ICANN postponed a March 24-25 domain name system forum due to coronavirus concerns, saying Thursday the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, event will be rescheduled. That follows a Feb.19 announcement the March 7-12 public meeting in Cancun, Mexico, would instead be held remotely. ICANN is also reviewing other upcoming meetings, including the May 3-6 Global Domains Division summit in Paris, and the June 22-25 public meeting set for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but said no decisions have been made.

A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court ruling that Google’s YouTube is a private forum not subject to judicial scrutiny under the First Amendment (see 1803270011). It also agreed with the lower court decision in Prager University v. Google that YouTube’s advertising doesn’t violate the Lanham Act. Judge Margaret McKeown wrote the panel’s opinion (case 18-15712), published Wednesday. It was supported by fellow jurists Jay Bybee and Fernando Gaitan. Prager, an online university, said YouTube has restricted more than 200 of its videos. "The important issue of online censorship did not get a fair shake in court,” said CEO Marissa Streit. "We’re not done fighting for free speech and we will keep pushing forward."

Cybersecurity collaboration is a business imperative, not a charitable contribution, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education concluded Tuesday in a report for industry, government and schools. NICE recommended: establish program goals and metrics; develop strategies and tactics; measure impacts and results; and sustain effort. Goals should focus on “ensuring strong and community relevant training, increased cybersecurity workforce capacity, facilitated learner placement, and fostered cybersecurity innovation,” NICE said.

HP Inc. expects to report earnings between 49 and 53 cents a share for fiscal Q2 ending late April that includes an 8 cent hit from coronavirus-induced business disruptions, said Chief Financial Officer Steve Fieler on a Q1 call. Apple also is being affected by the coronavirus (see 2002250050). HP is “reaching out” to Xerox to “explore” a possible “combination,” said CEO Enrique Lores. Xerox offered to buy HP for $24 a share Feb. 10. “We firmly believe that this is not in the best interest of HP shareholders,” said Lores Monday. The $24-a-share bid “meaningfully undervalues HP,” said Lores. HP shares closed 5.5% higher Tuesday at $23.35. The two companies aren’t a good match because they lack “synergies,” the HP chief said. There’s “no overlap” between Xerox and 90 percent of HP’s businesses, he said. The would-be buyer didn't comment Tuesday.

Sale of the Public Interest Registry should be halted until ICANN can vet all financial details, the Electronic Frontier Foundation blogged Friday, responding to new accountability commitments by the buyer, Ethos Capital, about price caps, censorship safeguards and privacy protections for. org domain names (see 2002210017). EFF urged the FTC to review the buyout. Limiting price increases and establishing a "stewardship council" doesn't lessen the risk for nonprofits because the handpicked body "will have no real authority or practical ability to override the wishes of PIR's new equity owners," EFF Senior Staff Attorney Mitch Stoltz emailed us. The sale risks bankrupting PIR, he said. The Internet Governance Project said Ethos' public interest commitment is good news, because it's the agreement between ICANN and the registry "that will protect .ORG registrants, not promises, and not 'stopping the sale.'" The proposal "falls short" of IGP recommendations because composition of the stewardship council has no slots for independent noncommercial bodies and could lead to an "Ethos-selected group of puppets" and because potential steep price increases aren't accompanied by longer domain name registration terms.

The FBI arrested a California man Friday on federal charges alleging he launched distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on a website for a candidate who campaigned for a congressional seat in 2018, DOJ said. Arthur Dam, of Santa Monica, was taken into custody. “Dam allegedly staged four cyberattacks in April and May of 2018 that took down the candidate’s website for a total of 21 hours,” DOJ said, without naming the candidate.

Legally binding commitments on .org price caps, censorship safeguards and personal data protections in the Public Interest Registry agreement with ICANN shows PIR buyer Ethos Capital "has been listening closely to stakeholder feedback," Ethos CEO Erik Brooks said. The new provisions, unveiled Friday, will be enforceable by ICANN's compliance department and community members through ICANN's public interest commitments dispute resolution procedure, the equity firm said. Under the commitments, fees charged to .org domain name registrars for initial or renewal registrations won't increase by more than 10% per year on average for eight years from the start of the current registry agreement. After that period, "we will be constrained by the highly-competitive marketplace, competing with .NET, .CHARITY, .FOUNDATION and other TLDs," an Ethos spokesperson emailed. A second commitment requires PIR to maintain a body to provide strategic advice and oversight on policies and functions of the registry that affect .org and its community. In addition, the registry agreed to establish a "community enablement fund" to support initiatives benefiting .org registrants. PIR will also have to file an annual report assessing compliance with the accountability provisions. PIR gave ICANN an extension to March 20 to review its proposals (see 2002120033). ICANN is analyzing the information and welcomes Ethos' efforts to engage with the Internet Society community and .org customers, emailed President Goran Marby. ISOC owns PIR. Asked about early reaction to its proposal, the Ethos spokesperson said the firm consulted with leaders and members of the community before offering to make the commitments legally binding: Its actions "answer the very request the community has been making."

Google added a “contribute” tab to the latest version of Maps to make it easier for users to supply local information, blogged Kevin Reece, Google Maps director-product, Wednesday. Google users have contributed local knowledge to some 200 million points of interest in Maps, he said, including restaurant reviews, ratings, photos, answers to questions and address updates. Contributions have helped identify wheelchair-friendly entrances and restrooms for people with disabilities in more than 50 million places globally, he said.

Google is illegally collecting personal data from children through its G Suite for Education apps, alleged New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas (D) in a lawsuit Thursday. This includes geolocation information, browsing history, search terms, contact lists and voice recordings, Balderas said: “Tracking student data without parental consent is not only illegal, it is dangerous.” Balderas’ claims are factually wrong, a company spokesperson said. The apps require parental consent when necessary and allow schools to control account access, Google said: “School districts can decide how best to use Google for Education.”

YouTube illegally deceives users by “allowing violent murder videos” to spread in violation of its terms of service, gun safety advocate Andy Parker alleged in an FTC complaint Thursday. The agency confirmed it received the complaint, and Google defended its “vigilant” policy enforcement record against such content. Google’s “reprehensible and ongoing failure” to remove these monetized videos from YouTube is illegal under the FTC Act, which polices unfair and deceptive practices, Parker said at the National Press Club. Parker’s complaint stems from a video of his 24-year-old daughter, a reporter who was assassinated on live TV in 2015 (see 2002030059). He told us he’s also floating legislative proposals to the offices of Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Virginia Democrats. He planned to meet with their offices after the news conference to discuss proposals that would amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to address “targeted harassment, hate speech and murder videos.” Google’s Community Guidelines are “designed to protect the YouTube community, including those affected by tragedies,” a spokesperson said. Policies prohibit such videos, and the platform has removed thousands of copies of the video for violating policies, the spokesperson said: “We will continue to stay vigilant and improve our policy enforcement.” Georgetown University Law Center's Civil Rights Clinic helped Parker file the complaint. A separate Georgetown clinic filed a 2018 complaint against Google involving child-directed content. That proceeding resulted in a $170 million fine against Google from the FTC and the Office of the New York Attorney General (see 1909040066). Offices for Kaine and Warner didn't comment.