U.S. tariffs could especially hurt the information and communications technologies (ICT) industry, many groups said Friday and Monday, singling out China. That country's trade practices concern these groups, but they said tariffs aren't the answer. "Imposition of sweeping tariffs would trigger a chain reaction of negative consequences for the U.S. economy, provoking retaliation," said a letter to President Donald Trump from CompTIA, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, CTA, Information Technology Industry Council, Internet Association, TechNet, Telecommunications Industry Association and other tech and trade groups. "Tariffs on electronics, apparel, and other consumer products would increase prices" and do "little to address the fundamental challenges posed by unfair and discriminatory Chinese trade practices," they said. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said much the same thing: "Artificially raising the cost of ICT products by levying tariffs on ICT imports from China would reduce growth of U.S. ICT investments." The White House didn't comment Monday.

Broadcom formally ended its bid to buy Qualcomm Wednesday, after President Donald Trump, acting on a recommendation from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., signed an executive order Monday blocking the acquisition on national security grounds (see 1803120060). In complying with the order, Broadcom also withdrew its slate of nominees for election to the Qualcomm board, said the company. “Although we are disappointed with this outcome, Broadcom will comply with the Order,” and will “continue to move forward” with its plan to move its co-headquarters to Delaware from Singapore (see 1711020069), said the company. “Whether you support or oppose recent CFIUS decisions, it provides a deliberative process, a speedy outcome and industry certainty,” tweeted FCC Commission Mike O’Rielly Wednesday. “Similar structure needed for 'Team Telecom' to facilitate @FCC interaction!”

Online platforms should commit to a code of principles to combat online disinformation, the European Commission’s High-Level Expert Group told Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel Monday. The group emphasized the term “online disinformation” over fake news, calling the latter an “inadequate term.” The group recommended online platforms commit to algorithm transparency on news visibility and allow more visibility for reputable news sources. The report was sent to Gabriel the day of release of a Eurobarometer survey. More than 80 percent said fake news is a “danger to democracy.” Traditional media on radio, TV and print is trusted by, respectively, 70 percent, 66 percent and 63 percent, while online news sources and video hosting websites had 26 percent and 27 percent.

Latin American TV market penetration likely plateaued at 44 percent of TV households, and fewer than 5 million additional pay-TV subscribers are expected by 2023, Digital TV Research said Tuesday. It said Latin American pay-TV subscribers numbered slightly more than 70 million in 2017, flat year over year.

Germany is the best-prepared country for expansion of cloud-computing services, while Japan ranks second, the U.S. third and Vietnam last in a pool of 24 nations, according to BSA. BSA scored countries on data privacy; security; cybercrime; IP rights; standards and rules; promotion of free trade; and IT readiness and broadband deployment. Germany recorded an overall score of 84, Japan 82.1, the U.S. 82 and Vietnam 36.4. Russia and China ranked 21st and 22nd, respectively, with scores of 45 and 43.7.

It’s in the best interests of government, industry and civil society to keep the internet open and data flowing around the globe, said NTIA Administrator David Redl Wednesday at the Global Internet and Jurisdiction Conference in Ottawa. Free flow of data has resulted in widespread economic growth and educational opportunities and opened communication lines for marginalized populations, he said. It’s up to open internet advocates to “persuade those on the other side of the debate that the challenges of the free flow of data are far outweighed by the benefits,” he said.

Sixty-seven percent of people believe internet access is a human right, Facebook reported Monday. It said a significant gender gap remains, as men on average are 33.5 percent more likely than women to have access. Global internet connectivity grew 8.3 percent in 2017, but lower-income countries had a 65.1 percent increase. The largest increases were Rwanda (490 percent), Nepal (138 percent) and Tanzania (87.8 percent). Cost of mobile broadband data plans in lower-income nations fell 17 percent, the steepest drops in Argentina (89 percent), El Salvador (77 percent), Tanzania (69 percent) and Ethiopia (61 percent). Facebook said internet remains too expensive when compared with income, because lower-income countries haven't met the U.N. 2025 goal of internet access at 2 percent of gross national income per capita.

Comments will be due in 30 days on an FCC request to the Office of Management and Budget for approval of a change in the OMB reporting requirement that facilities-based international service providers submit and maintain a list of routes on which they have direct termination agreements with a foreign carrier, says Thursday's Federal Register. The commission said it's seeking input on whether collection of common carrier international telecommunications service information is necessary for FCC functions, and ways to reduce the data collection burden.

A bill for faster access to internationally stored electronic crime data would help American law enforcement, wrote White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert and U.K. Deputy National Security Adviser Paddy McGuinness in The New York Times Wednesday. “American efforts to investigate crime and terrorism are increasingly impeded by our lack of access to data stored outside the United States, even when it is held by companies subject to our jurisdiction.” They supported the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (Cloud) Act. Introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga. (see 1802060065). It was pitched to streamline cross-border data requests. “Officials in one country investigating a serious crime with victims in that very same country [often] cannot get data they need simply because it is on a server halfway across the world,” wrote Bossert and Paddy McGuinness: “Our legal constructs are not keeping up” with technology. The legislation would authorize the U.S. attorney general to sign special agreements with other nations, allowing America expedited access to foreign data stored on the cloud. The two said potential partners would be limited to allies “that respect privacy and protect civil liberties,” and Britain is the first potential one.

U.S. broadband download speeds ranked higher for fixed than for mobile service among 28 countries examined, the FCC reported. The U.S. "ranked 10th in terms of actual [fixed] broadband speeds (55.07 Mbps) weighted by the number of tests in each city" in 2016, up from "11th in 2015 (40.38 Mbps) and 15th (28.09 Mbps) in 2014," said a report in docket 17-199 mandated by the 2008 Broadband Data Improvement Act. It said the U.S. ranked 24th in actual mobile broadband speeds "in both 2016 (19.98 Mbps) and 2015 (15.58 Mbps)," after being 18th (12.62 Mbps) in 2014. U.S. prices for fixed and mobile broadband were among the more expensive, with various rankings in the bottom half of countries with available data, the report said. Also Friday, the agency issued a U.S. broadband deployment report (see 1802050002).