The Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period for Broadcom’s $18.9 billion buy of software company CA Technologies ended, Broadcom announced Friday. The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2018.

The FTC will kick off hearings on consumer protection and competition (see 1808210026) Sept. 13-14 at Georgetown University Law Center, the agency announced Friday. Chairman Joe Simons will deliver opening remarks, followed by two days of discussion from topic experts. Panels will discuss competition and consumer protection law and policy; concentration of power in the U.S. economy; consumer data regulation; antitrust law’s consumer welfare standard; and vertical merger analysis. The commission scheduled additional hearings Sept. 21 at the FTC Constitution Center; Oct. 15-17 at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School; Oct. 23-24 at FTC Constitution Center; Nov. 6-7 at American University Washington College of Law; and Nov. 13-14 at Howard University School of Law. The Sept. 21 hearing covers antitrust law, mergers and monopsony power. The Oct. 15-17 event is on collusive, exclusionary and predatory conduct by tech platforms, acquisition evaluation; and antitrust analysis of labor markets. The Oct. 23-24 agenda includes innovation and intellectual property policy. The Nov. 6-7 event is on privacy, big data and competition. The Nov. 13-14 hearing concerns algorithms, artificial intelligence and predictive analysis.

ICANN, which plans to change the domain name system (DNS) cryptographic keys, published a guide (available here) to tell users what to expect. The changing of the keys, known as the "Root Key Signing Key (Root KSK)" is scheduled for Oct. 11, pending approval by the ICANN board, the organization blogged. The DNS was signed with Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) in 2010 and has two kinds of keys: zone-signing keys (ZSKs) that sign the main data in the root zone and key-signing keys that sign only the root key sets in the root zone, the guide said. The rollover occurs when the Root KSK is changed and the new KSK starts signing the root key set for the zone, the guide said. The new KSK is KSK-2017; all validating resolvers, which are configured with a set of trust anchors -- copies of the keys or key identifiers that match the root KSK -- will have to add KSK-2017 to their trust anchor configuration. Most resolvers either did that manually when KSK-2017 was created and published or had the change made for them by their software vendor, ICANN said. Some resolver operators, however, didn't update their configuration and are unprepared for the rollover because they're still using KSK-2010 as a trust anchor. When rollover occurs, those operators will have no valid trust anchors, and will start to fail to validate the answers they get from authoritative DNS servers. (Authoritative name servers are defined as a network of hundreds of servers in many countries that are configured in the DNS root zone as 13 named authorities). When such failures happen "is not predictable," the guide noted. Failure starts when the ZSK can't be validated, it said. Whenever a validating resolver gets a response from an authoritative name server, it checks the signature and saves the validation status of the signature on each name in its cache. For example, ICANN said, validating the signature on a name such as "www.example.com" means resolvers must validate the signatures on the root, on ".com," on "example.com" and on "www.example.com." At some point within 48 hours after the change, DNS queries from some users -- either individuals or automated systems -- will begin to fail, which could mean a web page becoming unavailable or the inability to receive new email, ICANN said. The failures will then "cascade until no program is able to show new information from the Internet." Once operators discover that their resolvers' DNSSEC validation is failing, they should change their resolver configuration to temporarily disable DNSSEC validation, which should fix the problem immediately, the guide said. Data analysis "suggests that more than 99% of users whose resolvers are validating will be unaffected by the KSK rollover," ICANN said.

Nearly 500 pages of redacted FTC documents about the handling of Consumer Protection Bureau Director Andrew Smith’s potential conflicts of interest (see 1807190040) drew the ire of Public Citizen Friday. The documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request from Public Citizen were almost all “wholly or partially redacted,” Civil Justice and Consumer Rights Counsel Remington Gregg said, saying he has seen documents with national security implications that had fewer redactions: “Rather than release the documents that would show just how he will remove himself from real or perceived conflicts of interests when these companies are investigated by the agency, the FTC has chosen instead to send a mix of documents that quite literally say nothing.” The FTC didn’t comment.

Consumers are “conflicted” as they weigh artificial intelligence, excited about innovations in self-driving and robotics, fearful of the “misuse of personal data,” reported Elicit Thursday. The consulting firm canvassed a nationally representative sample of nearly 700 adults in the spring and found they are divided in “general level of comfort with AI,” it said. A third worry AI “won't stay focused on mundane tasks and leave the real thinking to humans.” Consumers “have a healthy skepticism about what companies will do with AI,” it said. Seven of 10 said they think some companies “will go too far” with AI, it said.

Consumers are “torn” on the role emerging technologies will play in their lives, with equal proportions expressing the thought that future technologies “will create as many new problems as they do solutions,” Intel reported Wednesday. It canvassed 1,000 consumers online May 9-20, with 102 identifying as “tech elites,” 25 and older with at least a college education, household income of $100,000 and higher and a tendency to follow tech news. Fifty-seven percent of consumers and 88 percent of elites agreed that they “generally feel excited about emerging technologies,” said Intel. Sixty-one percent of elites agreed that “I pride myself in having the latest technology,” compared with 21 percent of consumers. People generally “express the most excitement toward familiar, established technologies such as computers and smartphones,” the chipmaker found: In 50 years, they “expect these same technologies to be the most important, along with smart home technology.”

David Waldman, 49, of Inwood, New York, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York to cyberstalking a woman he briefly dated (see 1806010065), DOJ said. Sentencing is Nov. 22.

Facebook said it removed 652 suspicious pages, groups and accounts mostly linked to Iran that targeted the U.S., U.K., Middle East and Latin America. Also Tuesday, Twitter announced suspension of 284 accounts suspected of “coordinated manipulation,” many originating from Iran. It credited FireEye with giving a tip about Liberty Front Press, a network linked to Iranian state media. Twitter said it's “committed to engaging with other companies and relevant law enforcement entities” for this ongoing issue. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said Facebook’s announcement is further evidence foreign enemies are actively using social media to divide the U.S.: “Iranians are now following the Kremlin’s playbook from 2016. While I’m encouraged to see Facebook taking steps to rid their platforms of these bad actors, there’s clearly more work to be done.” Warner looks forward to testimony from Facebook, Twitter and Google Sept. 5 (see 1807260050).

Comcast added Yale Assure smart locks to its library of Xfinity Home smart home devices, it announced Tuesday. Four locks will be available to Comcast’s Xfinity Home customers in different form factors in a choice of three finishes, Derrick Dicoi, executive director-product management, told us. A Yale Zigbee network module ($50) is required for integration, and customers who already own a compatible Assure Lock can buy the Yale module and add it to the Xfinity platform. The compatible Yale smart locks range $129-$169, a company spokeswoman said. Kwikset and August also have smart locks in the Xfinity Home library, and garage access is available through the Chamberlain MyQ smart garage door openers, part of Comcast’s strategy to give customers a wide choice of offerings that have been vetted to work with the Xfinity Home platform, said Dicoi. Yale smart lock options include key-free or keyed locks in touch-screen and push-button versions, said the companies. The locks can be controlled by Android and iOS apps, enabling users to remotely lock and unlock doors, check lock status and create rules to receive a notification if the door is unlocked after a designated time, they said.

The State Department should “swiftly” push for the appointment of an official to be ombudsman for the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield (see 1808090015), tech groups told Secretary Mike Pompeo Monday. ACT|The App Association, BSA|The Software Alliance, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Engine, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Internet Association and the Software & Information Industry Association were among groups urging appointment of an undersecretary for economic growth, energy and the environment. The individual holding that position serves as ombudsman to the Privacy Shield. The Privacy Shield is “indispensable” to the U.S. economy and EU relations, they wrote: “While the duties of the Ombudsperson are currently being carried out, having a senior political appointee in the role is important.” Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans, Environment and Science Judith Garber, set to be the next ambassador to the Republic of Cyprus, is acting ombudsman. A State Department spokesman said the agency hopes to have someone in the position “as soon as possible” but deferred to the White House on when the undersecretary will be named.