Amazon didn’t respond to questions Tuesday about White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Sunday social media callout of Alexa for enabling her toddler to order a toy via an Echo speaker. “Alexa, we have a problem if my 2 year old can order a Batman toy by yelling ‘Batman!’ over and over again into the Echo,” Sanders tweeted using the @PressSec handle. The comment evoked a predictable firestorm of tweets. Some Twitter users criticized Sanders for sending the tweet from her official White House Twitter account. At least one user provided step-by-step instructions for parental controls that either disable voice purchasing or require a passcode to confirm purchases.

Netflix is too expensive even for Apple to buy, wrote tech and media investor Eric Jackson, president of EMJ Capital, in a CNBC column Friday: Aside from the $94 billion market capitalization, founder Reed Hastings is likely particularly reluctant to sell since Netflix "has reached escape velocity" as an over-the-top service with robust subscription growth globally. "Acquisition averse" Apple is more likely to start its own subscription VOD service, he said. Apple didn't comment.

NTIA is seeking public comment on a draft report outlining strategies for combating botnets, said a Federal Register notice Thursday. The report, released Friday (see 1801050052), continues work initiated under Executive Order 13800, “Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure.” Comments, due Feb. 12, are asked to address whether the draft report accurately characterizes risks in the internet communications ecosystem, and what technical approaches or implementation barriers warrant consideration. Commenters also are asked to evaluate the report’s goals for achieving a more resilient ecosystem; role of stakeholders in achieving those goals; how a road map can identify and prioritize an action plan; which incentives will promote market-based solutions; and how to choose the right metrics for measuring progress.

Electronic toymaker VTech agreed to pay $650,000 to settle FTC charges it violated children’s privacy rules, the agency announced Monday. VTech’s “Kid Connect” app collected information on “hundreds of thousands” of children without parental notification, the FTC said, saying the case is the first children’s privacy case involving internet-connected toys. VTech failed to use “reasonable and appropriate” measures to safeguard the collection of information, the FTC said. VTech was among several makers of smart toys flagged for criticism in a Senate Commerce Committee minority staff report released in December (see 1612140041) that urged toymakers to build security measures into products at the outset of production. VTech didn't comment. The settlement also requires VTech to implement a data security system and make it available to independent audits for the next 20 years. “There’s not a consistent practice over time of companies making sure they are always staying one step ahead of the hackers,” said FTC Consumer Protection Bureau acting Director Tom Pahl during a call with reporters. The settlement will ensure “that kind of program they develop is in place and works.” The VTech case “sends a message to parents,” who “should read a company’s privacy practices, make sure that companies get their permission to collect their children’s information and be aware of their other rights,” Pahl said. VTech CEO Allan Wong said the company "is pleased to settle this two-year-old investigation by the FTC" and has instituted new security protocols to protect customer data and comply with FTC notice and consent requirements.

Belkin's Linksys announced it’s expanding its Velop whole-home mesh Wi-Fi line with a dual-band offering incorporating Intelligent Mesh technology that’s said to deliver Wi-Fi via the fastest path to the internet using hardware and software. Features include advanced parental controls with website category content filtering, block overrides, network traffic monitoring and website blocking. Automatic network traffic security monitoring guards against malware, phishing and malicious websites, it said. Pricing will be announced when the router ships later this year. Belkin’s Wemo brand is shipping a HomeKit bridge, enabling Wemo users to control devices via Siri on an iPhone or iPad. The $39 Wemo Bridge connects to a Wi-Fi router via an Ethernet cable, using the router to communicate between HomeKit-enabled devices including mobile devices and Apple Watch, it said. Linksys also announced a router for the Xbox due next month at $299.

The Commerce and Homeland Security departments released a draft report noting botnet mitigation efforts and cybersecurity hurdles Friday, with public comments due Feb. 12 and final report to the president set for May 11. It seeks input on how to address automated and distributed threats to the digital ecosystem. "No single investment or activity can mitigate harms, but organized discussions and stakeholder feedback will allow us to further evaluate and prioritize activities," the report said. It noted that "effective tools exist, but are not widely used," that "market incentives are misaligned" and that "automated, distributed attacks are an ecosystem-wide challenge." The National Institute of Standards and Technology will host a Feb. 28 and March 1 event on the subject. NIST didn't provide details. Also Friday, chipmakers and tech companies and stakeholders continued working to address separate cybersecurity vulnerabilities (see 1801050050).

The global smart speaker market will top 56.3 million shipments this year on accelerated adoption in the consumer market, with the U.S. the main consumer for a few more years, Canalys Research reported. Amazon and Google will continue to lead amid increased competition from new entrants, it said Thursday. Smart speaker technology has grown faster than any recent consumer technology, the firm said. Analyst Lucio Chen sees opportunities in advertising, content subscription bundles, premium services and enterprise solutions.

Google remedied across its entire suite of products vulnerabilities that were uncovered last year the company blogged Thursday. Products include Google Cloud Platform, G Suite applications, and Google Chrome and Chrome OS items. Intel said something similar. It's "rapidly issuing updates for all types of Intel-based computer systems -- including personal computers and servers -- that render those systems immune from both exploits (referred to as 'Spectre' and 'Meltdown') reported by Google Project Zero," the chipmaker said. Wednesday, it said it's addressing vulnerabilities (see 1801030053).

At least one large-scale data breach will occur in 2018 and a major botnet attack can be expected, blogged Paul Rosenzweig, founder of Red Branch Consulting. DOJ is likely to find a case where encryption was used to protect a terrorist, which will prompt Congress to take up legislation mandating back-door decryption capabilities, Rosenzweig said. Rollout of Europe's general data protection regulation in May "will have substantial negative impacts on cross-Atlantic data flows" and could trigger a "full-scale data trade war," exacerbated by the Supreme Court's U.S. v Microsoft overseas data storage case (see 1710160009), in which he expects the court will force Microsoft to repatriate data held in Ireland, with Europeans adopting reciprocal restrictions. The court is likely to decide "Americans have a privacy interest in their locational information in Carpenter v U.S. (see 1711290043), he said. Rosenzweig doesn't see any major cybersecurity legislation this Congress: "They may fiddle a bit, but Rome will continue to burn."

Control4 bought intellectual property and key operating assets of remote management services company Ihiji to give a broad view into health of connected homes, Control4 Senior Vice President-Marketing Susan Cashen told us. Ihiji Invision device management gives Control4 dealers the “right tools and skill set to make sure that everything they’re building in the connected home -- whether it includes Control4 automation or not -- is stable,” said Cashen. Network and device management capabilities are crucial to integrators to ensure good service for connected homes, Ihiji CEO Stuart Rench told us; he's taking a new job at the combined firm (see personals section of this publication's current issue).