Most annual fees for telemarketers accessing phone numbers on the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry will increase “slightly” for fiscal 2021, the agency announced Wednesday with a proposed Federal Register notice. Telemarketers would pay $66 for yearly access to registry “numbers in a single area code,” an increase of $1 from 2020, the agency said. The max charge for entities accessing all area codes nationwide will increase from $17,765 to $18,044 in 2021. Telemarketers will pay $33, an increase from $32 in 2020, to access “an additional area code for a half year,” the FTC said. The commission voted 3-0-2, with Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Christine Wilson not voting. Slaughter is on maternity leave and Wilson is on temporary medical leave, a spokesperson said.

The U.S. will spend more than $1 billion to establish 12 artificial intelligence and quantum information science (QIS) research institutes, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced Wednesday (see 1911200040). The investment will create seven National Science Foundation AI Research Institutes and five Energy Department QIS Research Centers over five years. The University of Oklahoma; University of Texas at Austin; University of Colorado Boulder; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of California, Davis and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will host the AI Research Institutes. DOE’s Argonne, Brookhaven, Fermi, Oak Ridge and Lawrence Berkeley National laboratories will help establish the QIS Research Centers. “Emerging technologies like AI and QIS will lead to transformative benefits for the American people in healthcare, communications, manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, security, and beyond,” said U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Chris Liddell in a joint statement.

Ongoing participation and development of international standards topped the security and privacy agenda for the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2019, the agency reported Tuesday. The 2019 NIST/Information Technology Laboratory Cybersecurity Program Annual Report outlines NIST’s research agenda. Enhancement of privacy and security risk management models, “advancement of cryptographic technologies” and “preparation for post-quantum cryptographic methods” were included on the agenda. NIST also highlighted the goal to improve “infrastructure protection in areas such as zero trust architectures and advanced networking security.”

Walmart scheduled an online wellness event Friday-Sunday to give consumers tips on improving their nutritional, heart and mental health, it said Monday. As part of the three-day event, singer Patti LaBelle will discuss how to manage diabetes through diet and exercise; Univision medical correspondent Juan Rivera will discuss ways to lower blood pressure; and Christine Crawford, assistant psychiatry professor at Boston University, will address managing anxiety. The goal is to help customers improve their health from home, said Walmart Chief Medical Officer Tom Van Gilder. Walmart operates 4,700 pharmacies nationwide.

The FTC should seek an en banc rehearing of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in FTC v. Qualcomm (see 2008190043), “which undermines longstanding U.S. law and policy and wrongly applies competition law,” some 20 groups and companies wrote the agency Monday. ACT|The App Association, Center for Democracy & Technology, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Engine, Ford, Honda, HP, Intel, MediaTek, Open Markets Institute, Public Knowledge, R Street Institute, the Software & Information Industry Association and Tesla signed. The decision “misapplies competition law to the facts of the case, was particularly misguided in asserting that Qualcomm’s breach of its [fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory] FRAND commitments did not impair rivals, controverts existing Ninth Circuit precedent, and undermines the critical role standards play in facilitating competition and innovation,” they wrote. The agency didn’t comment.

DOJ asked the Supreme Court to review the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision that President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment in 2017 when he blocked users from his Twitter account (see 2003230060). DOJ’s petition for a writ of certiorari was filed Aug. 20 to docket 20-197. The court acknowledged receipt Monday.

Congress should create a new Digital Platform Agency to oversee the digital marketplace, said ex-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Public Knowledge Senior Adviser Gene Kimmelman in a paper released Thursday. Phil Verveer, lead counsel in U.S. v. AT&T, also co-wrote the paper. Dominant tech companies followed their own rules to the detriment of consumers, they wrote. The group recommended an agency “with a new, agile approach to oversight built on risk management rather than micromanagement.” The group envisions an enforceable code of conduct for digital activities: “These markets are so wide ranging and self-reinforcing that our existing powers are not sufficient to address them.”

Google’s entry into car infotainment as a “full-stack” platform provider is intensifying competition in the navigation market, reported Strategy Analytics Wednesday. “Once reserved only for flagship luxury models and brands, navigation has now become a common and desired feature in mainstream brands and models,” said SA. “There’s no one-size-fits-all formula,” it said. “The challenge for OEMs going forward will be on combining the different data layers in a compelling package to the consumer. It’s not an overstatement to say Google’s emergence in this space is a game-changer and wake-up call for the segment.”

Facebook removed nearly 800 groups, 100 pages and 1,500 ads tied to conspiracy theorist group QAnon, the platform said Wednesday. Facebook announced it as part of a crackdown against “accounts tied to offline anarchist groups that support violent acts amidst protests” and U.S.-based militia organizations across Facebook and Instagram. The platform cited growing movements “that, while not directly organizing violence, have celebrated violent acts, shown that they have weapons and suggest they will use them, or have individual followers with patterns of violent behavior.” Content supporting these groups and movements is allowed as long as it doesn’t violate content policies, the company said.

Amazon’s unannounced hardware sale put consumer tech sites into a frenzy Tuesday as Prime Day watchers wondered what was up. Nearly every Amazon device -- Kindles, Fire tablets, Echo smart devices and the Fire TV Stick -- were discounted. Echo Dot settled into its usual $29 sale price from $49, Fire TV Stick hit $35 at 30% off and the Echo Studio reached its lowest price yet, said CNET, at $169. The Fire HD 10 tablet, took a $50 cut to $139. In a bundle offer, Amazon discounted its smart oven by $60 to $259 and gave shoppers the choice of a free Dot or an Echo Show 5 for $10. Amazon didn’t comment.