The Electronic Frontier Foundation called Google's use of the term "incognito" for its Allo messaging app that provides end-to-end encryption "ultimately dangerous" for all users. In a Monday blog post, EFF researcher Gennie Gebhart said Google's use of the term "incognito" means something different in Allo than in the Chrome browser. In the Chrome incognito mode, she wrote, user activity isn't stored in the browser history, though ISPs can still determine which websites are visited. In Allo, no one can read a user's end-to-end encrypted messages, but conversations "are stored on your device for a certain period of time after you send them." Users will likely "misunderstand and underestimate Allo’s end-to-end encryption -- or, even worse, overestimate Chrome’s incognito browsing mode and expose themselves to more risk than the name 'incognito' leads them to expect," wrote Gebhart. Offering end-to-end as a once-in-a-while vs. default option signals to people the level of importance of the message for hackers, spies and others, she said. Instead, Google could, for example, offer two apps, one less secure and one that is end-to-end encrypted, she said. The company didn't comment.

The oneM2M global standards initiative issued the second release of oneM2M specifications for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications and IoT, said oneM2M founding partner ATIS in a Thursday announcement. Release 2 is based on contributions from more than 200 member companies and builds on oneM2M's first set of official specs enabling basic connectivity between applications and devices, said ATIS. The new specs open the IoT ecosystem to devices that lack the protocol and enable interworking among systems using AllSeen Alliance's AllJoyn, Open Connectivity Foundation's OIC (Open Interconnect Consortium) and the Open Mobile Alliance's Lightweight M2M (LWM2M), it said. The 17 specs in Release 2 address security by enabling end-to-end secure information exchange between any devices or servers, it said. The specs implement attribute and role-based dynamic access control in consumer-oriented IoT scenarios and allow granting temporary authorization to devices during operation, it said. Semantic interoperability enables meaningful data exchange for secure distribution and reuse, said ATIS. As a result of the latest spec, the number of devices that can connect in the IoT ecosystem “is greatly expanded” beyond the 50 billion devices Cisco estimates will be connected by 2020, ATIS said.

The National Science Foundation is giving $10 million “in new awards to develop and scale next-generation Internet applications and technologies through the US Ignite program, supporting access to the gigabit-enabled networks and services that bring data and analytics to decision-makers in real time,” the White House said Monday in a fact sheet on its Smart Cities initiative. Four new cities joined US Ignite’s Smart Gigabit Communities network: Albuquerque, New Mexico; Adelaide, Australia; Salisbury, North Carolina; and Washington, D.C. “Four additional companies are joining the Administration’s NSF-led Advanced Wireless Research Initiative, collectively committing over $8 million in in-kind contributions to help support the design, deployment, and operation of four city-scale advanced wireless testing platforms,” the White House added: Anritsu, Crown Castle, Ericsson and FiberTower. Some $4 million of NSF money also would go toward “new Cyber-Physical Systems awards focused on Smart & Connected Communities, which would “help establish the technological foundation for smart cities and the Internet of Things, which enables connection of physical devices at enormous scale to the digital world through sensors and other IT infrastructure,” the administration said. The White House also said NTIA “is releasing a new toolkit to help communities leverage private-sector resources and expertise to advance smart cities” and that the National Institute of Standards and Technology “and its collaborators are announcing a new international coalition dedicated to developing an Internet of Things-Enabled Smart City Framework, with an initial release planned for next summer.”

Technology CEO Council Chairman Mark Durcan urged House and Senate leaders Monday “not to block” the planned Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition on Saturday. Senate Republicans last week introduced language for a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government after FY 2016 expires this Friday that didn’t include proposed language that would delay the transition past Oct. 1. Some remain unsure Congress has fully abandoned efforts to postpone the handover (see 1609220067). Two conservative groups continued urging Congress Monday to seek the delay (see 1609260059). Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, a TCC member, and Google General Counsel Kent Walker are also backing the handover. The transition “is good policy, both for the United States and for the global Internet community,” Durcan wrote. “Placing stewardship of these technical but important functions beyond the control of any one government or group of governments will best secure the principles of Internet freedom and de-politicization of technology. America truly leads by example, walking its talk in support of apolitical Internet governance.” Krzanich backed the transition Saturday in a blog post. "This final stage of Internet privatization will help ensure that future American innovations benefit from a global, stable and interoperable Internet infrastructure,” Krzanich said. “American business relies on these principles and the growth they have provided.” Krzanich said previous steps in privatizing the internet “brought about exponential growth of the Internet -- growth that propelled Moore’s Law and breakthrough innovations in computing power. Because of these phenomena, American industry has led the world in technological transformation and innovation.” Google believes that post-transition, “you won’t notice anything different when you go online, but we are transitioning the IANA functions into good hands,” Walker said in a Monday blog post. “Although this is a change in how one technical function of the Internet is governed, it will give innovators and users a greater role in managing the global Internet. And that’s a very good thing.” Thinking “only governments should have a say in the Internet’s future is a dangerous proposition,” Walker said. “It incentivizes those who fear the Internet’s transformative power to impose burdensome restrictions online, and over time could even lead some repressive governments to try to build their own closed networks operating independently of ICANN, at the expense of a thriving Internet ecosystem.”

Retailers must not only design security into their devices but also into consumer data "from initial acceptance, through transit to the data center and while in storage," wrote Michelle Tinsley, Intel director-mobility and payment security, in a Wednesday blog post. As the IoT becomes more prevalent, retailers are collecting more data about their customers to provide personalized services and products, but risks also are prevalent, she said. Tinsley said 13.1 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2015, citing Javelin Research. "Typically it takes a consumer six months and $4,000 to clear the errors from their credit record," she wrote. One answer, she added, is encrypting the data from source to storage. Tinsley will join Jeff Zubricki, Walmart director-global public policy, to discuss the issue at an Electronics Transactions Association event Thursday.

Half of U.S. broadband households find an IoT device that alerts them to smoke and fire highly appealing and 41 percent have the same view of a water leak detector, said Parks Associates Tuesday in a notice of an upcoming webinar. The webinar on opportunities for insurance companies in the IoT, will be Tuesday at 11 a.m. EDT. Speakers include Christoph Döbrich, innovation manager, Allianz Worldwide Partners; Kevin Meagher, senior vice president, business development, ROC-Connect; and Curt Schacker, senior vice president, connected products, Evrythng.

Some 3 billion people remain unconnected worldwide and another 2.4 billion are connected only to voice and simple text services, GSMA said in a report. The IoT “is developing rapidly, but the level of penetration remains low,” GSMA said. The report is on industry progress on sustainable development goals. SDG 1 focuses on “eradicating poverty, providing equal access to economic resources, and building the resilience of the poor,” and SDG 9 seeks “resilient infrastructure, sustainable and inclusive industrialisation, and innovation.” This "first-of-its-kind report offers critical insights into the transformative impact of the mobile industry on individuals, societies and economies around the world, in developed and developing markets,” said Mats Granryd, GSMA director general.

Tech Data Corp. agreed to pay $2.6 billion for Avnet’s Technology Solutions unit in a stock-and-cash transaction, Avnet said Monday in a news release. The unit is a distributor of IT services, including cloud and data center services. The companies, which have been competitors, also plan to partner on IoT services, Avnet said.

NTIA plans the first meeting of its multistakeholder process on cybersecurity upgradeability of the IoT Oct. 19 in Austin. NTIA said in August it was launching the IoT cybersecurity multistakeholder process on developing ways to improve consumers’ understanding of cybersecurity upgrades to IoT products (see 1608020060). The meeting will focus “on security upgradeability and patching, and to establish more concrete goals and structure of the process,” NTIA is set to say in Monday's Federal Register. The meeting also will be on how the process will be structured, including forming working groups on specific issues, and setting out “concrete goals” for the process, NTIA said. Future meetings will “encourage and facilitate continued discussion among stakeholders to build out a mapping of the range of issues, and develop a consensus view of a consolidated set of potential definitions,” NTIA said. “Discussions will also cover best practices for sharing security information with consumers. This discussion may include circulation of stakeholder-developed strawman drafts and discussion of the appropriate scope of the initiative.” The meeting is 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Renaissance Austin Hotel's Trinity Ballroom.

The Wireless Infrastructure Association will partner with the Smart Cities Council to develop and promote programming for Smart Cities Week Sept. 27-29 in Washington and at WIA’s HetNet Expo Oct. 25-26 in Houston, WIA said in a Tuesday news release. The events will include panels and keynote speeches on the intersection of smart city efforts and wireless networking, WIA said.