The new FCC should adopt an "objective, activity-based" broadband speed definition, said Daniel Lyons, a Boston College law professor and American Enterprise Institute scholar. Otherwise, the commission "is vulnerable to allegations that it may manipulate the benchmark for policy purposes," he wrote in a Friday blog post. He noted the agency in early 2015 raised its advanced telecom capability download benchmark from 4 Mbps to 25 Mbps, with Chairman Tom Wheeler calling it "table stakes" and citing the need to support multiple devices and 4K video. Dissenting Commissioner Ajit Pai said the standard was arbitrary and intended to help justify net neutrality rules, Lyons recounted. The minimum standard should be based on an assessment of what consumers need for "core activities" on a broadband network, Lyons said. "This list might include access to email, news, job boards, or digital voice service for easy access to public safety officials," he wrote. "Consistent with former Commissioner [Jessica] Rosenworcel’s work on the 'homework gap,' it might also include access to educational resources such as school intranets and associated multimedia applications." The FCC should calculate the speed needed to accomplish the activities, the professor said: An activity-based standard could change over time and facilitate broadband competition.

Total U.S. e-commerce spending from computers for the November-December holiday season reached $63.1 billion, said a Thursday comScore report. Online sales via PC grew 12 percent over 2015, it said. For the third straight year, Cyber Monday was the heaviest spending day of the year, with more than $2 billion in desktop buying, and it was the first day ever to eclipse $1 billion in mobile commerce, comScore said.

The IoT provides many benefits, but there are "existential dangers" such as erosion of privacy, wrote Mozilla Foundation Executive Director Mark Surman in a Thursday blog post. "Legions of connected microphones and cameras unknowingly track our movements and conversations," he wrote. "Governments surveil citizens en masse, and profit-minded businesses horde personal data. IoT also means more vulnerabilities, from the recent Dyn attack (see 1610210056) to the hacking of elections" (see 1612290040). Surman said there's "an opportunity to head off future dangers proactively" and "IoT will be the first big battle of 2017." He co-wrote a paper, issued in October by the NetGain Partnership, a coalition of philanthropic organizations, including the Ford, Knight, MacArthur and Open Society foundations and Mozilla. The paper outlines six principles, from an open and free internet to digital security. The partnership will issue several papers and host discussions over the next year on how it can address IoT challenges.

To help address security vulnerabilities from outdated software in consumer IoT devices, the FTC is offering a $25,000 cash prize for the best technical solution, said the agency in a Wednesday news release. Contestants can develop a physical device, which consumers can plug into their home networks to check for and install updates, or an app or cloud-based service, dashboard or other interface, the commission said. Contestants can also add features that "address hard-coded, factory default or easy-to-guess passwords," it added. “Consumers want these devices to be secure, so we’re asking for creativity from the public -- the tinkerers, thinkers and entrepreneurs -- to help them keep device software up-to-date,” said Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich. Submissions are due May 22. Winners will be announced around July 27. An NTIA multistakeholder group is also addressing the issue of IoT security upgrades and patching (see 1610190051).

BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye said 40 autonomous BMW vehicles incorporating their technology will be in trials on roads by this year's second half. In an announcement in Las Vegas at CES Wednesday, the companies said trials in the U.S. and Europe will be under “real traffic conditions.” The companies are seeing cost and time savings by sharing development expenses and pooling resources, said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.

The market for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles will reach $144 billion in global revenue by 2025, said Juniper Research in a Tuesday news release. The market research firm said ADAS adoption is expected to increase rapidly over the next five years, though it still lacks significant mass market penetration. Several factors will account for this: reduced hardware costs, especially sensors; more governmental interest in self-driving cars due to safety and environmental reasons, with commercial companies such as ride-sharing providers leading the way; and stricter safety "specifications" for "vulnerable road users such as pedestrians."

Consumer spending on digital devices, services and content will rise on average 4.7 percent annually, reaching $3.4 trillion worldwide in 2020, IDC said in a Tuesday report. Total consumer digital spending is going up, but “the nature of the spend is changing,” it said. “Just as consumers shift spending towards digital content, consumers worldwide are moving digital spending towards online media and away from entertainment devices.” Regions outside the U.S. will account for most of the change in consumer habits, it said. In developing countries, “consumer spending on digital content and services, versus devices, is still gaining, while online media spending also increases in wallet share,” it said.

More investment in "hybrid infrastructure" -- tying physical structures with technology such as water mains embedded with internet-connected sensors to detect leaks or smart traffic lights to create more efficient transportation -- is "likely to have bigger productivity payoffs than simply pouring more concrete or laying pipe," the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said in a Tuesday report. Written by Peter Singer, a policy adviser at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Washington office, the ITIF report said studies showed "investments in IT-enabled infrastructure can have 60 percent greater productivity impacts than investments in roads alone." The report said a smart infrastructure is one part of an "innovation infrastructure" that President-elect Donald Trump, who emphasized investing in physical infrastructure during his campaign, should adopt. That means expanding public and private R&D investments, advanced technology like exascale computing, scientific infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, it said.

Most on-demand or sharing economy companies like Airbnb, Lyft, TaskRabbit and Uber "haven't caught up with the rest of the tech industry in safeguarding user data against unwarranted government access demands," wrote Electronic Frontier Foundation analyst Karen Gullo in a Thursday blog post. In a review of 2016, she said most of the companies "aren't promising to stand by their users" when the government comes asking for user data. The group released a report in May saying most of the companies aren't meeting industry best practices for privacy and transparency (see 1605050038). She said Lyft and Uber were better than other sharing economy companies, but Gullo said Uber recently made a change in iPhone app policy that undermined user privacy (see 1612210039). "Unfortunately the Uber location tracking change is part of a disturbing trend among software makers that we saw continue in 2016 to take away, or at least limit, the ability of users to opt out of functionality that automatically gobbles up your personal information -- such as location data and browsing history." Two other examples of this, she said, are Microsoft's Windows 10 data collection (see 1608170057) and note-taking app Evernote's new privacy policy that permits some employees to read user content to improve machine learning technology. "Want to avoid the company’s prying eyes? Apparently there’s no clear way to do so if you want to continue using service," Gullo added.

U.S. advertisers spent $17.6 billion on digital ads in Q3, the highest third quarter on record, said the Interactive Advertising Bureau in its latest revenue report for internet advertising, which was prepared by PwC. In a Wednesday news release, IAB said the Q3 spending was a 20 percent jump over the same period in 2015 and a 4.3 percent increase from Q2 this year. “The momentum of advertising in mobile, digital video, and other innovative formats is undeniable,” said IAB Chief Marketing Officer David Doty. “These record-setting third quarter revenue figures reflect marketers’ trust in the internet’s power to connect with today’s audiences.” IAB said the Q3 revenue is estimated based on a sample of overall survey respondents. The survey includes online ad revenue from websites, commercial online services, free email providers and others.