Google’s most recent U.S. Transparency Report issued today underscores the glaring need for greater transparency and better due process by the U.S. government when it obtains information from companies on their customers. The Google report details the number of requests it received from U.S. law enforcement agencies about how customers have used the company’s services. It also details the number of [...]

It’s crunch time in Geneva this week.  We’ve reached a pivotal moment in the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) negotiations currently taking place in that global city, which is host of the World Trade Organization.  Negotiating teams and business stakeholders from around the world, including ITI’s John Neuffer, are there for the ninth time this year to move toward a commercially significant expansion [...]

Dateline GENEVA:  This is the ninth time this year negotiating teams from around the world have converged on the World Trade Organization (WTO) to expand product coverage of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA).  It’s by far the most important round of talks and the last one before the WTO ministers meet in Bali, Indonesia in early December, which has long been the target for completing an agreement.  [...]

Technology and innovation have broken through the industrial age’s barriers to commerce at a pace and degree unimaginable even to the entrepreneurs and inventors who ushered us into this extraordinary era.  The resulting progress has transformed how people around the world live, work, learn, and play.  We have left behind a more remote, siloed world and have progressed to a dynamic, interconnected [...]

ITI and its member companies are pleased that with tonight's Senate confirmations of new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Michael O'Rielly, the FCC is now at full strength. These confirmations could not come at a more critical time for our country and the tech industry.  We look forward to working with Chairman Wheeler and Commissioner O’Rielly on issues [...]

There’s no question that the revelations about U.S. government data collection and surveillance programs threaten the innovative vitality of the global digital economy, which means the restoration of public trust both in the U.S. government and the tech community is critical. At ITI, we have been working with the Obama Administration and leading members of Congress, and offering our recommendations [...]

Dateline Geneva:  The initiative to expand product coverage of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) took an important step forward this week, increasing the chances of getting an ambitious outcome this year.  If successful, this would represent the most commercially significant tariff reduction undertaking achieved by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the 17 years since the ITA was born. [...]

The revelations about U.S. government data collection and surveillance programs have profoundly damaged the credibility of the U.S. government with significant spill-over impact for the tech sector.  Restoring trust and stemming the damage will require a robust discussion on how to ensure that privacy and civil liberty considerations are appropriately addressed in connection with these programs. The [...]

As the Brazilian lower house of Congress, Camara de Deputados, prepares to vote on the Internet Framework bill, ITI joined a coalition of nearly 50 global business groups urging in a letter to congressional leaders to reconsider proposed in-country data storage requirements. The proposals come from the Rousseff Administration and aim to secure Brazilian citizens’ data in response to NSA surveillance [...]

Dateline Geneva:  After some soul-searching and hard work in key capitals around the world, talks to expand product coverage of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) have resumed this week in Geneva.  There are a few notable items to highlight as the talks get underway again after three months of being in suspension. For starters, as widely reported a week ago, the Chinese are returning to Geneva [...]