The White House is right to explore “constraints that may unnecessarily limit [artificial intelligence] research and innovation,” the Computer & Communications Industry Association said Wednesday. Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet, Intel and Nvidia are among some 40 companies expected to meet Thursday with White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios to discuss AI. Cabinet officials and academics also are expected to participate in the discussion concerning government support for AI innovation.
Though the Consumer Product Safety Commission inquiry into the “potential safety issues” of IoT devices ruled out plans to address “personal data security and privacy issues” as part of its review (see 1803290032), the Cybersecurity Coalition believes “safety and security standards for IoT devices are inextricably linked and should be addressed in tandem,” said May 2 comments (document ID CPSC-2018-0007-0031) posted Monday in docket CPSC-2018-0007 and "withdrawn" on Wednesday because it was deemed a "duplicate of material" previously submitted. “A common feature across all IoT devices is their ability to communicate across information networks and to act on the physical world, which makes securing these communications and controlling access to device functionality central to maintaining both the safety and security of the device, said the coalition, whose members include AT&T, Cisco, Intel, McAfee, Microsoft, Mozilla and Symantec. For example, shipping an IoT device to consumers with a factory-default password or other “known vulnerabilities” is both a security risk, “as this could give attackers access to consumers’ information,” and a safety risk “if attackers are able to gain control of device functionality,” it said. The coalition has a long history of “using a voluntary, consensus-based, industry-led approach to setting security standards,” and encourages CPSC to “use this approach to set safety standards for IoT devices,” it said. Comments in CPSC's review are due June 15, and a hearing is planned for Wednesday. The agency said it will use the feedback to better “inform future Commission risk management work.”
LG said its 2018 AI TVs are activated with Google Assistant voice control. Artificial intelligence features are available through the TVs’ remote control, no smart speaker required, it said Tuesday.
While 76 percent of people “are very concerned about the safety of their personal information online,” only 24 percent reported altering their Facebook accounts after the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach, Mozilla said, releasing a survey Tuesday. Of the 47,000 participants, 65 percent said individuals, not government or platforms, are most responsible for protecting their digital data, and 12 percent expressed a willingness to pay for a Facebook not reliant on data collection and sales.
Photos of more than 56,000 American driver's licenses, social security cards, passports and other government-issued IDs were compromised in Equifax’s 2017 data breach (see 1803010033), the company announced Monday. Details were released in an Equifax SEC filing in response to questions from Congress. The report shows the breach affected at least 146.6 million American consumers. “The additional detail provided in the statement," the company said, doesn't "identify additional stolen data or newly impacted consumers, and does not require additional consumer notifications.”
Google could carry about 40 percent of all local digital advertising across all markets in 2018, with its local search advertising and YouTube’s local advertising exceeding $19 billion in revenue nationwide, said BIA Advisory Services Monday. BIA expects local Google revenue to exceed $27 billion in the U.S. by 2022. “By comparison, local radio and television advertising revenues are projected to be relatively flat over time, while print media advertising continues its decline,” said BIA Advisory Services Chief Economist Mark Fratrik.
Shopping by smartphone, done by 43 percent of handset owners weekly, will peak in coming years, Ericsson reported Monday. Sixty-three percent of smartphone shoppers expect most people to have a personal shopping adviser within three years. Sixty-nine percent of artificial and virtual reality device owners think those technologies will give smartphones “all the benefits of physical stores within 3 years.” The trend toward smartphone purchasing is expected to lead soon to the use of smart home speakers for “aspirational shopping support,” it said. An online survey in January covered 5,048 advanced internet users in Johannesburg, London, Mexico City, Moscow, New York, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo, ages 15 to 69.
Blockchain technology could be a useful tool for competition regulators in accessing data, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggested in a recent issues paper. The OECD paper poses several questions about data access for competition authorities. “Whether it be investigations of mergers, abusive conduct or markets more generally, full access to a blockchain could provide the authorities immediate access to the necessary data,” Hogan Lovells partner Falk Schöning said.
Nearly 3 million Pennsylvanians’ Facebook data was shared with Cambridge Analytica and other third parties, or about 22 percent of the state’s population, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Thursday. Facebook provided the estimate in response to a letter from Shapiro and 40 other attorneys general. “Businesses like Facebook must take significant steps to better protect their users’ privacy and personal data,” Shapiro said. Facebook Vice President-State and Local Public Policy Will Castleberry said, “We appreciate Attorney General Shapiro’s interest and are in touch with his office as we continue our review of the situation.”
The National Hispanic Media Coalition is hoping for a “thorough” Facebook bias audit (see 1805020049) to address concerns about negative impacts on Latinos, the organization said Wednesday evening. Civil rights groups requested the audit in October. Facebook said the audit will examine potential bias toward minority and conservative groups.