eBay Main Street

Last week, eBay Inc., along with the Internet Association and other Internet companies, hosted Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Mark Doms to discuss the Commerce Department’s Data Strategic Plan. The Data Strategic Plan, released earlier this year by Commerce Secretary Pritzker, pledges to “improve government, business, and community decisions and knowledge by transforming Department data capabilities and supporting a data-enabled economy.”

Last week, Virginia small business owner, Jonathan Gonzales, wrote a letter to the editor of the Roanoke Times expressing his concern and frustration with the Senate passed Marketplace Fairness Act. If enacted into law, the Marketplace Fairness Act would require hundreds of thousands of small tech-enabled businesses, like Gonzales’, to collect and remit sales taxes for taxing jurisdictions across the country. It would also allow states to impose rules and regulations on businesses not located in their state.

Last week, Congressman Blake Farenthold (R-TX) introduced legislation that would protect the first sale doctrine for electronic devices and the software on those devices. The legislation, titled You Own Devices Act (YODA), simply states that if you want to sell, lease, or give away your device, the software that enables it to work is transferred along with it, and that any right you have to security and bug fixing of that software is transferred as well.

In June 2014, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a Request for Information related to mobile banking and financial management services. The CFPB was established by Congress to protect consumers by carrying out federal consumer financial laws. PayPal works closely with the CFPB on issues related to digital payments and mobile banking and responded to the CFPB’s Request for Information with a letter.

Speakers from eBay and PayPal were invited by Mal Brough MP, Federal Member for Fisher (located in Queensland) to keynote at the Future of Online Retail forum on the Sunshine Coast last week.

eBay Inc. Government Relations hosted the National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) 2014 Jobs Summit this week at the eBay Inc. North Campus in San Jose, CA. Steve Yankovich, VP of Innovation and Commerce at eBay Inc., introduced the new generation of retail, the future of commerce and what that means for local businesses to over 40 state legislators from around the country.

Brian Bieron, eBay Inc.’s Executive Director of Global Public Policy, will testify before the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing & Trade in a hearing entitled “Cross Border Data Flows: Could Foreign Protectionism Hurt U.S. Jobs?”

Brian Bieron, eBay Inc.’s Senior Director of Government Relations and Global Politics, recently spoke at tech event hosted by the Chamber of Industry, Commerce and Services (CIC) of Caxias do Sul, Brazil.

Yesterday, the Internet Association, a trade organization that represents the interests of the leading Internet companies, including eBay Inc., submitted additional comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the ongoing Open Internet or network neutrality debate.