Congress should support three amendments to the USA Freedom Act, which would strengthen civil liberties against improper intelligence agency spying, said the American Civil Liberties Union Tuesday. ACLU supported amendments (see 2003180042): one from Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; another from Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and a third from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. The amendments would stop browsing history spying without probable cause, strengthen independent “friend-of-the-court” provisions before the secret intelligence court, and prevent the “use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act against people in the United States,” the group said.
Sonos and Tile landed List 4 tariff exclusions for wireless devices imported from China under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule’s 8517.62.0090 subheading. Sonos won exemption for its wireless mesh network audio components. Tile’s exclusion was for a Bluetooth tracking device that meshes with a smartphone app for finding misplaced keys and other common household articles. The exclusions are retroactive to Sept. 1 when List 4 took effect and expire Sept. 1. About 50 exclusion requests were filed for 8517.62.0090 goods, mostly for Bluetooth devices, of which 45 remained in a stage 1 or stage 2 administrative hold when we checked the docket Monday. Sonos landed an exemption on its wireless network speakers in March, as did the Apple Watch and Fitness activity trackers.
The FTC requested comment Friday on potential changes to the health breach notification rule, which dictates data breach guidelines for health record vendors and related entities. Commissioners voted 5-0 to publish a rule review notice in the Federal Register, at which point the agency will accept comment for 90 days. In effect since 2009, the rule requires entities not covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to provide data breach notifications within 60 days after discovery, or 10 days if it affects more than 500 people. The agency is seeking comment on whether the rule is working adequately, in terms of definitions, timing requirements and enforcement implications.
Zoom agreed to implement enhanced data security and user controls, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) announced Thursday (see 2004070053). The company will maintain a “comprehensive data security program,” increase video access controls for users, update its acceptable use policies and provide additional abuse reporting tools. “Our lives have inexorably changed over the past two months, and while Zoom has provided an invaluable service, it unacceptably did so without critical security protections,” James said. The agreement reflects work Zoom completed during a 90-day security and privacy plan, “including making a number of our pre-existing security features on by default and also introducing new security enhancements,” a company spokesperson emailed.
The FCC should develop a record of feasibility of zoned broadcast coverage (see 2005040044) before approving it, said a joint filing from large radio groups Beasley, Cumulus, Entercom and iHeart. “The Commission must be fully confident, based on extensive real-world testing, that the benefits outweigh potential harms,” said the filing in RM-11854: “Automatically authorizing such an unproven technology, as would be the case under the Petitioner’s rulemaking proposal, is particularly premature.” NAB said it supports the use of zoned broadcast coverage, with reservations. The technology works only with analog radio, and so “could undermine the continued expansion of digital audio broadcasting,” the group said. It “remains concerned about potential interference that, although apparently limited geographically and confined to within a station’s booster cluster, could spur listeners to change channels, or worse, audio sources,” NAB said. “On balance, however, NAB submits that granting” GeoBroadcast Solutions’ petition “is justified.”
Tech online spending in the week ended April 25 jumped 20% over the same 2019 week, reported NPD Tuesday. It's "the first week since the COVID-19 crisis began that total retail purchasing traffic showed improvement from the prior week, driven by both online and at physical store locations still open for business.”
Antitrust authorities cleared the way for Providence Equity Partners to acquire Outfront Media entities. An FTC early termination notice dated Monday and released Tuesday ended the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period. Providence “will lead the purchase of $400 million in newly issued convertible preferred stock together with funds managed by Ares Management Corporation,” said the original announcement. The FTC issued a separate notice for Ares.
The Trump administration should set clear guidelines for how technology will be used to combat COVID-19, more than a dozen advocacy groups wrote Tuesday to Vice President Mike Pence, who chairs the White House Coronavirus Task Force. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Center for Democracy & Technology, Center for Digital Democracy, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Media Alliance, Public Citizen and Public Knowledge signed. The groups outlined 11 principles, including science-based, public health objectives; protections against tech bias; guidelines for voluntary use; limitations on data collection and sharing; and data security and transparency recommendations. The White House didn't comment.
Videoconferencing services should store only the data needed to “deliver the service,” Consumer Reports recommended Friday (see 2004090019). This would mean limiting how data is shared with third parties and restricting data storage to what's used for improving products, the organization said. CR recommended companies turn on by default the “most secure settings” for users. It said Zoom isn't the only such service with privacy issues. CR also examined privacy policies of Cisco’s Webex, Microsoft’s Skype and Teams and Google’s Meet, Duo and Hangouts.
DOJ should “carefully review” Alphabet’s proposed buy of Fitbit due to concerns about harm to competition (see 1911130026), Public Knowledge and the Consumer Federation of America wrote Attorney General William Barr Thursday. “When head-to-head horizontal competition is scarce, nascent and potential competition, like that provided by Fitbit or a potential alternative buyer of Fitbit, may be the only source of real competitive pressure on dominant digital platforms,” PK said. DOJ didn’t comment.