U.S. Internet advertising revenue reached a record $59.6 billion in 2015, 20 percent above the prior year, helped by a surge in mobile, digital video and social media ads, said the Interactive Advertising Bureau in a report released Thursday. IAB's report, prepared by PwC, said it's the sixth consecutive year the industry has seen double-digit growth. Mobile advertising soared to $20.7 billion in 2015, 66 percent above 2014, the report said. “Mobile’s impressive upswing is a testament to its increasing importance to marketers,” IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg said in a news release. "Three key disruptive trends -- mobile, social, and programmatic -- continue to fuel this,” added PwC partner David Silverman. The report said nonmobile digital video ad revenue totaled $4.2 billion in 2015, up 30 percent from the prior year, while social media ad revenue totaled $10.9 billion in 2015, up 55 percent from 2014. Retail advertisers generated 22 percent of total revenue in 2015 -- up from 21 percent in 2014 -- the largest category of Internet ad spending, the report said.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation sued DOJ to find out whether the government used "secret orders" to compel technology companies to decrypt the private communications of customers, after two EFF Freedom of Information Act requests and appeals went denied or unanswered. EFF, which filed the lawsuit Tuesday, said the practice could jeopardize the security of devices used by millions of people. The federal government has sought assistance from technology companies, notably Apple in the San Bernardino, California, mass shooting case and others (see 1603290059), through legal challenges in traditional federal courts, EFF said. But the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) "allows the government to seek technical assistance from third parties with respect to any application it seeks or order or opinion it receives from the" Foreign Intelligence Service Court (FISC), the suit said. The privacy group wants to know how much FISA has been used and how much FISC has forced companies to help the government. “If the government is obtaining FISC orders to force a company to build backdoors or decrypt their users’ communications, the public has a right to know about those secret demands to compromise people’s phones and computers,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Nate Cardozo in a news release. EFF filed a FOIA request with DOJ's National Security Division Oct. 8, and Justice responded that it hadn't found any documents except for "two items of potentially responsive correspondence" that were determined to be exempt from FOIA. EFF filed an administrative appeal Jan. 22, saying DOJ "improperly withheld records under FOIA." That was denied April 4. EFF filed another FOIA request March 7, which DOJ hasn't responded to, prompting the suit. Justice declined to comment Wednesday.

Amazon, the Internet Association and Microsoft were among 11 tech companies and industry groups that jointly told Congress Tuesday that ICANN’s Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition-related plans meet the NTIA’s criteria for the transition process and include “significant and concrete measures to enhance ICANN’s accountability to its global community.” ICANN sent NTIA its IANA transition plan and a set of recommended changes to the nonprofit corporation’s accountability mechanisms in March. NTIA expects to complete its review of ICANN’s plans in June (see 1603100070 and 1603110075). “The Internet is defined by its inclusivity and openness. Those critical characteristics are reflected in the work that -- over the course of many months of open, transparent and inclusive discussion -- went into the drafting of” the IANA transition plans, the tech companies and groups said in a letter. “We recognize that additional important work remains, including properly revising ICANN’s bylaws and further improving ICANN’s practices and procedures. It is imperative that this work be accomplished in a timely and effective manner and we look forward to ensuring that it does.” The other signatories to the letter included Cisco, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Dell, Hewlett Packard, the Information Technology Industry Council, Intel, the Internet Infrastructure Coalition and the U.S. Council for International Business.

Consumers in 24 countries, including the U.S., are increasingly worried by how their personal information is being managed by companies and governments, said a Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)-commissioned global survey released Monday. Done by research firm Ipsos, the survey of 24,153 users Nov. 20-Dec. 4 found 57 percent of people globally were more concerned about their online privacy than a year ago. Only 30 percent of respondents said they thought their government "is doing enough" to keep personal data secure and safe from companies, the survey said. The poll found 38 percent didn't think their Internet activities were being monitored, while 46 percent thought their activities weren't being censored. "Internet users are expressing a clear lack of trust in the current set of rules and, more importantly, in the actors that oversee the sharing and use of personal data online,” Fen Hampson, director of Canada-based CIGI’s global security and politics program, said in a news release. But 70 percent of respondents said law enforcement agencies should have a right to access people's online communications for "valid national security reasons," including 64 percent of Americans, the survey said. It also said 63 percent of respondents don't want companies to develop technologies preventing law enforcement from accessing content of people's online conversations.

Eighty-seven percent of registered voters polled are very or somewhat concerned that a person or organization they don't trust could get access to private information stored on their electronic devices or mobile apps, ACT|The App Association found in a commissioned survey released Monday. On a media call, Doug Usher, who heads polling firm Purple Insights, said 71 percent of respondents believe the threat from cybercriminals and hackers is increasing, and only 2 percent think it is decreasing. Eighty percent said companies like Apple and Google should continue to build strong innovative safeguards to strengthen data encryption, and only 13 percent believe it's adequate, he said. More people trust companies than the federal government -- 54 percent vs. 21 percent, he said. Plus, overwhelming majorities, close to 90 percent, either believe back doors could be misused and make personal data more vulnerable or criminals and terrorists could use them to create additional threats. During the call, Purple Strategies CEO Steve McMahon, a longtime Democratic consultant, said it "surprised" him most that a "broad and universal agreement" exists among civil libertarians and national security supporters on all measures. "I suppose that's a good sign that it's not impossible to find common ground in Washington even today," he said. The nationwide survey of 1,250 registered voters was done via cellphone or landline April 11-14.

About 15 million domain names were added to the Internet in Q4, raising the total number of registered domain names globally to 314 million, Verisign said in a report. Worldwide domain name registrations in Q4 grew by almost 26 million, a 9 percent increase over the same period in 2014, Verisign said. There were a combined 139.8 million .com and .net domain names at the end of Q4, up 6.3 percent from 2014, Verisign said. The company’s average daily Domain Name System query load in Q4 increased by 11.9 percent from 2014 to 123 billion queries.

ICANN is “evaluating next steps and our procedural options” after U.S. District Court in Los Angeles last week granted DotConnectAfrica Trust’s request for a preliminary injunction halting ICANN's delegation of the .africa top-level domain to the ZA Central Registry, an ICANN spokesman said Friday. Judge Gary Klausner said an injunction was needed because “the evidence suggests that ICANN intended to deny DCA's application based on pretext.” Klausner also questioned the enforceability of provisions in the waiver DCA Trust agreed to when it applied to be the .africa registry that waived DCA Trust's right to sue ICANN over the .africa delegation decision (see 1604140056).

U.S. District Court in Los Angeles granted DotConnectAfrica Trust's request for a preliminary injunction halting ICANN's delegation of the .africa top-level domain to the ZA Central Registry. DCA Trust sought the preliminary injunction amid its ongoing lawsuit against ICANN, which seeks to require ICANN to follow the terms of independent review process (IRP) proceedings that found ICANN mishandled DCA's 2013 challenge to the nonprofit's .africa delegation decision. DCA Trust also wants ICANN to reconsider the registry's application to be the .africa registry (see 1603070062 and 1603280050). “The evidence suggests that ICANN intended to deny DCA's application based on pretext,” Judge Gary Klausner said in his ruling: ICANN hasn't “introduced any controverting facts. As such, the Court finds serious questions regarding the enforceability of” provisions of a waiver that DCA Trust agreed to when it applied to be the .africa registry that waived DCA Trust's right to sue ICANN over the .africa delegation decision. Evidence “presents serious questions” about whether ICANN followed the IRP decisions in favor of DCA Trust, including “whether DCA's application should have proceeded to the delegation stage” after the IRP decision, Klausner said. DCA “will likely suffer irreparable harm” if ICANN proceeds with the .africa delegation before the lawsuit is concluded, Klausner said. ICANN didn't comment.

Panasonic’s Aupeo GmbH subsidiary is collaborating with Triton Digital at the Worldwide Radio Summit in Hollywood, California, using Triton’s Tap OnDemand advertising program to insert targeted ads into personalized audio messages delivered through the Panasonic OneConnect platform. The Panasonic-Triton collaboration lets manufacturers communicate brand messages, service promotions and other customized content directly to consumers on the road, said Panasonic. The OneConnect platform can communicate the vehicle’s operational status in an audio format that makes it easy for the driver to grasp the importance of a vehicle indicator or status light, the company said. The platform can also enable follow-up actions, such as dialing a phone number, or setting a destination or reminder, and the driver can act on the notifications with a click or simple voice command, it said. OneConnect also can trigger messages based on location, vehicle status or type, Panasonic said. A message could be played to all drivers with a specific software version to initiate an update or to all vehicles within 50 miles of a dealer that have an active check engine light to offer a service discount, the company said. OneConnect reports successful message playback and follow-through action metrics, it said.

Uber said it received 415 state and federal law enforcement requests for information for criminal investigations during the second half of 2015, but it hasn't gotten a national security letter or Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act order request. Uber released its first-ever transparency report Tuesday, showing the scope of information it has released to law enforcement agencies and state and local regulators. Uber said it provided at least some data for 85 percent of the law enforcement requests, of which the majority were from state authorities. "A large number of the law enforcement requests we receive are related to fraud investigations or the use of stolen credit cards," the company said. "Since we move people from A to B, we also respond to requests about rider or driver safety and ensure that law enforcement officers get the information they need through the appropriate legal channels in a timely fashion." Uber also said it responded to 33 requests from state and local regulatory agencies such as in California on information about trips, trip requests, pickup and drop-off areas, fares, vehicles, and drivers in their jurisdictions for a given time period and electronic trip receipts. The requests involved trip data for nearly 12 million riders and nearly 600,000 drivers. Plus, the company responded to 34 requests from airport authorities that regulate transportation services. With limited exceptions, Uber said it requires a "valid and sufficient legal process" from government before disclosing information about customers and asks for"narrowly tailored" requests if they are "overly broad, vague or unreasonable requests."