Internet usage is becoming ubiquitous among adults, with 87 percent of adults now using the Internet -- an 8 percentage point increase since 2010 -- said a Pew Research Center survey released Thursday (http://bit.ly/1hsQQUZ). Usage nearly reaches 100 percent among households earning $75,000 or more, adults ages 18-29 and those with college degrees, the survey found. Overall, Internet usage has grown from 46 percent in 2000, and 66 percent in 2006, Pew said. “The vast majority of users believe these technologies have made things better for them and for society,” said Pew Internet & American Life Project Director Lee Rainie. “They see problems, to be sure, but most have now brought technology so deeply into the rhythms of their lives that they say it would be very hard to give up.” Additionally, 68 percent of adults connect to the Internet through mobile devices. Pew’s survey was based on phone interviews with a representative sample of 1,006 U.S. adults Jan. 9-12. Princeton Survey Research Associates International conducted the interviews.

The Internet Freedom Act is up to 27 co-sponsors, all Republicans. House Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced HR-4070 earlier this month, with five co-sponsors then. It would prevent the FCC from reinstating any net neutrality rules, as it has said it plans to do. The co-sponsors include Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, a former House Commerce Committee chairman. The conservative advocacy group Citizens United announced support for the bill Thursday.

There are possibly more than 36,000 Internet pharmacies in operation, with many violating some federal laws, said a GAO report released Thursday (http://1.usa.gov/1kpU10k). Most of these companies are operating abroad, illegally shipping unapproved or counterfeit drugs to the U.S., said the report. The Department of Justice is often hampered by fact that these pharmacies are based overseas, but the Food and Drug Administration was able to take action against 1,677 rogue Internet pharmacy websites in 2013, the report said.

Nearly a quarter of European Internet users say their providers are blocking content, the European Commission said in a memo Thursday (bit.ly/1hWaTPb). The survey of 28,000 people across the EU found that: (1) 41 percent experience problems due to speed limitations or blocking with watching videos on mobile devices and 37 percent on fixed Internet connections at home. (2) 23 percent encounter problems with listening to music on mobile devices. (3) The same percentage experiences problems with uploading content on Facebook, blogs or forums through their mobile devices. (4) Nearly 20 percent have trouble playing online games at desktop computers. (5) 9 percent have trouble using VoIP. In addition, many users don’t know their Internet speed, and of those who do, around a quarter said their speed doesn’t match the terms of their contracts, the EC said. The findings reinforce a 2012 report by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications on net neutrality, it said. The commission’s proposed connected-continent regulation would end discriminatory blocking and throttling and ensure an open Internet, the EC said. A European Parliament vote on that measure was delayed Tuesday due to translation issues (CD Feb 26 p21).

European Parliament approval of an investment package for pan-European digital projects and high-speed broadband networks “will help transform everything from movie theatres to operating theatres; from our transport to our tourism industry,” said Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes in a statement Wednesday. The European Commission proposed the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) in 2011 as part of a multiyear funding program to support transport, energy and digital infrastructure projects, setting aside 9.2 billion euros ($12.6 billion) for CEF digital, of which 7 billion euros would support investment in high-speed broadband, the EC said. Last year, however, the Council reduced the CEF digital amount to 1 billion euros, forcing the EC to “fundamentally reorient its plans,” the EC said. The vote comes on top of political agreement on an EC-proposed e-identification regulation as well as a plan to cut the cost of broadband rollout, making it a “great week for the digital agenda, said Kroes.

Google’s request to seal documents in a civil suit accusing Google of violating wiretap laws by scanning Gmail messages “demonstrate[s] hypocrisy at the company’s core,” said Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project Director John Simpson in a Tuesday blog post (http://bit.ly/1hgF3dd). “Google is in the business of gathering data and making it public, often when people want to keep it private,” Simpson said. Google has argued information in the case might reveal trade secrets, and thus certain documents should be sealed, he said. “I think the reason is just Google’s reflexive secrecy about everything it does,” he said. A number of media organizations have filed an amicus brief with U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, arguing First Amendment rights should require the disclosure of all legal proceedings in the case. Oral arguments will be held Thursday at the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif.

Facebook and the GSM Association will try to bring Internet-based communication services to billions of people worldwide, they said Tuesday (http://prn.to/1jxpP3v). GSMA, which represents mobile operators such as AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, works with Facebook through their Internet.org partnership. Facebook revealed the start of Internet.org in August (CD Aug 22 p13) (http://bit.ly/1gzKsJJ), saying its goal was to bring Internet access to everyone in the world. The work with GSMA will help that, said it and Facebook. “While there are nearly 7 billion mobile connections worldwide, there are only 3.4 billion people that currently have mobile phones,” said GSMA Chief Regulatory Officer Tom Phillips. “Mobile will offer many around the world, particularly in emerging markets, their only access to the Internet and the information and communications services it enables."

To discuss the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) notice-and-takedown provisions, the Commerce Department’s Internet Policy Task Force, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and NTIA scheduled a forum March 20, in Alexandria, Va., said a Commerce announcement (http://bit.ly/MYXMPm). The forum will be on the Commerce Department’s green paper on copyright, and is one of series planned for “approximately every six weeks, alternating between the USPTO main campus and Silicon Valley, at a location to be announced,” it said. Other green paper items, such as remixes, first-sale doctrine and statutory damages, will be discussed at upcoming meetings, it said. The goal of the meetings is for stakeholders to arrive at an “agreed outcome” on the DMCA’s notice and takedown provisions “by the end of 2014,” it said. Statutory damages and the first-sale doctrine were points of contention at the last green paper forum in December (CD Dec 13 p11).

Attorney General Eric Holder urged Congress to pass legislation that would create “a strong, national standard” that would require companies to alert consumers when a data breach may have compromised their information. National requirements on data breach notification would aid ongoing law enforcement efforts and “would empower the American people to protect themselves” if they are at a heightened risk of identity theft, Holder said Monday in a video posted on the Justice Department’s website. The law should include an exemption for “harmless” data breaches to “avoid placing unnecessary burdens” on responsible businesses, Holder said (1.usa.gov/1fyydPq). In the wake of recent breaches at Michaels, Neiman Marcus and Target which exposed consumers’ information, Congress has been exploring legislation that would institute rules for data breach customer notification. Bills under consideration include the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act (S-1897), the Data Security Act (S-1927) and the Data Security and Breach Notification Act (S-1976). Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said in a statement that S-1976, which he introduced in late January, “would create this strong standard for notification when consumers’ personal information has been compromised. I know my colleagues understand how important it is to act urgently on data security legislation and I hope they work with me to pass this bill.” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a statement that he welcomes Holder “to the discussion on how to address this growing problem.” House Judiciary has been studying its own data breach proposals and has been collecting input through hearings and other consultations that analyze the issue “from various perspectives,” Goodlatte said. House Commerce Trade Subcommittee Chairman Lee Terry, R-Neb., said in a statement that Holder should concentrate on prosecuting “hacktivists,” saying “Congress does the hard work of drafting legislation through the committee process and not the Administration through weekly addresses on You Tube.” Terry said he has been calling for a federal data breach notification standard for months and plans to explore the issue again during a subcommittee hearing on the FTC set for Friday.

President Barack Obama needs to work with Congress to codify his Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights (CPBR) to strengthen the privacy protections of Americans, said a letter (http://bit.ly/1chdMSI) from 35 organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation and American Library Association, addressed to Obama. The letter was sent on the two-year anniversary of the Obama administration’s publication of its own CPBR (http://1.usa.gov/1lfWygZ), it said. “Americans today worry about retailers who lose their credit card information, intelligence agencies that gather their phone records, and data brokers that sell their family’s medical information to strangers,” it said. “We urge you to work with those in Congress who favor the privacy rights of Americans, who support updates to privacy law, and who understand why this issue is so critical to so many Americans,” it said.