The Center for Digital Democracy filed a lawsuit Thursday against the FTC for allegedly failing to comply with the Freedom of Information Act, said a CDD news release. The CDD said it filed a FOIA request at the FTC in July, seeking “all annual reports submitted by safe harbor programs as required by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule.” But the FTC, after telling the CDD it wouldn’t be able to complete the request by the 20-day deadline, never completed the request, said the suit. The FTC didn’t comment.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s recent release of its summary of stakeholder feedback on NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework Version 1.0 shows general awareness and market acceptance of the framework, but that more needs to be done to promote the framework in the U.S. and internationally, said the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI). “Foreign governments, many at important junctures in their own cybersecurity policymaking, are carefully watching U.S. activities,” said Danielle Kriz, ITI global cybersecurity policy director, in a blog post Tuesday. “While we do not expect foreign governments to adopt the Framework, we hope all governments will work in a similarly inclusive and transparent manner and create globally workable policies that enable entities to better manage their cybersecurity risks.” Kriz encouraged NIST and the White House to augment their global outreach on the framework in 2015 in tandem with ITI’s efforts. The White House should continue to work on implementing President Barack Obama’s 2013 cybersecurity executive order, while the Department of Commerce “should reinvigorate its Internet Policy Task Force (IPTF) and ask what activities the IPTF and Commerce generally should undertake to improve cybersecurity,” Kriz said. ITI is developing recommendations on cybersecurity legislation for the 114th Congress to consider, Kriz said.
The FTC is likely to conclude its ongoing study of patent assertion entities’ (PAEs) business practices by the end of 2015, but Congress shouldn’t wait for the FTC’s report to pass legislation aimed at curbing patent litigation abuses, said FTC Commissioner Julie Brill on Wednesday. Brill said during a joint American Antitrust Institute-Computer and Communications Industry Association event that she's “hopeful that Congress will act in the near future” to curb patent abuses. Brill noted the House’s passage of the Innovation Act (HR-3309) and commitments by incoming House Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to return to the patent abuse issue in the 114th Congress. Efforts to curb patent litigation abuse stalled in May when Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., removed his Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720) from the committee’s agenda (see 1405230056). The FTC also won’t wait to curb patent litigation abuses, Brill said, referencing the FTC’s recent settlement with MPHJ Technology Investments, which prohibits the PAE from sending out deceptive patent demand letters from small businesses and other entities (see 1411060044). The FTC would be open to issuing an interim report on its FTC study, but will only do so if there is “definitive” information available for release, Brill said.
A slew of tech and media luminaries participated in a $25 million Series C funding round for Change.org, the website said in a news release Tuesday. Investors in the financing round included Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington; Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates; Virgin Group founder Richard Branson; and the Omidyar Network, an investment firm backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. Change.org expects to use the funding to develop its mobile applications. The website has more than 80 million users in 196 countries.
YouTube launched Content ID to help copyright owners identify their works on the Google-owned video site. The new system lets copyright holders “decide what happens when content in a video on YouTube matches a work they own,” said YouTube. “If accepted to use the Content ID tools, applicants will be required to complete an agreement explicitly stating that only content with exclusive rights can be used as references.” Users wishing to upload songs to videos can search the YouTube Audio Library to ensure that selected songs aren’t copyrighted or have other restrictions, said a company blog post. Accessing the library requires a Gmail login.
New America's Open Technology Institute joined other entities to launch Datacivilrights.org. The site will be a resource that addresses how the "big data" phenomenon affects civil rights issues, New America said Tuesday in a news release. The site features talks by technologists and civil rights leaders, and background materials "that detail algorithmically driven, automated computer decision systems and their ability to help and hinder equal opportunity, fairness, and social justice," it said. New America partnered with The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Data & Society Research Institute, it said.
NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling countered Wall Street Journal columnist Gordon Crovitz’s Dec. 1 article that called for the U.S. to retain control of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority contract. “Crovitz’s criticism is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of the U.S. role in the DNS [domain name system]. No one entity controls the Internet,” Strickling said Sunday in the WSJ. Strickling said he took issue with Crovitz’s “continued mischaracterization that there is a September deadline for this transition.” "NTIA’s current contract with Icann, which operates technical functions related to the DNS, expires on Sept. 30, 2015, but we have repeatedly stated that if the transition plan is not ready by then, we can extend the contract,” he said. “The Obama administration is so uncomfortable with American exceptionalism that it violated the cardinal rule of good government: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Crovitz said last week.
The Broadband Forum, which represents broadband service providers and technology suppliers, has thrown its support behind the new ITU-T ultra broadband access standard, G.fast, as a new way to deliver "bandwidth intensive" consumer applications such as Ultra HD, the group said Monday. G.fast "makes it possible for telcos to deploy 4K UHD services faster and more affordably than they could with Fiber to the Home," the forum said. Its announcement quoted CEA President Gary Shapiro as saying that with Ultra HD the "hot new product" this holiday selling season and beyond, "consumers need confidence" that bandwidth-constrained 4K online content distribution services "are feasible," Shapiro said. "G.fast offers a promising way to overcome this challenge."
Qualcomm agreed to spend $7 million for 7 percent ownership of Qterics, the new Silicon Image subsidiary that will supply services and components and devices for Internet of Things-capable TVs, smartphones, tablets, routers, home automation devices and smart appliances, the companies said in a joint announcement Thursday. Qterics will be composed of Silicon Image’s UpdateLogic services business and other of its software and IP holdings, they said. "The vast expansion of Internet-enabled devices enables new applications and services, but only if the devices can be properly managed." UpdateLogic, now under the Qterics umbrella, has been a leading supplier of device management and remote access services already deployed in "tens of millions" of CE products, they said.
The Department of Justice is adding a cybersecurity unit to its Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, said Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell Thursday. The dedicated cyber unit will give legal guidance on investigations into electronic surveillance and aid Congress in writing cybersecurity legislation, Caldwell said during a speech at Georgetown University. The new unit is meant to ease citizens’ concerns about privacy following former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s disclosures beginning last year about NSA surveillance programs. Mistrust in government “can hamper investigations and cybersecurity efforts,” Caldwell said in a prepared version of her speech. The new cyber unit will “ensure that the powerful law enforcement tools are effectively used” and protect “the privacy of everyday Americans,” Caldwell said.