The Internet Association will testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing on Section 230 legislation (see 2003050066) from Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Witnesses are: IA Deputy General Counsel Elizabeth Banker, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Vice President-Exploited Children Division John Shehan, Match Group Chief Legal Officer and Secretary Jared Sine, Catholic University of America law professor Mary Leary and NCMEC Team Hope member "Nicole."
The Commerce Department launched a portal for department guidance documents, it said Wednesday. The portal provides all guidance issued by the agency. That includes the Bureau of Industry and Security, which is responsible for export restrictions on Huawei.
YouTube TV isn't paying market rates or accepting market terms and conditions that other YES Network distributors have agreed to "for its own selfish reasons," YES tweeted Thursday, announcing the vMVPD dropped it. It said Sinclair -- its partial owner (see 1908290063) -- made a deal for some but not all of its regional sports networks. YouTube tweeted that in its Sinclair deal, it won't carry Fox regional sports networks "in select areas." Sinclair said its YouTube TV deal will have 19 of the 21 Fox RSNs on the streaming service, with Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West going dark.
Comments are due March 30 for the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs biennial report to Congress required by the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, said a public notice in Tuesday’s Daily Digest on docket 10-213. CGB seeks comment on compliance with accessibility rules for “telecommunications and advanced communications services, equipment used with these services, and Internet browsers built into mobile phones,” and accessibility barriers involving newer communications tech, the PN said. The biennial report is due Oct. 8.
Chinese tech company Baidu “open-sourced” its facial-recognition and artificial-intelligence technologies to help contain the coronavirus by deploying “fever-screening systems” in rail stations, hospitals and municipal buildings across China, said CEO Robin Li on a Q4 call Thursday. “Our systems remotely measure the temperatures of up to 200 people per minute,” including those wearing protective face masks and hats, he said. The technology also can “identify those who are not wearing masks or wearing them improperly,” he said. The “near-term impact” on the Baidu business has been negative, “as many of our top industries, such as travel, real estate, auto, health care and franchising, suffer from reduced off-line activities,” said Li. But the positive “side effect” is that people are “staying home more, and they have the opportunity to get to know Baidu's products and services better,” he said. “Search queries on coronavirus exceeded 1 billion during the Chinese New Year, as users came to Baidu for fact checking and finding more reliable information.” Baidu expects Q1 revenue down between 5% and 13% from a year earlier, said Chief Financial Officer Herman Yu. The coronavirus situation in China is “evolving, and business visibility is very limited,” he said. The Q1 forecast is based on a “current and preliminary view, which is subject to substantial uncertainty,” he said. The Chinese New Year holiday was originally scheduled to end Jan. 30, but many shops, restaurants and malls “remain closed down, as we speak,” he said. “Consequently, the rebound for online marketing after Chinese New Year has been slow this year.” Business conditions in the past two weeks “have started to pick up as people return to work,” said Yu. Baidu employees “are gradually returning to the office,” he said. “We assume businesses across China will do the same.”
U.S. administration officials will meet with EU and Japanese counterparts next month to lobby for increased scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions involving sensitive technologies, said Thomas Feddo, Treasury Department assistant secretary-investment security. The U.S. is implementing revisions in the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (see 2002120034). FIRRMA will adapt to any rulemaking changes in technology, and Treasury prioritized improving investment screening among allies and quadrupled Office of Investment Security staffing as the Trump administration focuses on maintaining a technological edge over China, Feddo said Wednesday. Industry worries about lack of clarity on what's considered critical tech (see 2001150018). Treasury “does not have a lot of latitude” to define this, Feddo said, and the agency is awaiting direction. “Obviously we’re looking to the Commerce Department to develop and designate emerging technologies,” he told the Asia Society: But the ability to review M&A won't be hurt.
The FCC is collecting data from eligible telecom carriers on whether they use equipment or services from Huawei or ZTE, said a public notice Wednesday for docket 18-89. An agency rule bars USF funds for equipment posing a national security threat to the telecom supply chain (see 2002040047). Data includes the type of Huawei or ZTE equipment or services ETCs own or use, purchase and installation costs, and removal and replacement costs. The FCC has proposed reimbursing small rural carriers (see 1906270039). Carriers not designated ETCs may also file, the agency said. Filings are due by April 22. Senate Commerce plans a March 4 hearing on 5G supply chain security (see 2002260028). Three Democratic presidential candidates said in Tuesday night's debate they wouldn't allow Chinese firms to build critical U.S. infrastructure (see 2002260019).
The Technological Advisory Council meets March 24, the FCC said Tuesday. The meeting starts at 10 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room. TAC will hear reports from working groups on 5G/IOT, unlicensed operations, artificial intelligence, and 5G radio access network technology.
Balanced intellectual property protections are needed to ensure artificial intelligence technology fulfills its potential, the Computer & Communications Industry Association commented Friday. “Widespread availability of patents on AI generated inventions would lead to less innovation by placing ordinary creativity into the realm of monopoly and chilling the rationale to pursue such creativity,” CCIA told the World Intellectual Property Organization as it works through a draft issues paper on AI and IP. The white paper will be “a milestone for Europe’s regulatory vision on how to advance innovation and help European companies thrive,” Information Technology Industry Council CEO Jason Oxman said. It’s important the EU not look only at potential AI harms but also consider the potential “social harms of limiting the use of AI, which may decrease its positive impact,” ITI wrote.
A New York legislator defended using satellite broadband to cover some remote areas in the state broadband program. At a budget hearing livestreamed Thursday from Albany, Assemblyman Billy Jones (D) complained that his upstate constituents aren’t satisfied with satellite broadband and want better cellphone coverage. Eric Gertler, acting commissioner at the New York Department of Economic Development, replied that 25 Mbps satellite helps fill in gaps where laying fiber is too expensive. "We can't always do fiber” because the return on investment “is just prohibitive,” he said. ROI is also a challenge for spreading wireless coverage, but to help, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is proposing in the budget to ease the local permitting process for wireless infrastructure (see 2001230043), Gertler said.