A New York security and background check provider misrepresented its participation in Privacy Shield, the FTC alleged in a settlement Monday. T&M Protection Resources is prohibited from misrepresenting itself in the future, said commissioners 5-0. The company didn’t comment.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled oral argument in a mass surveillance case involving AT&T customers for 9:30 a.m. June 5 in Seattle (see 1508050058). The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed the lawsuit in Jewel v. NSA (19-16066) in 2008 on behalf of San Francisco resident Carolyn Jewel and other Bay Area AT&T customers challenging NSA collection of their communications, citing Fourth Amendment protections.
Disney Plus is set to become Europe’s third largest streaming service behind Netflix and Amazon Prime Video after it launches Tuesday in eight major markets, blogged Futuresource Friday. COVID-19's “stay-at-home directive,” plus new distribution partnerships, will drive “subscriber uptake” to reach “even higher levels than previously anticipated,” it said. But Futuresource predicts pent-up Disney Plus demand at launch in Europe will be lower than in the U.S., where the service signed on nearly 30 million paid subscribers in the 13 weeks after the Nov. 12 debut (see 2002040068). “The key challenge for Disney across all markets will be maintaining its growth in new subscriptions after such quick traction, whilst retaining its existing monthly subscribers,” said Futuresource. Its research found slightly more than half of Disney Plus European subscribers will be on monthly plans.
NTCA launched a cybersecurity information-sharing platform Thursday to help small broadband providers improve security. CyberShare provides subscribers daily and weekly reports, in-person and virtual meetings and a secure web platform. The platform is based on a pilot program administered by NTCA in 2019 with funding from the nonprofit National Institute of Hometown Security and the Department of Homeland Security.
Alphabet's Project Baseline by Verily reached capacity and can't schedule more coronavirus testing "at this time," said its website Wednesday. Appointments will continue to expand through this program as Verily scales capacity "in the near future," it said. It referred visitors to CDC guidelines. Google sister company Verily posted Monday that Project Baseline was working to deliver COVID-19 testing in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in California to the "highest risk populations as defined by the California Department of Public Health." Residents in the San Francisco Bay Area interested in getting tested were directed to an online screener, which appeared to exclude people who showed symptoms of COVID-19. Last week, President Donald Trump hailed a screening website Google was building, receiving widespread criticism for exaggerating its readiness. Sunday Google blogged it was working with the U.S. government on developing a website dedicated to COVID-19 education, prevention and local resources nationwide. That website hadn't launched Wednesday.
The White House credited the tech industry Wednesday for launching an online education website as part of the coronavirus response. Launched by the Software & Information Industry Association, TechforLearners.org provides a searchable online database to facilitate online teaching. The Office of Science and Technology Policy’s COVID-19 technology initiative called for online resources last week. It's an "important resource,” said Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios.
Amazon is adding 100,000 new full- and part-time positions across the U.S. in fulfillment centers and its delivery network to meet the surge in demand from people relying on its deliveries during the COVID-19 pandemic, it said Monday. The additional workers will boost its ability to deliver critical supplies “directly to the doorstep” of people relying on its service “during this stressful time." The e-tailer is contacting potential employees whose jobs have been affected in fields of hospitality, restaurants and travel, saying “we want those people to know we welcome them on our teams until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back.” Amazon is temporarily boosting pay for existing employees, who are “playing an essential role” in the crisis, adding $2 per hour in wages in the U.S. to its current $15, through April. The company acted to promote social distancing in the workplace and is doing enhanced and frequent cleaning.
The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence is collecting comment on its draft zero trust architecture for cybersecurity through April 14. The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s NCCOE is exploring a zero trust architecture concept, which treats “all users as potential threats and prevents access to data” to ensure device security.
Sonos and Google lawyers have until March 24 to submit a “joint procedural schedule” in the International Trade Commission’s Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into Sonos allegations that Google smart speakers and other devices infringe five Sonos multiroom audio patents. A pretrial hearing is set for July 20 and a final evidentiary hearing for Feb. 22-24, 2021, said an order (login required) in docket 337-TA-1191 signed Friday by Chief Administrative Law Judge Charles Bullock. Sonos and Google need to agree on dates in the schedule for two settlement meetings and one mediation session, said the order. The settlement meetings must be in person unless Bullock gives permission for “good cause shown” to hold them by videoconferencing or teleconferencing, it said. Bullock’s “initial determination” order Wednesday setting May 11, 2021, as the target date for completing the investigation added three months’ cushion to the calendar to account for workload pressures from a separate investigation, plus “potential scheduling disruptions” from COVID-19 (see 2003120001). His order Friday didn’t mention possible delays from the coronavirus.
Xerox will prioritize the health and safety of its employees, customers, partners and affiliates above other considerations, “including its proposal to acquire HP,” said CEO John Visentin Friday. His company will delay releases of presentations, media interviews and meetings with HP shareholders to focus on resources to protect the company’s various stakeholders from the coronavirus pandemic. Xerox offered to buy HP for $24 a share Feb. 10, a price “not in the best interest of HP shareholders,” says HP CEO Enrique Lores (see 2002250008). Xerox “does not consider the market decline since the date of its offer” -- or the temporary suspension of trading in HP shares Tuesday and Thursday as a result of marketwide circuit breaker procedures -- to constitute a failure of any condition to its offer to acquire HP,” said the company.