NTIA "will discuss ... in due course" reports that Administrator David Redl promised Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, during his confirmation process last year he would pursue convening a “panel of experts to investigate options” for reversing the 2016 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition (see 1801240048), an agency spokesman said Thursday. Redl and Cruz should “look ahead to address real internet governance threats from authoritarian governments ... rather than trying to undo” the switchover, said R Street Institute Tech Policy Associate Joe Kane and Georgia Tech communication and information public policy professor Milton Mueller in a Wednesday Brookings Institution blog post responding to reports of Redl's assurances to Cruz and Lee. “It might be that Redl’s promised 'panel of experts' was a political ploy,” wrote Kane and Mueller, an active ICANN participant. “It may never materialize or, if it does, it may return a verdict consistent with his original answer at the confirmation hearing, that 'it’s very difficult to put the genie back in the bottle.'” Attempts "to reverse the transition would undermine whatever influence the U.S. has gained since it took place,” they said: “This problem is now especially acute because” of the Oct. 29-Nov. 16 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Dubai. “Authoritarian governments want nothing more than to paint the U.S. as a hypocrite that touts internet freedom while secretly grabbing the controls,” Kane and Mueller said.

Clothing-based fitness wearables and hearables will grow from 4.5 million shipments in 2018 to 30 million in 2022, Juniper Research reported Wednesday, as conventional fitness tracker shipments rise 20 percent. Share for Fitbit and Huami is forecast to drop from more than 40 percent to 28 percent as session‑specific wearables from companies including Under Armour, Sensoria, Gymwatch, Atlas and Jabra -- with more granular metrics without additional messaging and call-handling functions of general wearables -- gain.

A key question on the emerging IoT is whether government needs to get involved to ensure devices are secure, Shane Tews, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, blogged Tuesday. AEI has an event next week on the subject, including with members of Congress: communicationsdaily.com/calendar. IoT devices are by design heavily automated, which is part of what makes them desirable, Tews said. “The importance of securing IoT systems has been highlighted by cyberattacks that have used IoT objects as attack vectors to wreak havoc on internet transmissions. By getting a foot in the door on any of these devices, attackers can gain access to a consumer’s entire networked system. It’s not just the devices but also the networks they ride on.”

The FTC PrivacyCon 2018 will focus on economics issues like quantification of harms that come from consumer data being unsecured and the balance of privacy-protective technologies and practices costs and benefits, the agency said Tuesday. Acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen is to deliver opening remarks at the Feb. 28 event at Constitution Center, 400 7th St. SW. Panelists include many academics.

Amazon customers bought “tens of millions” Fire TV Sticks and Echo Dots, said Thursday's Q4 earnings release. Sales jumped 38 percent to $60.5 billion, with net income of $1.9 billion vs. $749 million. The company exceeded “very optimistic” projections and “expect us to double down,” said CEO Jeff Bezos. He said it's “an important point” that other companies and developers are “accelerating adoption of Alexa.” The company is seeing strong response to its new far-field voice kit for manufacturers, he said. Shares Friday closed up 3 percent to $1,429.95.

The FTC is reviewing a request from Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee leaders to probe social media marketing firm Devumi's activities, a spokeswoman said Thursday. Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., seek investigation amid reports Devumi “sells a panoply of social media actions, including followers,” on Twitter and other platforms. Devumi claims to “help clients increase their social media presence” but “in reality, the company allegedly uses bots to create fake social media accounts,” the senators wrote acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen. Those activities constitute a “unique kind of social identity theft” that could mean it's “engaged in unfair or deceptive practices,” grounds for an investigation under FTC Act Section 5, the senators said. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) also promised to investigate whether Devumi engaged in unlawful “impersonation and deception.” The company didn't comment.

Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is asking Facebook to scrap its Messenger Kids app aimed at preteens. In a letter released Tuesday, CCFC said Messenger Kids, likely to be widely used by elementary school children, could "undermine ... healthy development" since youths "are simply not ready to have social media accounts." It said the app is likely to increase the amount of time spent by children on digital devices, but social media use by teens is linked to depression and overall dissatisfaction with life. In a statement Wednesday, Facebook said Messenger Kids is intended to be a messaging app between parents and children, "with parents always in control of their child’s contacts and who they can message." It said since December launch, "We’ve heard from parents around the country that Messenger Kids has helped them stay in touch with their children and has enabled their children to video chat with fun masks with family members near and far." It said it used an advisory committee of parenting and developmental experts, as well as family and National PTA feedback, when creating the app. "There is no advertising in Messenger Kids," it said.

Silicon Labs' buy of Sigma Designs took a detour when Sigma failed to sell its TV business, said Silicon Chief Financial Officer John Hollister on a Wednesday earnings call. The takeover (see 1712180058) is now structured as an “asset transaction” for $240 million, subject to Sigma shareholder OK, the buyer said last week. The deal could bring a “breakthrough in smart home device interoperability,” blogged Futuresource analyst Filipe Oliveira Wednesday, boosting the growing $6 billion smart home industry. Silicon Labs CEO Tyson Tuttle pegged current IoT market revenue at $8 billion, rising to $13 billion in the next five years. Silicon Labs/Sigma could solve the interoperability problem caused by a “proliferation” of protocols like Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and DECT-ULE, he said. Z-Wave is the primary standard used by security and monitoring systems and is used by Yale, ADT and Comcast’s Xfinity Home. The buyer also reported Q4 sales rose to $201 million from $183 million in the 2016 quarter on a $4.8 million loss vs. $20 million profit.

Sonos’ closing of its New York flagship store for Sunday to show support for net neutrality on a day the music industry gathered in town for the 60th Annual Grammy Awards was an “opportunity to be bold and make an action-oriented statement that aligns so strongly with our values,” a spokeswoman said Monday. The FCC voted to repeal net neutrality rules in December (see 1712140039). Music “drives everything we do but unfortunately, music faces mounting threats in today’s world,” said the representative. “Too many artists encounter barriers when it comes to free expression and access to information. Communities lack space and resources to ensure all musicians can be heard.” She referenced Sonos’ Listen Better initiative, launched in the fall, committing $1.5 million in grants over three years to fund grassroots organizations working to promote the future of music. A sign on the closed Sonos storefront said: “If we let net neutrality get stripped away, powerful gatekeepers could stifle creativity and hold back tomorrow’s talent.”

Intel has been working “around the clock” with customers and partners to resolve the Spectre and Meltdown security vulnerabilities (see 1801050050) that can let hackers retrieve sensitive information through design flaws in processors, said CEO Brian Krzanich on a Thursday earnings call. Though progress has been made in tackling the threats, “I'm acutely aware that we have more to do,” he said. Intel’s “near-term focus” is on delivering “high-quality mitigations” to protect against the Spectre and Meltdown “exploits,” he said. Products incorporating “silicon-based” solutions to the threats will begin appearing later this year, he said. Intel is “approaching this work with customer-first urgency,” said Krzanich: “I've assigned some of the very best minds at Intel to work through this.”