Samsung Electronics expanded to a global membership with the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which said it added Zebra Technologies.
Virtual-private-network usage likely will double during the World Cup, said service provider NordVPN Tuesday. Many who have never before used a VPN “will turn to one” for watching a World Cip match online, it said. A VPN service links a user’s computer to a server “in a country of their choice via an encrypted tunnel,” it said. NordVPN has seen increases in VPN usage “during any big sporting event,” it said. During the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil, NordVPN sales grew 105 percent, “showing a growing digital awareness of viewers,” it said.
The Fitbit Ace, billed as the first wearable expressly for kids 8 and older, is available, with parental controls allowing management of “who their children connect with and what information they see in the Fitbit app that will motivate them," said the company Monday.
Federal authorities arrested 74 and uncovered $16.4 million in fraudulent wire transfers as part of a business email compromise investigation, said DOJ Monday. Such crimes are aimed at intercepting wire transfers from businesses and individuals. DOJ collaborated with the Homeland Security Department, Treasury Department and Postal Inspection Service for six months. Of the 74 arrests, 42 were in the U.S., 29 in Nigeria and one each in Canada, Mauritius and Poland.
Sixty percent of American teens and parents of teens have heard only “a little” or “nothing at all” about the recent Facebook-Cambridge Analytica privacy breach, said a survey from Common Sense and SurveyMonkey Monday (see 1806060067). About 38 percent of each group said they heard “a lot” about the controversy. The poll was of 19,063 adults and 985 teens online May 5-22. Seventy-seven percent of parents and 69 percent of teens said it’s “extremely important” that social media sites ask for permission before sharing or selling personal data.
Chief information officers across federal agencies met with senior administration officials at the White House Monday to discuss efforts to modernize government technology, said a White House official. CIOs on the CIO Council gathered in the Roosevelt Room with Federal Chief Information Officer Suzette Kent, Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director-Management Margaret Weichert, White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, White House Deputy Chief of Staff-Policy Coordination Chris Liddell and Special Assistant to the President-Innovation Policy Matt Lira. The meeting was a follow-up to President Donald Trump’s executive order on enhancing effectiveness of agency CIOs.
The hardware segment of the global smart speaker market is expected to top $10.3 billion by 2026, growing at an 18 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), Transparency Market Research reported Friday. Among voice assistants, Amazon Alexa is forecast to hold the majority market share at 55 percent by 2026, while Google Assistant is expected to experience the most growth at a 19 percent CAGR. E-commerce will dominate distribution for smart speakers, said the report.
Google will pursue artificial intelligence applications that are socially beneficial, tested for safety, accountable to people and possess “high standards of scientific excellence,” CEO Sundar Pichai blogged Thursday. Laying out principles for AI, he wrote that the company also won't design or deploy AI for specific reasons. Google will avoid technology likely to cause overall harm, weapons and other devices meant to injure people, and technology that violates internationally accepted norms or human rights.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shouldn't let Grindr use Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as a shield in a case brought by a man claiming he was impersonated on the gay dating app and harassed, said Consumer Watchdog Thursday. “Other court circuits have misconstrued Section 230 immunity too broadly,” CW said, allowing all kinds of internet service providers to “avoid legal liability, never being held responsible for material on their platforms.”
Department of Education Federal Commission on School Safety recommendations for improving student safety must include “appropriate privacy protections,” Future of Privacy Forum Director-Education Privacy Project Amelia Vance told the commission Wednesday. Protecting student privacy and equity is important, she said, with schools deploying devices for social media monitoring, video surveillance with police access and visitor monitoring systems. She noted Florida plans to create a database combining data from social media, law enforcement and social services agencies, and Texas plans to scan and analyze social media data and private messages between individuals and groups.