It’s “anybody’s guess” how the coronavirus outbreak will affect the Chinese supply chain after production workers are due to return from the Lunar New Year holiday, said Silicon Labs CEO Tyson Tuttle on a Q4 call Wednesday. “We’re reading the news just like everybody else,” said Tuttle. “Our forecast and guidance takes a normal return from Chinese New Year into account. Things just shut down, and we’re going to see if things start back up on a normal pace. Our hope is that that’s the case.” The stock closed 13 percent lower Wednesday at $102.76 after Silicon Labs reported a 30 percent operating-profit decline for the year that it blamed on "a challenging macro environment." Silicon Labs had been looking at “opening up” the Z-Wave standard “for quite some time” before doing so last month (see 1912200003), said Tuttle. “We are big believers in open standards, and to be able to drive broad adoption.” Z-Wave “performed very well in 2019,” he said. “We saw an opening,” he said of the timing to widen Z-Wave. A “number of customers” were looking toward Z-Wave as “the right solution for a sub-gigahertz standard,” he said. “It’s a very robust standard and it’s widely deployed. You’ve got 100-plus million units of devices deployed out in the market. As companies are looking for a sub-gigahertz standard, it was our belief that we have an opportunity to make sub-gigahertz the wireless standard for IoT.” Q4 sales fell slightly from the year-ago quarter to $219.4 million. They're expected to fall sequentially in Q1, to $209 million to $219 million, with "Infrastructure up, Broadcast flat, and declines in IoT and Access." The company said it may have a loss. "Despite a challenging macro environment, we are pleased to have outperformed the market with secular growth drivers in IoT and Infrastructure providing some offset to macro weakness," said Tuttle.

The transaction threshold for “reporting proposed mergers and acquisitions” under Section 7A of the Clayton Act will increase from $90 million to $94 million in 2020, the FTC said Tuesday. The revised thresholds, effective 30 days after Federal Register publication, are based on gross national product fluctuation.

The FTC unanimously finalized a settlement with a background check security company over allegations it falsely claimed certification under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework (see 1909030063), the agency said Thursday. The FTC alleged T&M Protection Resources didn’t have PS certification, as claimed. The company is prohibited from misrepresenting itself and faces monetary penalties for future infractions. The company didn’t comment.

MyDevices announced technology designed to improve panic buttons used in hotels by eliminating dead zones, it said Tuesday. Its No Dead Zone panic button technology combines cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and LoRaWAN protocols to provide full coverage across a property “no matter how challenging the physical environment,” it said. The company cited a workplace safety initiative announced by the American Hotel & Lodging Association two years ago designed to provide emergency communications and location-based services for employees in the hospitality industry. “While 4G LTE signals from all carriers freely propagate in open areas, inside buildings, it’s severely limited by heavy building material that blocks, absorbs, reflects, and degrades cell and Wi-Fi signals,” said the company. That limits coverage and creates dead zones, which can “lead to catastrophic outcomes if a panic button fails to connect.” Integrating LoRaWAN technology into a panic button makes it possible to send long-range, low-power and low-data bandwidth transmissions from hard-to-reach locations like underground, in concrete or dense urban environments, it said. MyDevices’ said its technology is highly secure, affordable and installs in less than a day. It provides floor- and room-level accuracy plus outdoor GPS tracking on the property, and doesn’t require the use of a mobile phone to request assistance in an emergency, it said. It wasn't clear whether a consumer version would be made available. The company didn't respond to questions.

“We did not get this right from the start,” Sonos CEO Patrick Spence wrote customers Thursday. That's after two days of rebukes from customers who were told their systems would no longer receive software updates as of May (see 2001230058). Thanking customers for their loyalty, Spence said: "I hope that you’ll forgive our misstep, and let us earn back your trust." In the email apology, also on a blog, Spence sought to “personally assure” customers of the path forward for legacy products, including original Zone Players, Connect, Connect:Amp, first-generation Play:5, CR200 and Bridge products. When Sonos ends new software updates for legacy products in May, “they will continue to work just as they do today,” said the executive: “We are not bricking them, we are not forcing them into obsolescence, and we are not taking anything away.” It wasn’t clear Friday how legacy and modern Sonos products would work together after May. Addressing the customers whose Sonos systems include both, Spence said: “We are working on a way to split your system so that modern products work together and get the latest features, while legacy products work together and remain in their current state.”

A sex worker advocate and a massage therapist demonstrated standing to challenge (see 1909200052) a 2018 anti-sex-trafficking law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled (in Pacer) Friday. Alex Andrews and Eric Koszyk demonstrated Article III standing to bring a pre-enforcement challenge to the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers-Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking acts. The court remanded the case to the district court. The conduct of Andrews, who operates a website that allows sex workers to share information, is “arguably affected with a constitutional interest,” the D.C. Circuit said, citing speech issues. Koszyk established standing FOSTA resulted in his advertisements being shut down on Craigslist. Judge Judith Rogers wrote the opinion. DOJ didn’t comment.

Customers owning legacy Sonos products affected by the May deadline for software updates won’t see an immediate impact, a Sonos spokesperson emailed us. “Over time, technology will progress in ways these products are not able to accommodate.” Sonos will “work to maintain the existing experience and conduct bug fixes where the computing hardware will allow, but our efforts will ultimately be limited by the lack of memory and processing power of these legacy products.” The company advised registered owners of original Zone Players, Connect, Connect:Amp, first-generation Play:5, CR200 and Bridge products Tuesday (see 2001220064) the products will be “classified as legacy and no longer receive software updates and new features. This will affect your listening experience.” That sparked outrage on social media and Sonos' community forum where the company told customers if they want newer products to continue receiving updates and new features, they can separate them from legacy products and continue using both separately. Sonos community manager Ryan S. posted clarifications on the Sonos website after Tuesday’s announcement, which had 1,284 replies and 46,633 views by Thursday afternoon. A Wednesday thread was shut down, sparking more ire from customers.

When ICANN's board meets in coming days, Mozilla wants directors to scrutinize the Internet Society's sale of the Public Interest Registry to Ethos Capital. Board members should devise criteria Friday, said a Mozilla blog post Thursday. It said a stewardship charter, B corporation registration with public charter, and public feedback on the first two criteria "should be in place before ICANN considers approving the sale." Mozilla sought a charter giving a PIR stewardship council of .org stakeholders "broad scope, meaningful independence, and practical authority to ensure PIR continues to serve the public benefit." It would guarantee Ethos and PIR "keep their promises regarding price increases, and steer any additional revenue from higher prices back into the dot org ecosystem." PIR won't change because of its "indirect transfer of ownership," an Ethos spokesperson emailed. "ICANN has a clear and specific mandate" here, she added. "ICANN’s exclusive responsibility in reviewing any transfer of control is to ensure that it does not adversely impact the stability, reliability, or security of the registry." PIR post-deal will meet those criteria, she said. "Should ICANN base its decision about this transaction on opinions that have been circulating in public discussion that are unrelated to these criteria, it would set a dangerous precedent. It would put ICANN in the business of subjectively deciding who should own registries based on issues other than the stability, reliability and security of the registry. This becomes a very gray area." It would "create a slippery slope for ICANN, cause significant uncertainty for any company in the future seeking to purchase or sell a domain name registry, create an uncertain and unpredictable business environment for registries and raise serious doubts about whether ICANN is expanding its role far beyond its limited mandate. The enforceability and value of the ICANN contract itself would be called into question." ICANN didn't comment now. It last week extended the time to review PIR's purchase to next month (see 2001210034). ISOC and PIR noted the deal won't change the nonprofit website registrar that's being transferred nor .org. "It’s important all sides of this debate are heard, including ours," emailed a spokesperson on behalf of ISOC and PIR. "PIR will retain the same management team that is in place today, and will continue to operate the .ORG registry in the same way that it has successfully operated the registry for the past 16 years."

"Categorical exclusion of all New York areas" from the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund is "premature and imprudent given that certain areas of the state still lack broadband services," the New York State Broadband Program Office said in a phone call last week with Preston Wise, rural broadband adviser to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The state said FCC delays approving program awardees and complications arising from such conditions slowed deployment. Exclusion of New York from RDOF "could preclude the deployment of much-needed broadband services in the state, which would be especially inequitable given that New York has dedicated more funding than any other state in an effort to achieve universal availability," it said. The New York State Telecommunications Association said "citizens should not effectively be penalized due to the state's efforts to support broadband deployment," also posted in docket 19-126 Wednesday. It supported a Friday letter to Pai from 22 New York members of the U.S. House and a letter from the state's U.S. senators. Hudson Valley Wireless asked the FCC "to remove categorical exclusions and allow providers in New York to participate" in RDOF. New York and Alaska are excluded from the first phase of the $20 billion program, said the draft order up for a commissioners' vote Jan. 30 (see 2001140028). Broadband funding in New York comes from the New NY Broadband Program (see 1908120013), and in Alaska from the Alaska Plan (see 1912130039). The FCC voted to provide up to $170 million from the Connect America Fund to expand broadband deployment in unserved rural areas of New York in the first item the commission adopted under Pai’s leadership, a spokesperson emailed now: The state "combined this money with state funding and private investment to jump-start broadband deployment and close the digital divide across New York more quickly." The commission's "current estimate is that no areas in New York would be eligible for Phase I of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund," the spokesperson said. Phase 1 eligibility is limited to census block groups unserved by broadband.

ICANN extended to Feb. 17 the time to review Public Interest Registry submissions on the Internet Society selling PIR to Ethos Capital. ICANN will seek more information, it announced Friday. That won't delay the original Feb. 17 deadline to OK or turn down the deal, wrote ICANN Senior Vice President-Global Domains Division Cyrus Namazi to PIR CEO Jon Nevett. PIR has shown a "desire to act in the spirit of cooperation so that ICANN has a full understanding," Namazi wrote. The three parties to the transaction back the extra time, a spokesperson responded on their behalf Tuesday. Ethos, ISOC and PIR "stand firmly behind the merits of this transaction" that represent "immense opportunities" for ISOC and PIR "to advance their important work for the public benefit and the Internet at large," the spokesperson emailed. "Ethos investment in PIR will further strengthen .ORG." Over 21,000 people, 660 organizations and six members of Congress (see 2001160061) ask ICANN to halt the $1.135 billion takeover, noted the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The speed of the deal and the dangerous lack of transparency" worry EFF, wrote Senior Staff Attorney Mitch Stoltz. EFF is "encouraged that ICANN is taking the time to review the deal more closely and ask more questions," Stoltz emailed us Tuesday. "It remains to be seen whether ICANN will listen to the concerns of .ORG users and address the obvious conflicts of interest that the Ethos deal raises."