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Below is the final installment of our FTC staffer’s report from the Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. Feel free to comment on this entry!

The third day of the Web 2.0 summit emphasized the Internet’s role in facilitating social interaction. The focus will be providing consumers with the tools needed to interact and share information easily, whether through social networking websites, video and music sharing platforms, news stories, or email. Also, speed is paramount to Internet users, even if it means less information. Marissa Mayer of Google discussed research showing that speed correlates with increased use of Google’s services. Google therefore provides information to users in small, fast interactions. She predicts that the “need for speed” will drive innovations in browser support and mobile.

Another focus is “harnessing the collective intelligence” of consumers using Web 2.0 services. For example, when increases in spam occur, some web sites tap into the experiences of their users to identify spam and protect against it.

Sun Microsystems is exploring how digital rights management (DRM) technologies can benefit consumers, not just business. It is developing ways in which consumers can use DRM to protect their information. For example, a consumer could use DRM to restrict access to her health information.
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The Tech-ade Technology Pavilion drew many visitors throughout the hearings. The Tech Pavilion was held across the street from the Lisner Auditorium, in the Cloyd Heck Marvin Center at George Washington University and included vendors of “next Tech-ade” products.

Microsoft gave a computer demonstration of their soon-to-be-released digital music player, Zune, which is an MP3 player similar to Apple’s iPod.

TiVo, Inc. showcased its interactive product, a digital recording system that allows the user to input preferences, such as an actor or a television show, to record them for playback later on.

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A few weeks ago, we provided members of the public with an opportunity to ask Richard Gingras, CEO of Goodmail Systems, any questions they might have regarding email authentication issues. Goodmail is an email authentication service that certifies companies with legitimate email practices. Authentication, which involves verifying the digital identity of a user, has become a crucial component to keeping the web safe and secure as a global marketplace.

We received one comment but no questions, so we asked Mr. Gingras to answer some questions that we thought might interest the public. You can read his responses to those questions, and to the public comment we received, below. Please let us know your thoughts on this topic by submitting a comment in the box below this entry!

1. Can you describe how Goodmail fits into the email authentication universe?

The Need for Email Authentication

“Email authentication” means assuring the identity of a sender, something that is surprisingly difficult in the world of email. Email authentication is the first step in stopping spam and its fraudulent cousin, “phishing.” Today, the only positive identification of the source of an email is the IP (Internet Protocol) address, a series of numbers designating a machine’s location on the Internet.

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And now for a summary of the second day of the Web 2.0 Conference. Please feel free to comment about any of the content.

During the course of the second day at the Web 2.0 Summit a fragmented set of consumer-related issues arose. Amazon is offering new business services that capitalize on its acquired intelligence and efficiencies. First, Amazon provides computing and storage services to clients, which enables them to scale to capacity (up or down ) in minutes. In addition, Amazon handles product fulfillment services on a variable cost basis – a “pay as you go” model. Generally, Amazon’s new services will significantly lower costs and time for starting Internet-related and other businesses, which is great for the market, but also could be misused by some to quickly perpetrate fraud. (more…)

The following is an entry from an FTC staffer who represented the agency this week in San Francisco, at the Web 2.0 Conference, which dealt with many of the same subjects that the FTC took up in the Tech-ade Hearings. Below is a summary of Day 1 of the Conference.

On November 7, the first day of the Web 2.0 Summit advertisers showcased how interactive media is changing their marketing to consumers, some companies talked about giving consumers more control of their data, and many expressed concern that the telephone and cable companies would restrict their access to the Internet. (more…)

Katie Harrington-McBride, the Coordinator of the Tech-ade Hearings moderated the closing remarks from Lydia Parnes, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC and Tamás Andrés Molnár, Head of Unit DG SANCO at the European Commission.

Parnes said that what struck her from listening to the hearings is how important continued consumer education will be. Acknowledging that consumers can be increasingly savvy, Parnes added that many people are “overwhelmed,” and some people are being “priced-out” of accessing the new technologies. Furthermore, “consumer protection is international, there is no doubt about it.” (more…)

Teresa Schwartz, the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor Emeritus of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School, was the moderator for the last panel of the Tech-ade Hearings, a discussion about how consumers are viewing new and rapid technological developments.

Jo Reed, National Coordinator for Livable Communities and Consumer Issues in Federal Affairs at the AARP, said that though older people are not as plugged in online as other populations, they are one of the fastest growing segments of the online population. The older population will be one of the most affected by privacy and security problems and have a great interest in protecting themselves online.

Next, Susan Grant, Vice President of Public Policy at the National Consumers League, said that the Hearings reminded her that “sometimes technology controls us and not the other way around.” The Hearings pose the question of how consumers should take control of privacy and security online without having to navigate compex policy and legal disclosures. Much of what consumers do with existing technology is not covered by the law, Grant said. (more…)

The first panel of the afternoon began with a video of consumers talking about how well they trust blogs and other websites. Those interviewed seemed to suggest that they liked to understand who was publishing the views on the website to establish that person’s credibility.

Carolyn Shanoff, Associate Director of the Division of Consumer and Business Education in the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC, moderated the first half of the panel.

William Strauss, Partner at LifeCourse Associates and co-author with Neil Howe of “Generations,” “The Fourth Turning,” “Millennials Rising,” and “Millennials and the Pop Culture,” began with an overview of the “Millennial” generation. He believes that today’s teens have a rising interest in the political culture and civic bodies. Attention to safety concerns and protection from the outside world have been part and parcel of the Millennials’ experience. Levels of achievement with this generation are rising, said Strauss. He believes that contrary to the assumption that the Millennials are tuned out, “these young people are more engaged and involved in interaction” than the older generations understand. Teenagers have gone from the least trusting age bracket in our society to the most trusting, and they trust the government more than their elders.

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Commissioner William Kovacic began the second panel with a talk on how regulators should react in the face of increased product complexity. Such complexity poses challenges for the policy process, which tends to move slowly, said Kovacic. Market dynamism requires that an agency like the FTC keep abreast of technological changes and develop its own research and policymaking capacity. The agency also needs new policies to aid in its ability to fight new fraud. The Internet in particular has made fraud cheaper, said Kovacic, and therefore requires more enforcement and knowledge on the part of relevant government agencies.

Deirdre Mulligan of University of Calilfornia Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law moderated the New Products–New Challenges panel. The panel covered Digital Content–Access and Security and “Obsolescence,” the shift from analog to digital television. (more…)

Elliot Burg, Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection and Public Protection Division in the Vermont Office of the Attorney General moderated the first panel in the morning, about new devices and systems for making payments in the next Tech-ade.

Dr. Jean Hogarth, Program Manager in the Consumer Education and Research Section in the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board started with an overview of new payment systems. She said that by 2005, 90% of consumers used some sort of plastic–credit card, debit card, etc.–to pay for purchases, that there has been a rise in online banking, a rise of third party pay systems, and a rise in usage of the speed passes and easy passes for subways and tollbooths. Do we need a different set of consumer protections for such easy pass cards, Hogarth asked, especially in the case of “unclaimed funds.”

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