Nearly 60 percent of marketers' digital advertising budgets is devoted to digital video, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said Monday. Digital video investment has been “climbing steadily” since 2016 and is projected to be 68 percent of digital advertising budgets by the end of the year, IAB said.
The Department of Transportation grant of economic authority to unmanned aircraft systems operators for transporting property through the air is “an important step to expedite UAS delivery operations in the U.S.,” the Small UAV Coalition said Monday. “The Coalition has long encouraged DOT to take this step and is pleased that it will be available to operators as the UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP) gets underway.”
Cambridge Analytica-linked firm Global Science Research had one-time application programming interface access to a random five-month sample of public tweets in 2015, a Twitter spokeswoman responded Monday about a report. An internal review from Twitter determined GSR, owned by Cambridge researcher Aleksandr Kogan (see 1804100054), lacked access to any private data from Twitter users, she said. The sample spanned tweets from December 2014 to April 2015. Twitter removed advertising from all Cambridge Analytica-linked accounts, the spokeswoman said: “Cambridge Analytica operates using a business model that inherently conflicts with acceptable Twitter Ads business practices. Cambridge Analytica may remain an organic user on our platform, in accordance with the Twitter Rules." Cambridge Analytica tweeted Monday that the firm “has never received Twitter data from GSR or Aleksandr Kogan, and has never done any work with GSR on Twitter data. GSR was only ever a contractor to Cambridge Analytica and we understand it did work for many other companies.”
Sony’s introduction and subsequent termination of the Dash personal internet viewer provoked a federal complaint Friday alleging the company is guilty of fraud and concealment for not telling consumers it wouldn’t go on supporting the product. The claims arise from the company's decision in July “to unilaterally and without recourse cut off its support” of the Dash, said the complaint (in Pacer), filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, and seeking class-action status. Sony terminated all functionality on the Dash through a “forced firmware update,” said the complaint. “As many disgruntled purchasers have posted on the internet, they are left with a paperweight, which cost between $100 and $200.” Consumers wouldn't have bought the Dash “if they knew that just within a few years,” Sony would “choose to stop supporting the product,” which was “only functional for a commercially unreasonable time,” it said. Introduced at January 2010 CES, the Dash tapped into cloud-based content, with no onboard storage (see 1103110137). Sony representatives didn’t comment Friday.
Chinese and Swedish firms are two recent examples of companies not providing “direct notice to parents of information collection practices,” said FTC Competition Bureau Senior Attorney Lesley Fair Friday. The agency sent warning letters to China’s Gator Group and Sweden’s Tinitell about potential violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, concerning the companies’ application for tracking child location. “If you work with businesses covered by COPPA, is it time for a compliance check?” Fair asked.
Facebook unveiled a “sleep mode” for its Messenger Kids application Friday, letting parents control their children’s access to the application throughout the day. Parents will be able to schedule “off times” for the application from their Parent Control center in their Facebook account.
Amazon shares hit a 52-week high Friday before settling to 3.6 percent higher at $1,572.62, after its Thursday after-market report of a 43 percent Q1 sales surge. The $51 billion in Q1 revenue was 2.5 percent above consensus. Profit was $1.6 billion vs $724 million in the year-ago quarter. Justifying a 20 percent annual price to $119 hike for Prime subscriptions on a Thursday-evening earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said the company continues to raise the value of the Prime program with expanded free same-day and one-day shipping; and two-day free shipping is available on more than 100 million items, up from 20 million in 2014.
Kudos & Co. agreed to modify privacy practices for its social media app to comply with the Children’s Advertising Review Unit’s Self-Regulatory Program for Children’s Advertising, CARU said Thursday. CARU determined the app’s “method of obtaining parental consent was insufficient for its information collection practices and did not meet” federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act requirements. To comply, “Kudos joined and completed certification through an FTC-approved Safe Harbor program,” the company said in a statement.
Sonos doesn’t “and will not sell your data to third parties,” it said in a lengthy update of its privacy policy Tuesday. Information users “voluntarily provide” is accessed when they want to learn more about Sonos products and services or when they contact customer support, it said. The company said it doesn't target those younger than 16, and if found, “will cancel the child's account and delete the child's personal information.”
A global policy approach to cybersecurity defense is “essential to effectively combat” threats, said BSA|The Software Alliance Wednesday, releasing its International Cybersecurity Policy Framework. “Thoughtful, robust cybersecurity policies are critical to the stability of the Internet and the vibrancy of the global economy,” CEO Victoria Espinel said. The framework suggests governments incorporate or consider 48 elements when establishing national cybersecurity policies.