The National Institute of Standards and Technology plans a hybrid open meeting of its Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board Oct. 26-27, said a notice for Tuesday’s Federal Register. Written comments and questions are due Oct. 25, it said. Participants planning to attend in-person at the Washington headquarters of the American Institute of Architects don’t need to register, it said. Those planning to attend via webinar must register online by Oct. 25, it said.

“Having no standards, multiple standards, or ever-changing standards” for broadcast viewership ratings would create “any number of problems” in the video industry, said Nielsen CEO David Kenny in video conferences with aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington Wednesday, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 22-239. Simington and Carr have both expressed support for an FCC reexamination of the agency's reliance on Nielsen (see 2207180037). Nielsen has competitors but none has “devoted the resources necessary to provide a service as accurate and reliable as ours,” said Kenny. “Nielsen has worked hard to overcome the largely COVID-related concerns that led MRC [Media Ratings Council] to suspend Nielsen,” the filing said. Competitor Comscore is also seeking MRC accreditation.

The FTC will hold an open meeting at 1 p.m. Thursday, the agency announced. The tentative agenda includes a vote on a policy statement on “enforcement against unfair, deceptive, and anticompetitive practices related to gig work,” which often involves digital apps. FTC staff will deliver a report on dark patterns, and the commission will vote on whether to issue the report. Staff will also present findings from public comments related to the agency’s NPRM to address “government, business, and nonprofit impersonation fraud.” The commission will vote on whether to formally initiate a rulemaking.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology plans an Oct. 25 open virtual meeting of its Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology, to include discussions on “strategic issues facing the agency,” including an update on implementation of the Chips and Science Act, said a notice for Thursday’s Federal Register. Oct. 18 is the deadline for individuals and representatives of organizations to request a place on the agenda, it said.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued a citation Friday against Health and Med, a Utah-based company that sells wellness products, for allegedly marketing footbaths and other RF products without the required FCC authorizations. The bureau listed 14 products, only two of which appeared to still be for sale this year. The bureau’s Spectrum Enforcement Division “observed that the ionic footbath models marketed on the Health and Med website have digital displays, use digital power supplies, and have other indicia that they are unintentional radiators or ISM [industrial, scientific and medical] devices, either of which require an authorization prior to marketing,” the bureau said. If the company “fails to comply with these laws, it may be liable for significant fines of up to $22,021 per day for each model marketed, as well as other sanctions,” the order said. The company didn’t comment Friday.

Jonathan Martinez resolved FTC claims about fake reviews on the rental platform Roomster (see 2208300051), his attorney said in a statement Wednesday. He “settled this matter with the FTC and six state attorneys general without admitting any wrongdoing,” Crowell & Moring attorney Kristin Madigan said. “This matter concerns conduct that occurred in the past and is now fully resolved for Mr. Martinez.”

The FTC has an obligation to prevent the tech industry from “monopolizing” the auto industry and abusing data associated with cars, Fight for the Future said in a petition filed Wednesday. Companies like Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook have a history of abusing data, and the industry is using its dominance to “coerce auto companies to incorporate their services” like Google Maps, Android Auto, Amazon Alexa Voice Assistant and Apple CarPlay, the petition said. “To protect consumer privacy and market competition, the FTC should revive structural separations as a policy tool to prevent the concentration of private power and the control of vital industries in the hands of a few tech executives,” the organization said. The agency declined comment.

Roomster misled consumers seeking affordable housing by “paying for fake reviews and then charging for access to phony listings,” the FTC said Tuesday in a lawsuit filed with six states against the online rental platform. The commission authorized filing the complaint with a 5-0 vote. Attorneys general in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York signed the complaint. Roomster and owners John Shriber and Roman Zaks took “tens of millions of dollars from largely low-income and student prospective renters who need reliable housing the most and can least afford to lose money,” the agency said. Enforcers filed a separate lawsuit against Jonathan Martinez, who they claim sold Roomster “tens of thousands of fake reviews.” Martinez reached a $100,000 settlement that requires his cooperation with the investigation. Since 2016, the platform and Martinez flooded the internet with “tens of thousands of fake positive reviews to bolster their false claims that properties listed on their Roomster platform are real, available, and verified,” the FTC said in its complaint, alleging the defendants “have taken in excess of $27 million from consumers.” The complaint seeks civil penalty awards in various states ranging from $2,000 to $50,000 per violation. “There is a term for lying and deceiving your customers to grow your business: Fraud,” said New York AG Letitia James (D). “Roomster used illegal and unacceptable practices to grow its business at the expense of low-income renters and students.” Roomster and an attorney for Martinez didn’t comment.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission released for public comment Friday its draft strategic plan for fiscal 2023 through 2026 to guide CPSC programs for protecting the public from hazardous consumer goods. The CPSC’s last updated strategic plan was in February 2018. Comments should inform the CPSC how the draft strategic plan "could be adjusted to reflect the agency’s reinvigorated approach to its mission of protecting the public," said the agency. Comments are due Sept. 26 in docket CPSC–2022–0031, said a notice in Friday's Federal Register.

The FCC needs to take a big swing at receiver standards if it hopes to make any progress, consultant Preston Padden said in a filing posted Wednesday at the FCC. Half measures won’t work, he said. “Our system of spectrum licensing cannot work if entities are licensed for a particular set of frequencies and then the associated industry floods the market with receivers that ‘squat’ over, and preclude the use by others of, a much broader set of frequencies,” Padden said. “Our system of spectrum allocation simply cannot work when, effectively, it is receivers rather than the FCC that are calling the shots,” he said: “The aviation industry still could build altimeters that squat over a vast swath of spectrum licensed to others and still wave the bloody shirt of planes falling from the sky and people dying -- with the outrageous result that licensees who paid the government $82 Billion in good faith cannot fully use their spectrum! And the GPS industry could continue to deploy literally millions of low-cost poorly designed receivers.” The FCC is examining next steps following a recent notice of inquiry (see 2208050044). Padden said he doesn't have a client in the proceeding.