Customers owning legacy Sonos products affected by the May deadline for software updates won’t see an immediate impact, a Sonos spokesperson emailed us. “Over time, technology will progress in ways these products are not able to accommodate.” Sonos will “work to maintain the existing experience and conduct bug fixes where the computing hardware will allow, but our efforts will ultimately be limited by the lack of memory and processing power of these legacy products.” The company advised registered owners of original Zone Players, Connect, Connect:Amp, first-generation Play:5, CR200 and Bridge products Tuesday (see 2001220064) the products will be “classified as legacy and no longer receive software updates and new features. This will affect your listening experience.” That sparked outrage on social media and Sonos' community forum where the company told customers if they want newer products to continue receiving updates and new features, they can separate them from legacy products and continue using both separately. Sonos community manager Ryan S. posted clarifications on the Sonos website after Tuesday’s announcement, which had 1,284 replies and 46,633 views by Thursday afternoon. A Wednesday thread was shut down, sparking more ire from customers.

When ICANN's board meets in coming days, Mozilla wants directors to scrutinize the Internet Society's sale of the Public Interest Registry to Ethos Capital. Board members should devise criteria Friday, said a Mozilla blog post Thursday. It said a stewardship charter, B corporation registration with public charter, and public feedback on the first two criteria "should be in place before ICANN considers approving the sale." Mozilla sought a charter giving a PIR stewardship council of .org stakeholders "broad scope, meaningful independence, and practical authority to ensure PIR continues to serve the public benefit." It would guarantee Ethos and PIR "keep their promises regarding price increases, and steer any additional revenue from higher prices back into the dot org ecosystem." PIR won't change because of its "indirect transfer of ownership," an Ethos spokesperson emailed. "ICANN has a clear and specific mandate" here, she added. "ICANN’s exclusive responsibility in reviewing any transfer of control is to ensure that it does not adversely impact the stability, reliability, or security of the registry." PIR post-deal will meet those criteria, she said. "Should ICANN base its decision about this transaction on opinions that have been circulating in public discussion that are unrelated to these criteria, it would set a dangerous precedent. It would put ICANN in the business of subjectively deciding who should own registries based on issues other than the stability, reliability and security of the registry. This becomes a very gray area." It would "create a slippery slope for ICANN, cause significant uncertainty for any company in the future seeking to purchase or sell a domain name registry, create an uncertain and unpredictable business environment for registries and raise serious doubts about whether ICANN is expanding its role far beyond its limited mandate. The enforceability and value of the ICANN contract itself would be called into question." ICANN didn't comment now. It last week extended the time to review PIR's purchase to next month (see 2001210034). ISOC and PIR noted the deal won't change the nonprofit website registrar that's being transferred nor .org. "It’s important all sides of this debate are heard, including ours," emailed a spokesperson on behalf of ISOC and PIR. "PIR will retain the same management team that is in place today, and will continue to operate the .ORG registry in the same way that it has successfully operated the registry for the past 16 years."

"Categorical exclusion of all New York areas" from the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund is "premature and imprudent given that certain areas of the state still lack broadband services," the New York State Broadband Program Office said in a phone call last week with Preston Wise, rural broadband adviser to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The state said FCC delays approving program awardees and complications arising from such conditions slowed deployment. Exclusion of New York from RDOF "could preclude the deployment of much-needed broadband services in the state, which would be especially inequitable given that New York has dedicated more funding than any other state in an effort to achieve universal availability," it said. The New York State Telecommunications Association said "citizens should not effectively be penalized due to the state's efforts to support broadband deployment," also posted in docket 19-126 Wednesday. It supported a Friday letter to Pai from 22 New York members of the U.S. House and a letter from the state's U.S. senators. Hudson Valley Wireless asked the FCC "to remove categorical exclusions and allow providers in New York to participate" in RDOF. New York and Alaska are excluded from the first phase of the $20 billion program, said the draft order up for a commissioners' vote Jan. 30 (see 2001140028). Broadband funding in New York comes from the New NY Broadband Program (see 1908120013), and in Alaska from the Alaska Plan (see 1912130039). The FCC voted to provide up to $170 million from the Connect America Fund to expand broadband deployment in unserved rural areas of New York in the first item the commission adopted under Pai’s leadership, a spokesperson emailed now: The state "combined this money with state funding and private investment to jump-start broadband deployment and close the digital divide across New York more quickly." The commission's "current estimate is that no areas in New York would be eligible for Phase I of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund," the spokesperson said. Phase 1 eligibility is limited to census block groups unserved by broadband.

ICANN extended to Feb. 17 the time to review Public Interest Registry submissions on the Internet Society selling PIR to Ethos Capital. ICANN will seek more information, it announced Friday. That won't delay the original Feb. 17 deadline to OK or turn down the deal, wrote ICANN Senior Vice President-Global Domains Division Cyrus Namazi to PIR CEO Jon Nevett. PIR has shown a "desire to act in the spirit of cooperation so that ICANN has a full understanding," Namazi wrote. The three parties to the transaction back the extra time, a spokesperson responded on their behalf Tuesday. Ethos, ISOC and PIR "stand firmly behind the merits of this transaction" that represent "immense opportunities" for ISOC and PIR "to advance their important work for the public benefit and the Internet at large," the spokesperson emailed. "Ethos investment in PIR will further strengthen .ORG." Over 21,000 people, 660 organizations and six members of Congress (see 2001160061) ask ICANN to halt the $1.135 billion takeover, noted the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The speed of the deal and the dangerous lack of transparency" worry EFF, wrote Senior Staff Attorney Mitch Stoltz. EFF is "encouraged that ICANN is taking the time to review the deal more closely and ask more questions," Stoltz emailed us Tuesday. "It remains to be seen whether ICANN will listen to the concerns of .ORG users and address the obvious conflicts of interest that the Ethos deal raises."

Netflix opened a Paris office and will “significantly increase” investment in France, it said Friday: The "creative hub" will bring "opportunities for us to work with the best and most exciting creative talent in France,” it said. The company launched in France in 2014.

Mozilla is trimming less than 9 percent of its employees, to "just over a 1,000 going forward," a spokesperson emailed Thursday. "To fund innovation," some "roles" were eliminated, CEO Mitchell Baker blogged Wednesday. "Mozilla has a strong line of sight to future revenue generation, but we are taking a more conservative approach to our finances. This will enable us to pivot as needed to respond to market threats to internet health, and champion user privacy and agency."

The FTC unanimously finalized settlements with five companies over allegations they falsely claimed certification under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework (see 1909030063), the agency said Thursday. The FTC alleged DCR Workforce, Thru, LotaData and 214 Technologies didn’t have PS certification, as claimed. It alleged LotaData falsely claimed Swiss-U.S. PS certification. EmpiriStat allowed its certification to lapse, failed to verify annually that statements about its PS practices were accurate, and didn’t affirm it would continue to apply PS protections to personal information collected while participating in the program, the commission alleged. “All five companies are prohibited from misrepresenting their participation in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework, any other privacy or data security program sponsored by the government, or any self-regulatory or standard-setting organization,” the FTC said. EmpiriStat must apply protections to personal information it collected while participating in the program, or return or delete the information.

Not all are concerned by the sale said to be worth $1 billion of the .org registry. Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf backed the transaction Tuesday. Members of Congress and many domain name interests and nonprofits have concerns about the Internet Society selling the Public Interest Registry to Ethos Capital (see 2001070053), and the private equity buyer made some commitments (see 1912230002). Cerf noted .org previously was managed by other companies. He noted they are Network Solutions, SAIC and VeriSign: Transferring that operation to ISOC to create PIR gave the society about $50 million yearly "to fund the Internet Society’s work in promoting a more accessible and secure Internet." It "limited PIR’s ability to invest in improvements to the operation of .org or even the creation of new products and services for the non-profit community," wrote Cerf, ISOC president 1992-95. Google didn't say Wednesday if it backs Cerf. Last week, Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public Policy's Milton Mueller blogged that the sale shows the registry's worth. "Rather than recoiling in horror at the number, we need to accept its value as a fact and derive policies," the professor said. "Any new owner is going to be in exactly the same position as ISOC or Ethos unless there are protections in the Registry Agreement of the sort we have asked for."

Google outlined a path to make third-party tracking cookies on its Chrome browser obsolete within two years. “After initial dialogue with the web community, we are confident that with continued iteration and feedback, privacy-preserving and open-standard mechanisms like the Privacy Sandbox can sustain a healthy, ad-supported web in a way that will render third-party cookies obsolete,” blogged Justin Schuh, director-Chrome engineering, Tuesday. In August, Google unveiled Privacy Sandbox on developing open standards to enhance web privacy. The company now encourages engagement from “the ecosystem” on the proposals. It said first trials are expected by year-end, beginning with conversion measurement, followed by personalization. Internet users are demanding more privacy -- including transparency, choice and control over how their data is used -- "and it’s clear the web ecosystem needs to evolve to meet these increasing demands,” Google said. Firefox and Safari reacted to user concerns by blocking third-party cookies, leading to “unintended consequences that can negatively impact both users and the web ecosystem,” Schuh said. “By undermining the business model of many ad-supported websites, blunt approaches to cookies encourage the use of opaque techniques such as fingerprinting (an invasive workaround to replace cookies), which can actually reduce user privacy and control.”

The FTC, Congress and three state attorneys general should investigate whether popular Google Play Store apps are “systematically violating users’ privacy,” consumer groups wrote Tuesday. The groups cited a Norwegian Consumer Council report accusing 10 apps -- Grindr, Tinder, OkCupid, Happn, Clue, MyDays, Perfect365, Qibla Finder, My Talking Tom 2 and Wave Keyboard -- of “sharing information they collect on users with third-party advertisers without users’ knowledge or consent.” American Civil Liberties Union of California, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG signed. They specifically targeted AGs in California, Texas and Oregon. “Consumers are unable to make an informed choice because the extent of tracking, data sharing, and the overall complexity of the adtech ecosystem is hidden and incomprehensible to average consumers,” they wrote. Clue doesn’t share any users’ health or menstrual cycle data, nor does it sell any user data to any third-party service, including advertisers, “and we never will,” a spokesperson said. “Clue does share anonymised data with carefully-vetted researchers within academic institutions working to improve female reproductive health, and we do so without any financial gain.” MyDays users agree to well-defined transparency and privacy policies “so they can see what happens with the Data and what the User can do about,” a spokesperson said. Google and owners of the other various apps didn’t comment. An FTC spokesperson confirmed receiving the letter.