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."
The Supreme Court requested supplemental briefs on whether plaintiffs have the right to sue Google in a case involving its $8.5 million data privacy settlement (see 1810310043). The high court asked the parties and solicitor general Tuesday to address “whether any named plaintiff has standing such that the federal courts have Article III jurisdiction over this dispute.” The court was asked to weigh legitimacy of the cy pres settlement to charitable and academic organizations instead of being divided among many alleged victims. Supplemental briefs are due Nov. 30, replies Dec. 21.
Intel proposed draft online privacy legislation that would grant the FTC rulemaking authority and govern platforms and third parties by “fair information practice principles.” Such a bill would direct the agency to deliver to Congress annual reports with “recommendations to modify existing federal privacy laws which have become unnecessary or inconsistent by the provisions” of the bill.
NTIA and Verisign agreed Thursday to extend through 2024 the cooperative agreement allowing Verisign to administer the root zone file and run the .com and .net domain registries, repealing the $7.85 .com domain price increase cap NTIA included when it last extended the agreement. The 2012 cap was set to expire this month. Repeal lets Verisign pursue a change in its registry agreement with ICANN that could result in up to a 7 percent annual increase in .com domain name prices beginning in 2020, an amendment said. The move “provides Verisign the pricing flexibility” to potentially “increase wholesale .com prices,” in line with the Trump administration's “policy priorities,” NTIA said. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and other GOP lawmakers who were critical of the 2016 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition raised concerns that year about the proposed extension of Verisign’s contract with ICANN over domain pricing (see 1608150052). The new pact adds language committing Verisign to “operate the .com registry in a content neutral manner and that Verisign will participate in ICANN processes that promote the development of content neutral policies” for Domain Name System operation. NTIA clarified the company is barred from operating as a .com top-level domain registrar, not from being a registrar for other TLDs.
BBC’s iPlayer service will stream the upcoming natural-history series Dynasties in 4K with hybrid log-gamma HDR, beginning Nov. 11, said the broadcaster Wednesday. Audiences will need an internet connection of at least 24 Mbps for the full 3840x2560 image, which will be streamed at 25 frames a second, it said. “Dynasties is exactly the kind of landmark BBC programme that audiences want to see in Ultra HD,” said Matthew Postgate, BBC chief technology and product officer, in a statement. “We’ve been trialling Ultra HD over the past couple of years as we reinvent the BBC, and it’s clear that people enjoy the increased quality.” The BBC's Ultra HD trials included 4K HDR streams this summer of the royal wedding, the World Cup and Wimbledon tennis, said Postgate.