Content-Centric Networking/Named Data Networking (CCN/NDN) could solve a lot of the drawbacks inherent to IP when it becomes ready for deployment in three to five years, CableLabs said in a white paper released Monday. CCN/NDN "promises to significantly improve network scalability, performance and reduce cost over a network built on the Internet Protocol," CableLabs said. With HTTP/IP being ubiquitous in networks, it may "seem daunting to consider the use of a non-IP protocol," it said, though the likelihood is that technology and time will bring a replacement. Replacing HTTP/IP with CCN would require phasing it in to avoid disruptions and cost, and the replacement itself requires CCN-HTTP translation and CCN/IP tunneling technologies, CableLabs said. CCN/NDN still has some issues to be worked out, CableLabs said, including optimized CCN router and cache implementation, congestion avoidance and network control, it said. In a blog post Monday, CableLabs Distinguished Technologist Greg White said CCN/NDN "provides a more elegantly scalable, faster, and more efficient network infrastructure for the majority of traffic on the Internet today" by moving from a "host-centric" network approach, involving delivering data from one specific host to another, to a "content-centric" approach that identifies and routes content by the use of globally unique names. "To get a sense of how big a mind shift this is, consider this: in CCN/NDN devices don’t have addresses at all," White said. "A device can retrieve content by requesting it by name, without needing to have a way of identifying a server where that content is stored, or even identifying itself." CableLabs is experimenting with CCN/NDN and looking into applications that could drive its adoption, said White, who wrote the white paper with CableLabs Lead Architect-Advanced Technology Group Greg Rutz.

ICANN is moving a June 27-30 policy forum from Panama City, Panama, to a to-be-determined location “due to the severity of the Zika Virus outbreak” in Panama and other nations in Latin America, the group said Friday. The Centers for Disease Control has identified active Zika virus transmissions as far north as Mexico and as far south as Brazil, with Panama’s government reporting 50 cases of Zika infection. “A search is currently underway to identify an alternate location where the Zika Virus is not a concern,” ICANN said. It said in October that it was revamping its meetings strategy in part by replacing its traditional June meetings with shorter policy-oriented meetings that don’t include topic sessions, public forums or an ICANN board meeting.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center launched an educational initiative to put privacy and data protection front and center in the 2016 presidential election. "Data breaches, identity theft, and government surveillance are critical issues facing American voters, yet the candidates have said hardly a word," said President Marc Rotenberg in a statement Sunday announcing the Data Protection 2016 campaign. The campaign provides information about privacy and data protection, provides a link to register voters, and will market materials such as buttons and stickers to help support the group. EPIC said it won't endorse any candidate, party or platform.

The European Commission will unveil finalized text of the new EU-U.S. Privacy Shield in the "2nd half of February," tweeted European Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová Monday (see 1602020040). In a separate tweet, she wrote that the new updated safe harbor framework "is part of a wider effort to restore trust in transatlantic data flows. Adoption of #JudicialRedressAct is now key." European officials have sought passage of the bill. It's awaiting a vote by the full Senate and provides European citizens a way to pursue legal action if they believe U.S. government agencies have abused their personal data (see 1601290021).

Online game company Vulcun agreed to settle FTC allegations that it "unfairly" replaced a Google Chrome browser extension game, which the company bought, on consumers' Android devices with its own extension without getting people's permission and risking their privacy, the commission said in a news release Friday. Commissioners voted 4-0 to issue an administrative complaint and accept the consent agreement, which will be published in the Federal Register soon and be open to public comment through March 8, FTC said. After Vulcun bought the Running Fred extension used by more than 200,000 consumers, the company "used it to install a different app, commandeer people's computers, and bombard them with ads," said Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich. Consumers complained to Google that the extension opened multiple tabs and windows advertising various apps or that apps were installed on their mobile device without their permission, reinstalling themselves even after being deleted, the FTC said. Vulcun risked people's privacy because apps installed on devices could have "easily accessed" their address books, photos, location and device identifiers or even more sensitive data, the commission alleged. Plus, Vulcun misled consumers by telling them their extensions "provided independent and impartial selections of apps, as well as misrepresenting third-party endorsements received by the extensions," FTC alleged. The settlement requires Vulcun to inform consumers about all types of information that its products or services access and how that data would be used, show any built-in permissions notice when a product or service is installed, and get people's "express affirmative consent." Vulcun didn't immediately comment.

Control4 acquired networking and cloud network-management company Pakedge Device & Software for about $32.7 million cash, the company confirmed Thursday. The next day, Control4 shares closed 22 percent higher at $8.08. “As more and more devices are connected in the home, and as streaming services become more prevalent -- especially high-definition streaming services and video over IP -- the demand on the network becomes exponentially greater,” said Jeff Dungan, Control4 senior vice president-supply chain and business development, in a pre-briefing to us.

Amazon is co-hosting an event Wednesday at SmartBear’s headquarters in Somerville, Massachusetts, to teach developers how to build voice capabilities, called “skills,” for Alexa, the digital brain behind Echo and other Alexa-enabled devices. Skills enable users to interact with devices in “more intuitive ways” using just voice, said the companies. The training shows how to use Amazon Web Services with the Alexa Skills Kit to create and test a skill using SmartBear’s tools, they said. The free event includes an open hackathon where attendees can get hands-on experience building a new Alexa skill with help from Alexa experts and have a chance to win Amazon devices.

Equifax, ID Watchdog and Worldwide Benefit Services joined Consumer Federation of America's working group that promotes standards and best practices for companies, which provide services to help ID theft victims. "Working group members are committed to promoting responsible practices in the identity theft service industry and helping to educate the public about identity theft,” said Susan Grant, CFA director-consumer protection and privacy, in a news release Thursday. The working group, which is composed of consumer advocacy organizations and companies, developed a best practices guide for ID theft services and a consumer checklist when shopping for such services. CFA's working group is now developing a "checklist with questions that businesses, organizations and government agencies should ask when they are considering providing identity theft services to data breach victims."

The $500 million investment that General Motors made last month in the ride-sharing service Lyft (see 1601040068) “is very significant because we believe, together, we can work and put an autonomous fleet of sharing vehicles available for use quicker than anyone else,” GM CEO Mary Barra said on a Wednesday earnings call. GM’s strategic alliance with Lyft will “in the short term” allow GM “to capitalize on providing and being a preferred provider for short-term-use vehicles for Lyft drivers that will support not only General Motors' performance, but also Lyft's performance,” Barra said. “We now are in the midst of an industry that is being disruptive and we are aggressively leveraging our technology leadership and our global resources to lead that disruption,” she said. “We'll continue to strengthen our core business and we'll also continue to invest in game changers that are necessary for GM to lead the future of personal mobility.”

The Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN’s Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) is considering how to revise its draft recommendation on how the ICANN board should handle advice from the Governmental Advisory Committee after the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition but expects to finalize revisions to several other recommendations this week, the working group’s leaders said Tuesday. CCWG-Accountability’s recommendation to allow the ICANN board to reject GAC advice on a two-thirds majority vote is one of several included in the working group’s draft proposal for changing ICANN’s accountability mechanisms. The draft GAC recommendation has been criticized by stakeholder groups, including the Generic Names Supporting Organization Council (see 1601260067). CCWG-Accountability is considering a possible compromise that would raise the ICANN board’s threshold for rejecting GAC advice to only a 60 percent majority, though it’s unclear how much support that proposal has among the working group’s members, an ICANN observer told us. CCWG-Accountability believes it will be able to distribute a supplemental draft of its proposal to all ICANN chartering organizations quickly enough to receive clearance from those organizations during ICANN's upcoming meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, working group leaders said in a blog post. “Keeping in mind the working methods for the various Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees, we ask that this be [taken] into accountas the Chartering Organizations plan their discussions and schedules leading into and during” ICANN’s Marrakech meeting, CCWG-Accountability leaders said. “We encourage any Chartering Organizations that can deliberate and/or approve the Work Stream 1 Recommendations prior to Marrakech to do so.”