The Thread Group is expected to have product certification in place in the first half of 2015 for its IP-based low-power wireless networking protocol, the alliance said Tuesday. UL will manage the product certification process for Thread with support from Granite River Labs, which will work with UL to develop the “test harness” developers will use in building, testing and certifying Thread-enabled products. Recent high-profile additions to membership, now at 50 companies, include Energizer, Kwikset, PG&E and Whirlpool. Other Thread Group member companies are Atmel, California Eastern Laboratories, Inc., CamPoint, GainSpan, Granite River Labs, Grid Connect, Imagination Technologies, Insteon, Intellihot Green Technologies Inc., iOT Tech, Jasco, Keen Home, Kwikset, leakSMART, Linx Technologies, LUX Technology Group, Marvell Technology Group, Midea Group, Nanoleaf, Net2grid, Pacific Gas & Electric, Proximetry, Salto Systems, Sansa Security, Shenzhen Rakwireless Technology, Skyley Networks, Stack Lighting, Telegesis, TÜV Rheinland Group, Tyco, UL, WigWag and Zonefirst. Three tiers of membership to Thread are available: sponsor, contributor and affiliate, it said.

The Copyright Office will have three rounds of public comment on proposed exemptions under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, said a Federal Registernotice Friday. Section 1201 allows the Librarian of Congress to exempt certain works from prohibitions against the circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. Comments from parties that support or remain neutral on the proposed exemptions are due Feb. 6; responses opposing such exemptions March 27; replies May 1.

Comcast agreed to authenticate the HBO GO and Showtime Anytime apps on Roku streaming devices for Comcast subscribers who qualify, Roku representatives told the FCC in an ex parte filing Monday in dockets 14-28 and 14-57. Comcast and Roku have been in talks for "several months" on "a number of issues" and signed the HBO GO and Showtime Anytime agreement Nov. 25, the filing said.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) imposed an “incremental penalty payment” on Google, which could exceed $18.5 million, said a Dutch DPA blog post Monday. The Dutch DPA said Google is "acting in breach of several provisions of the Dutch data protection act with its new privacy policy, introduced in 2012.” A study by the DPA found that “Google combines personal data of internet users, amongst others to display personalised ads,” said the blog post. The DPA listed a set of privacy changes Google should enact by February. Google didn’t comment.

“The existence of the Internet does not magically make content costless to produce just because it is costless to distribute,” said Michelle Wein, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation trade policy analyst, in a blog post Friday. Wein countered an article by Caitlin Dewey, a Washington Post blogger, on the ubiquity of file-sharing sites like The Pirate Bay. Shut down by Swedish police last week (see 1412100031), the site has made “digital piracy a casual, inarguable part of the mainstream” Internet user experience, said Dewey. Said Wein: “Given the ease with which consumers can stream content, especially for broadcast, cable, and online TV, it’s almost offensive that some people can’t just cough up the cash to watch.”

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.

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.

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.