The Oregon Biz Report - Business News from Oregon

Microsoft defends email privacy in Fed. Court

NW software giant Microsoft is in federal court today over the privacy of emails.  The issue revolves around the protection of emails held outside U.S. borders and whether a US warrant can force access.  Below is a defense of email privacy by Brad Smith who represents general counsel for Microsoft.

By Brad Smith

Microsoft will oppose the U.S. government at a hearing in federal court in New York, arguing that it can’t force American tech companies to turn over customer emails stored exclusively in company data centers in other countries. This dispute should be important to you if you use email, because it could well turn on who owns your email—you or the company that stores it in the cloud. In December the government sent Microsoft a search warrant seeking a consumer’s emails as part of a narcotics investigation. While the company appreciates the vital importance of public safety, it seeks to ensure that governments access customers’ communications only through a valid legal process. In this case, the emails are stored in Dublin, Ireland, where Microsoft maintains a data center to service some of its customers outside the U.S.

Microsoft believes you own emails stored in the cloud, and that they have the same privacy protection as paper letters sent by mail. This means, in our view, that the U.S. government can obtain emails only subject to the full legal protections of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment. It means, in this case, that the U.S. government must have a warrant. But under well-established case law, a search warrant cannot reach beyond U.S. shores.

“Homesharing” no threat to cities, hotels

Cascade Policy Institute

By Everet Rummel, research associate

On July 2, the Portland City Council held a hearing on proposed amendments to the Zoning Code concerning short-term rentals. The council chambers were packed with citizens who support legalizing renting one or two bedrooms from a primary residence.

An emerging sector of many local economies is “homesharing,” or renting space in your home to strangers on a short-term basis, usually for a few nights. Smartphone apps such as Airbnb allow owners to list their homes for renters to see. Homesharing is controversial because it remains informal in most places and presents a challenge to the status quo of residential living and conventional hotels.

In Portland, homesharing falls under traditional bed and breakfast regulations. These may be too expensive for the typical homeowner short on cash, so many homesharers operate illicitly.

Ore. venture funding hits new high

By Technology Association of Oregon.

Hidden problems of Paid Sick Law

Dennis Morgan, Volunteer Executive Director
Healthy Communities Initiative (HCI)

Employers of all sizes understand that employees need time off to address personal or family health issues, which is why the vast majority of employers voluntarily offer generous paid leave benefits. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 83 percent of private sector employees have access to paid illness leave. At the same time, employers face economic realities and must balance leave benefits with other compensation offered to employees, such as wages and health benefits.

The Eugene Mandatory Sick Leave ordinance (EMSL) would mandate that all employers regardless of the number of employees provide a one-size-fits-all paid sick time mandate of up to 40 hours of paid sick time annually. A paid sick time mandate would limit an employer’s flexibility in designing a compensation and benefits package that meets the needs of their unique workforce, resulting in significant costs for employers as well as a potential loss to employees who prefer other benefits rather than paid sick time. Moreover, the EMSL seems to incorporate some of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) concepts that have caused the most significant problems for employers with respect to scheduling, including the ability to use this paid sick leave on an unscheduled basis, with little or no notice of an absence.

Increased costs and reduced flexibility are serious concerns for employers, but legislation such as the EMSL also raises other implementation concerns as outlined below.

Impact on Small Employers: This legislation represents an unprecedented expansion of employment mandates on small employers, applying to those with as few as 1 employee.

Big box stores pay more than mom-pop shops

Service dogs & workplace accommodation

By Bullard Law,
Portland law firm

ADA Dog Days – Service Animals and Reasonable Accommodation

Jimmy also relates (allow me some leeway here) to this week’s question in the (fictional) mailbag. Joe Barkley, the HR Manager at Big Towne Mall, is not sure how to respond to an employee who may be requesting reasonable accommodation or who may be looking for a way to bring his dog to work. Here is Joe’s question.

Ore. breaks beer record & leads nation

By Oregon Brewers Guild

The Oregon Brewers Guild announced that Oregonians bought more than 500,000 barrels of beer produced in Oregon in 2013, setting a new record in Oregon craft beer history and leading the U.S. in percentage of dollars spent on craft beer. Oregon’s breweries crafted a little more than 1,400,000 barrels of beer during 2013, an 8 percent increase from the previous year. Oregon employment figures continue to strengthen, with the state’s brewing companies adding more than 200 jobs in 2013 and directly employing more than 6,600 people.

“We live in a unique state where we have the largest number of breweries per capita and also the highest percentage of dollars spent on craft beer in the U.S.,” says Brian Butenschoen, executive director of the Oregon Brewers Guild. “Oregon is also a destination for beer tourists where in Bend, 40 percent of its visitors said visiting a brewery or doing the Ale Trail was something they did when they visited. We have a city that just launched the fourth Ale Trail in Oregon in Eugene with the Eugene Ale Trail. Hood River has a brewery for every 1,433 residents and Portland has more breweries than any other city in the world.”

Walden votes for permanent internet tax ban

Congressman Greg Walden & House pass Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act
Oregon Congressman Greg Walden,
Press Release

The Internet is possibly the most important technological advancement since the printing press. Governments’ hands off approach has enabled the internet to rapidly grow into a powerful engine for our economy.

At the beginning of the internet revolution, Congress passed a law preventing state and local governments from imposing taxes on internet access. That ban is scheduled to expire in November, though, and I don’t support opening the door to more internet taxation that would harm Oregon families and small businesses.

State AG sues 5-hour Energy Drink makers

By Oregon Department of Justice

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed a lawsuit against Living Essentials and Innovation Ventures, the makers of the energy drink 5-Hour ENERGY®. The lawsuit alleges that the companies repeatedly violated the Oregon Unlawful Trade Practices Act (UTPA) by making deceptive and misleading claims about their 5-hour ENERGY® products. The suit also alleges that the company used print, television, Internet and radio advertising to claim that 5-hour ENERGY® contains a unique blend of ingredients that provide consumers with energy, alertness and focus, when in reality the only ingredient that provides any effect is the concentrated dose of caffeine.