An attorney for Dawn Hassell's law firm, which sued a former client for a "defamatory" review posted on Yelp, said Yelp's challenge to a California court order to remove the comment doesn't stand on solid ground. "Contrary to what appears to be a chorus of misinformed voices, this case is not a First Amendment case and does not threaten the structure or purpose of the Communications Decency Act," emailed Duckworth Peters attorney Monique Olivier Wednesday, referring to Hassell v. Bird. "Instead, it presents a narrow issue: what remedy does a party have to stop the republication of statements that have been adjudicated by a court of law -- after review of an evidentiary record -- to be false and defamatory. The First Amendment does not protect lies, whether in a print publication or an anonymous internet bulletin board. No constitutional interest is advanced by such a notion." Olivier represents Hassell, who sued Ava Bird in 2013 for posting what Hassell said is a defamatory review. Yelp wasn't party to the suit but Hassell, who won the case by default judgment, asked a state court to enter an order to have both Bird and Yelp remove the content. Yelp challenged the order but the California Court of Appeal last year upheld it. The company appealed to the California Supreme Court. In recent days, major civil society, media and tech organizations rallied around Yelp, filing amici briefs (see 1704180017) saying the company is protected by the First Amendment and from liability through Section 230 of CDA. They argued Yelp also wasn't given due process rights since it wasn't party to the lawsuit.

ICANN released its updated procedures Tuesday for handling conflicts between compliance with WHOIS domain registration data requirements and global privacy laws. The updated procedure allows an accredited domain registry or registrar to give ICANN a written statement from the concerned government stating how WHOIS data requirements conflict with the government's privacy laws. The procedure previously allowed only the registrar to invoke the procedure if the contracted party had received a “notification of an action” that WHOIS compliance clashed with privacy laws, ICANN said.

The FTC is seeking comment on proposed changes to TRUSTe's safe harbor program under an agency rule that implements the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), said a Wednesday news release. COPPA prohibits companies that operate websites and provide online services from "knowingly" collecting personal data from children under 13 unless the companies get parental consent before collecting, using or disclosing such information. Companies also must post comprehensive privacy policies on their sites. Companies that develop guidelines, which implement the rule's protections, and then get them approved by the commission can receive safe harbor from enforcement action by the agency, said the FTC. The commission is seeking comment -- until May 24 -- on proposed changes to TRUSTe's safe harbor program including "a new requirement that participants conduct an annual internal assessment of third-parties’ collection of personal information from children on their websites or online services." The FTC said it wants to know "whether the mechanisms used to assess compliance with the proposed modified program requirements are effective."

More than 90 letters were sent out to influencers and marketers, aimed at reminding them they "should clearly and conspicuously disclose their relationships to brands when promoting and endorsing products" on Instagram and other social media sites, said the FTC in a Wednesday news release. The agency said the letters were sent out after Public Citizen and other groups filed petitions on influencer advertising on Instagram. The FTC said if there's a "material connection" -- such as a business or family relationship, monetary payment or gift -- between an endorser and advertiser it must be clearly disclosed unless it's already clear from the context of the communication. Specifically, FTC staff letters said influencers and marketers should disclose the material connection within the first three lines of an Instagram post. Staff also said if a disclosure is included in multiple tags, hashtags or links readers may not notice them. The FTC said some letters addressed other unclear disclosures, "pointing out that many consumers will not understand a disclosure like '#sp,' 'Thanks [Brand],' or '#partner' in an Instagram post to mean that the post is sponsored."

The Department of Homeland Security should partner more with "commercial concerns" like Microsoft to help the department fulfill its mission, said Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, speaking Tuesday at a George Washington University streamed event. Responding to a question about cyber from Frank Cilluffo, who directs the university's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, Kelly said the department's job is protecting dot-gov websites, but it wants to partner "to the greatest degree possible" with business. Kelly said he recently met with Microsoft leadership in Seattle and said executives there are "very, very interested in partnering as we are." Kelly didn't provide further detail but said President Donald Trump is involved in outreach efforts and is organizing an "internal commission" to look at the issue. Microsoft didn't comment but a DHS spokesman emailed that the secretary's comments about Trump's commission were in reference to the White House Office of Innovation led by the president's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner (see 1703270043). Kelly's speech and discussion with Cilluffo focused on the secretary's wide-ranging mission, including cyber-related issues. Kelly said the internet is helping terrorists spread "hateful" propaganda, recruit soldiers and plan attacks. “And thanks to new and ever improving and proliferating encryption devices and secure communication techniques these individuals are becoming harder and harder and I predict eventually impossible to detect," he said. A recent Tech:NYC policy paper said the Trump administration strongly supports access to device encryption, which the tech industry and privacy advocates oppose (see 1704140034).

Artificial intelligence for “ubiquitous computing” is a “recent development” in the semiconductor industry, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) is well-positioned to “ride on this trend,” CEO Mark Liu said on a Thursday earnings call. “We are in a new era where billions of devices are connected at all times and computing takes place at any time and in any place,” said Liu. That’s what TSM means by ubiquitous computing, he said. In smartphones, for example, more intelligent features such as voice, image recognition and AI for decision-making will further increase handsets’ “computing power and silicon content,” he said. Given the smartphone’s “vast established subscription base,” AI for ubiquitous computing “is the best launch pad for new consumer hardware and software innovation,” he said. The trend of “ubiquitous AI” will show up in many IoT and consumer devices, such as robots, drones, surveillance devices, smart TVs and set-top boxes, he said. “Ubiquitous AI will also be widely used in the fast-developing autonomous car market.” AI will require a “very intensive localized parallel computing capability, which drive up the silicon content” in a device, he said. The “proliferation” of AI will demand “insatiable computing capability from semiconductors,” and TSM is developing “various technologies and innovation platforms” to satisfy this industry trend, he said.

DOJ's Antitrust Division will probably rule this summer that Google "is a 90+% search monopoly that has anticompetitively abused its monopoly position in search," wrote Scott Cleland, chairman of ISP-backed NetCompetition, in a Thursday blog post. The action likely will come in June or July after EU authorities conclude the first of three antitrust cases against the company (see 1604200001 and 1607140001), he said. DOJ will "impose a traditional monopoly nondiscrimination principle remedy that Google treat its shopping comparison competitors as it treats itself," Cleland said. Justice will usurp FTC as the lead antitrust enforcer against Google based on a half-dozen reasons: DOJ has a "very tough" record with Google vs. the FTC's "weak" one; it has criminal and international coordination jurisdiction over cartel enforcement; Makan Delrahim, President Donald Trump's DOJ's antitrust chief nominee, has "institutional trust, clout, and authority" (see 1703280020); and FTC Section 5 authority "has proven to be more liability than institutional advantage." Google didn't comment while DOJ declined to comment.

Justin Ramsey, who allegedly ran telemarketing operations that made millions of robocalls to consumers listed on the National Do Not Call Registry (see 1701130076), settled with the FTC, said the commission in a Thursday news release. Commissioners voted 2-0 to authorize staff to file the proposed stipulated court order that permanently bans Ramsey and his company, Prime Marketing, from placing calls to consumers to sell products and services, initiating calls to numbers listed on the registry and selling data lists containing those numbers. The order was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Ramsey and his company also will pay a $2.2 million civil penalty, which will be suspended upon payment of $65,000, said the FTC. "The full judgment will become due if they are later found to have misrepresented their financial condition," it added. The FTC's January complaint alleged Ramsey and several co-defendants made the robocalls in 2012 and 2013 and then Ramsey, through his new company, continued to make calls from 2014 through 2016. The other defendants previously settled with the FTC, the agency said. Ramsey couldn't be reached for comment.

Student privacy policies of 152 education technology services, particularly on data retention, encryption, de-identification and aggregation, "exhibited concerning trends," said the Electronic Frontier Foundation in a report Thursday. EFF surveyed more than 1,000 K-12 students, parents, teachers, administrators and others, and investigated the 152 distinct apps, software and services reported to be in use in classrooms. It said 118 of the 152 services put privacy policies online. Of the 118, 78 mentioned data retention practices, 51 mentioned de-identification or aggregation of user data and 46 said they used encryption. Some companies mentioned are Evernote, Google and Microsoft. At Google, "digital literacy is very important and we’ve been investing in it for years,” a spokeswoman emailed us. The other companies didn't immediately comment.

THX joined the Streaming Video Alliance, an industry group focused on solving streaming challenges and creating best practices, to bring its audio experience to the streaming market, it said in a Wednesday announcement. As a member, THX will participate in industry workgroups, including ones focused on quality of experience, which THX called a key component of the audio and video streaming certification program it launched with Conviva this year.