Legally binding commitments on .org price caps, censorship safeguards and personal data protections in the Public Interest Registry agreement with ICANN shows PIR buyer Ethos Capital "has been listening closely to stakeholder feedback," Ethos CEO Erik Brooks said. The new provisions, unveiled Friday, will be enforceable by ICANN's compliance department and community members through ICANN's public interest commitments dispute resolution procedure, the equity firm said. Under the commitments, fees charged to .org domain name registrars for initial or renewal registrations won't increase by more than 10% per year on average for eight years from the start of the current registry agreement. After that period, "we will be constrained by the highly-competitive marketplace, competing with .NET, .CHARITY, .FOUNDATION and other TLDs," an Ethos spokesperson emailed. A second commitment requires PIR to maintain a body to provide strategic advice and oversight on policies and functions of the registry that affect .org and its community. In addition, the registry agreed to establish a "community enablement fund" to support initiatives benefiting .org registrants. PIR will also have to file an annual report assessing compliance with the accountability provisions. PIR gave ICANN an extension to March 20 to review its proposals (see 2002120033). ICANN is analyzing the information and welcomes Ethos' efforts to engage with the Internet Society community and .org customers, emailed President Goran Marby. ISOC owns PIR. Asked about early reaction to its proposal, the Ethos spokesperson said the firm consulted with leaders and members of the community before offering to make the commitments legally binding: Its actions "answer the very request the community has been making."

Google added a “contribute” tab to the latest version of Maps to make it easier for users to supply local information, blogged Kevin Reece, Google Maps director-product, Wednesday. Google users have contributed local knowledge to some 200 million points of interest in Maps, he said, including restaurant reviews, ratings, photos, answers to questions and address updates. Contributions have helped identify wheelchair-friendly entrances and restrooms for people with disabilities in more than 50 million places globally, he said.

Google is illegally collecting personal data from children through its G Suite for Education apps, alleged New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas (D) in a lawsuit Thursday. This includes geolocation information, browsing history, search terms, contact lists and voice recordings, Balderas said: “Tracking student data without parental consent is not only illegal, it is dangerous.” Balderas’ claims are factually wrong, a company spokesperson said. The apps require parental consent when necessary and allow schools to control account access, Google said: “School districts can decide how best to use Google for Education.”

YouTube illegally deceives users by “allowing violent murder videos” to spread in violation of its terms of service, gun safety advocate Andy Parker alleged in an FTC complaint Thursday. The agency confirmed it received the complaint, and Google defended its “vigilant” policy enforcement record against such content. Google’s “reprehensible and ongoing failure” to remove these monetized videos from YouTube is illegal under the FTC Act, which polices unfair and deceptive practices, Parker said at the National Press Club. Parker’s complaint stems from a video of his 24-year-old daughter, a reporter who was assassinated on live TV in 2015 (see 2002030059). He told us he’s also floating legislative proposals to the offices of Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Virginia Democrats. He planned to meet with their offices after the news conference to discuss proposals that would amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to address “targeted harassment, hate speech and murder videos.” Google’s Community Guidelines are “designed to protect the YouTube community, including those affected by tragedies,” a spokesperson said. Policies prohibit such videos, and the platform has removed thousands of copies of the video for violating policies, the spokesperson said: “We will continue to stay vigilant and improve our policy enforcement.” Georgetown University Law Center's Civil Rights Clinic helped Parker file the complaint. A separate Georgetown clinic filed a 2018 complaint against Google involving child-directed content. That proceeding resulted in a $170 million fine against Google from the FTC and the Office of the New York Attorney General (see 1909040066). Offices for Kaine and Warner didn't comment.

The Copyright Office published a final rule Wednesday, setting adjusted fees, with an average increase of 41% proposed across the board. It is meant to “account for inflationary increases and the expected cost of information technology modernization over the next several years, and to more fully recover the costs of registration and recordation,” the CO said. The rule takes effect March 20.

Google's “unauthorized use” of Oracle computer code doesn’t fall under the “four-part fair use test used” by courts in copyright cases, the News Media Alliance said in a filing in a Supreme Court case Wednesday. The organization compared the use to Google’s “widespread and unauthorized use of news media content and its effect on the news media industry.”

Comments are due March 31 on an ICANN draft report on domain name collisions. These include situations where a domain is used in a private context and then delegated in the public domain name system (DNS) (see 1810240001). The report sets out findings of the Name Collision Analysis Project, which is charged with deciding whether delegation of .corp, .home and .mail and collisions in general, would harm DNS security and stability.

Google doesn’t have the tech industry support it claimed before the Supreme Court in Oracle’s lawsuit against Google’s use of Java programming code, Oracle Executive Vice President Ken Glueck wrote Monday (see 2001310027 and 2001130050). “A close read of Google’s Amicus briefs reveals that Google appears to be virtually alone -- at least among the technology community -- in seeking to weaken copyright for software,” Glueck wrote. The Internet Association, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Microsoft, Mozilla, Reddit, Etsy and the Electronic Frontier Foundation back Google in the case. A wide range of consumers, developers, scientists and businesses agree open software interfaces promote innovation, and no single company should be able to monopolize it, said a Google spokesperson: “Openness and interoperability have helped developers create a variety of new products that consumers use to communicate, work, and play across different platforms.”

Google is investing in connected TV ad solutions to reach households at scale with messages that are relevant to users “and respectful of their privacy,” blogged Jake Jolly, product manager-Display & Video 360. A Comscore analysis commissioned by Google found marketers can reach 76 percent of all connected TV households in the U.S. and 89 percent of ad-supported connected TV households, or more than half of all Wi-Fi households. That will grow as connected TV penetration broadens, Jolly said Thursday. In addition to YouTube, Display & Video 360 provides access to nine of the top 10 most watched U.S. ad-supported connected TV apps from cable and broadcast channels. Google uses Identifier for Advertising (IFA) to manage connected TV ad frequency, and it can be disabled or reset by the user. Now, it’s working with inventory providers to support IFAs at the exchange and publisher levels, and advertisers can control frequency in a “user-first” way on apps such as Hulu, Pluto TV or Lifetime.

The FCC cleared $240 million of Connect America Fund support over 10 years for rural broadband deployment in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma and Wyoming, the commission said Thursday. The agency estimates the funding, which broadband providers will start receiving later this month, will connect more than 100,000 unserved rural homes and businesses. Wisper ISP got more than $220.3 million for projects in six states, and Hughes Network got about $7 million in New York. This ninth wave of CAF Phase II is another step to close the digital divide, said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The commission noted it’s the third wave where New York got matching funds for its state broadband program. That state recently raised concerns about possible exclusion from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (see 2002050011).