The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s recent draft measures on China-based domain names “run contrary to China’s stated commitments toward global” multistakeholder Internet governance “as well as its stated goals for economic reform,” said NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling and State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary-Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs Daniel Sepulveda in a joint blog post Monday. The draft measures, originally released in March, would require all China-based domain names to be registered through government-licensed service providers that have established a domestic presence and “would impose additional stringent regulations on the provision of domain name services,” Sepulveda and Strickling said. “Whether driven by a motivation to increase control over Internet content in China or a desire to increase the quantity of Chinese-registered domain names, these regulations would contravene policies that have been established already at the global level by all Internet stakeholders (including Chinese). If put into effect, these regulations would have potentially large and negative repercussions for everyone.” The U.S. and other pro-multistakeholder Internet governance stakeholders have raised formal concerns about the draft measures, particularly a provision that some have interpreted as meaning “all websites with domain names registered outside China will be blocked, thereby cutting off Chinese Internet users from the global Internet,” Sepulveda and Strickling said. “While Chinese authorities have clarified that the intent of the article would be to prohibit access to Chinese-registered domain names that are acquired from registries/registrars that are not in compliance with Chinese regulations, concerns remain that the language in its current form is vague and open to differing interpretations.” The U.S. is also concerned about provisions that would force data localization and real-name verification for domain name registration, Sepulveda and Strickling said. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and two other GOP senators skeptical of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority repeatedly have raised concerns in recent months about ICANN’s engagement with China given the country’s track record on Internet governance issues (see 1602040061, 1603030067 and 1604040056). ICANN Board Chairman Steve Crocker told the senators last month that ICANN’s engagement with China “does not suggest any level of support for the nation’s government or its policies” (see 1604070033).

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition is on schedule to finish by year's end, though NTIA still is evaluating whether ICANN's bylaws changes are satisfactory, with its report on the transition likely coming in early June, NTIA head Larry Strickling said Saturday at the FCBA annual seminar. ICANN is making changes to its bylaws now, even before that report is issued, he said, and, assuming NTIA has no serious concerns, the U.S./ICANN contract could end in September. If that happens, he said, "for the most part no one will notice anything different," though it would be symbolically important. The Commerce Department this fall will put out a set of IoT-promoting policy recommendations and observations as the next step after the request for comment in which it's engaged (see 1604060030), said Angie Simpson, NTIA deputy assistant secretary. Simpson said numerous agencies outside Commerce will be looking at that report, and it might lead to a number of workshops or a multistakeholder process. "We're really trying to get our arms around what this means to folks," she said. While the NTIA's $4 billion broadband grant program is largely complete and no further funding is seen anytime soon, the agency could have a larger role in the future in working with localities on broadband matters, Strickling said. Through its Broadband USA program of technical assistance, publications and community connectivity efforts, NTIA has been trying to develop "digital skills" within communities lacking access to infrastructure or those skill sets, NTIA Chief of Staff Glenn Reynolds said. Meanwhile, its Broadband Opportunity Council is "a way ... to be scrappy and tenacious" and partner up with agencies that have resources NTIA doesn't and use those to leverage broadband connectivity, Simpson said. Individual Opportunity Council efforts, such as working with the Interior Department on improving tribal access to broadband, are "on the margins ... [but] combined they can have tremendous impact," Reynolds said. He also said the model cities public notice being worked on with the FCC is "very close" to completion.

Industry can and should self-regulate on cybersecurity matters, with government's role being to provide incentives in the form of tax breaks or liability limits, said Jamie Barnett, part of Venable's cybersecurity practice, on a cybersecurity panel at the FCBA annual seminar Saturday. Multiple speakers said industry trust of government is difficult when data breaches are often followed by rulemaking or enforcement actions. "The FBI shows up, Secret Service shows up, they want to help," Barnett said. "Then six months on, the Enforcement Bureau knocks on the door and they are not perceived as so helpful by the carrier. Is government going to be on the side of companies as they try to defend? Or is government going to be criticizing companies? As long as government wants to be on both ends, it becomes very difficult to work with them." Megan Brown, a leader of Wiley Rein's Cybersecurity, Data and Network Security practice, agreed existing constructs are too adversarial. The next FCC administration has to figure out a means of getting industry comfortable with government collaboration on cybersecurity issues, she said. Brown said government wants companies to be candid with it in talks about cybersecurity threats, but "it's treacherous" and there are big questions about where that information subsequently could end up. The New York Attorney General's Office floated the idea of immunity that would come from meeting certain standards that are signed off on by a third party, but regulatory minimums can create a compliance mindset of meeting that minimum and nothing beyond, Brown said. Barnett also advocated creating a federal Department of Communications and Cyberspace, combining NTIA and the Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity directorate. "Most nations have a ministry of communications," he said, though he said it would likely take a major cybersecurity breach before that would happen. Edward McNicholas, co-head of Sidley Austin's Privacy, Data Security and Information Law practice, said the insurance market could play a vital role in cybersecurity, but there's no good reinsurance market yet. Unlike standard directors and officers liability policies, cybersecurity policies vary considerably and the insurance market needs to be able to compare cybersecurity practices across companies, he said.

U.S. census data shows Americans are increasingly limiting online activity due to security and privacy concerns such as identity theft, NTIA policy analyst Rafi Goldberg wrote in a blog post Friday. Analysis of the data collected in July by the Census Bureau showed people's negative personal experiences are undermining online trust, he said. "Nineteen percent of Internet-using households -- representing nearly 19 million households -- reported that they had been affected by an online security breach, identity theft, or similar malicious activity during the 12 months prior to the July 2015 survey" of more than 41,000 households, he wrote. Identity theft topped respondents' concerns (63 percent), followed by credit card or banking fraud (45 percent), data collection or tracking by online services (23 percent), loss of control over personal data (22 percent), government data collection or tracking (18 percent), and threats to personal safety (13 percent), he wrote. NTIA said 45 percent of online households say "these concerns stopped them from conducting financial transactions, buying goods or services, posting on social networks, or expressing opinions on controversial or political issues via the Internet, and 30 percent refrained from at least two of these activities." Goldberg said NTIA's initial analysis "only scratches the surface" and policymakers need to better grasp this mistrust "and the resulting chilling effects," which could affect economic activity and the free exchange of ideas online.

As Facebook faces congressional inquiries into allegations that one of its website features is biased against conservative content, Vice President-Global Operations Justin Osofsky in a Thursday blog post sought to shed more light on how the Trending Topics module works (see 1605100032 and 1605110048). He said an algorithm, not people, identifies popular topics, "ones that have a high volume of mentions and a sharp increase in mentions over a short period of time." The algorithm also uses an external RSS website crawler to spot breaking news, but it doesn't "consider perspective or politics" and has checks and balances regardless of a story's ideological slant, he said. Then there is a team of Facebook employees who review the algorithm's results, he said. The team confirms the topic is tied to a current real-world news event, writes a topic description, applies a category label such as sports or science, and checks whether it's a national or international breaking news story covered by most or all of 10 major media outlets, Osofsky said. The list of Trending Topics is then personalized for each user through an algorithm based on several criteria. "Not everyone sees the same topics at the same time," he wrote. The social network's guidelines don't "permit the suppression of political perspectives" nor prioritize one viewpoint over another, and the company hasn't directed any reviewers to suppress conservative news, he said, directly contradicting allegations in a recent Gizmodo story from ex-contractual employees. Osofsky said Facebook is taking the reports seriously and "found no evidence to date that Trending Topics was successfully manipulated, but will continue the review of all our practices."

China appliance brand Midea Group joined the ZigBee Alliance at the promoter level and will have a seat on its board, the alliance said. Midea, which produces consumer appliances and air conditioners, has operations around the world with more than 126,000 employees. Participating in the alliance at the promoter and board levels allows Midea to “invest further in our goals by working with other major brand leaders and technologists to design and deliver around the promise of the Internet of Things,” said Midea Group Director-Product Strategy and Operations Ethan Xue. Other ZigBee Alliance board members are Comcast Cable, Itron, Kroger Co., Landis+Gyr, Legrand Group, NXP Semiconductors, Philips, Schneider Electric, Silicon Labs, SmartThings, Texas Instruments and Wulian.

Consumer electronics buying group ProSource formed a committee of vendors, members and a consultant company led by Savant founder Jim Carroll to explore how the buying group will participate in IoT, ProSource CEO David Workman told us at the group’s spring meeting here in Dana Point, California. It’s the first time ProSource has created a committee that involves vendor partners and select dealer members, Workman said. The group, meeting for the first time in Dana Point, will “try to decide and establish which direction this is all going,” Workman said of the IoT market. “It’s just a stew right now of a bunch of ideas for product and different versions of the truth. We want to progress but do so cautiously and carefully trying to understand how the market is going to develop,” he said. The intriguing unknown for ProSource and industry watchers is how Amazon’s Alexa voice engine and the Echo devices fit into the home automation picture. “The Echo has been a revelation and is generating a huge amount of ongoing interest,” NPD analyst Stephen Baker told us. At some point, that interest will accelerate into “lots of other kinds of individual products,” he said.

Amazon launched a “self-service” program dubbed Amazon Video Direct (AVD) that allows video creators to make streaming content available to Amazon customers. Video providers can choose how to distribute their content: to Prime members for free; as an add-on subscription through Amazon’s Streaming Partners Program, as a one-time rental or purchase or advertising-supported from Amazon. To help video providers optimize the way they offer content under the program, Amazon supplies them with performance metrics, such as number of minutes a title was streamed, projected revenue, payment history or number of subscribers, Amazon said Tuesday. Under the AVD Stars program, which also launched Tuesday, video creators receive a share of $1 million per month based on customer engagement with their titles, said Amazon, which will distribute to creators a monthly bonus from a designated fund based on the top 100 AVD titles in Prime Video, plus other revenue earned. Video creators and providers who use AVD to make their titles available in Prime Video will be automatically enrolled, it said. The AVD Stars fund will make the first bonus distributions based on June 1-30 streaming activity, Amazon said. AVD launch partners are Baby Einstein, Business Insider, CJ Entertainment America, Conde Nast Entertainment, HowStuffWorks, Kin Community, Kinonation, Jash, Journeyman Pictures, Machinima, Mashable, Mattel, Pro Guitar Lessons, Samuel Goldwyn Films, StyleHaul, Synergetic Distribution, The Guardian, TYT Network and XiveTV.

The federal government has several educational, enforcement and legislative efforts to protect people from the use of "surreptitious" smartphone tracking apps, but the GAO said in a report Monday that some stakeholders "differed" over whether current laws against stalking should be strengthened in response to the use of such apps. In analyzing 40 tracking apps and their websites' marketing language, GAO said a majority of these apps are marketed to parents and employers to monitor their children and employees. But it said about one-third of the websites reviewed market their apps as surreptitious, meaning they track individuals without their knowledge or consent. In interviews with academics, domestic violence groups and privacy advocates, GAO said many were concerned about the applicability of current federal laws in the manufacture, sale and use of such apps, the limited enforcement of such laws, and the need for more education about the apps. But others differed. "Some industry stakeholders were concerned that legislative actions could be overly broad and harm legitimate uses of tracking apps," GAO said. "However, stakeholders generally agreed that location data can be highly personal information and are deserving of privacy protections." GAO didn't make any recommendations in the report.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood formally objected Monday to Google’s petition to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its April ruling that invalidated a 2015 preliminary injunction against Hood that barred him from enforcing his subpoena looking into Google’s search practices. The 5th Circuit said Judge Henry Wingate’s injunction “covers a fuzzily defined range of enforcement actions that do not appear imminent” (see 1604110058). Google had said a rehearing is needed because Hood subsequently withdrew his subpoena (see 1604280046). Google’s rehearing petition “is anything but narrow,” said Hood, a Democrat, in his objection (in Pacer). “In reality, Google’s requested relief would effectively transform the now-vacated injunction (which Google does not contest) into declaratory relief having virtually the same effect as the vacated injunction.” Google’s argument for rehearing “jettisons” the 5th Circuit’s ruling that at this stage “any claims [Hood] might bring in the future are ‘hypothetical situations,’” Hood said. “This rationale applies to claims for both injunctive and declaratory relief; possible future claims are no less hypothetical for one form of relief but not the other.” Whether Google’s claims are injunctive or declaratory, they “are not ripe and dismissal is correct,” Hood said.