MicroLED’s biggest advantage is potentially very high brightness, which would be “useful” for augmented reality applications, Kopin CEO John Fan told Insight Media President Chris Chinnock in Q&A posted Monday. Done successfully, it “could be the ultimate display,” Fan said. Using the technology in microdisplays is “in an early stage of development,” he noted.

Draft provisions updating personal data transfer rules to non-EU countries brought cheers but also some concerns from stakeholders. A European Commission consultation on updating standard contractual clauses (SCCs) ended Thursday with about 150 responses. SCCs required modernization under the European Court of Justice in Schrems II, which threw out trans-Atlantic data transfer mechanisms in the Privacy Shield (see 2009100001. The draft clauses, floated Nov. 23, aim to align SCCs with the EU general data protection regulation and the court judgment (see 2011200003). Stakeholders generally welcomed several aspects of the draft. ICANN, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), the European Internet Services Providers Association (EuroISPA) and the Information Technology Industry Council, among others, praised its risk-based approach to situations where data importers subject to foreign data disclosure laws may have to gauge whether they're likely to receive such requests in deciding whether to use SCCs. That approach "lies at the heart of ICANN community's efforts to develop a mechanism for enabling access to non-public generic top-level domain registration data," the internet body said: "Following this approach seems to be both a realistic and reasonable route to enable global data transfers while meeting other important objectives ... such as public security, crime prevention and investigation, or the enforcement of civil law claims." EuroISPA and the European Consumer Organisation, however, worried the draft SCCs would require companies to take into account the specific circumstances of a transfer, including subjective factors, when the European Data Protection Board and the ECJ said they must rely on objective factors when assessing the law in a data importer's jurisdiction. Vodafone pressed the EC to give companies tools and assurances on how to assess whether surveillance laws and practices in countries without an EC data protection adequacy decision put data subjects' privacy at risk, it said. Several commenters, including the Software & Information Industry Association, BSA|The Software Alliance and CCIA, said the one-year transition period to the new SCCs is too short and would unfairly burden smaller companies. ACT|The App Association, which represents small and midsize application developers, said: "Due to their complexity and implementation burdens, the updated SCCs would not and cannot serve as a replacement for the Privacy Shield for our small business members."

California will join DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Google, state Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) announced Friday: “Google’s anticompetitive behavior has unlawfully maintained the company’s monopoly on internet search and search-based advertising at the expense of consumers.” The platform’s market dominance leaves little choice for consumers and small businesses, he added. “By using exclusionary agreements to dominate the market, Google has stifled competition and rigged the advertising market.” Eleven Republican AGs initially signed onto the lawsuit (see 2011180032).

NTIA plans a virtual meeting Jan. 13 at noon EST to discuss progress in the multistakeholder process on promoting IoT software component transparency, says Friday’s Federal Register. “Modern development practices” such as code reuse and an information technology marketplace with many mergers and acquisitions “make it challenging to track the use of software components,” said the agency. IoT “compounds this phenomenon” with the layering of smart connectivity features on new devices, it said: “The sheer quantity of software means that some software products ship with vulnerable or out-of-date components.”

Consumers International, Carnegie Mellon University, Zigbee Alliance, UL, Arcelik and Libelium are launching a global coalition Thursday to “improve the trustworthiness of consumer IoT devices and help consumers better understand the benefits and risks associated with these products,” said the World Economic Forum Wednesday. It cited the need for stronger security and privacy in the IoT as connected devices proliferate and for technologies to “become a force for shared societal benefit.” The organizations will focus on building consensus on device safeguards and standards for connected CE devices, such as voice assistants, security cameras and wearable technologies, it said. Work will be complemented by an emerging partnership with Helpful Places, Digital Public Square and Boston, which are working to increase transparency and signage for the use of digital technologies in public spaces, it said. Brazil, Colombia, Kazakhstan, South Africa and Turkey are working together to help build the technological capability of small and medium-sized enterprises with an aim to support more than 5,000 companies within three years. Thirty-six cities, including Buenos Aires, Istanbul, London and Mexico City, will pioneer a global policy road map for responsible and ethical use of connected technologies as part of the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliances, including the launch of privacy, security and digital infrastructure policies. “With the emergence of 5G and IoT, we are on the cusp of unleashing the power of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and enabling the digital transformation of industries around the world,” said Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon, co-chair, Global IoT Council. “COVID-19 has accelerated digitalization at all levels in our society,” but to make technology accessible, it’s necessary “to ensure inclusive and understandable privacy at all levels, making sure that nobody is left behind,” said Alicia Asin, CEO of Libelium.

“Unencumbered data flows are crucial to sustaining the multi-trillion dollar transatlantic economic partnership,” said Computer & Communications Industry Association President Matt Schruers Tuesday about the Senate Commerce Committee’s Wednesday hearing on Privacy Shield (see 2012020065). “Lack of legal clarity over internet data transfers could disrupt a significant segment of the economy, especially to small and medium-sized enterprises.”

Demand for 25 Gbps Ethernet controllers and adapters drove the market to record shipments in Q3, reported the Dell'Oro Group Monday. Nvidia gained share on a “one-time sale” to Huawei before the mid-September sourcing ban from U.S. vendors, it said. More than 3.3 million 25 Gbps Ethernet controllers and adapters ports were shipped, surpassing the previous record set in Q2, it said. Shipments of 50 Gbps Ethernet controller and adapter ports declined from Q2, as some tier 1 cloud service providers entered a “digestion cycle” and reduced their server deployments, it said.

Escalating cyber risks and the shortage of qualified personnel will spike demand for managed and professional security service providers, reported Frost & Sullivan Monday. It forecast the U.S. MSS/PSS market will rise to $18.8 billion by 2024, from $12 billion this year.

Comments are due Feb. 1 on two FTC rulemaking processes (see 2009210054) for “updating the rules and interpretations that implement the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act,” the agency said Monday.

Digital payments company ACI Worldwide reported a 21% year-on-year increase in global e-commerce transactions in November, driven by household items and services, including remote education and training, and insurance for consumer electronics. Data from hundreds of millions of e-commerce transactions from global merchants showed a 30% boost in the retail sector Thanksgiving-Cyber Monday, with the biggest year-on-year spike -- 47% -- that Saturday. Average ticket prices during the five-day span fell 3% to $132. “This year’s holiday season is looking very different from previous years with many merchants starting sales much earlier, as well as continuing promotions beyond the traditional peak days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday,” said Executive Vice President Debbie Guerra, citing a substantial rise in e-commerce volume before Black Friday. Fraud attempt rates increased slightly to 1.7% by volume and 3.4% by value, similar to prior holiday seasons, said ACI. Nonfraud chargebacks increased by 15% in October vs. April and May due to more people being back at work and call centers better staffed to deal with consumer calls, it said. Consumers should avoid leaving packages on their doorsteps for long periods of time to avoid porch piracy, Guerra said, and they should be vigilant about store pickup scams: “As the buy-online-pick-up-in-store channel continues to experience fast growth driven by the pandemic, it is providing greater opportunity for fraudsters,” she said.