Google put a priority on price for its new smartphone, the Pixel 4a, which went on preorder Monday at the Google Store and on Google Fi for $349. The 5.8-inch device is due in stores Aug. 20, bringing back camera features from the 4, including HDR+ with dual exposure controls, portrait mode, top shot, fused video stabilization and night sight with astrophotography, blogged the company. A Recorder feature can connect to Google Docs to save and share transcriptions and recordings. The phone’s Personal Safety app enables real-time emergency notifications and has car crash detection, it said. Live Caption provides real-time captioning for video and audio content, including voice and video calls. Google’s first 5G phones, the 4a (5G) and 5 are due in fall starting at $499.
Three were charged for alleged roles in a July 15 Twitter hack (see 2007170058), DOJ announced Friday: Mason Sheppard, 19, of the U.K.; Nima Fazeli, 22, of Orlando; and a juvenile. Sheppard was charged “in a criminal complaint in the Northern District of California with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and the intentional access of a protected computer,” DOJ said. Fazeli, also charged there, faces penalties for “aiding and abetting the intentional access of a protected computer,” DOJ said. The department referred the third individual to the state attorney for the 13th Judicial District in Tampa. “The hackers allegedly compromised over 100 social media accounts and scammed both the account users and others who sent money based on their fraudulent solicitations,” acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Rabbitt said. Sheppard faces 45 years in prison and $750,000 in fines for three counts. Fazeli faces five years and a $250,000 fine. The defendants didn’t reply to emails.
The U.S. can’t allow tech industry encryption to blind law enforcement and block investigation of serious crimes, Attorney General William Barr said Thursday, supporting a lawful access bill. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., introduced the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act, companion to a bill introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. (see 2006240064). Children are at particular risk, and the tech industry hasn’t done enough, so legislation is necessary, Barr said: “I am confident that the tech industry can design strong encryption that allows for lawful access by law enforcement. Encryption should keep us safe, not provide a safe haven for predators and terrorists.” The legislation “properly balances privacy, public safety, and our Fourth Amendment rights by requiring due process before any encrypted data or devices are accessed,” Wagner said. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation said the bill gives “law enforcement the ability to take reasonable, and constitutional, steps to investigate criminality on encrypted platforms.”
U.S. and European regulators should “swiftly begin negotiations” to replace the Privacy Shield (see 2007240031) and allow an enforcement moratorium, 17 trade associations wrote officials Thursday. The Information Technology Industry Council, ACT|The App Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Software & Information Industry Association signed the letter to European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and European Data Protection Board Chair Andrea Jelinek. Negotiators should begin immediately on a “solid legal framework to avoid trade disruptions to EU-U.S. data flows,” they wrote. EU data protection authorities should provide guidance for companies that used the PS and should allow a “reasonable enforcement moratorium,” they wrote. A Commerce Department spokesperson cited a previous statement from Ross. The European Data Protection Board didn’t comment.
The Commerce and Homeland Security departments have collaborated on more than 50 activities “led by industry and government” for countering botnet threats, NTIA reported Thursday. It said those efforts include the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s IoT device manufacturer guidance and NTIA’s draft guidance for software bill of materials (see 1902200061). The Council to Secure the Digital Economy’s anti-botnet guide was also highlighted (see 1908130047). “Stopping botnet threats is an ecosystem-wide challenge that will take significant cooperation over time to accomplish,” NTIA said.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Leadership Conference Education Fund and more than two dozen other groups urged lawmakers, vendors and companies Wednesday to implement guardrails to ensure new hiring assessment technologies that rely on algorithms and artificial intelligence don’t discriminate against marginalized groups. AI “by its very nature, risks replicating and deepening existing inequities when it relies on data from the current workforce that is not sufficiently representative,” the groups said in a set of principles. “Hiring assessment technologies must advance equity, not erect artificial barriers to employment. This will require proactive interventions.”
Buying activity in eBay’s core marketplaces grew 29% in Q2, its “highest quarterly growth rate in 15 years,” said CEO Jamie Iannone on an investor call. EBay hired him in April from Walmart, where he was chief operating office for e-commerce (see personals section, April 14). He was an eBay vice president for eight years before leaving in 2009 to become CEO of SamsClub.com. “Consumer behavior is rapidly evolving and this dynamic has been accelerated by COVID-19," said Iannone Tuesday evening. The pandemic is significantly speeding buying activity growth and "new customer acquisition,” he said. But he’s “not satisfied with where we currently stand,” he said. “We've not executed to our full potential. New competitors have taken share because we neglected our core area of expertise.” EBay wrongly focused on new areas that “could not drive sustainable or profitable growth,” he said. “To be candid, we did not adapt quickly enough to the rapidly changing needs of our customers.” The company has “enormous untapped potential that we absolutely must capitalize on,” he said. “This is what brought me back to eBay.” Reshaping the company will be a “multiyear process,” he said. “Tech-led reimagination, our plan is to become the best marketplace in the world for buyers and sellers.”
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved a waiver request by Leica Geosystems to allow its Ictos radar system on commercial drones (see 1911210063). The system uses multiple radar modules in the 60-64 GHz for hazard detection in flight. OET will permit sale of 400 devices the first year and 800 in subsequent years. “As we will limit the number of Ictos devices per year, the use of the Ictos device will be restricted and contained,” said an order Tuesday in docket 19-350: It won't "increase the potential for harmful interference to other services in the 60-64 GHz band.”
Facebook moved the release of its Q2 financials to Thursday after market close, from Wednesday, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify before the House Antitrust Subcommittee, said the company Monday. Facebook also scheduled an earnings call for 6 p.m. EDT Thursday. The CEOs of Amazon, Apple and Google also will testify at Wednesday’s noon hearing on the market “dominance” of online platforms. The hearing itself was rescheduled from Monday (see 2007270021).
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act isn’t the blanket immunity opponents claim, the Internet Association reported Monday, analyzing the liability shield. Examining 516 court decisions in the past 20 years, IA said the liability shield was “the primary basis for a court’s ruling in 42 percent of decisions.” Defamation is the most common claim brought under 230, IA said, saying 43% involved such a claim. IA urged Congress to complete a review of 230-related cases before considering legislation.