Sony will begin sampling next month the IMX324, a 1/1.7-inch-type stacked CMOS image sensor equipped with a 7.42 effective megapixel RCCC filter for forward-sensing cameras in advanced driver-assistance systems. The image sensor can produce roughly three times the horizontal resolution of conventional products, enabling HD image capture of distant objects such as road signs of up to roughly 525 feet away, said Sony. The IMX324 is expected to be compatible with image processors being developed by Intel’s Mobileye unit. A security feature protects the output image from being altered, Sony said. The sensor is on track to meet the AEC-Q100 Grade 2 reliability testing standards for automotive electronic components by June, it said.

The FTC won't punish websites and online services for not obtaining parental consent before collecting the audio file of a child's voice when used solely to replace written words, as long as the information is held for a short time and only for that purpose, said a policy enforcement statement released Monday. The updated policy approved 2-0 applies to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rule that requires certain operators of commercial websites or online services to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13. The new policy doesn't apply when an operator requests information via voice that would otherwise be considered personal information, such as a name. An operator still must provide clear notice of its collection and use of audio files and its deletion policy in its privacy policy. The company may not make any other use of the audio file before it's destroyed and the policy doesn't affect other COPPA compliance requirements.

Harman confirmed Friday it has an update patch in code to address the key reinstallation attacks Wi-Fi security flaw. The patch will be pushed to connected speaker owners in the next over-the-air update, a spokeswoman said.

Intel announced Thursday it’s working with Amazon Alexa Voice Service (AVS) on the Intel Speech Enabling Developer Kit, an audio front-end solution for far-field voice control. As artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing improve, “many of the tasks of running the home will eventually be automated," blogged Miles Kingston, Intel general manager-smart home group, Thursday. Natural language machines must be able to clearly recognize commands from a reasonable conversational distance, Kingston said. He sees a “wave of innovation"​ from developers as industry transitions from being "simply connected to being truly smart.”

Samsung announced Wednesday systems-on-modules and services for its Artik IoT platform to strengthen edge security with device-to-cloud security for companies to build, develop and manage secure, interoperable, IoT products and services in smart homes and other IoT applications, it said.

Intel policy principles for artificial intelligence include privacy and other considerations. It seeks to "Liberate Data Responsibly" while maintaining security and data privacy, using machine learning algorithms. The chipmaker seeks to "Rethink Privacy," saying frameworks like fair information practice principles and privacy by design "withstood the test of time" but may need a “rethink.” It would "Require Accountability for Ethical Design and Implementation" and governments "must play a significant role in promoting those advances," it said. Despite major advances in computing power and algorithms "there is still a long way to go before what is called General AI becomes a reality," Intel blogged Wednesday.

Mobileye CEO and Intel Senior Vice President Amnon Shashua presented a mathematical formula said to prove the safety of autonomous vehicles, at the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul, South Korea. The companies said Shashua and colleague Shai Shalev-Shwartz developed the formula in an effort to “bring certainty to the open questions of liability and blame in the event of an accident when a vehicle has no human driver.” Mobileye’s proposed “responsibility sensitive safety” model provides what Shashua said are specific and measurable parameters for the human concepts of responsibility and caution and defines a “safe state,” where the autonomous vehicle “cannot be the cause of an accident, no matter what action is taken by other vehicles.” In his presentation, Shashua urged industry and policymakers to “collaboratively construct standards that definitively assign accident fault” when human-driven and self-driving vehicles inevitably collide. He said rules and regulations today are framed around the idea of a driver in control of the car, and new parameters are needed for autonomous vehicles. “Just like the best human drivers in the world, self-driving cars cannot avoid accidents due to actions beyond their control,” said Shashua, “but the most responsible, aware and cautious driver is very unlikely to cause an accident of his or her own fault, particularly if they had 360-degree vision and lightning-fast reaction times like autonomous vehicles will.” The model would formalize a way to ensure self-driving cars operate only within the framework defined as “safe” according to clear definitions of fault that are agreed upon across the industry and by regulators, he said.

U.S. critical infrastructure is less secure than 15 years ago, despite multiple government-industry efforts, said cybersecurity expert Joel Brenner of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at an American Bar Association session Wednesday. "We continue to walk backwards on network security," said Brenner, who led a public-private effort to create better internet security when he was senior counsel at NSA. Brenner praised the presidential cybersecurity executive order released in May (see 1705110058), but said more needs to be done, citing his MIT report in March urging political leaders to address "deep strategic weaknesses in the architecture of critical systems." Systems operators are too focused on "short-term fixes and tactical improvements" and most new standards lack the teeth to make real change, Brenner said. Huge risks threaten the communications sector due to the size, complexity and interdependencies of network systems, the report said. Brenner backed liability protections for companies operating critical infrastructure to speed adoption of smarter technological solutions: "Most difficult cyber challenges are legal and commercial, not technological. Unless we can make changes, we will not become more secure."

Online shoppers plan to spend 70 percent more than in-store shoppers this holiday season, said NPD in a Tuesday report. Online shoppers anticipate spending an average of $793 this holiday season and those planning to shop exclusively in brick-and-mortar stores expect to spend an average of $467, said NPD. “On average, U.S. consumers anticipate doing nearly 40 percent of their 2017 holiday shopping online,” up from about a third only two years ago, it said. NPD canvassed nearly 3,800 consumers online aged 18 and older in September and found almost three-quarters plan to do at least some of their holiday shopping online this year, “with even higher likelihood among Millennials and Gen X,” it said. “Topping the list of anticipated holiday shopping destinations were online-only sites, like Amazon, Ebay, and Etsy,” noted by 66 percent of consumers canvassed in the survey, it said. Mass merchants and discount stores and their websites were the second most popular planned destination, followed by national chains and department stores, it said.

To fight theft of U.S. intellectual property the Trump administration should create a public-private partnership to coordinate counterintelligence efforts with industry, said an Information Technology & Innovation Foundation report. Government "too often" investigates security breaches after they happen instead of responding to threat indicators, which would be more useful, ITIF said.