The Maine director for Donald Trump's presidential campaign launched a group targeting Silicon Valley executives and the "radical tech-left," saying in a Monday news release they used their "wealth and political influence" to take control of the internet, "erode the public's internet freedoms and wage war on alternative media." Founded by Christie-Lee McNally, Free Our Internet, a self-described "citizens" group, said it will support free expression and online speech, protect diverse ideas, and oppose government actions that limit internet openness and transparency. The nonprofit doesn't have any funding now, emailed spokesman Chad Wilkinson, who's also spokesman for Breitbart News Network, but it has been in discussions with other interested nonprofits and foundations, expects to have support shortly and will list financial supporters on its website. In its release and website, the group said Facebook, Google, and philanthropist and Democratic activist George Soros orchestrated a "secretive" campaign to pass FCC rules on net neutrality in 2015. Soros's firm didn't comment.

Denso and Toshiba are collaborating on IoT-based manufacturing, advanced driver assistance and autonomous driving initiatives, the companies announced Friday. The efforts will combine Denso’s manufacturing capability and Toshiba’s image recognition, IoT, artificial intelligence and software development technologies, they said. The companies jointly developed automotive lithium-ion battery packs and software for electronic control units.

Amazon highlighted Alexa launches and updates in its Q1 earnings release after markets closed Thursday, including the $179 Echo Look, a video version of the Echo speaker that’s billed as a shopping assistant to help users “look your best” by combining machine learning with advice from “fashion specialists.” The device also gives news, weather and traffic alerts. Amazon released an over-the-air software update for Amazon Tap, a portable version of the Echo, enabling the speaker to be controlled by voice rather than a tap on the microphone button, said the company. The Alexa Skills store has more than 12,000 skills, including ordering from GrubHub, listening to content from NPR, asking WebMD health-related questions and 300 smart home skills, it said. Net sales jumped 23 percent to $35.7 billion over Q1 2016, and net income rose to $724 million from $513 million. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter repeated an “outperform” rating on Amazon in a research note to investors, lowering FY 2017 revenue estimates to $168.1 billion, from $168.6 billion. Wedbush raised operating income estimates to reflect lower Amazon Web Services revenue, which was offset by better gross margin as Fulfilled by Amazon growth “continues unabated,” Pachter said. Barclays said in a research note Amazon Web Services Q1 growth was “ahead of expectations considering the concern around the 3-month impact of price cuts.” Shares closed up 6.6 percent Friday to $924.99.

Government requests to Facebook globally for user account information rose to 64,279 for the second half of 2016, up 9 percent from the first six months of last year, said Chris Sonderby, deputy general counsel, in a Thursday blog post. "About half of the data requests we received from law enforcement in the US contained a non-disclosure order that prohibited us from notifying the user." Content restrictions for violating local law declined to 6,944 globally, a 28 percent drop compared with the first half of 2016, he said. Its two prior reports (see 1612210046 and 1604280039), he said, showed more restrictions due to a single image from a 2015 terrorist attack in Paris. Sonderby said Facebook applies a "rigorous approach" to government requests and it never provides "back doors" or direct access to user data. He said the New York State Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, rejected the company's challenge to nearly 400 search warrants seeking to access user accounts for a fraud investigation (see 1701170015). "While the court in New York recognized that our case raised 'novel and important substantive issues,' it found that the lower court’s order denying our challenge was 'nonappealable,' and declined to review it further," said Sonderby without naming the courts. He also said the "slow and cumbersome" process to handle cross-border requests for data needs to be changed.

Identity theft and data breaches are becoming more prevalent, raising costs for individuals and businesses, and there's some evidence firms are increasing data security defenses, said FTC Economics Bureau Director Ginger Zhe Jin during a keynote at a George Mason University Scalia Law School event Friday. She said there's "still an underestimation of the actual harm of data breach to the whole society" because when firms aren't blamed for certain ID theft incidents as a result of their data practices, they're not incorporating that into their expenses. Jin talked about the fundamental economic concerns in privacy and data security, pros and cons to consumers and potential policy tools. When a consumer shares his or her personal data with a seller, the flow doesn't stop there because the seller can share that data with its partners like data brokers who may offer a product or service back to that consumer, she said. She called sharing data beyond the "focal transaction" as "persistent effects." This includes data that can potentially be leaked or stolen by criminals. Through these transactions with sellers, some consumers may be better off in terms of prices and offerings while others will be worse off, she said: Persistent effects are what concerns her and deserve more consideration from economists. Third-party sharing can produce new product offerings and services and benefit consumers, she said: When a data breach or ID theft occurs, consumers are at a disadvantage because they may not know who should be blamed, and they may not know how their data is shared and with whom. They also may misunderstand that a company's privacy policy doesn't necessarily mean their data is kept safe, meaning there's a "huge information gap" for consumers, said Jin. She said policymakers have potential tools, including educating stakeholders, enforcing truth telling in privacy policies, directly monitoring firms' real data practices, mandating sellers to disclose their privacy sharing practices, and setting minimum standards for firms that store, use and share data. A cost-benefits analysis is a "no brainer," said Jin. "The question is how to do that. That's the hard part."

Sex toy maker Svakom Design USA emailed that it stopped selling the internet-connected Siime Eye vibrator, which Access Now alleged in a complaint filed with the FTC (see 1704260007) can be easily compromised by a third party. But the product appeared to be available for sale Thursday on the company's site. A Svakom spokesperson said in the email sent Wednesday night that the company still has to review the complaint, which seeks a commission investigation, but it has responded to vulnerability testing and security firm Pen Test Partners that presented research that the complaint is based on. "We have taken some measure based on their report and already posted instruction among the users of Siime Eye on official Social Media and Website," wrote the spokesperson. Among the measures, the spokesperson said, Svakom will provide an updated smartphone app that provides more secure access to the vibrator's embedded camera. The company also said hardware changes will be made so the device can be used only with a smartphone and not with a personal computer.

IEEE launched an initiative to develop consensus standards and a framework for better securing a person's digital identity and improving online trust, said the standards organization in a Thursday news release. The program is seeking academic researchers, policy and legal experts, tech innovators and others to create standards for consumer and patient data. “Identity is a consideration in every business and social transaction,” said program co-chair Greg Adamson, president of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology. “Blockchain technology could be the catalyst to making universal and dignity respecting digital identification systems a reality with its unique ability to retain identities in a secure and immutable manner.”

ICANN plans to implement its full complaints process by mid-July but it will likely “evolve over time as we gain experience and hear from the community and staff about what is and isn’t working,” said Complaints Officer Krista Papac in a Thursday blog post. ICANN hired Papac in March to lead the newly created Complaints Office, which would provide a centralized location for complaints about the organization (see 1703100062). Papac said she's working to finalize the complaints process but the new office’s work will include both resolving issues and collecting data to identify “operational trends that should be improved.” The office “will focus on reviewing verifiable information to ensure recommendations and resolutions are based in fact,” she said. “It will strive to be open and transparent, responsive and accountable to all parties, and to make recommendations that are constructive and actionable. And, above all else, the office will act with the utmost integrity in service of ICANN’s mission.”

Access Now is asking the FTC to investigate sex toy maker Svakom Design USA, alleging its internet-enabled vibrator with an embedded camera can be easily compromised. In a Wednesday news release and complaint, Access Now said Svakom released its "Siime Eye" vibrator in 2016 "with grossly inadequate security" because hackers can access personal data including video feeds. Risk of personal data might "lead to the loss of professional opportunities as well as harassment, severe reputational and emotional impacts, and other substantial privacy impacts," said the complaint. Access Now said the company's failure to provide proper security is both an unfair and deceptive trade practice. The complaint stems from research presented by technologist Ken Munro of U.K.-based Pen Test Partners, which provides vulnerability testing and security services, during a March 30 session at Access Now's RightsCon annual conference in Brussels. In a demonstration, Munro exploited a vulnerability in the Siime Eye software in two minutes, giving him full access to the video feed, the complaint said. It said Svakom provides little guidance in its device instructions to help users reasonably avoid harm. Security experts tried to tell the company about the problem, but it "ignored the notification and took no additional steps to increase the device security," said the complaint. Access Now wants the FTC to investigate and stop the sale of the Siime Eye products and try to recall those that have been sold. It also wants the commission to force Svakom to push security patches and notifications to users and implement a comprehensive privacy and security audit of the company's internet-connected products and services. Svakom and the FTC didn't comment.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales launched a new website aimed at fighting fake news. "We want to make sure that you read fact-based articles that have a real impact in both local and global events. And that stories can be easily verified and improved," said the nonprofit, crowdfunded Wikitribune website launched Tuesday. The site said that news media are "broken" but can be fixed through a "living, breathing tool that'll present accurate information with real evidence." The site said its "100% ad-free" news platform is different from others because articles are written, fact-checked and verified by professional journalists and "community volunteers" and readers can see the sources used. Wikitribune, which is seeking donations to support the initiative, said it will be transparent about all its finances and if it doesn't reach its goal to hire 10 journalists, supporters will be refunded most of their donations. The site lists model/actress Lily Cole, journalist Jeff Jarvis and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki as advisers, while Wikipedia also names Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig as an adviser.