Most stakeholders support the proposed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in allowing individual countries to set privacy laws while promoting Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation privacy rules, Wiley Rein international trade attorney Stephen Claeys blogged Thursday. USMCA goes “farther than those in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in requiring data protection and promoting compatibility.”
The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee meets Dec. 6-7, starting a 9 a.m., in the Commission Meeting Room. The BDAC "will continue considering and will vote on the Model Code for States and hear a status report from the Disaster Response and Recovery Working Group," said a public notice Wednesday in docket 17-83, noting the agenda could be modified.
CES, which begins Jan. 8, will showcase "companies and industries that you really wouldn't expect," said Karen Chupka, CTA executive vice president-CES, during a news conference Q&A. That includes first-time exhibitor Procter & Gamble, which scheduled a news conference Jan. 6 on the first media day. Connectivity and personalization "have changed the way consumers interact with nearly every product and service, and consumer packaged goods are no different," emailed P&G Friday. "As a first time exhibitor at CES, we will showcase new products that address changing consumer desires, using technology to transform everyday experiences. These technologies fall within our grooming, beauty, oral and home care."
Netflix signed a long-term lease for 355,000 square feet at the Academy on Vine project Kilroy Realty is developing in Hollywood, said the developer Tuesday. On Vine St. about a half-mile south of Hollywood Blvd., it will include offices and a 20-story apartment building, slated for occupancy in mid-2020, said Kilroy. It acquired the 3.5-acre site from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences five years ago, it said. Outgoing Netflix Chief Financial Officer David Wells said the lease “further deepens our connection with the Los Angeles and Hollywood communities.”
Some 70 groups asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to give users a mechanism for appealing “content censorship” and provide statistics on content removal. The company treats average users and famous or notable users differently when fielding complaints about removal, the groups said Tuesday. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access Now and New America's Open Technology Institute signed. A Facebook spokesperson emailed that these are “very important issues,” citing the platform’s appeals process launched in April and Facebook’s first transparency report on removing bad content. “We are one of the few companies to do this -- and we look forward to doing more in the future.”
Amazon will get $1.5 billion from New York State and $550 million from Virginia in “performance-based direct incentives” over the next decade to split its second headquarters between Long Island City, Queens, and Crystal City, Virginia, said Amazon Tuesday. The incentives will reach full potential when Amazon fulfills its agreement to hire 25,000 employees at each location with an average salary of more than $150,000, it said. Crystal City’s high-skilled workforce and easy access to Washington make it “the perfect match for Amazon's mission and goals,” said CTA Chief Financial Officer Glenda MacMullin, who chairs the Crystal City Business Improvement District. CTA “has been one of the few building owners” there for the past 12 years, she said. Amazon in Queens will occupy an 8 million-square-foot "campus" on Long Island City's waterfront, said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) at a Tuesday news conference. "In many ways, this is a perfect location, and there's a lot happening in Queens." The site is "proximate" to LaGuardia and JFK airports, which are undergoing reconstruction, and will be near a 10-minute water taxi to Manhattan, said Cuomo. Amazon's "initial buildout" will be at the Citibank building at 1 Court Square, next to three existing subway lines, said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D).
Civil penalty authority could encourage companies to take data security seriously, an incentive to increase investment, said FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Director Andrew Smith Friday at a Free State Foundation event. He was asked about the agency’s recent no-fine settlement with Uber (see 1810260040). It’s very difficult to show the “causal link” between a security breach and harm to consumers, he said, but some commissioners believe there’s a “systemic underinvestment” in data security.
The mass market for consumer augmented- and virtual-reality devices may be developing more slowly than it appeared last year, said the CEO of a microdisplay supplier working on such products. Andrew Sculley on a Q3 earnings call Thursday said the consumer AV/VR market will remain a “substantial growth opportunity.” Last year's “urgency” to chase it no longer exists, he said. “It’s our assumption that many of the companies pursuing this market recognize that widespread consumer adoption will take more time and development work than originally contemplated.”
Officials should craft federal, baseline privacy legislation that ensures data is “handled transparently and responsibly provided the framework is technology neutral and applies to the online and offline sector,” the Computer & Communications Industry Association told the Commerce Department Wednesday. In addition to releasing Privacy Principles, CCIA commented on NTIA’s ongoing privacy effort (see 1810220032), backing more FTC resources to better enforcement. “The digital economy relies on consumers’ trust, so responsible tech companies support measures to curb the misuse of data and to ensure data protection measures meet consumers’ expectations for privacy,” CEO Ed Black said. Comments are due Friday.
The FCC plans a Nov. 30 forum with artificial intelligence and machine learning experts, Chairman Ajit Pai announced Wednesday. The public discussion, at FCC headquarters, will key on technology’s impact on the communications industry. Pai has been eyeing such an event (see 1806140049), saying now that "because so much of AI intersects with the Commission’s technological and engineering work, we want to explore what it means for the future of communications."