Federal authorities in San Francisco charged a Santa Clara man with securities and wire fraud for allegedly bilking venture capital investors out of $17 million in bogus artificial intelligence funding. Shaukat Shamim, 49, wooed investors to his AI startup, Youplus, by allegedly lying about the number of clients who bought the software, said DOJ Monday. Prosecutors alleged Shamim showed investors a fake bank statement last summer showing the company had more than $600,000 in revenue from 35 clients, including Netflix, when it really had $65,000 from one client. Shamim is due next week at a hearing in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, said DOJ. Efforts to reach him or his attorneys Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Yahoo Mail users can fill Walmart grocery shopping carts directly from their inboxes, said Verizon Media Monday, calling it an industry first. They can track promotions and coupons from the mail app, it said. The shopping cart never expires. Groceries from Walmart are available on the Yahoo Mail iOS app and desktop, with Android coming later this year, it said.
It’s deeply worrisome that President Donald Trump’s social media executive order might enable the government to punish editorial choices like fact-checking speech (see 2007100052), Center for Democracy and Technology CEO Alexandra Givens told the Technology Policy Institute in a podcast released Thursday. She called the EO “a clear effort to deter social media companies from fighting misinformation and voter suppression on their services.” The White House didn't comment.
Antitrust authorities cleared the way for General Atlantic Partners to acquire Doctor on Demand. An FTC early termination notice dated Wednesday and released Thursday ended the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.
The Commerce Department's new Bureau of Industry and Security agenda touches on several technology issues, our review shows. It mentions an NPRM in BIS’ effort to control emerging and foundational technologies that will request comment about how export controls might affect “legitimate commercial or scientific applications.” BIS said it aims to issue the proposed rule this month. The agenda newly mentions a final rule to adopt new emerging technology controls agreed to at the 2019 Wassenaar plenary. The new controls will cover dual-use goods and technologies. BIS said it aims to issue the rule this month. The agenda includes a new mention of a rule to control “software” for some genetics operations that need export controls.
Tests show Wi-Fi in part of 5.9 GHz would interfere with intelligent transportation systems, said a Ford Motor report filed at the FCC. “A single device running popular Wi-Fi applications can create interference conditions for the ITS safety applications even in low duty-cycle scenarios,” said the report, posted Tuesday in docket 19-138. “Wi-Fi usage at scale presents persistent levels of harmful interference.” The FCC is expected to reallocate the band in coming months, with 45 MHz set aside for unlicensed use (see 2004300032).
The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the Google v. Oracle intellectual property case (18-956) at 10 a.m. Oct. 7, the high court announced Monday (see 2004130019).
The FCC should reject the Wireless ISP Association’s arguments that ATSC 3.0’s greater capabilities to handle interference mean the FCC should relax interference rules for unlicensed devices operating in the TV white spaces, said broadcaster consortium BitPath in an ex parte filing Friday in docket 20-36. The “most troubling aspect” of WISPA’s stance is the idea “that the capabilities of ATSC 3.0 should be applied not to improve broadcast television service, but rather to give [white spaces device] interests more operating flexibility,” said BitPath CEO John Hane. An interference test performed by WISPA, “skips over too many inconvenient real-world facts to be taken seriously,” Hane said. Both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 receivers must be protected from interference because there are currently few 3.0 devices and 1.0 signals are still required, Hane said. “Any conclusions drawn solely from self-serving tests of two devices would be unjustified,” he said. “Technological advances in interference modeling ensures that spectrum, that scarce public resource, is put to its best and highest use,” emailed WISPA CEO Claude Aiken. “The FCC has welcomed those technological advances in interference modeling in multiple other shared spectrum bands. WISPA merely suggests that the FCC should follow suit here as well.”
NARUC President Brandon Presley is reversing course on the Rural Broadband Acceleration Act, saying with Telecom Subcommittee Chair Karen Charles Peterson to Senate Commerce Committee leaders that he now opposes a revised version of the bill (HR-7447/S-4201) and supports the rival Accelerating Broadband Connectivity Act (S-4021). Presley endorsed an earlier version of the Rural Broadband Acceleration Act (HR-7022) in June (see 2005280048). Both versions of the bill would require the FCC to award funding by Sept. 30 to some Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I applicants in a bid to speed the release of money before a planned late October reverse auction. HR-7447/S-4201 also would eliminate a requirement companies be designated eligible telecom carriers, which doesn’t have universal stakeholder support (see 2006300010). The proposal to eliminate the ETC designation procedure “is anti-consumer and encourages abuse of the RDOF program and customers served by that program,” Presley and Peterson said in a letter to Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “It reduces program oversight and has other broad implications for the existing State-Federal universal service partnership envisioned by Congress” in the 1996 Telecom Act. “Absent a rule or statutory change, carriers that are not designated will not have to provide federal Lifeline services or comply with other ETC requirements,” the NARUC leaders said. “Even with changes, removal of the ETC designation procedure will allow the carrier to choose whether to offer customers any enhanced state Lifeline subsidy (in those states that provide additional support for low-income lifeline services). For states that conduct designation proceedings, elimination of the ETC requirement effectively takes state cops off the beat.”
A fifth of new multifamily dwelling units will have smart home technology by 2025, blogged Parks Associates Wednesday. Some 57% of U.S. multifamily home builders say smart home devices create additional revenue in their properties through increased rental value. Fifteen percent of new MDU builds have smart home tech installed, with smart locks, lights and thermostats the most common devices, said analyst Brad Russell.