Mozilla counseled officials in India about the dangers inherent in zero rating, in response to a consultation by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Internet services, said a blog post Tuesday by Denelle Dixon-Thayer, senior vice president-business and legal affairs. Zero rating offers limited Internet access at lower rates and was one of the most sensitive issues before the FCC as it finalized net neutrality rules in February (see 1502250064). “The impact of zero-rating may result in the same harms as throttling, blocking, or paid prioritization,” Dixon-Thayer wrote. “By giving one company (or a handful) the ability to reach users at no cost to them, zero-rating could limit rather than expand a user’s access to the Internet and ultimately chill competition and innovation. The promise of the Internet as a driver of innovation is that anyone can make anything and share it with anyone. Without a level playing field, the world won’t benefit from the next Facebook, Google or Twitter.” The Mozilla official conceded there are many unknowns about zero rating. “There may be markets where affordability hurdles to access remain so significant that mobile networks can’t reach economies of scale to keep prices down,” she said. “It may be possible that access to zero-rated services will help to give previously unconnected users a ‘taste’ of the Internet leading them to demand access to the open Internet itself. The truth is we don’t know.”
While Apple’s strong Q1 sales were largely driven by smartphone growth in China (see 1504280034), China’s overall year-on-year market growth in the quarter “flattened significantly," said Melissa Chau, senior research manager at International Data Corp (IDC). Apple and Samsung will continue for the rest of the year to battle it out at the high end of the smartphone market with their 6 series smartphones, but all vendors will be “squeezed on falling ASPs" (average selling prices), she said. Apple’s challenge for the No. 1 smartphone spot in Q4 “returned to a clear lead for Samsung in Q1," said Anthony Scarsella, IDC research manager.
Arabsat and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology contracted with Lockheed Martin to manufacture two A2100 communications satellites, which will be used for Internet, phone, TV and secure communications to customers in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, said an Arabsat news release Tuesday. Lockheed Martin, KACST and Taqnia Space, a subsidiary of Saudi Technology Investment and Development Co., signed an agreement to explore future design, manufacture, assembly and integration of satellites in Saudi Arabia. The two satellites will boost Arabsat's fleet to 10 in-orbit operational satellites, the release said. It said the contracts were signed April 9, with construction starting immediately and planned 2018 launch.
Microsoft will mount a full-fledged exhibit at the IFA European CE trade show to promote the release of Windows 10, organizers said in Malta Saturday. IFA opens Sept. 4 at the Messe Berlin fairgrounds for a six-day run. Though Microsoft participated as an IFA exhibitor last year, that presence was limited to the Microsoft Devices Group, which included the newly acquired Nokia phones business. Bryan Biniak, Microsoft general manager-developer experiences, who joined from Nokia a year ago, used his session to trumpet Microsoft as a company that’s now seen as “cool” and “focusing on the consumer.” Biniak painted a rosy picture of the future based on Windows 10, due for launch “this summer,” he said. “There will be “one OS, one platform and one store,” he predicted. Windows 10, he said, will be used across all devices. “Microsoft is now a very different place” from the company that introduced Windows 8 to mixed reviews, Biniak said. “People in the company are listening and acknowledging the success, actually lack of success, of Windows 8. It’s a top priority to make Windows 10 successful.”
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) renewed its “call for Congress to increase funding for the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process,” following a multi-association letter sent to congressional leaders last week, an ITI news release said Monday. Nations use MLATs “to request data for criminal investigation,” ITI said. “As the backlog in requests go unanswered, foreign governments are attempting to circumvent the MLAT process and seek data directly from U.S. technology companies, placing companies in a difficult posture, as the law requires these requests to go through the MLAT process.” With some 11,000 MLAT requests waiting to be processed, ITI said it and a coalition of tech sector trade groups have “pressed Congress to fully fund the MLAT process.”
In the U.K. and Ireland, Sky has connected more than 1 million boxes in the year to date, “taking our connected base to almost 7 million homes,” the company said Tuesday in its Q3 earnings announcement. This has driven on-demand downloads to more than 300 million during Q3, up 63 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, Sky said. In Italy, roughly a third of Sky customers have now connected their boxes to the Internet with the connected home strategy being deployed in Germany for the first time this quarter, it said. “This growing penetration of connected devices is enabling us to drive growth in revenues from new products and services.” For example, more than half a million customers in the U.K. and Ireland have purchased one or more movies from the Sky Store, and the service regularly ranks No. 1 or 2 among digital retailers for new releases, Sky said.
“Fully autonomous weapons would go a step beyond existing remote-controlled drones as they would be able to select and engage targets without meaningful human control,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released Thursday. Release of the report comes before the issue is to be addressed at a UN multilateral meeting in Geneva April 13-17, HRW said. While the “killer robots” don't exist yet, “the rapid movement of technology in that direction has attracted international attention and concern," HRW said, since “programmers, manufacturers, and military personnel could all escape liability for unlawful deaths and injuries caused by fully autonomous weapons, or ‘killer robots,’” HRW said. HRW is a co-founder of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, which is an international coalition of more than 50 nongovernmental organizations that calls for a “preemptive ban on the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons.” HRW Senior Arms Division Researcher Bonnie Docherty, also the report’s lead author, said a “fully autonomous weapon could commit acts that would rise to the level of war crimes if a person carried them out, but victims would see no one punished for these crimes.” Docherty, also a lecturer at the Harvard Law School clinic, said calling war crimes committed by “killer robots” an “accident” or “glitch” would “trivialize the deadly harm they could cause.”
European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager “appears” to want to fine Google for alleged antitrust activities, said a foreign diplomat Thursday, responding to media reports that the EU could be closing in on an antitrust action against the search giant. Accidentally leaked FTC documents, which showed FTC commissioners turning down an antitrust suit against Google as recommended by staff (see 1503260030), have made it “basically impossible” for the EU to arrive at a similar outcome, he said. “This commission wants to demonstrate that it can take tough and decisive action,” the diplomat said. “Then again, this is a very political decision.” “The recently disclosed FTC report suggests that the US and the EU [were] sharing information throughout this period,” said attorney Chris Castle, who represents artists and musicians and has worked with digital music services. “Google was afforded every opportunity to make a deal that made sense to not only the governments concerned but also the stakeholders,” he emailed. “That was a deal that was Google’s to lose and they did.” Google didn’t comment.
The Council of Europe adopted a recommendation to ensure “free transboundary” data flows on the Internet, a CoE news release said Thursday. The recommendation also affirmed that “any blocking of content complies with human rights standards and does not interfere with international Internet traffic,” it said. “The recommendation underlines that [CoE] states should safeguard the right to privacy and personal data protection.”
The British Court of Appeal ruled Friday against Google’s attempt to block British consumers from suing the search giant (see 1502270036). The British High Court in 2013 ruled in favor of three members of the Google Governance Campaign (GGC) on allegations that Google violated their privacy. “These claims raise serious issues which merit a trial,” the court said. “They concern what is alleged to have been the secret and blanket tracking and collation of information, often of an extremely private nature … about and associated with the claimants' internet use, and the subsequent use of that information for about nine months,” it said. “The decision opens the door to litigation by millions of Britons who used Apple computers, iPhones and iPads during the relevant period of Summer 2011 and Spring 2012,” said the Google Action Group in a release. The group was founded by the GGC, which seeks "better" corporate behavior from Google in the U.K. "We’re disappointed with the Court’s decision, and are considering our options,” said a Google spokeswoman. Apple didn’t comment.