Expect significant consumer confusion about the two emerging Wi-Fi 7 variants -- one with 6 GHz compatibility, one without, ABI Research said Tuesday. It said some ISPs plan to deploy Wi-Fi 7 equipment that supports the legacy 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz spectrums only because large numbers of 6 GHz-enabled devices won't be available to consumers until later in the decade. It said the emergence of the Wi-Fi 7 standard and new Wi-Fi consumer premises equipment product types should drive big growth in CPE equipment shipments in coming years -- from 266.9 million in 2022 to 397.4 million by 2028.

No shareholder proposals received the votes needed to pass, Amazon said Wednesday at its annual shareholder meeting. Among the 18 shareholder proposals were recommendations that the company's board give more detailed disclosures on content and product restrictions on Amazon.com due to governments' requests, and that the board commission a report on whether the company's Amazon Web Services products have surveillance capabilities that contribute to human rights violations (see 2304260032).

Better harmonization of cross-border data protection enforcement is needed, the European Commission said Wednesday. There have been over 2,000 cross-border cases since the general data protection regulation (GDPR) took effect five years ago, with over $2.7 billion in fines imposed by national data protection authorities (DPAs) for breaches, the EC statement said. "Thorough application" of the regulation remains a top priority, so the EC will "soon" propose new legislation to standardize some procedures of cooperation between DPAs in cross-border cases. "At the heart of the GDPR lies trust," said Values and Transparency Vice President Vera Jourova and Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders. "Looking back, we have successfully created a modern data protection culture in Europe, which has been a source of inspiration also in other parts of the world." They cited "more and more appetite" internationally to raise privacy standards and, in that way, to facilitate free, safe data flows. GDPR enforcement over the past five years "has had major flaws and today it is still very much work in progress," emailed Ursula Pachl, deputy director-general, European Consumer Organisation (BEUC). For example, BEUC launched a coordinated campaign against Google's widespread tracking of consumers' data in November 2018 "and we are still waiting for the final decision from the Irish data protection authority." EC plans to harmonize cross-border rules "could deliver some real improvements."

The Biden administration is committed to investing in artificial intelligence that “promotes responsible American innovation,” the White House said Tuesday. The Office of Science and Technology Policy released a new strategic plan for national AI R&D, a document last updated in 2019. The plan doesn’t list a specific dollar amount for R&D, but the administration said it’s focused on protecting human rights and safety and upholding democratic values. AI innovation and risks have been a focal point for legislators on Capitol Hill and the FTC in recent weeks (see 2305180050). OSTP is issuing a request for information seeking input on “national priorities for mitigating AI risks, protecting individuals’ rights and safety, and harnessing AI to improve lives,” it said. Public comments are due July 7. The White House hosted a listening session Tuesday with workers to “hear firsthand experiences with employers’ use of automated technologies for surveillance, monitoring, evaluation, and management.”

The federal government doesn’t have “enough evidence” to say social media is “sufficiently safe” for children and adolescents, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Tuesday in a new advisory. Researchers need to explore social media’s impact on youth mental health and well-being, including risks associated with sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety and body image. The report notes up to 95% of users ages 13 to 17 report using social media, and more than a third say they use it “almost constantly.” The U.S. “must acknowledge the growing body of research about potential harms, increase our collective understanding of the risks associated with social media use, and urgently take action to create safe and healthy digital environments that minimize harm and safeguard children’s and adolescents’ mental health and well-being during critical stages of development,” said Murthy.

The FCC Wireless Bureau gave broadband providers Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Starry a June 15 deadline for explaining their need to use an alternative to the national verifier system for verifying subscribers' eligibility to take part in the Affordable Connectivity Program, per letters (Charter, Cox and Starry) Wednesday. In the letters, the bureau also directs the three to confirm through the National Verifier the eligibility of their ACP subscribers approved via those companies' alternative processes. "We remain concerned that alternative verification processes, although allowed by the law, may result in improper enrollments," potentially resulting in ACP waste, fraud or abuse, the bureau said.

The largest cable, wireline telcos and fixed wireless providers, with about 96% of the U.S. broadband market, acquired about 960,000 net additional broadband subscribers in Q1, compared with a pro forma gain of about 1,085,000 the same quarter a year earlier, Leichtman Research Group said Monday. It said the biggest cable companies added about 65,000 in the quarter, compared with 485,000 net adds in Q1 2022, while wireline telcos lost about 20,000 in the quarter compared with gains of 65,000 in Q1 2022. It said Verizon and T-Mobile fixed wireless services added 915,000 subs, compared with 530,000 net adds the same quarter a year earlier.

NBCUniversal Global Advertising Chair Linda Yaccarino will be Twitter’s CEO starting this summer, Elon Musk announced Friday. Musk said he will transition to executive chairman and chief technology officer and oversee product design and new technology. Yaccarino, who has worked at NBCUniversal for almost 12 years, will focus on business operations, said Musk.

The FTC plans to vote May 18 on a policy statement listing practices the agency will scrutinize in the enforcement of biometric data abuse, the commission announced Thursday. The policy statement “will list examples of some of the practices the Commission will scrutinize in determining whether companies collecting and/or using or marketing biometric information technologies are complying with Section 5 of the FTC Act,” the agency said in its commission meeting announcement. The commission is scheduled to vote on an NPRM to amend the health breach notification rule. Potential amendments would “help clarify technologies and entities covered by the Rule, facilitate greater electronic breach notices to consumers, and expand the required content of the notices, among other changes,” the FTC said.

EU lawmakers oppose the proposed EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, they said in a resolution Thursday. The draft decision is an improvement, but it doesn't provide enough safeguards for trans-Atlantic data flows, and the European Commission shouldn't give the U.S. an adequacy decision finding that it offers the same level of personal data protection as the EU, they said. Lawmakers noted the proposal still allows bulk collection of personal data in some cases, doesn't make such collection subject to independent prior authorization and fails to provide clear rules on data retention. The scheme creates a data protection review court to provide redress to EU citizens whose data has been misused, but the court's decisions would be secret, violating citizens' right to access and correct data about themselves. Moreover, since the president could dismiss the judges and overturn court decisions, the court wouldn't be independent, they said. A data transfer regime must be future-proof, and the assessment of adequacy must be based on the practical implementation of rules, parliament said: With the U.S. intelligence community still in the process of updating its practices based on the framework, gauging its impact on the ground isn't possible. The resolution urged the EC to deny an adequacy decision and "instead negotiate a data transfer framework that is likely to be held up in court." The EC floated the proposed adequacy decision in December, saying the U.S. now ensures an adequate level of personal data protection (see 2212130040). In April, the European Data Protection Supervisor praised the U.S. for taking a strong, new approach to safeguarding Europeans' personal data ((see 2304270007).