Reactions to Amazon’s latest shopping tack -- contactless payments via scanned palms -- ranged from wariness to zeal on Twitter Tuesday. Amazon One launched Tuesday in two Seattle-area Amazon Go stores. Amazon described the service as a “fast, convenient” way to use palms to pay, present a loyalty card, enter a stadium or "badge" into work.
A bipartisan pair of senators introduced legislation Tuesday to amend Communications Decency Act Section 230 and require platforms to report illegal drug sales and other illicit activity. Tech industry and privacy advocates oppose the bill. Experts raised issues with proposals aimed at amending industry’s liability shield, in interviews.
Amazon gave a nod to small businesses Monday, blogging in its widely anticipated Prime Day announcement (see 2009210057) it will offer Prime members a $10 credit to use during the two-day sales event, Oct. 13-14, if they spend $10 on items sold by select small businesses before then. The same offer applies at Amazon-owned Whole Foods, which emailed customers Monday saying they can earn a $10 credit for Prime Day by buying $10 worth of goods in stores through Oct. 12. A section on Amazon.com urging customers to support small retail businesses breaks out vendors by category.
The looming battle for Senate confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett could either help or hurt FCC nominee Nathan Simington's chances of getting the chamber's approval before the election, lawmakers and others told us. President Donald Trump announced his Barrett pick Saturday to succeed the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as expected (see 2009220022). Trump earlier named Simington, an NTIA senior adviser, as his pick to replace Commissioner Mike O'Rielly (see 2009150074).
The U.S. can reach a data transfer agreement with the EU without wholesale revisions to American surveillance laws, said Department of Commerce EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Director Alex Greenstein Friday (see 2009100001). On an ACT|The App Association webcast, he said any deal will depend on EU interpretations of the general data protection regulation.
COVID-19 robocall scams remain a problem and are becoming more sophisticated, FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Associate Chief Ed Bartholme warned the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee Friday. Ensuring consumers answer calls from COVID-19 contact tracers is a growing concern, he said. CAC members said broadband deployment continues to be a rural issue. The meeting was the last under CCS' current charter, though the FCC rechartered the group (see 2007070052).
Ring security for the car, voice calling via Fire TV, beefed up Echo devices and cloud gaming headlined Amazon’s hardware announcements in a livestreamed event Thursday. Ring also announced a $249 indoor drone, with an autonomous camera “that will automatically fly to predetermined areas of the home.” The Ring Always Home Cam records only when in flight and is “loud enough so you hear when it’s in motion,” said Ring President Leila Rouhi.
First Amendment objections to FCC control of internet platforms under Communications Decency Act Section 230 are “truly a red herring, designed to obscure whose rights are being violated,” Adam Candeub, acting NTIA administrator, said in an FCBA webinar Thursday. President Donald Trump withdrew Mike O’Rielly's renomination to another term on the FCC after the commissioner expressed such concerns (see 2008210055). Other speakers slammed the Trump move to exercise more control over the internet, calling it an abuse of power. Commissioner Brendan Carr said he’s ready to move ahead on rules.
Draft legislation will be circulated next week that would “fundamentally alter” tech companies' business models, House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said during a hearing. Her draft bill will be aimed at giving regulators and consumers recourse when companies fail to deliver basic, stated commitments, she said. Reached after the hearing, Schakowsky wouldn’t say whether the draft bill directly targets Communications Decency Act Section 230.
DOJ sent draft legislation to Congress Wednesday that would amend Communications Decency Act Section 230 to make tech platforms more accountable for alleged speech censorship and facilitation of criminal activity. The proposal got backlash from the Internet Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association, NetChoice and Public Knowledge.