The FTC Tuesday extended the comment deadline to Aug. 2 for proposed changes to the Safeguards Rule 60. The rule “requires financial institutions to develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive information security program.”
About one-third of internet users “never” read the fine print and another 39 percent only sometimes read it when agreeing to terms of service from online companies, the Brookings Institution reported Tuesday. Brookings polled some 2,000 adult internet users May 8-10. Nearly 70 percent said online privacy is “very important” to them. About half said there should “definitely” be one consistent standard for handling of data, and 73 percent said companies should “definitely” be required to get consumer consent to collect personal data.
U.S. antitrust authorities won't oppose tech company Xilinx's buy of software company Solarflare Communications, said an FTC early termination notice dated Friday and released Monday. That ends the deal's Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.
Take advantage of granular broadband availability information available through some statewide mapping projects (see 1905010089), Connected Nation told aides to all FCC members, Chief Data Officer Steve Rosenberg and Wireline Bureau officials. On plans to modernize Form 477, Connected Nation cited projects in Kansas and Minnesota that have used granular polygons contained within shapefiles to demonstrate network availability (see 1905030060). The maps are based on provider network capabilities, both where standard wireline installations are available and using propagation modeling for wireless services. "Implementing a system based on shapefile reporting would most likely result in the creation of a new more granular National Broadband Map in the shortest amount of time so that Federal agencies can more quickly utilize the map to guide funding decisions and support broadband buildout to the places that still desperately need it," said the filing posted Monday to docket 11-10.
About 15 percent of the tech industry regards security and data privacy as a risk factor, the Internet Association said Thursday, releasing a Q4 report. The report listed the top 5 risks cited by publicly-traded companies in their quarterly and annual filings. Security and data privacy ranked fourth in the top five most commonly cited risks to internet sector companies. Competition ranked third, with 10 percent reporting it as a risk. Product and services development was No. 1, with 49 percent. Economics and financial conditions were No. 2, at 23 percent. Market was fifth at 13 percent.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise agreed to buy supercomputer maker Cray in a deal worth roughly $1.3 billion. “Answers to some of society’s most pressing challenges are buried in massive amounts of data,” said HPE CEO Antonio Neri on Friday. High performance computing and "associated storage and services is expected to grow from approximately $28 billion in 2018 to approximately $35 billion in 2021," the buyer said Friday. Simon Leopold of Raymond James asked if the companies are what he called an odd couple, "given the differing business profiles of both companies with HPE focused primarily on commercial and enterprise markets, and Cray primarily focused on academic and industrial supercomputing applications." Artificial intelligence/machine learning and big data analytics "continue to see exponential growth, with businesses still scratching the surface of the different potential use cases," he wrote investors. "Management’s vision is sound." The deal is expected to close in fiscal Q1 ending Jan. 31, an HPE spokesperson emailed us. "The deal is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval." Cray closed up $1.52 higher than the deal's per-share price. It rose 23 percent to $36.52. The deal price excludes Cray's own cash.
Facebook, Google and Twitter have made progress combating disinformation through transparency reports, but more can be done to identify divisive ads, the European Commission said Friday. The three platforms signed the EU’s code of practice against disinformation, and Microsoft also intends to join. The agreement requires monthly reports. The three platforms “created publicly accessible political ad libraries and enabled searches through [application programming interfaces] APIs, which is a clear improvement,” the commission said. “We regret however that Google and Twitter were not able to develop and implement policies for the identification and public disclosure of issue-based ads, which can be sources of divisive public debate during elections.”
President Donald Trump’s new tool for publicly reporting instances of alleged political bias shows why the tech industry needs Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Trump’s website is a "right-wing effort" to pressure platforms to leave “vile content” online, Wyden said Thursday: Section 230 ensured “that private companies would be able to curate content online, without fear of bogus lawsuits or government interference.” Public Knowledge also blasted Trump’s tool. Senior Counsel John Bergmayer said that with claims of political bias, it “would welcome efforts from the Trump Administration to increase platform competition through the vigorous application of antitrust laws, interoperability initiatives, and similar endeavors.” Internet Association CEO Michael Beckerman disputed that any platforms have ideological bias: “It would make no business sense for companies to stifle the speech of half -- or any significant portion -- their customers.”
The FCC and its partner SamKnows seek ISP feedback by May 24 on a website relaunch for the agency’s Measuring Broadband America program. MBA monitors speeds on various tiers of consumer broadband packages sold by ISPs across the country. Providers are charged with contacting their subscribers starting June 5 to find volunteers to use a measuring device called a Whitebox that connects to an internet modem and measures broadband performance. If the partners don't see enough sign-ups across tiers and package speeds, they will look to adjust their consumer targeting strategy, said Stacie Djordjevic, government project manager-North America at SamKnows, on a call Thursday with the FCC and program client ISPs.
AT&T's artificial intelligence "guiding principles" are human oversight; open source "communities whenever appropriate"; and "ethics, safety, and values" including "our privacy principles and security safeguards." The ISP/MVPD uses "varied, validated datasets and diverse human input," it said Wednesday. "We use a transparent approach to algorithms that includes safeguards." The company monitors "outcomes to ensure accuracy and help minimize biases." When "outcomes are owned by people, no one should be able to claim, 'The machine did it,'" blogged Chief Privacy Officer Tom Moore. "No organization will be perfect, but that’s what humans must try to anticipate, catch and repair." Even as many organizations have advanced their own AI and privacy principles, some widely endorsed ones exist, noted Electronic Privacy Information Center President Marc Rotenberg. The "benchmark for AI policy" are the EPIC-established Public Voice coalition's universal guidelines for artificial intelligence, or UGAI, he said in an interview. Possibly later this month, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development may announce its 38 member countries endorsed OECD guidelines, "which reflect many of the principles contained in the UGAI," said Rotenberg, who has worked on the issue. The U.S. would be among the signers. The White House didn't comment. All OECD members and Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica "are due to formally endorse a new set of AI Principles designed by the OECD, next Wednesday" at the group’s annual ministerial meeting, a spokesperson emailed. AT&T meanwhile actively participates "in discussions with industry organizations, such as Linux Foundation, IEEE and Future of Privacy Forum, on a variety of AI topics," a company spokesperson emailed. That includes "AI and ethics, responsible development and deployment of AI" and machine learning, he added.