Amazon wants waiver of FCC rules limiting power levels of unlicensed devices in 57-71 GHz to let it market “radar sensors” to enable touchless control of “device features and functions” for monitoring sleep hygiene, said an undocketed request posted Wednesday. The agency has granted similar waivers for other gesture-based tech such as Google’s Project Soli, the request said. “Operation at the requested power levels would not increase the potential for harmful interference.”

Google may be favoring its own online display advertising tech services over those of rivals in violation of EU antitrust law, the European Commission said Tuesday. It launched a probe (case AT.40670) focused on whether the company distorts competition by restricting third-party access to user data for ads on websites and apps while keeping the data for its own use. EU display ads were about $24 billion in 2019, the EC said. The investigation will examine whether online display ad buyers on YouTube must use Google's Display & Video and/or Google Ads services and whether they must use Google Ad Manager to serve display ads on YouTube. It will examine the company's announced plans to bar placement of third-party cookies on Chrome and replace them with "Privacy Sandbox" tools, plus its decision to stop making the advertiser identifier available to third parties on Android smart mobile devices when a user opts out of personalized ads. Google said it will continue to engage with the EC, and its ad tech fees are lower than reported industry averages.

Two Endeavor Group executives resigned from Live Nation Entertainment's board after DOJ expressed concerns that their positions there “created an illegal interlocking directorate,” the department said Monday. Endeavor and Live Nation “compete closely in many sports and entertainment markets,” DOJ said in announcing the resignations of Endeavor CEO Ariel Emanuel and President Mark Shapiro. Executives aren’t allowed to hold “board positions on companies that compete with each other,” noted acting Assistant Attorney General-Antitrust Richard Powers. Live Nation didn’t comment.

Commissioner Nathan Simington wants the FCC to focus more on receiver standards, told a Hudson Institute webinar Wednesday. They “could prove very useful in allowing for more efficient use of spectrum in bands where there’s a need to protect or coordinate against in-band interference with incumbents in the band, or in bands where there’s currently a large guard band,” he said. Most receivers lack an emissions mask, which can mean “spurious emissions that contribute to intermodulation interference,” he said. The commission has emissions mask rules for transmitters, he said. “Having them apply to both the transmitter and receiver ends may allow for further spectral efficiency.” Simington said an agency proposal would have risks: Many in industry “would be worried that the FCC would prejudge the issue and start imposing standards.” It could have a role as a coordinator, he said. The FCC Technological Advisory Council recommended creation of a multistakeholder group (see 1212110072). Simington said TAC should revisit how standards might work. The FCC didn't comment.

CTA representatives flagged concerns with draft rules proposing to bar certification of equipment from companies found to be a national security risk. The worries were expressed in calls with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and aides to the other commissioners, said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-232 (see 2106090063). CTA “discussed potential complications for U.S. technology companies raised by the draft NPRM, including possible impacts on global trade commitments, should the equipment authorization regime be dramatically changed in its goals or operation,” the group said: “Broad changes to the equipment authorization regime for devices currently exempt could be disruptive and impose substantial burdens on manufacturers well beyond the few covered entities.”

Garmin asked for a tweak to the draft order that would let companies market RF devices pending FCC authorization, in conversations with aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington. Garmin sought “clarification that the draft rule allows manufacturers that distribute products through unaffiliated retailers to take advantage of the proposed pre-sales flexibility by affixing the required temporary labels only to the shrink-wrapped pallet, sealed shipping container, sealed carton, or other enclosure containing multiple units and not to individual units of the product,” said filings posted Thursday (see here and here) in docket 20-382.

CTA raised questions and sought tweaks on a draft order that would let companies market RF devices pending FCC authorization, in an email to the Office of Engineering and Technology. CTA sought the change (see 2105270085), set for a June 17 vote. CTA wants “more clarity on how the temporary labels for pre-sales and e-labels interact for eligible devices” and whether companies can use a temporary label on a protective bag … that indicates that all devices in the bag are e-labeled.” Will the FCC offer “further guidance … to provide more details on the necessary criteria for receiving a waiver of the 12,000 unit importation limit for pre-sale activities?” CTA asked, in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-382.

Principals Mitchell Lowe and Theodore Farnsworth of defunct MoviePass theater subscriptions agreed to settle FTC allegations they tried to block subscribers from using the service as advertised and left personal data exposed, said the agency Monday. MoviePass invalidated passwords under the false premise of having detected potential fraud on accounts, to thwart customers from viewing movies on their $9.95 monthly plans, said the FTC. MoviePass launched ticket verification to discourage use of the service, it said. Executives didn't take “reasonable steps to secure personal information it collected from subscribers,” it said. MoviePass stored consumers’ personal data, including financial information and email addresses, in “plain text” and failed to impose restrictions on who could access it, said the agency. It plans soon to publish a description of the “consent agreement package” in the Federal Register. MoviePass owners Helios and Matheson Analytics filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in January 2020. We couldn't reach Lowe and Farnsworth for comment Monday.

The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act “struck an appropriate balance in advancing the complementary policy goals of promoting accessibility and encouraging innovation,” said the Information Technology Industry Council in comments posted Friday in FCC docket 21-140. ITI said the FCC should identify situations in which subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing could be used to satisfy IP captioning requirements in display-only monitors and video projectors that aren't equipped with digital tuners or streaming capability. The National Federation of the Blind wants improvements to the CVAA on audio description rules and how they apply to online streaming video. It wants streaming services required to buy described content when buying content rights, and MVPDs to provide multiple secondary audio channels. It seeks audio description quality standards.

The European Commission and U.K. Competition and Markets Authority are investigating Facebook's use of advertising data, they said Friday. The EC launched an antitrust probe to determine whether Facebook violated EU competition law by using data gathered from advertisers to compete with them in markets where it's active, such as classified ad services. The CMA said it's considering whether the company gained an unfair advantage over rivals in providing services for online classified advertisements and online dating through its methods for gathering and using data. The competition bodies said they will "seek to work closely" together. Facebook said it will "continue to cooperate fully with the investigations to demonstrate that they are without merit."