A court-filed stipulation indicates the White House won't contest the assertion that President Donald Trump blocked Twitter users because they criticized him and his policies, said the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University in a Wednesday news release. The institute sued the president in July on behalf of seven people blocked from the @realDonaldTrump account (see 1706060062). The stipulation (in Pacer) which was filed Monday with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, said: "Defendants have agreed that they will not contest Plaintiffs’ allegation that the Individual Plaintiffs were blocked from the President’s Twitter account because the Individual Plaintiffs posted tweets that criticized the President or his policies." Knight Institute Executive Director Jameel Jaffer said: "The White House’s concessions here amount to an acknowledgment that the president and his aides have engaged in viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment." Other defendants named are White House Social Media Director Dan Scavino, who has access to the president's Twitter account, and Communications Director Hope Hicks and Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, neither of whom have access to the account, according to the stipulation. The White House didn't comment. It's scheduled file an opening brief Oct. 13 with the institute set to file one Nov. 3.

Almost half of consumers in U.S. broadband households rank security and privacy as biggest concerns about connecting devices to the internet, said Parks Associates Tuesday. "Smart home devices bring immense value, but they also create new vulnerabilities and added stress," said analyst Brad Russell.

It costs $11.7 million on average for an organization to manage cybercrime incidents or to spend to recover disruption this year, an increase of 23 percent from 2016, said research Tuesday by Accenture and the Ponemon Institute. Based on a global survey of 2,182 security and IT professionals from 254 organizations, the study found that an organization, on average, experiences 130 breaches a year, up 27 percent from last year. The four main impacts to organizations are business disruption, loss of information, loss of revenue and damage to equipment, said a news release. It said malware and web-based attacks are the costliest types, with companies spending, on average, $2.4 million and $2 million, respectively. Incidents involving "malicious insiders" take about 50 days to mitigate, and ransomware takes about 23 days, the study said. Globally, among seven industrialized countries, U.S. companies reported the highest total average cost in cybercrime, while Australia reported the lowest.

The Department of Education is committing at least $200 million in grant funding beginning at the start of FY 2018 to back K-12 training in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), “particularly among historically underserved groups,” President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday. The DOE funds will bolster private-sector contributions that will be announced later this week, an administration official said during a conference call with reporters. The White House noted concerns about a lack of access to tech education, with estimates showing fewer than half of U.S. high schools offer computer programming and lower participation in STEM subjects in rural communities and among women and minorities. The Internet Association believes the White House’s commitment, “in concert with other efforts, will expand computer science education pipeline for underserved groups, helping to fix these inequities and boost our economy,” said President Michael Beckerman in a statement.

Acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen will speak at an Oct. 17 TEDx event in Wilmington, Delaware, on transportation, she tweeted last week. TEDx Wilmington organizers announced the event's lineup in a YouTube video, saying Ohlhausen helped organize a workshop that focused on privacy and security implications of connected cars (see 1706280031). Other speakers include Lauren Smith, policy counsel who leads the Future of Privacy Forum's Connected Cars Working Group, Delaware Secretary of Transportation Jennifer Cohan and representatives of automakers, tech companies and transportation organizations.

Adoption of connected health devices in U.S. broadband households reached 41 percent in 2017, up 4 percent from a year ago, said Parks Associates Thursday. Nascent technologies including artificial intelligence and voice-activated devices are “creating new opportunities and spurring innovation," said Richard Scarfo, PCHAlliance vice president.

GAO said broadband deployment and competition is limited by cost and other factors, particularly in less-populated areas where carrier investment returns are lower. Stakeholders cited "providers’ costs to deploy antennas, install wires or cables, and obtain permits to access existing infrastructure," including utility poles, said a report Tuesday to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D. Despite FCC efforts, "about half of Americans have access to only one fixed broadband provider," said GAO, citing December 2015 data. "While most Americans have several choices for a mobile broadband provider, fixed and mobile service do not provide the same experience." It said parties "also identified industry consolidation and increasing similarity of fixed and mobile broadband as factors that are likely to affect broadband competition moving forward." The GAO recommended the FCC "annually solicit and report on stakeholder input regarding (1) its actions to promote broadband competition and (2) how varying levels of broadband deployment affect prices and service quality." It said the FCC concurred with the recommendations.

The FTC scheduled a Twitter chat Wednesday on disclosures that social media influencers must make if they get money from or have some other material relationships with a brand or product they plug, said a notice. The 3:30 p.m. EDT chat will use the hashtag #Influencers101. The FTC noted it recently settled with two such influencers who "deceptively" endorsed the online gambling service CSGO Lotto while failing to inform their followers they jointly own the company. In April, the agency sent out more than 90 letters to influencers and marketers, reminding them they should disclose any relationships to brands when endorsing products on social media sites (see 1704190031).

Six advertising trade associations are "deeply concerned" about Apple's plans to release the Safari 11 browser update because it "overrides and replaces existing user-controlled cookie preferences" with the company's own "opaque and arbitrary standards for cookie handling," said a Thursday open letter. Signers are the American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation, Association of National Advertisers, Data & Marketing Association, Interactive Advertising Bureau and Network Advertising Alliance. "Safari's new 'Intelligent Tracking Prevention' would change the rules by which cookies are set and recognized by browsers," said the coalition, adding the move would create "haphazard rules over the use of first-party cookies (i.e. those set by a domain the user has chosen to visit) that block their functionality or purge them from users' browsers without notice or choice." The coalition contends blocking cookies this way will make ads "more generic and less timely and useful" and wants Apple to rethink its plan. The company didn't comment.

The FTC confirmed Thursday that "in light of the intense public interest and the potential impact of this matter," it's investigating the Equifax data breach of a 143 million Americans, said a spokesman in a statement. The commission typically doesn't comment on current investigations. Meanwhile, Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Al Franken of Minnesota, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island introduced the Data Broker Accountability and Transparency Act that would require data brokers like Equifax to establish comprehensive data and security programs and provide "reasonable notice" when a data breach occurs. The bill would give consumers the right to access their records and correct inaccuracies and the right to stop data brokers from "using, sharing, or selling their personal information for marketing purposes," said a joint news release. The bill would directs the FTC to enforce the law and promulgate rules within a year, including a centralized website that provides a list of covered entities and consumer rights, the release said. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced the Free Credit Freeze Act in a news release to let consumers use personal identification numbers to freeze and unfreeze their credit reports for free instead of a typical $15 charge imposed by credit bureaus. Meanwhile, the Apache Software Foundation said Equifax was at fault for not patching a website application vulnerability called Apache Struts CVE-2017-5638 that led to the theft of personal data of 143 million Americans. "This vulnerability was patched on 7 March 2017, the same day it was announced," wrote Sally Khudairi, vice president-marketing and publicity for the all-volunteer Apache, in a Thursday alert. "The Equifax data compromise was due to their failure to install the security updates provided in a timely manner." A day earlier, Equifax said its probe with an unnamed independent cybersecurity firm found hackers exploited the Apache vulnerability that led to breach from mid-May through July. "We continue to work with law enforcement as part of our criminal investigation, and have shared indicators of compromise with law enforcement," said Equifax.