Toshiba bowed augmented reality smart glasses developed with Vuzix (see 1712070049, 1702240056 and here). The AR glasses ($1,899) bring an on-the-job hands-free Windows PC experience to field workers using AR, voice and touch human machine interface technologies, Carl Pinto, vice president-marketing and engineering, Client Services division, told us in a pre-briefing. Vuzix created the glasses for Toshiba under a three-year supply agreement signed last year, the company said Monday.
As many as 3 billion consumers whose data was compromised in Yahoo breaches can sue, a judge ruled. “Plaintiffs’ allegations are sufficient to show that they would have behaved differently had Defendants disclosed the security weaknesses of the Yahoo Mail system,” U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh for the Northern District of California wrote, released Friday evening. Koh rejected a request from Verizon to dismiss the claims. Verizon, which bought Yahoo’s internet business in June, objected to claims of negligence, breach of contract and fair dealing, among others. Yahoo was criticized for its pace in informing users and the public of three data breaches between 2013 and 2016. Verizon didn't comment.
LinkedIn updated its terms of service -- including its user agreement, privacy, cookie and professional community policies -- in part to comply with the EU general data protection regulation (GDPR), which is to take effect May 25 (see 1803080001). LinkedIn Vice President-Legal Sara Harrington said the company added consumer choice and control over what data can be used for personalized ads and updated language dictating when advertisers can access personal data. The website also is adding resources to help users understand what they see on the site, what suggestions LinkedIn makes, and how the company generates user insights. The updated policies also allow the site to better enforce against violations, Harrington said. LinkedIn also established a GDPR Help Center.
The majority of assets held by a Florida software company accused of bilking customers through a tech support scam remain frozen, and a trial court has been directed to examine some of the managers’ personal accounts, a federal court said Thursday. The FTC and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi sued Vylah Tec in 2017, alleging Angelo Cupo, Robert Cupo and Dennis Cupo, who manage various businesses tied to Vylah, deceptively marketed and sold technical support services and software to consumers in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The scam involved extorting money from consumers by tricking them into thinking their computers were infected with viruses or malware, Bondi alleged. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida originally granted FTC’s motion to freeze the Cupos’ assets. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit affirmed a majority of the asset freeze Thursday. The court remanded the case to the district court “for further factual findings and conclusions of law” on potential freezes to personal accounts. Offices for Vylah and Bondi didn’t comment, and the FTC doesn’t comment on pending litigation. Bondi is collaborating with the FTC on a crackdown on international tech support scams.
Samsung is connecting its Artik IoT platform to Philips’ HealthSuite Digital Platform, which will allow Samsung’s Artik-enabled connected devices to securely access and share information with Philips' cloud platform, said the companies Thursday. They also can leverage data from various sources and IoT solutions, including Qualcomm Life, Validic and Philips’ HealthSuite IoT solution, based on Amazon Web Services IoT. Devices built with Samsung Artik systems-on-modules will be able to integrate with the Philips platform, they said. The collaboration will enable healthcare application developers to focus on developing innovative applications "rather than on the technical integration of devices,” said Dale Wiggins, general manager-Philips HealthSuite Digital Platform.
Amazon changed a trigger phrase for voice assistant to "Alexa, can you laugh?" from "Alexa, laugh," after many reports of spontaneous laughing, it emailed us, a change we also found Thursday. "We are also changing Alexa’s response from simply laughter to ‘Sure, I can laugh’ followed by laughter.” New Jersey schoolteacher James Orlando told us he and his wife were going to sleep when Orlando said, "Alexa, off" to turn off Echo music. “There was a break of silence for a few seconds and then the creepy laugh,” he said.
Amazon is offering Medicaid recipients Amazon Prime accounts for $5.99 per month from $9.99, it said Wednesday.
Harman and automaker Groupe PSA said they're working together on a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy for Groupe PSA’s next-generation connected and autonomous vehicles platform. The two-year relationship involves analyzing potential threats, security design and a feasibility study of advanced intrusion detection systems for advanced driver-assist systems, autonomous and next-generation vehicle network architectures, they said Wednesday at the Geneva International Motor Show.
The FBI paid Best Buy Geek Squad employees to act as informants (see 1706010015) in a close relationship dating back at least 10 years, said documents released Tuesday that the Electronic Frontier Foundation obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. An FBI memo said the company hosted a bureau cyber working group meeting at its Kentucky repair facility in September 2008 and worked with the agency to flag illegal material on customer computers, which EFF claims violates the Fourth Amendment. The documents detail communications between Best Buy employees and the FBI’s Louisville office over customer material believed to be child pornography and illegal material discovered through manual device searches. Best Buy said in a statement that at least four employees, three of whom no longer work there, received payment for turning over alleged child porn to the FBI. “Any decision to accept payment was in very poor judgment and inconsistent with our training and policies,” said its statement Wednesday, noting the fourth employee was reprimanded and reassigned. The company said Geek Squad repair employees discover what appears to be child porn about 100 times a year inadvertently through recovering lost customer data. “We have a moral and, in more than 20 states, a legal obligation to report these findings to law enforcement,” the retailer said. “We share this policy with our customers in writing before we begin any repair.” The company denies employees received law enforcement training, saying they do only what's “necessary” to solve customer queries. The FBI didn’t comment.
Customs and Border Protection should consider sharing IP data with the private sector to combat the market for counterfeit goods, the availability of which has grown with the emergence of e-commerce, GAO said Tuesday. After recently buying 47 items through third-party sellers on popular consumer websites, GAO found that 20 of the items were counterfeit. It recommended CBP consult with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to determine what, if any, information could be beneficial to the private sector. CBP should analyze whether there's a need for regulatory revisions or additional legal authority granted by Congress, GAO said.