Data security is a shared responsibility among tech-communications industry and government stakeholders, the Council to Secure the Digital Economy told the FTC in recent comments. Including the Information Technology Industry Council, USTelecom and CTA, the council suggested the FTC looks to its recent international botnet guide (see 1811290054) when addressing cybersecurity and data security issues. Earlier this month, CTA announced an effort to craft a technical standard based on the guide’s content, the council said. Antitrust enforcers should increase attention on “employer mergers and conduct that have anticompetitive labor-market effects,” American Antitrust Institute said in comments AAI sent in an email blast Tuesday.
Facebook partnerships with other companies didn’t allow access to personal data without consent, nor did they violate a 2012 consent decree with the FTC, Director-Developer Platforms and Programs Konstantinos Papamiltiadis responded Tuesday. The New York Times reported, based on 2017 documents, Facebook gave access to personal data, sometimes allegedly without consent, to Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, Yahoo and Russia Kremlin-linked search company Yandex. The agreements let users integrate Facebook features on other apps, Papamiltiadis said, and it has since ceased many such partnerships. Agreements remain active with Amazon, Apple, Alibaba, Mozilla and Opera, he said. Authorization to the data is granted when a user logs into apps through Facebook, he said. The FTC should consider these new allegations in its current Facebook investigation, and Congress needs to move forward with legislation in 2019, Public Knowledge Policy Counsel Charlotte Slaiman said. Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine (D) Wednesday sued Facebook for mishandling user data in the Cambridge Analytica scandal and failing to report the breach. Racine seeks “monetary and injunctive relief, including relief for harmed consumers, damages, and penalties to the District” for violating D.C.'s Consumer Protection Procedures Act. “We’re reviewing the complaint and look forward to continuing our discussions with attorneys general,” a Facebook spokesperson emailed. "If there's one complaint filed in court in the District of Columbia you consider reading today, make it this one: http://oag.dc.gov/sites/default/," tweeted FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel.
Baidu is collaborating with 3D developer Unity Technologies for a real-time simulation product with virtual environments for testing autonomous vehicles, said the companies Tuesday. The ability to conduct autonomous testing in a simulated environment allows “millions of simulations to simultaneously occur,” reducing testing costs, said Tim McDonough, Unity general manager-industrial.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg should step down from the board, civil rights groups wrote the company Tuesday. Groups including Freedom From Facebook and Southern Poverty Law Center claimed Facebook leadership ignored racial propaganda and bigoted campaigns on the platform, and criticized the company allegedly hiring an outside firm to target platform critics via anti-Semitic attacks (see 1811150039). The groups demanded Facebook publish its long-awaited civil rights audit by Jan. 31 and remove Vice President-Global Public Policy Joel Kaplan. Citing propaganda and data breaches, the NAACP launched a campaign urging users to log out of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp on Tuesday. The parent company Tuesday updated the civil rights audit headed by American Civil Liberties Union Director-Washington Office Laura Murphy, who committed to issuing a second update in 2019. Murphy recommended Facebook increase resources for voter suppression- and election integrity-related efforts, crack down on fake accounts and create a civil rights accountability structure. Sandberg said the civil rights audit is one of her top priorities in 2019.
Regulating data privacy “makes a lot of sense,” and Silicon Valley should keep an open dialogue with Congress and the federal government, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said on Fox News Sunday. There’s nothing inappropriate about officials talking to big tech companies, he said, citing regrets about addressing Microsoft investigations in the 1990s. “I was naive,” he said. “I didn’t have an office in Washington, D.C. ... and even bragged about it. I later came to regret that. I’m sure these guys are learning better than I did that they need to come back here and start a dialogue.” Gates was asked about the backlash against big tech and criticism that companies don’t properly protect consumer data.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology extended comments for developing a privacy framework (see 1809050043) from Dec. 31 to Jan. 14.
Facebook discovered an application programming interface bug that let third parties access as many as 6.8 million users’ photos, some not officially posted online, the platform announced Friday. The Facebook Login bug allowed unauthorized access Sept. 13-25 on as many as 1,500 applications built by 876 developers. The company will launch tools “early next week” to help inform affected users. “We will be working with those developers to delete the photos from impacted users,” Facebook said.
Allowing political bias to influence Google Search results, as alleged by Republican lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday (see 1812110053), would be a poor business decision, American Enterprise Institute Policy Analyst James Pethokoukis blogged in a Thursday blast email. Alienating one political group would drive away users and harm profits, he said Wednesday, criticizing Republicans for their lack of understanding of the platform: “GOPers seem to have scant understanding of how Google’s search technology works.” The committee didn’t comment.
The Chinese government was behind the recently disclosed Marriott data breach (see 1812040036) affecting up to 500 million guests, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News Wednesday. Pompeo, citing Chinese cyberattacks, espionage and influence operations in the U.S., said “that’s right” when asked if China was responsible for Marriott's breach.
Classic film subscription VOD services struggle to find an online audience, and the best route might be through bundles, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon blogged Monday. The failures of FilmStruck and Fandor point to challenges for spring launch of The Criterion Channel SVOD service, he said. Criterion also could be a test of the bundling approach, because alongside its stand-alone Criterion Channel, its film content will be available in WarnerMedia's service to debut in Q4 2019, the analyst said. Criterion didn't comment.