What might have made you reconsider and stay indoors?

As an added treat, we are offering a bonus question for you serious UBCF fans. So tell me, what’s so special about July 12, 2011? Now, when we say Legal Bytes is global, that’s just peanuts compared with something that is universal, or at least is a happening event in our Solar System – and that’s the only hint you’ll get.

Polybius

“Those who know how to win are much more numerous than those who know how to make proper use of their victories.”

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ICONfusion Creeps Into Interactive Advertising Awareness

Earlier this week, ClickZ reported that the improper use of the Digital Advertising Alliance’s behavioral icon

is threatening to dilute the self-regulatory effectiveness of its campaign to educate consumers on the risks of online behavioral advertising, and enable them to make an informed judgment in seeking to control the use of their browsing behavior across multiple websites. Legal Bytes has previously reported the initial development and launch, as well as the growing acceptance of the industry’s self-regulatory efforts (just search us for “behavioral advertising” or follow the links through any of our prior posts – e.g., Self-Regulatory Ad Industry Effort Continues to Drive Forward). While the icon has gained wide acceptance as part of the advertising industry’s self-regulatory initiative (See Advertising Industry Collaboration Releases Self-Regulatory Online Behavioral Advertising Principles), using it inappropriately or inaccurately may cause consumers to be more confused, rather than educated.

You might be tempted to argue that if advertising that does not involve behavioral information nonetheless includes the DAA icon, what’s the harm? However, if the objective is to educate consumers about the distinctions in how their information is collected and used by advertisers, agencies, network publishers, browser publishers and others in the interactive ecosystem, confusion fuels the concerns already raised by consumer advocacy groups, regulators and lawmakers alike – and that’s counterproductive.

The good news is that the industry campaign to stimulate adoption of the self-regulatory guidelines and the inclusion of the icon in relevant advertising is gaining momentum – a sign the industry can and will police and regulate itself. Innocent mistakes in the name of compliance are certainly better than abuse or ignorance, so let’s not be too quick to throw stones. That said, as consumers increasingly see the icon and begin to appreciate, and take advantage of, the self-regulatory efforts, it behooves the industry to do a better job of making sure the educational component is consistent and not ICONfusing!

As always, if you need more information about the advertising industry’s self-regulatory initiative, advice regarding compliance, or legal help in understanding the dynamic and ever-changing environment of online and mobile interactive advertising, marketing and privacy, call me, Joseph I. (“Joe”) Rosenbaum, or any of the Rimon attorneys with whom you regularly work – our lawyers deal with these issues every day.

Will Rogers 1879-1935

“Alexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing, and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even.”

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Google and the FTC

An Open IMHO Letter to Google

Dear Google:

I’ve heard that the FTC has served you with a civil investigative demand in connection with your search-advertising business. They have raised the question as to whether your search engine technology pushes consumers to your other services in a manner that is unfair to your competition.

Now the FTC will try to determine if your market power is dominant because your practices are unfair and whether consumers are harmed, either directly or by not having competitive choices in the marketplace. Of course, the FTC has taken into account the complaints of your competitors. That is significant because I’ve heard a rumor that companies rarely try to incite trouble for their competitors at a regulatory agency.

So what happens next? Senior executives scramble. Lawyers do research and prepare briefs. Finance people set up cost centers and budgets. Evidence is gathered. Experts are retained. Distraction will be pervasive, invasive, consistent and persistent – until a settlement is reached. It won’t be pretty. It won’t be fun. It never is. But it’s here and at least the sword of Damocles is not hovering above. The issues will be confronted and the scope will be expanded – government always uses what it finds as a basis for going farther than originally planned (it’s great leverage). Then the serious business of trying to reach an accord will begin.

This isn’t about winning or losing. It’s about making a point. But it’s de facto, a recognition that you are thriving at what you do and have grown large and successful as a result. True, this action is probably not the recognition you prefer, but when the government wants everyone to believe you might be too big, too dominant, too much in control at the expense of competition and the detriment of consumers, the target is painted on you and it’s just a question of how much pain is inflicted before a settlement is reached.

Now I am not an economist or a market dominance expert, I’m a lawyer and blogger; but I thought I might help out by offering some observations you can bring to the attention of the FTC that might give the government (maybe others in the industry and even your competitors), pause to question whether their analysis, their efforts, their investigation, is correct or necessary. I’ve taken the liberty of including an attachment to this letter (see Attachment A) that provides some tips. Feel free to use them and tell your lawyers to back them up with lots of research and briefs – those are always impressive and useful.

Sincerely,

Joe Rosenbaum at Legal Bytes.

P.S. If your people end up spending hours, days and months with government regulators, working through lunches, late nights pouring over documents, huddled around conference tables, it may give you an opportunity to point the officials to their next target. You know who.

P.P.S. Feel free to use these and other quotes from the FTC if you like:

“And, as the information industry is still emerging, quite dynamic, and not yet well understood, plausible efficiency benefits should, perhaps, weigh heavily in the balance against asserted risks of decreased competition, especially when the technology is changing so fast that adverse effects on competition are likely to be transitory.”

“Antitrust and Technology: What’s On The Horizon?” Prepared Remarks of Federal Trade Commissioner Christine A. Varney, before the American Society of Association Executives, Legal Symposium, Washington, D.C., October 6, 1995

“A less confrontational approach suggests that because of the robust pace of innovation in high-tech industries, government should not intervene ‘unless certain that doing so will benefit consumers and the economy.’ (See, Priest, The Law and Economics of U.S. v. Microsoft, AEI Newsletter, August 1998).” Antitrust Analysis in High-Tech Industries: A 19th Century Discipline Addresses 21st Century Problems, Prepared Remarks of Robert Pitofsky, Chairman, Federal Trade Commission, to the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law’s Antitrust Issues in High-Tech Industries Workshop, February 25-26, 1999, Scottsdale, Arizona

You really need to see Attachment “A” so if it isn’t already displayed, point whichever browser you are using and click the “Continue Reading” text on the left below.

Continue reading “Google and the FTC”

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Useless But Compelling Facts – May 2011 Answer

Our last UBCF quiz asked you to identity each of the following U.S. presidents and the year involved in response to a series of "first" questions. Here are the answers:

(a) The first to have his inauguration photographed: JAMES BUCHANAN in 1857

(b) The first inauguration to be recorded by a movie camera: WILLIAM McKINLEY in 1897 (watch it on YouTube.)

(c) The first inauguration to be aired on radio: CALVIN COOLIDGE in 1925

(d) The first inauguration to be televised: HARRY S. TRUMAN in 1949

(e) The first inauguration to be televised in color: JOHN F. KENNEDY in 1961

Kudos to Samuel J. Dressler for not only getting them all right, but giving us an ‘extra credit’ or bonus round tidbit . .The first inaugural website: BILL CLINTON in 1997! Thank you.