The Senate should reject the Earn It Act, which would result in online censorship, jeopardize encryption and potentially undermine child abuse cases, 26 advocacy groups wrote Tuesday (see 2007080061). Access Now, the Center for Democracy & Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, Internet Society, New America's Open Technology Institute and R Street Institute were signers. The bill is “a blunt tool that will result in platforms taking down a lot of First Amendment-protected content, particularly content created by people whose voices are already marginalized in society,” said CDT Free Expression Project Director Emma Llanso.
Panasonic is committing $150 million to a second Conductive Ventures fund for investing in tech startups in artificial intelligence, digital health, future of work, autonomous vehicles and other fields, said the company Monday. "Uncertainty is rife in today's global economy," said Conductive Ventures Managing Director Carey Lai. "We're committed to helping expansion stage companies build on their foundation, leverage their talent and innovation, and weather the storm to bring to market ideas and technologies that will have a positive impact on their respective industries.” The first $100 million fund went to at least a dozen tech startups, one of which, 3D printing company Desktop Metal, has announced its intention to go public, said Panasonic.
Comments on NTIA’s internet use survey questions are due Thursday (see 2009110051), a spokesperson said. The additional 30-day comment period is to OMB for the Paperwork Reduction Act.
Fifty-six of 90 agencies use IoT technology, but some don’t because of cybersecurity concerns and lack of return on investment, GAO reported Monday. Forty-two use it to control or monitor equipment and systems. Nearly 40 said they use it to control devices and facilities, and 28 to track physical assets.
NTIA extended by 30 days its comment deadline for its internet use survey, says a notice in Monday's Federal Register. NTIA originally opened a 60-day comment period July 7.
Tech innovation will benefit most from a hands-off approach from the federal government, the Competitive Enterprise Institute said Thursday, criticizing “interventionist tech policies” from Congress. CEI targeted Senate bills: the Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act (see 1906190047) from Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act (see 1908220057) from Hawley, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Ed Markey, D-Mass.; and the Deceptive Experiences to Online Users Reduction Act (see 1904090084) from Mark Warner, D-Va., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb. “Policy makers, including Republicans, should stop pursuing laws and regulations that expand the influence of powerful agencies like the FTC and FCC,” said CEI Vice President-Policy Wayne Crews. Vice President-Strategy Iain Murray said market solutions will better “address the myriad problems that inevitably arise in a free, competitive economy.”
North Carolina will direct $40 million to fund internet for students’ remote learning, Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said Wednesday. It includes $30 million to distribute 100,000 wireless hot spots; $8 million for wireless access points in school parking lots, municipal areas, state parks, museums and historic sites; and $2 million for remote-learning training. West Virginia activated 848 free Wi-Fi hot spots through the state’s Kids Connect initiative to set up internet access points at pre-K-12 schools, libraries, higher education facilities, state parks and National Guard armories, Gov. Jim Justice (R) said Tuesday. “We’re going to have over 1,000 of these sites very soon.”
The Z-Wave Alliance announced a specification enabling quadruple the range and 10 times the devices that can operate on a network. Z-Wave Long Range is in testing by three companies and expected to be in beta in late Q4 or early Q1, alliance Executive Director Mitchell Klein told us Tuesday. General availability is expected late Q1, he said. The alliance, which was a subsidiary of Silicon Labs, announced its status as a nonprofit standards development organization Aug. 18. That opens development for the platform, Klein said: The alliance is “aggressively recruiting” for working groups “to take things beyond what one company could do in terms of resources.”
The National Institute of Standards and Technology wants comment by Oct. 8 on a paper on IoT device security, said the agency Tuesday. The paper focuses on “trusted IoT device network-layer onboarding and lifecycle management.” It discusses how to prevent “unauthorized devices from connecting to the network” and protecting devices from “being taken over by unauthorized networks.”
Walter Ji, president of Huawei Europe’s consumer business group, spent the bulk of his 45-minute prerecorded IFA 2020 news conference speech Thursday trumpeting his company’s stature as a good corporate citizen. Independent studies show Huawei supports 223,000 jobs on the continent, said Ji. Huawei will expand its retail presence in Europe, “creating more jobs and economic growth at a critical time,” he said. It will open eight “flagship stores” by year-end across Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. The flagship stores were “designed by Europeans for Europeans,” he said. The expanded “retail footprint will employ hundreds more people,” he said. “We are proud of what we are doing in Europe, and we are committed to doing more.” Ji made no mention in his talk of the U.K.’s July decision banning Huawei from its 5G network (see 2007140023).