The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said digital messages sent by Joseph T. Ryerson & Son aren’t faxes subject to liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection and Junk Fax Protection acts. Ryerson contended its messages are “more closely analogous to an email than a traditional fax,” said a Friday declaratory ruling. CGB cited last year’s decision on a similar petition by Amerifactors. “Ryerson’s technology is similar to the technology the Bureau addressed in Amerifactors,” the ruling said: “The petitioner did not send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone facsimile machine under the TCPA.”
Amazon announced an Alexa service for apartment property managers that lets them set up and manage Alexa-based smart home experiences in their buildings. Alexa for Residential doesn't require tenants to have an Amazon account or set up a device to use the service, Amazon blogged Thursday. Tenants can ask Alexa to remind them when it's recycling day, play the news and weather every morning or control their apartment's smart home features. Iotas, Stratis and Sentient Property Services are the first smart home integrators to use Alexa for Residential; they're due to open multiple smart apartment residences this fall. Installing voice-enabled experiences for apartment complexes has been time-consuming and costly for property managers, who had to reset each device individually, or buy new ones, when a resident moved, Amazon said. Under the Alexa for Residential program, devices are permanent fixtures, and property managers can remotely reset devices to default settings when residents move. Property managers don’t have access to any customer data, and voice recordings are automatically deleted daily, Amazon said. Customers who link a personal account will have full control of their privacy settings “as if the device was their own, and their preferred privacy settings will be automatically applied,” it said. Residents can unlink their account at any time; at move out, in-unit devices can be reset along with the rest of the smart home devices.
Customs and Border Protection should update and make privacy notices available for its face-scanning technology, GAO recommended Wednesday. CBP’s privacy notices aren’t always available where the technology is used or online, GAO said, noting CBP deployed the equipment in at least 27 U.S. airports. The Department of Homeland Security concurred with the recommendation.
State legislators supported extending business-to-business and employee exemptions to the California Consumer Privacy Act for one year, until Jan. 1, 2022. The Assembly voted 75-0 Sunday to concur with Senate amendments to AB-1281. They next need gubernatorial OK. Assembly floor analysis dated Saturday cited COVID-19 as a reason to give more time to develop a framework for B2B and employee data.
More than 60% of those owning connected heart monitors, pulse oximeters, connected glucometers and blood pressure cuffs show interest in sharing medical data, blogged Parks Associates analyst Kristen Hanich Thursday. Telehealth and care providers that integrate data can boost the value of their remote offering, she said. Analytics “should be able to facilitate valuable connections and inferences from data,” said John Showalter, Jvion chief product officer, saying data can account for gaps that appear: “Now, because of COVID-19, there are more gaps in data than ever.” Consumer attitudes toward connected health and privacy “have shifted with the pandemic, and more are now willing to share health information as they return to work and other normal activities," said Kristen Valdes, b.well Connected Health CEO. As attitudes continue to evolve, digital health companies need to find a balance between data privacy and data sharing “for the public good,” she said. Parks is holding its virtual Connected Health Summit Tuesday-Thursday.
A Biden-Harris White House is more likely to take an interest in digital privacy legislation than a second Trump administration but may also be more reluctant preempt state privacy initiatives, said University of Tennessee professor and Media Institute fellow Stuart Brotman during the institute’s Virtual Communications Forum Thursday. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is considered amenable to federal privacy legislation and could pursue it in his first year, but Harris’ background in that arena make her a “wild card,” Brotman said. President Donald Trump's administration has “shown very little interest” in federal privacy laws, Brotman said. Harris as California’s attorney general was active in getting that state’s privacy law -- the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) -- approved. That means she’s experienced in the issue and could spearhead a Biden administration privacy push, but a federal digital privacy law would likely need to preempt the state law she previously worked on, he said. Further complicating the matter is California's Proposition 24, the Consumer Personal Information Law and Agency Initiative, Brotman said. Proposition 24 is also on the ballot in November, and if approved would make the CCPA more robust, he said. If Proposition 24 is approved, federal privacy legislation would likely require preempting it, pitting Harris against rules voted by her former constituents, Brotman said. If a Biden administration doesn’t pursue federal privacy legislation to avoid preempting state rules, that could create an environment where more states seek to create their own rules as California and Maine have, Brotman said. That's also a possibility under a second Trump administration, Brotman said. Since a Trump White House is seen unlikely to pursue a federal privacy law, it could create room for states to make their own, he said.
Comments are due Oct. 19 on OMB review of information collection requirements on carriers’ use of customer proprietary network information and other customer information, in FCC docket 96-115. Questions include “whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information shall have practical utility; the accuracy of the Commission’s burden estimate ... and ways to further reduce the information collection burden on small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees,” says Tuesday's Federal Register.
California Consumer Privacy Act regulations got final clearance from the state Office of Administrative Law (OAL), about six weeks after Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) started enforcing CCPA (see 2007010027), Becerra said Friday. His office posted the final rules with an addendum explaining OAL revisions. “Some of the changes are substantive and will impact compliance efforts,” Husch Blackwell attorneys David Strauss and Malia Rogers blogged Monday. They include deleting sections requiring businesses that have a website but substantially interact with consumers offline to provide an offline notice of their right to opt out, requiring businesses get customer consent before using personal information for a materially different purpose than disclosed and requiring “easy” opt-out requests.
Security vulnerabilities abound in five models of video doorbells tested, reported Consumer Reports Thursday: Eufy, GoControl, LaView and Netvue devices had susceptibilities that could expose user data, email addresses and passwords, it said. Eufy told the organization it released an app update to fix the problems on its T8200. CR said GoControl didn't respond to its request for a fix on the GC-DBC-1, and parent Nortek didn’t respond to our questions Friday. CR said LaView disagreed with the severity of issues found with the LaView One Halo LV-PDB1630-U. LaView didn’t respond to our questions. Netvue described the issues as “low-risk hidden dangers," saying it will try to provide a better user experience. It encouraged owners to use the latest version of the mobile app. Tests showed most video doorbells lack two-factor authentication. The only video doorbell brands offering two-factor authentication are Arlo, August, Google Nest, Ring and SimpliSafe, CR said. Blue by ADT told the group its doorbell will get the feature by year-end. CR said many manufacturers fail to minimize the amount of data they collect and don’t offer consumers an easy way to request a copy of their data or to delete it.
Privacy concerns are slowing smart speaker uptake, even as global headphone sales benefited from lockdowns and remote working, Futuresource reported Friday: Primary speaker concerns are how data is used and worries of “being listened to” by tech companies. Desire for high quality audio filtered through to streaming, said analyst Alexandre Jornod. More than 40% of service users say they want better audio quality; more than half are willing to pay up to $3 more monthly. Jornod cited Amazon HD as a catalyst. The rise in podcast consumption doesn’t appear to be cannibalizing music listening, said Jornod, as 80% of podcast listeners say they consume the same or more music due to listening to podcasts. Meanwhile, Q2 headphone sales are recovering. “Although March and April were hit hard, many brands came back fighting, with product promotions and multiple offers,” said analyst Adriana Blanco. Headphone unit sales were down 8% in Q2, but dollar sales rose on strength of true wireless models, which accounted for 40% of headphones shipped. Apple’s AirPods led the charge.